Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

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October 03, 2009

Not Like 1994

Ezra Klein says it's hard to see Republicans making serious gains in next year's midterm elections because the Republican brand is still in serious trouble.

"Politics is generally viewed as a zero-sum game: When one party gains, the other loses. But Republicans have pursued a strategy turning politics into a negative-sum game: Both parties lose. They have effectively harmed the Democrats' agenda but done so at great cost to their own favorability numbers."

In short, "the comparisons to 1994 are missing something important. In 1994, Republicans managed to obstruct Clinton's agenda in a way that effectively established them as an alternative. In 2009, they are battling Obama's agenda in a manner that's totally discrediting their party."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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