The two major political parties have any number of reasons to be thankful this holiday season.
Democrats are grateful no single candidate has emerged as a clear front-runner in the GOP presidential field. Republicans are thankful President Barack Obama?s approval ratings are in the tank.
Continue ReadingBut both parties also have a few less obvious reasons to feel fortunate. Here?s POLITICO?s Thanksgiving Day look at 10 of them.
For the Democrats
Elizabeth Warren
It?s hard to think of a congressional candidate Democrats are more passionate about than Warren, the consumer advocate and former chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel who has launched a campaign against Massachusetts GOP Sen. Scott Brown.
For Democrats, the attraction to Warren is simple: She?s an attractive challenger against one of their top Senate targets, and she offers an unapologetic brand of liberalism that many in the party feel has been lacking in the Obama White House.
For someone who hasn?t run for office before, she?s off to a strong start: During the first six weeks of her campaign, Warren raised an astonishing $3.15 million, 96 percent of which came in the form of donations of $100 or less ? the largest single-quarter haul of any Senate candidate this year.
Ohio?s SB5
After a year in which GOP governors stuck it to organized labor, labor finally got payback a few weeks ago.
By repealing the Ohio measure known as Senate Bill 5, Democrats dealt a stiff blow to GOP Gov. John Kasich, who had staked much of his first year in office on pushing the controversial anti-collective bargaining rights legislation into law.
The convincing off-year election victory came after labor forces fell short earlier this year in a vigorous recall effort in Wisconsin, where Democrats sought to oust a number of Republican state legislators who supported Gov. Scott Walker?s anti-union legislation.
After a 2010 midterm election in which Republicans won big in Ohio, the SB5 win proved that Democrats aren?t down for the count in the crucial swing state. For that, state and national Democrats are very, very grateful.
Operation Neptune Spear
For Obama, there was no more gratifying accomplishment than the raid that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden.
The president won praise from both parties for the success of the mission ? code-named Operation Neptune Spear ? that eliminated the terrorist who was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks and had eluded capture for nearly a decade.
In the national security sphere, there?s no greater accomplishment ? and it?s reflected in the polls, which show the president?s healthy approval ratings when it comes to foreign policy and national security.
How important was the success of Operation Neptune Spear? It ranks as one of the rare actions nearly everyone, in both parties, can be thankful for this year.
Steve Beshear
President Obama and the national Democratic Party might not be popular in Kentucky, but that didn?t stop Beshear, the state?s Democratic governor, from winning reelection in a landslide early this month.
Now, his campaign playbook is a one-stop manual for how Democrats can win in conservative states where the president is lagging: distance yourself from the national party and run as a nonideological, pro-business leader who?s willing to work with Republicans as well as Democrats. Best of all, Beshear managed the feat without completely throwing his president and party to the wolves.
When the dust settled on Election Day, Beshear defeated GOP state Senate President David Williams 56 percent to 35 percent, an impressive margin of victory for an incumbent governor in any state ? let alone a Democrat in a state where Obama will be lucky to win 40 percent of the vote in 2012.
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