A Sour Electorate

One of the reliable adages in American politics is that most American voters can't stand politicians but they like the one from their town.  This is one of the reasons -- in additon to the inherent financial advantages and gerrymandering power -- that historically there is very little turnover in Congress, with 90 to 98% of incumbents being re-elected every two years for the past generation.

For this trend to remain in place again this fall, it's going to take some very creative campaigning by incumbents and just the right voter turnout on Election Day.

The Two-Party System Under Pressure

The United States is one of the few Western democracies that has retained a two-party system for much of its history.  Sure, the names of the parties have changed from time to time and the political values espoused by the major parties are often unrecognizable from what they were generations ago, but the occasional flurries of interest in third parties have invariably crashed and burned.  We're witnessing another one of those periods of pressure on the two-party system now and one wonders if this time the results might be different.