The Republicans: no more party of no | James Antle | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

James Antle, in the Guardian (London):  No More Party of NO

John Boehner - tears of joy

The Democrats lost this election because they failed to appreciate the fundamental disconnect between the two distinct groups of voters who brought them to power in the first place: the Democrats' progressive base, which wanted to move the country to the left, and the independents, who merely wanted to be rid of George W Bush. Satisfying the first group always carried the risk of alienating the second.

And alienate them they did. In 2006, 57% of independents voted for Democratic House candidates. Two years later, they broke for Barack Obama by eight points. This year, independents voted 55% to 40% for Republican congressional candidates. That's a shift from a 18-point Democratic advantage to a 15-point Republican one, in just four years.

The Republicans now face the same risk the Democrats did after the last two elections, and they don't seem to be any more aware of it. Their conservative base, typified by the Tea Party, wants to move the country to the right. The independent voters merely wanted to rebuke Obama and fire Nancy Pelosi. In the process, they replaced a Congress that was to the left of the electorate as a whole with one that is to its right.