On the Ability of Parties to Define Themselves

A number of recent articles have focused on the difficulty that the national parties have in picking their preferred candidates for local races.

Obama, somewhat famously now, seems to have tried to meddle (without success) in the New York gubernatorial election and perhaps the Colorado senatorial nomination contest as well to similar result.

The Republicans don't seem to be fairing much better:

The push by Washington Republicans to identify preferred Senate candidates has stirred resentment and prompted competition from those not impressed by the Washington seal of approval.

In this era of strong congressional parties, it's particularly important to remember the limits that each party faces in simply making itself up.

Health Care, Race and Political Polarization

Marc J. Hetherington and Jonathan D. Weiler:

Former president Jimmy Carter caused a stir when he suggested that opposition to health care reform reflected negative racial attitudes. While there is surely anecdotal evidence to suggest Carter is onto something -- a widely circulated image of President Obama clad in a loincloth and sporting a bone through his nose comes to mind - commentators, conservatives, and the White House dispute the former president.

Our research favors Carter's interpretation and adds some hard data to the debate. In fact, the partisan divide today is even more troubling than if it was driven by race alone.

and

Among whites with above average racial resentment, only 19 percent favored fundamental health care reforms and 57 percent favored the present system. Among those who have below average racial resentment, more than twice as many (45 percent) favored government run health care and less than half as many (25 percent) favored the status quo.

via The Monkey Cage

Baucus's bill gets no love from GOP

That mythical ship of bipartisanship has sank:

But after months of closed-door talks, none of the three Republicans involved the bipartisan Gang of Six is expected to declare support for the bill Wednesday.

See also Jonathan Chait on moderates.

GOP's New Diversity Push

New faces for the Republican Party:

From the West Coast to the East Coast, in some of the smallest and largest states in the nation, the party is currently fielding an unusually diverse crop of serious statewide candidates drawn from the seemingly endless list of constituencies the GOP lost in 2008—notably women, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans and young people.

Talking about Talks

Barack Obama is giving a healthcare address tonight in front of a joint session of Congress. The media and associated pundits are billing this as a “It’s a dramatic moment, almost like a heavyweight fight.” But political science suggests otherwise.

The Monkey Cage cites George Edwards:

…statistically significant changes in approval rarely follow a televised presidential address. Typically, the president’s ratings hardly move at all. Most changes are well within the margin of error— and many of them show a loss of approval.