It was said earlier this decade that there was an "emerging Democratic majority". Soon, many young and minority voters would be voting and Democrats would reap the rewards. It focused on states like North Carolina, Virginia and many mountain states as potential Democratic strongholds because of growing young and Hispanic populations.
My question is where did this emerging Democratic majority go? In 2009, Virginia elected a hard right Republican governor in a landslide and in 2010, Democrats lost three House seats here. In North Carolina, Republicans took over the legislature for the first time since Reconstruction and hard right Senator Richard Burr was easily reelected.
Part of the problem is that while young and Hispanic voters are Democratic, white and older voters are more Republican than ever.
Unless 2012 sweeps Democrats back into a big majority in the House and state legislatures, this theory of an emerging Democratic majority will look like nothing but wishful thinking.
Back in the late 1960's, one writer talked of an emerging Republican majority. However, it took until 1994 for Republicans to take control of Congress. Maybe it will take until 2034 for Democrats to take control again.