Mark Halperin: Democrats Are Playing Defense On Electoral Map
Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Just before the presidents immigration speech, Republicans arent anxious to talk about the issue. (Source: Bloomberg) Mark Halperin discusses on Morning Joe how...
By: TheWorldNewsPost
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Mark Halperin: Democrats Are Playing Defense On Electoral Map - Video
Despicable Bachmann: Obama Wants #39;Illiterate #39; Immigrants to Vote for Democrats
Michele Bachmann says that Obama wants unskilled, illiterate immigrants as new Democratic voters http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/11/19/bachmann-obama-turning-ill...
By: David Pakman Show
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Despicable Bachmann: Obama Wants 'Illiterate' Immigrants to Vote for Democrats - Video
Democrats grumbled in 2012 that they had won more votes in House races than Republicans had, butstillended up trailing their rivals in seat count.
This years midterm results were a lot moreclear-cutRepublicans won in a routbut continued to highlight how Democrats face an uphill battle in securing theseats to match their popular vote, due to the structuring of district lines and Democratic voters concentration in urban areas.
Back in 2012,Democrats won a majority of the two-party vote50.6%, or nearly 1.2 million more votes than Republicansbut failed to reclaim their majority in the House, leaving the party with just 46% of the chambers seats.
This time around, Democrats won 47% of the two-party vote, according to an analysis of votes by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. That garnered them about43%of the seats in the chamber, with some races still undecided. Republicans, by contrast, won 53% of that vote, and come January will control about56%of the seats.(The two-party vote refers to the percentage of ballots cast for Democrats and Republicans that either party won, and excludes votes cast for independent or other third-party candidates.)
Democrats are winning way too many of their districts by 100,000 votes and losing too many districts by 20,000 or 30,000 votes, saidDavid Wasserman, a political analyst with the Cook Political Report.
Mr. Wasserman said a combination of factors have made it such that Democrats would need to win the House vote by a margin of about nine percentage points in order to win a majority in the chamber. This year, they lost by six points.
There are two main reasons for the discrepancy between votes and seats, Mr. Wasserman said. The first is that Democrats tend to congregate in cities. That means that congressional candidates in urban areas often win by big marginsbut win fewer races across the country. The plus side for Democrats: Their concentration in urban areas gives them an edge in presidential elections, since the electoral college is based on a winner-take-all system.
The second reason Democrats are disadvantaged in House elections is that Republicans were able to capitalize on the sweeping gains they made in the 2010stateelections to redraw the lines of congressional districts to their advantage. (That process happens once every 10 years.) Mr. Wasserman pointed to Pennsylvania as an examplethere, Republicans won 72% of the seats in 2012 but won 83,000 fewer votes than Democrats.
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Deep Loss by Democrats Obscures Partys Numbers Problem
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Mayor Richard Berry clashed with City Council Democrats in a big way on Monday, issuing four vetoes of legislation that had passed along party lines this month.
Mayor Richard Berry clashed with City Council Democrats in a big way Monday, vetoing four bills that had passed along party lines this month.
Berry, a Republican, blocked proposals that sought to revive the inspector generals office at City Hall, limit when city attorneys can seek to recover legal fees in court and require council approval before hiring someone to negotiate with unions.
A fourth proposal vetoed called on the city attorney to drop a request for legal fees in a lawsuit filed by the family of Mary Han, a prominent civil-rights attorney who died in 2010.
Altogether, it was the largest batch of bills ever vetoed by the mayor in one day.
These bills were contradictory to existing law, or they set bad precedent for the city moving forward, Berry said in an interview.
Each of bills narrowly had won approval, on 5-4 votes, with Democrats in the majority.
Berrys vetoes will stand unless a Republican councilor changes positions. It takes six of nine councilors to override a veto.
City Council President Ken Sanchez, a Democrat, said he wasnt sure whether councilors even would attempt an override.
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Mayor Berry defies Democrats with 4 vetoes
By Mark Preston, CNN
updated 2:56 PM EST, Mon November 24, 2014
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Washington (CNN) -- The Democratic National Committee announced Monday that Columbus, Ohio, Philadelphia and New York are the finalists to host the 2016 presidential nominating convention.
Phoenix, Arizona and Birmingham, Alabama did not make the latest cut.
DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz informed Democrats of the decision to winnow the list to these three cities in an email. In a press release, the committee said that several weeks are under consideration to hold the convention: July 18, July 25 and August 22.
"We're thrilled to move to the next step of the selection process to determine where Democrats will come together to nominate the 45th President of the United States," said Wasserman Schultz said in a statement.
The DNC also noted that it would name the host city in the new year.
In April, the DNC asked 15 cities to submit bids to host the convention, which is estimated to cost around $60 million. But the payout could be triple the investment or more.
The Republican National Committee, in July, chose Cleveland, Ohio, to host its 2016 convention, which is likely to take place in late June or July.
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Democrats eye 3 cities for convention