Larry Sabato Party Quotations

Since Vietnam, the Democratic Party has been viewed as the weaker on national security issues. Who better to make the case than veterans of the war? It's hard to accuse them of a lack of patriotism.

It demonstrated to the public for the first time that Bush no longer controls his own party in Congress. That's a mark of leadership that people do pay attention to.

The only thing we can be sure of is that the party that wins will exaggerate the results, and the party that loses will downplay the results.

As far as others in his party are concerned, Simmons' district is highly competitive and in a strong Democratic year, it could easily be lost. ... These favors are done for Simmons simply to save the seat.

Why risk his excellent relationship with the current and future junior senator of Nevada to score some points with a few party activists? He's being practical. Successful public people are always practical.

Off-year races are used for bragging rights by the party that gains a seat or two, but the truth is, they are only sometimes an indicator of the future.

They shore up the party base, making sure that the faithful turn out, and they show that they think the races are important, which sometimes they aren't.

They're watching, ... Warner has the responsibility as party leader to come up with someone who can give Allen a run for his money so Allen has to spend down the millions he's accumulating for his all-but-announced presidential bid.

The Republicans I've been talking to have said, 'Oh, the public is cynical about indictments, they happen so often.' Well, that's whistling past the graveyard, because the average voter is only going to remember that one of the big Republican head honchos in Congress was indicted. They won't remember the name or position, but they'll remember it says Congress is corrupt and maybe the majority party is corrupt.

Because of the structure of the contemporary American party system, every president is polarizing.

A dangerous thesis has taken hold among many in the GOP: that it might be better to lose the '06 election and re-group. In American history, when a faction in the majority party decides the party is tired and could benefit from some time in the wilderness, the voters usually oblige. Most recently, the latest issue of Washington Monthly includes a cover story [link] featuring seven such articles from prominent Republican strategists, insiders and commentators.

It's a good thing for Richardson. What other presidential candidate in the Democratic Party would be called upon by an administration in a nonpartisan way to represent American interests in a dangerous place?

We can always go too far, and frequently do. Is it a harbinger? Who knows. But it's unadulterated bad news for Bush and the Republican Party and great news for Democrats as they attempt to make a comeback in 2006.

To have a chance, Lucas must both demonstrate he still has the fire in the belly to serve in Congress and succeed in making this race as much of a personal popularity contest as it can be. Still, you can bet Davis will seek to tie his opponent to his party label at every turn, and we give the freshman Republican an early leg up.