Last week I attended an excellent presentation by Amy Walter (National Editor of the Cook Political Report) about the US elections. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and informative evening. [held at the Conference Centre of the British Library - there are some excellent events on there, do say hello if you attend a future event & see me there - forthcoming events can be seen by clicking on the relevant month - October 2014; November 2014; December 2014. It's also worth keeping an eye on the Eccles Centre website - http://www.bl.uk/ecclescentre
Ms Walter's talk, and subsequent Q&A session was an excellent briefing for the forthcoming elections. She looked at the political map of the US, and explained why congressional elections were very different from Presidential elections. The Republicans are on the back foot at the Presidential level, but on very solid ground for the Congressionals. The impact of the tea party and voter ID laws were discussed.
The Cook Report website can be found at http://cookpolitical.com/ - Amy Walter's weekly column
can be found at http://cookpolitical.com/author/amy-walter/
Her recent comment about the 2016 Presidential Election is worth keeping in mind - "The most important skill for those remaining on the field is that of endurance. Pay attention to how candidates do when they are under duress, not just how they are doing while in the limelight. One bad week/month does not equal the end of a campaign. A bad response to that bad week/month, however, suggests a campaign that’s not equipped for the long- haul."
