Reid Wilson's blog

Searching for a cure for what has so far proved a fatal disease, several top Republican consultants argued their party's candidates must run as independent brands and shed the party label that has become so traumatized.

A decade and a half after the 1994 elections in which the National Rifle Association played such a big role, guns are not likely to be a significant vote-mover, given that both parties have shown a reluctance to take bold steps on the issue.

After 17 months, 18 million votes and 1,600 pledged delegates, the only question remaining for U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton now is whether she will spend the fall campaigning as part of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's Democratic presidential ticket or on behalf of it.

Forget Jack Abramoff and Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Tom DeLay and Mark Foley could prove to be the least of the Republican Party's worries. Disturbing surveys, and even some GOP strategists, are beginning to suggest a new trauma for their party, one that could portend a return to the dark winter of the so-called permanent minority, when Democrats held control of Congress for four decades.

U.S. Rep. Vito Fossella: Getty Images PhotoWhen New York Rep. Vito Fossella, the last Republican to hold a seat that touches any part of New York City, was arrested for driving while intoxicated three weeks ago and admitted an extramarital affair that had continued for a number of years, House Republicans expressed dismay at their party's fortunes. It meant another marginal seat -- a district that voted once for President Bush and once for Al Gore -- could be in jeopardy.

In the pursuit of an image that transcends partisanship, Barack Obama is walking a fine line between building a new politics with himself atop the pedestal and engaging in the old-school, bare-knuckle politics it takes to win a modern campaign. The truth is, instead of running a campaign that avoids the gutter in favor of the high road, Obama's team is running exactly the same campaign as every other successful presidential campaign in recent history, and the same one John McCain and Hillary Clinton are running; Obama's people are just doing a better job of it so far

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Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters gathered in Washington recently that 2008 has the potential to be what he termed a “tectonic” election, in which the electorate's views of the parties fundamentally shift. If two coming special elections are any indication, both parties in Washington may find out sooner rather than later whether a shift of the underlying American political landscape has in fact migrated to the left.