The Hill News

Political pundits are exploring how the 2010 election is different due to the Tea Party, even suggesting this is the most groundbreaking election ever. I submit that this is definitely not the most groundbreaking election ever and probably not even the most groundbreaking since 1994 - in many ways this election is more of the same. We are in a midterm election, which is generally the worst election for the president’s party. The fact that the Republicans will do well at the polls is, therefore, relatively unexceptional. The fact that Republicans may take back Congress is also relatively unexceptional given recent political history â€" the parties have been flip flopping back and forth for the last two decades. The fact that Democrats are not successfully mobilizing their voters as they did in the 2008 presidential election is also not that notable as voter turnout is always low in midterm elections. The fact that Americans hate Congress is nothing new as the legislati! ve institution has always received the lowest ratings among the people. What is interesting about our politics right now is not specific to this election but rather speaks to the state of politics over the last couple of decades. We have ideologically cohesive parties and a general electorate that tends to have more independent voters than partisans. As a result, our nominating process sends out more ideological candidates and we see constant movement among the most hotly contested districts.

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