Return of the Red & Blue State Paradigm

Filed Under Democratic Party, Election 2008, Hillary Clinton

The election patterns of the 2000s — the country dividing into red and blue states — could continue this election season, suggests Andrew Sullivan in the The Clintons, a horror film that never ends.

All of the talk about the new “purple” electorate that has become less focused on political differences could just be wishful thinking if Hillary Clinton gets the Democratic nomination, predicts Sullivan.

When you look at the electoral map if the Clintons run again, you also see a reversion to the old patterns of the 1990s – the patterns that cynical political strategists such as Karl Rove and Dick Morris have been exploiting for two decades. The country – scrambled by the post-baby-boomer pragmatism of Obama – snaps back into classic red-blue mode, with the blue areas denoting Democratic-leaning states around the edge and true red Republican states in the heartlands.

The Clintons are comfortable with this polarisation. They need it. Even when running against a fellow Democrat, they instinctively reach for it. Last week, in response to the Obama camp’s request that they release their tax returns, Clinton’s spokesman called Obama a new Ken Starr. For the Clintons, all Democrats who oppose them are . . . Republicans. And all Republicans are evil.

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Technorati Tags: Democratic Party, Election 2008, Hillary Clinton

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2 Responses to “Return of the Red & Blue State Paradigm”

Daltonsbriefs on March 10th, 2008 8:38 am

@JohnMcCain2008 on twitter just entered this post on the day’s round up of election sites. You may get quite a bit of traffic, twitter is throwing quite a bit of traffic our way these days at http://hoosiersformccain.blogspot.com
Chris on March 10th, 2008 11:08 am

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the heads up! It’s always nice to get some traffic from John McCain’s supporters and it’s great to hear that your site is getting some good attention.