| #1 The most likely democrat evolution will be much like the rise of the post-Eisenhower "country-club republican" faction. They will be a group of democrats who give support to republican efforts in exchange for largesse. Because they bring home pork to their home district, their seats will be safer and they will gain seniority in the democrat party, squeezing out the most radical. They will become comfortable in the minority, and the party will only recover once it gets new blood with new ideas and a new paradigm for success. By that time, the republicans will have faded a great deal and be in need of long-term reform. |