Politics
Norquist, Grover G.
by Grover G. Norquist Stalemate Without an agenda there can be no silver linings. W hen the dust settled after November's elections, Republicans held the Senate by 5545 and the House of...
...The GOP held 31 governorships to the Democrats' 17...
...The consensus of Democrats, Republicans, and the estab60 January 1999 The American Spectator lishment press was that Republicans would pick up two to five seats in the Senate, five to fifteen in the House, and two to four governorships...
...This election, they explain, was a backlash against the impeachment proceedings, and signals a popular demand to leave the president alone...
...Three days after the election Newt Gingrich announced that he would not run again for speaker, and indeed would retire from Congress...
...Molly Bordonero, running for Congress in Oregon, took the advice of campaign consultants and backpedaled on her pro-school choice and pro-gun positions, only to lose support from both sides and thus doom her candidacy...
...Matt Fong had similar Mugwump problems in California, where he lost the race for senator...
...There was no backlash against Republicans...
...A strong Democrat presidential win will likely deliver the House, and perhaps even the Senate, over to the Democrats, reducing expected GOP gains from redistricting as the population continues to move south and west...
...The Washington Post's Thomas Edsall was closer to the mark when he headlined his article on six key House races,"Democrats Lean Right and Hold On...
...NBC's Tim Russert chimed in that same night, saying that people wanted a "centrist, moderate government...
...The Voter News Service (VNS) exit poll, compiled by the four major television networks and the Associated Press, found that only 5 percent of voters said they were motivated by the "Clinton-Lewinsky matter," and those people voted 52-48 Republican...
...Exit polls also refute the perennial argument that the GOP should drift left to solve its "gender gap...
...But long before November 2000 will come another great political battle—over "the lessons of 1998...
...Had they won the governorships of Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, the South's transition to Republican solidity would have been seen as irreversible...
...The second false "explanation" flows not directly from the White House, but from their allies in the mainstream press: The election was a move away from the radical right and towards moderation...
...By any measure, the scandals hurt the Democrats...
...many things you thought were false are true...
...Everything you thought was true about the subject is false...
...A good Republican year will put the GOP back on the path to undisputed control of redistricting and the next decade of governance...
...Had Republicans held onto the governorship of California and made the other gains expected, this election would have given them unchallenged control of Congress through the next decade as a result of redistricting...
...This is the lesson establishment journalists learn from all elections...
...Four years earlier the same Pew Survey found the GOP up five percent in October and the Republicans went on to gain 52 seats...
...Republicans controlled both the governor's mansion and the state legislature in 15 states, including Pennsylvania, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, and most of the square states out West...
...Republicans who "moderated" were once again whip-lashed...
...Democratscontrolled in only nine states: Alabama, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, and Vermont...
...The Pew Research Center released survey results only 12 days before election day showing Republicans leading Democrats by 48 to 43 percent in the generic House ballot and holding a four-point lead-48-44 percent—in the 105 most competitive districts...
...White men voted Republican 59 percent, down from 6o percent in 1994...
...The Clinton spin is measurably wrong...
...Moreover, 19 percent of voters said they were motivated by "moral, ethical standards," and they voted 85 to 13 per-cent Republican over Democrat...
...W hen the dust settled after November's elections, Republicans held the Senate by 5545 and the House of Representatives by 223-212...
...J. Budziszewski, University of Texas, Austin Available at barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com or Sage Publishing: WEB-ORDER@sagepub.com or call 1-805-499-0721 List $24.95 The American Spectator • January 1999 61...
...President Bill Clinton, who has overseen his party's defeat in Congress for three straight elections, was pronounced vindicated and home free from the threat of impeachment...
...Ken Lucas of Kentucky, Ronnie Shows of Mississippi, and David Phelps of Illinois, three of the Democrats who captured open seats, ran as pro-life, pro-gun, and anti-tax conservatives...
...The GOP had failed to win the expectations game: Everyone, including this columnist, had predicted that they would add to their majority...
...The popular vote went Republican over Democrat by 52-46 percent in gubernatorial races, 51-48 in Senate races, and 49-48 in House races...
...The Clintonistas have weighed in with their typically self-centered and short-sighted spin, focused not on the Democratic Party but on the president's immediate needs...
...When the same polls show women voting 51-46 Democrat over Republican, and men voting 52-45 Republican (Continued on page 75) "Prepare To Rethink...
...Closed minds will be untouched by the book, but for those interested in reality, I recommend it most highly...
...In the wake of November 3 the Media Research Center published a report recalling that on election night in 1994—when Republicans won 5z House seats, eleven governorships, and eight Senate seats —CNN's William Schneider announced that "it was a vote for bipartisanship, for centrism...
...Robert Weissberg's closely researched and crisply written study puts a chill on all the warmed-over platitudes of the official tolerance industry...
...In 1998, Republicans won the white women vote 54-46, the same margin as in 1994...
...The 1998 stalemate makes the z000 election for president, Congress, and state legislative bodies all important...
...The depth of disappointment reflects the size of the opportunity lost...
...Despite all this, the Republican performance was at once judged a failure...
...POLITICAL TOLERANCE Balancing Community and Diversity By Robert Weissberg "Prepare to rethink...
...Four years later, according to CNN's Jeanne Meserve, 1998 "seems to be the year of the moderate...
...Every Republican House member except Majority Whip Tom DeLay (Texas) was challenged for re-election...
...The election confirmed that the GOP remains America's majority party...
Vol. 32 • January 1999 • No. 1
