Coalition Or Club?

The GOP is at risk of becoming a regional, monochromatic party.

Saturday, May 2, 2009
by Ronald Brownstein
National Journal

When Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switched to the Democratic Party this week, the response from Republican leaders was unequivocal: Don't let the door hit you on your way out.

Of course, they said that while standing, metaphorically speaking, in a building with no roof, broken windows, and collapsing walls.

In one sense, Specter's defection merely continues a generation-long trend. Since the 1960s, each party's electoral coalition has grown more ideologically homogenous as conservatives have migrated away from the Democratic Party, and liberals and moderates have moved away from the GOP. That ideological resorting has thinned the ranks of Republican House and Senate members from left-leaning areas such as the Northeast and the West Coast and has culled Democrats from conservative regions, principally the South.

(More here.)