AHC: Democrats win 2014 elections

Your challenge is to have the Dems win the 2014 elections, with at least no more than two seats lost in the Senate, small gains in the House, and important governorships picked off.

I'd ask for a WI, but nothing would most likely change given how nothing would get done.
 
I don't know. Right before the election results, I assumed that most of the incumbents would have a hard time winning, especially Republican ones in the House of Representatives. For two years, I've been baffled as to why the 2014 elections turned out how they did.
 
I don't know. Right before the election results, I assumed that most of the incumbents would have a hard time winning, especially Republican ones in the House of Representatives. For two years, I've been baffled as to why the 2014 elections turned out how they did.

I was kind of baffled myself that they were the way they were to. While GOP gains didn't surprise me due to the Ukraine, the Ebola scare, and the middle east (especially with the Governor's race in my state of Illinois), I was surprised at how big they were given the Government shut down, and all the other instances through 2013 and 2014 where the GOP shot itself in the foot.
 
You need a 2009/2010 POD for this to be plausible. Redistricting and incumbency after 2010 made this a very tall order even under the very best of circumstances.
 
Romney wins in 2012.

Otherwise, it's extremely difficult; the president's party almost always loses ground in midterms, and turnout and the map mean that the Democrats (whose voters tend to be younger and poorer, and thus less likely to turn out) are especially disadvantaged. You might be able to reduce losses in the Senate, but making gains in the House is difficult.
 
What if the Republicans actually try to impeach Obama in this period? then might the Democrats turn out in droves and swing voters react badly to the move. Not sure how to make it plausible for the GOP to impeach Obama, and even then their base would also stampede to the polls so it wouldn't be a Democrat wipe-out.
 
What if the Republicans actually try to impeach Obama in this period? then might the Democrats turn out in droves and swing voters react badly to the move. Not sure how to make it plausible for the GOP to impeach Obama, and even then their base would also stampede to the polls so it wouldn't be a Democrat wipe-out.

Even when the GOP tried to impeach Clinton in '98, the midterms that year only saw tiny gains for the Democrats in the house and no gains or loses for either party in the senate. I don't think a bogus impeachment attempt of Obama would be enough for Democratic gains.
 
Even when the GOP tried to impeach Clinton in '98, the midterms that year only saw tiny gains for the Democrats in the house and no gains or loses for either party in the senate. I don't think a bogus impeachment attempt of Obama would be enough for Democratic gains.

In 1998, the GOP had a nominal reason (the Lewinsky affair). For all their qualms, they would have nothing remotely comparable in 2012 as all their reasons are essentially ideological. While this difference may not affect the impeachment process, it is likely to affect voters, who will think the GOP are being opportunists.
 

TinyTartar

Banned
in another thread on why we have a Democratic president and a Republican Congress, there was a New York Times article that Democrats win urban areas big whereas Republicans more narrowly win a larger number of rural and suburban (and exurban) areas. All House districts have the same population of about (?)750,000 persons.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/09/0...istory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=377137

It is a mixture of factors, one being of course gerrymandering, which both sides do (I live in MD, so I can attest to the Democrats not being above that kind of bullshit), but the Republicans are just better at it. But beyond that, it is also because the Republicans have basically abandoned many cities and have written them off as unwinnable. Their candidates in cities get almost no support from the national party in terms of money or any kind of logistical volunteering, and many are self funded local businesspeople. This leads to events occurring like Mitt Romney not winning a single vote in certain urban precincts in 2012.

Why has Detroit not elected a Republican in 40 years? Its not because the Democrats are doing a good job, its because the GOP does not make an effort to win elections there.

The GOP has regionally tailored their politics in a way that the Democrats have trouble doing despite being at war with itself, and has legislative agendas at the state level through ALEC that allows it to mobilize the amount of support that it has to the max to get things done. Congress may be dysfunctional and inactive, but GOP State Legislatures are not. And to be honest, as a Republican, I kind of like this, as states really should be doing almost everything in my view.
 
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