Now that Labor Day has passed, we are now in the midst of political season (although technically there is one more “primary date” on Tuesday).
Archive | 2014 Election
RSS feed for this sectionDecision 2014 – JMCEL scorecard as of August 31
Primary season is coming to a close – 44 states have now decided their party’s nominees for federal and statewide offices. Since Labor Day traditionally is the time that voters begin to pay attention to political campaigns, this is a good time to revise the scorecard.
Decision 2014 – JMCEL scorecard as of August 16
Right now, 39 states have decided their party’s nominees for federal and statewide offices (Oklahoma’s runoff is on August 26, and there are three more primary dates before the November elections). Given that many of these November races are already underway, this is a good time to bring back the scorecard as a way of objectively assessing […]
Decision 2014: Shrinking the (East Baton Rouge Parish School) Board – JMCEL’s alternative “5-4” plan
In a recent article, we had discussed and analyzed the recently revised redistricting plan for the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, given that they chose to shrink its size from 11 to 9 members. This redistricting plan was drawn with five white and four black majority districts, according to 2010 Census data. What this […]
Decision 2014: Shrinking the (East Baton Rouge Parish School) Board
Decision 2014: Shrinking the (East Baton Rouge Parish School) Board Last night, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board voted 6-5 to reduce its membership from 11 to 9 members.
Decision 2014: Forecasting the November 2014 midterm election results
Will the 2014 midterm elections be a Republican blowout year, a mildly Republican year, or a year where Democrats “break even”? That is the central question of this election cycle, and you will get substantially different answers, depending on which political observers you talk to.
Decision 2014: Mississippi US Senate GOP runoff postmortem
Background (UPDATED 6/25 AM) With all but two precincts in Hinds County reporting, Senator Thad Cochran has improbably come back from what was to be a near certain defeat. How did he do so? Quite simply, Senator Cochran expanded the primary electorate by getting Democrats to vote in the Republican runoff – runoff turnout was 18% […]
Decision 2014: Mississippi US Senate GOP Runoff (JMCEL’s election night guide)
Background For the past three election cycles (2010, 2012, and 2014), Republican primaries/runoffs have an element of drama to them, as an ongoing tug of war has developed between those allied with “the Establishment” and those who are more sympathetic to party activists and are more TEA Party friendly.
Decision 2014 – Testing the TEA Party in North Carolina and Ohio
JMCEL’s Scorecard Obama job approval (5/7 Real Clear Politics average): 44-52% approve/disapprove (was 43-52% approve/disapprove); Generic Ballot (5/7 Real Clear Politics average): 44-43% Republican/Democrat (was 41-41% Democrat/Republican); “Obamacare” support (5/7 Real Clear Politics average): 41-52% support/oppose (was 39-54% support/oppose); Congressional filing has closed in 35 states that have 366 House and 26 Senate races; Upcoming […]
Decision 2014: Handicapping the US Senate races
BACKGROUND In general, midterm elections are a good barometer of what the public thinks of the party in power. What makes this midterm election interesting is that the US Senate is up for grabs – Democrats currently control that chamber 55-45.