What we’ll now see: Democrats coming together more and more as Democrats. Republicans coming together more and more as Republicans. Those not taking definitive and aggressive sides one way or another being accused of being on the other side. But both sides are going to need the people in the middle and/or the people who don’t belong to either party. Will the most strident, aggressive side win? Or will this be a year when each party is scrutinized more by voters because the issues are so huge and the state of the country is almost (there is Phil Gramm) universally considered “challenged”?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.