◼ Why Are Democrats Stuck With Hillary? Blame Obama - IBD
The party controlling the White House almost always loses down the ballot, especially for a two-term president, according to Geoffrey Skelley, associate editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball.
But under Obama, Democrats have lost more than 900 state legislative seats, 69 U.S. House seats and 13 U.S. senate seats, all the most since World War II. Democrats also have lost 11 governorships.
Republicans now control 31 governorships. Obama was elected as a sitting senator, but usually governors, former governors or vice presidents win.
"That executive experience has to make you a more attractive option," Skelley said. "Governors have a track record for executive decision-making."
The GOP has governors in several key battleground states, including Florida and the Midwest's Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan. It even has the governor's mansion in deep-blue Illinois and Iowa.
It's not a real surprise that the early GOP front-runners for the 2016 presidential nomination are Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and ex-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
But it gets worse. Democrats don't just lack a bench. The bench lacks a bench.
The GOP now controls 68 of the country's 98 legislative chambers, excluding Nebraska's officially nonpartisan unicameral legislature. That's a gain of 30 chambers since the end of 2008. Republicans hold the most slate legislative seats since the 1920s.
As a result, the Democrats' pool of potential future governors and U.S. senators is historically low. That suggests that the ranks of attractive Democratic presidential contenders will be thin for years to come, even if the party starts to reverse its down-ticket losses.... KEEP READING
