Senate News & Analysis

It’s Uphill All the Way for Social Conservatives

by Stuart Rothenberg July 3, 2013 · 10:17 AM EDT

Although the seemingly unstoppable march of cultural liberalism took pause during the years of Ronald Reagan and even into the 1990s, it is back on track. Liberals will applaud it and conservatives will dread it, but it is silly to deny its strength.

Television and movies reflect our…

Massachusetts Senate Moves to Safe After Markey Win

by Nathan L. Gonzales July 2, 2013 · 11:04 AM EDT

After three consecutive competitive Senate elections in Massachusetts, it looks like we’re in for a dry spell.

Rep. Edward J. Markey, a Democrat, won the June 25 special election by a convincing 10 points, and there is little evidence he will be vulnerable when the seat is up…

Massachusetts’ Unspecial Senate Election

by Stuart Rothenberg June 28, 2013 · 1:56 PM EDT

Democrat Ed Markey’s victory over Republican Gabriel Gomez in this week’s special election in Massachusetts may well have been inevitable, considering the state’s strong Democratic bent, the decision by national Democratic strategists to do anything and everything that they needed to do to keep the seat, and the hesitancy…

Gomez-Sanford Comparison on Obamacare Fails the Smell Test

by Stuart Rothenberg June 28, 2013 · 9:53 AM EDT

You only need to look at the first paragraph of an “opinion” piece on Roll Call’s website to see that it wasn’t worthy of being posted on our website – or anyone’s. I’m not even going to include a link because I don’t want anyone to read it. 

Is the Senate More Volatile Than the House in 2014?

by Stuart Rothenberg June 26, 2013 · 11:16 AM EDT

Next year, voters will go to the polls to elect 435 House members and 35 United States senators, but it seems quite possible that there will be more net change in the Senate than in the House.

If this occurs, it would be worth noting, since it has…

I Would Fly 5,000 Miles Just to Help You Get Elected

by Nathan L. Gonzales June 21, 2013 · 9:41 AM EDT

Rep. Edward J. Markey is getting widespread support from Massachusetts to Hawaii in his special-election bid for Senate in the Bay State. Wait, what? Hawaii?

Last weekend, freshman Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, took to the campaign trail along with a large collection of state, local and federal officeholders…

Why We Never Moved the Massachusetts Senate Race to Toss-Up

by Stuart Rothenberg June 19, 2013 · 9:36 AM EDT

Minutes after Gabriel Gomez was declared the winner of his party’s special primary on the evening of April 30, I tweeted that Gomez’s victory assured that the Massachusetts Senate special election would be “interesting.” And it has been.

But as the June 25 balloting approaches, it is clear…

The Barn Jacket as a Secret Campaign Weapon

by Nathan L. Gonzales June 13, 2013 · 2:53 PM EDT

Election Day is still more than a year away, but Illinois Republican Bruce Rauner is already deploying a popular campaign weapon: the barn jacket.

Rauner released two television ads on Tuesday in his bid to become the next governor in the Prairie State. In “Back to Work,” the…

Search for Anti-Mike Rounds Continues in South Dakota

by Nathan L. Gonzales June 13, 2013 · 9:33 AM EDT

Conservative groups are on the record with their distrust and distaste for former Gov. Mike Rounds in South Dakota, but efforts to find an alternative for the Senate race have come up short so far.

Rounds is the front-runner for the GOP nomination. He’s also the only Republican…

When the Nation Has the Blahs …

by Stuart Rothenberg June 12, 2013 · 9:37 AM EDT

Is the nation suffering from a national case of hypochondria, or are Americans rightly worried about the country’s future?

The answer depends, in part, on your (political) point of view. But it’s also true that every bit of good news — rising home prices, rising stock prices and…