Interesting stuff.
Democrats have ignored their fundamental problems. Instead of facing reality they have embraced the politics of evasion...
This paper is an exploration of three pervasive themes in the politics of evasion. The first is the belief that Democrats have failed because they have strayed from the true and pure faith of their ancestors -- we call this the myth of Liberal Fundamentalism. The second is the belief that Democrats need not alter public perceptions of their party but can regain the presidency by getting current nonparticipants to vote -- we call this the Myth of Mobilization. The third is the belief that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the Democratic Party: there is no realignment going on, and the proof is that Democrats still control the majority of offices below the presidency. We call this the Myth of the Congressional Bastion.
Interesting, considering that it was after the ascendancy of this sentiment that Democrats never again held the majority of offices below the presidency. Before 1994 Ds almost never had <250 seats; after 1994, they almost never had >215 seats, and the few times they did were after massive R screwups.
It doesnt get any better for governors and senators, though the smaller sample size makes numbers less meaningful.
Congressional lag of Presidential alignments, as well as the lag of down ballot races in the South where many older voters clung to the good ole boy network and thus remained as Democrats. This began to unravel in the 1990s because of Greatest Generation dying off and Boomers aging up to more reliable voting years. There was also the redistricting prior to 1992 and the greater concentration of black voters that it created, pulling the rug out from under many white Democrats in the South.
