It's Not Just The Economy
Pres. Obama, at his post-election press conference, primarily blamed the resounding defeat his party took on the souring economy.
But the Wall Street Journal reports a fascinating statistic today: of the 16 House seats that have the highest rates of foreclosure, 15 of them remained in Democratic hands. The lone exception was in the Las Vegas suburbs, where Rep.-elect Joe Heck (R) barely eked out a victory over Rep. Dina Titus (D) with only 48 percent of the vote, a surprisingly close result.
And in one of the most economically hard-hit districts in the country -- California Rep. Jim Costa's in the state's Central Valley, which sports near 30 percent unemployment -- it looks like the Democratic incumbent may well hang on.
Compare that to the proportion of House Democrats who switched their votes to support health care. Of the eight switchers, two retired, five lost (all resoundingly) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), in a safe Cleveland district, only won 53 percent of the vote. And of the Democrats who, like former Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), held out until the last minute to support it until anti-abortion language was inserted -- only Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) prevailed, and he won with the help of a libertarian candidate splitting the Republican vote.
Leave A Comment