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The Democratic Strategist

Political Strategy for a Permanent Democratic Majority

Political Strategy Notes

Postpone the sequester, say 54 percent of respondents in a new Bloomberg news poll.
The Monitor’s Brad Knickerbocker has more numbers in his post,”Sequester and public opinion? Advantage Obama. (+video)“.
Anna Chu breaks down “The Impact of the Sequester on Communities Across America” at The Center for American Progress web pages.
Despite all of the Democratic anxieties about the sequester, Lisa Lerer’s Bloomberg post “Democrats Zero In on Vulnerable Republicans Tied to Cuts” reveals a major political liability for the GOP, particularly in districts which are disproportionately impacted by defense cuts.
Ezra Klein explains at Wonkblog why Bob Woodward’s gripe that the Obama Administration is “moving the goalposts” on the sequester is a big stretch.
Claude S. Fisher’s “Can Liberals Get a Witness?” at the Boston Review illuminates the relationship of religious belief to voting. Among his revelations: “In the 2000s, 49 percent of white Gore-Kerry-Obama voters were church avoiders, nineteen points more than the white Bush-McCain voters. Put another way, nearly all of the white Americans who drifted away from organized religion in the last few decades were liberals…The latest election reinforced the trend. Obama lost weekly church attendees (of all races) by 20 points, while winning those who never attended by 28 points…Obama lost white evangelicals by 57 points and won the unaffiliated by 44 points, but white evangelical voters had twice the numbers of the unaffiliated of all races. Fisher goes on to suggest that the disconnection is a formidable obstacle for Dems in the south.
“A majority of Kentucky voters say they favor amending the state constitution to allow convicted felons to regain their right to vote once they serve their full sentences,” reports Andrew Wolfson for the Lousiville Courier-Journal.
24/7 Wall St. profiles “The States with the Strongest and Weakest Unions.”
You won’t find a more thorough, state-by-state update on how the Governor’s races are shaping up than “Red Alert, Part 2 – the Governors” by Larry J. Sabato, Kyle Kondik and Geoffrey Skelley at Sabato’s Crystal Ball.
Rob Kall has an OpEd News podcast, “NeuroPolitics; Darren Schreiber Does Brain Studies that Differentiate Democrats and Republicans.” Among Kall’s notes accompanying the podcast: “Amygdala activations, associated with externally directed reactions to risk, are stronger in Republicans, while insula activations, associated with internally directed reactions to affective perceptions, are stronger in Democrats. These results suggest an internal vs. external difference in evaluative process…” OK, now I understand…

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