http://www.patrickottenhoff.com Political and Online Consultant Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:19:56 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [published in Politico] When Karl Rove set out to get George W. Bush reelected in 2004, he targeted the Expedition-driving, megachurch-attending, Panera-eating, McMansion-living voters in places like Loudoun County, Va. Bush won Loudoun with 56 percent on his way to a comfortable victory statewide. On Tuesday, Republican Bob McDonnell will also win ... http://www.patrickottenhoff.com/deeds-forgot-the-new-independents/ [Published at New Geography] When Andrew Jackson roamed the hills of the Carolinas, northern Georgia and eastern Tennessee, it was still frontier, and for generations the southern Piedmont remained economically and culturally isolated.  Today, however, Old Hickory might be surprised to learn what this area has become. Atlanta, a railroad junction with ... http://www.patrickottenhoff.com/southern-piedmont-where-nascar-meets-the-nasdaq/ In an interview with the Columbus Dispatch this afternoon, Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) blamed the recent struggles of the GOP squarely on “southerners.”  When asked about the “GOP’s biggest problem,” he replied: “We got too many Jim DeMints (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburns (R-Ok.). It’s the southerners. They get on TV and ... http://www.patrickottenhoff.com/voinovich-blames-gop%e2%80%99s-troubles-on-%e2%80%9csoutherners%e2%80%9d/ A couple of very prominent national pundits have recently declared the Sun Belt to be in its “twilight.”  Atlantic contributor Richard Florida suggested that the region’s boom was a façade of “fictitious housing wealth,” and AP columnist Todd Lewin piggy-backed by predicting that “those Miracle-Gro states” will decay into the ... http://www.patrickottenhoff.com/reports-of-the-sun-belt%e2%80%99s-demise-are-greatly-exaggerated/ In the first Democratic primary for Virginia governor in ages, the boy from Bath County embarrassed the two guys from NoVA.  Creigh Deeds won a strong 50% over Terry McAuliffe’s 26% and Brian Moran’s 24%.  What’s striking is that he won ten out of 11 congressional districts, even beating Moran ... http://www.patrickottenhoff.com/virginia-primary-map-creigh-sweeps-from-clarendon-to-coal-country/ Chris Murray at the interesting demographics/politics blog Election Dissection and Burt Solomon, writing in the Post, are just two of the commentators who have taken a look at how SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s experience growing up in the rough-and-tumble housing projects in The Bronx’s Soundview neighborhood shape her outlook on ... http://www.patrickottenhoff.com/obama-sotomayor-and-the-urbanism-of-the-federal-government/ My friend and former colleague Erin McPike reported last week that Mitt Romney is moving his official residence from Boston to his vacation home at Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. The first thing that came to mind, of course, is that he’s positioning himself for the state’s first-in-the-nation primary in 2012.  ... http://www.patrickottenhoff.com/romney-finds-a-home-in-new-hampshire/ [Cross-posted at The Electoral Map] Tom Brokaw recently penned a column in the New York Times suggesting that this recession is an opportunity to press the reset button and that one aspect we should focus on reforming is the efficiency of government. Specifically, Brokaw suggests that state governments could save billions ... http://www.patrickottenhoff.com/efficiency-through-consolidation/ Many bloggers hope that their site can attract sufficient traffic so that they can sell ads and make some income on the side.  For the best of the best, this business model works. Kos, for example, has hauled in a pretty penny from ads.  But I bet that if you ... http://www.patrickottenhoff.com/blogging-your-way-to-the-bank/ Can't wait to see how Campbell takes this... http://www.patrickottenhoff.com/vinny-and-danny-boy-botch-cutler-trade/