And independents again siding down with the republicans. So the swing voters in the middle by a two to one margin tip that. They balance the parliament. It does feel as if these swing voters are the ones that dont vote in midterms and theyre the ones that they look at i dont like congress. Whatever the party in control of congress, they end up supporting in the presidency. Could that be a theory . Its possible. Part of the problem is people could only use the congress to balance the presidency but the congress is wildly unpopular. Its like pedophiles and terrorists are the only people with lower Approval Ratings than the United States congress. The other thing for republicans of course is most of the governors and state legislatures are elected in midterm cycles too. It helps them build for controlling in 2012. They have a buildin advantage. Is the house are we going to have another 40year cycle essentially when it comes to the next time the house gets control. Well be back with more in just a moment. Back now with more on the new book the strongholdhow republicans captured congress but surrendered the white house. Lets talk about the capturing of congress a little bit. In the 1991 census and redistricting whenever you had a republican Justice Department. Even though democrats controlled a majority of the states at the time. Thats right. With governors and or state legislatures. What is more important to have . That Justice Department is the party having the Justice Department that sort of oversees the process that decides who controls congress for ten years or having control of the state legislatures and the governorships. Ultimately you need the state legislatures and the governorships. In the mid1980s when you asked republicans and they started talking about it we should have race blind districting. They didnt want it. And then the Supreme Court ruling said its okay to configure race. Someone sitting there says why dont we get together with the congressional black kaucaucus. Between 1980 and 1990 the minority population grew 17 . The minority in the house of representatives doubled. It was the biggest one prior that that and the biggest one since. It was eight democrat and three republican. After the process, it became 8 republican and three democrats and they were three africanamerican democrats at the time. You saw the immediate switch. I guess my next question is, it took republicans essentially 40 years to get to get the house. A good lock on it. They won it once or twice. It was 48 40 out of 48 years. Right now, it doesnt look like 2022 the next time democrats might have a shot as truly having the math on their side to win the house. I think thats exactly right. If you know your deeper history, the rise of the Republican Party after the new deal, nixon being the first president not to carry either chamber of commerce. Theyve lost them back in the same order. They lose it with bush. They lose the senate back they hold onto the house. Its the first one they win back. Boehner is the only republican speaker in history to hold it for two terms without a senate majority. He will argue thats the most important firewall to have. He told me when the house is on fire you choose between saving the van goe and the baby. The house is our baby. They have the votes and governors to do it. The other theory of course is surrendering the white house. Why cant you have it all . We wont repeat the whole balancing i understand that. Why do you say they surrendered it . Because one of the consequences for the republicans, they got 1. 5 million fewer votes and yet held the majority for boehner. This cycle, they represent a minority of the country when you add up what the senators represent. The republicans have been a Minority Party relative to the share of the population for 40 years. Sometimes they represent 51 of the country. Sometimes they got 49 of the seats and represent 44 of the country. Its a small state advantage in the senate and the clustering of democrats. Whats your point, tom. If youre putting the canary in the coal mine and its on its death bed, its safe to go in were winning majorities here youre not doing things like talking to the new voters. Youre going back to your district in texas and talking to mostly white voters. You have become a problem for your party. This is the argument that some republicans will say has happened which is that are concerned about the inability of the latino voters is they redistricted latino voters out of their houston districts. And so those guys never learned to talk to them. Even when they get to the senate this goes to your point here theyve never actually had to talk to a broader erect rat. Now we dont have any not white voters in our districts. It made perfect sense to wenin but it has a longterm consequence. The republicans have a choice between a fullblown recovery which they sort of set out in the governing opportunity project, or they can keep talking about moving the states, eliminating the 17th amendment. Its tinkering its squeezing as many seats out of it. Thats exactly right. I dont know the answer to that. Im a liberal. Im trying in this book you are clinical. Thats their choice for them to make moving forward. If youre a political junky, stop it. Always always very good to read. One of these people