Elections

2008 is gearing up to be one of the most interesting elections I can remember. I'm curious to see what comes of the Democratic party through all of this - it's probably the first time in decades where they have the opportunity to "redefine" themselves as a party, and I believe that gives them great opportunity. A few core values says pretty much all most people care to know about a political party, but some of the underlying forces at work are far more interesting to me.

The way I see it (at least from this distant vantage point,) the Democrats are in a similar place that Newt Gingrich and his followers were in 15 or so years ago - reeling from defeat, little sense of self, and a vastly divided party. Oftentimes, that's a perfect recipe for success - as long as you can find someone to take you in the right direction. The Democratic party has been at least as vastly divided (if not more) the past seven or eight years, something that has obviously shown in recent election years. They're struggling to maintain control of the Senate, taking blows to their reputation in the House (who ever said Congresspeople were supposed to hold up to their word?) and have only really had a single thing to cling to as an identity - not Republican.

I'm not going to go into my own opinions of what should happen, but I can definitely say that I'm very interested in seeing how the next year and a half play out on Capitol Hill. Change is good, and I think there will be a healthy dose of that no matter what the outcome. Time to throw in some popcorn, snag a slurpee and watch the show.