My brother pointed out an interesting result in yesterday's elections.
The best showing of any Democrat was Jerry Brown's 58.6%. In comparison, Republican candidates broke 60% in six states, with incumbents topping 70% in Tennessee, South Dakota and Nevada.
I looked at 2006 for comparison. It was a bad year for the party, but Republicans topped 60 percent in multiple elections, including Hawaii and Connecticut. 2008 also saw two Republican Governors reelected with 70+%.
In the Republican year of 2010, Democrat Mike Beebe of Arkansas was reelected with 64%, while Cuomo got 61% as an AG running for Governor.
I'm curious as to explanations for why all Democratic candidates for Governor did so poorly. Did Democrats do something very wrong? Is it just a geography thing, with Republicans having more really safe states? Is it a result of the nationalization of gubernatorial elections? Are there other factors?
This is fascinating. I do think that Brown could approach 60% and if California were broken into several Midwest-sized states, he would have broken 60% in many of those states, too... ;-P
That said, as others have pointed out, the continued competitiveness on the gubernatorial level in dem-dominated New England states is a marked contrast to the Democratic electoral failures down south.
