February 11, 2009 3:55 PM
- Text
Housing Slump Weakens GOP Grip On Exurbs
John Edwards leaves a federal courthouse during the ninth day of jury deliberations in his trial on charges of campaign corruption in Greensboro, N.C., Thursday, May 31, 2012. Edwards has pleaded not guilty to six counts related to campaign finance violations over nearly $1 million from two wealthy donors used to help hide the Democrat's pregnant mistress as he sought the White House in 2008. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
The Skinny is Keach Hagey's take on the top news of the day and the best of the Internet.
During the last election cycle, if you lived in one of those sprawling outer suburban regions where new subdivision seem to sprout like mushrooms in the night, chances are good you voted Republican.
But now that the housing crisis has left many of those new houses with embarrassing "foreclosure" signs in front of them, you might be changing your tune, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The change is troubling for Republican strategists. As recently as 2004, high-growth exurban areas were fertile ground for GOP organizers, who rallied conservative volunteers from churches and community groups to turn out new voters.
Take Loudon County, a once-largely rural area on the western fringes of Washington that has become one of the fastest-growing regions in the U.S. In 2004, Loudon County voted to reelect President Bush by 56 percent. The nine-member County Board of Supervisors consists of six Republicans, one Democrat and two independents who are former Republicans.
But with local elections scheduled today, the ranks of independents and Democrats appear to be growing, the Times reports. There are as many lawn placards supporting Democrats as Republicans in some neighborhoods.
Residents say that fears over the housing slump are driving the shift. Nationally, foreclosure filings have about doubled, but in high-growth exurbs like Loudon County, they have escalated far faster. In 2005, the county recorded 12 deeds of foreclosure. In the first nine months of 2007, it was 643 - a 50-fold increase in two years.
"I don't like seeing that," said Karla Schroeder, who once used to consider herself a Republican but now says she's independent. "We think about moving, and I worry about whether we could sell our house."
MSNBC Makes A Left Turn
Bashing Bush is good for ratings, executives at MSNBC have discovered, so they are reaching out for a bigger club.
Two executives from the cable channel's parent company whispered (anonymously, of course) in the ear of the New York Times yesterday that they were talking to Rosie O'Donnell about a prime-time show on MSNBC.
Hiring O'Donnell would be a significant nod to both ratings and the left. The loudmouthed host made waves on "The View" during the nine months ending this spring by lamenting the unabated casualties in the Iraq war and advocating the right to gay marriage - and in the process sending rating skyward. Rumors are swirling the channel might pit her against CNN's "Larry King Live" and Fox News' "Hannity & Colmes" at 9 p.m.
But the leftward tilt is evident whether or not Rosie signs on. MSNBC is already presenting a three-hour block of nighttime talk - Chris Matthews's "Hardball" at 7 p.m., "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" at 8 p.m. and "Live with Dan Abrams" at 9 p.m. - that expends a fair amount of its air sticking it to the Bush administration. (Olbermann asked the president to resign in July; two months later, he hosted the channel's coverage of Bush's prime-time address.) The one early evening program that doesn't is "Tucker" at 6 p.m. with Tucker Carlson, and it is in "real danger of being cancelled," according to the Times.
Having a cable channel that's throwing rotten vegetables at the administration as enthusiastically as Fox News does cartwheels for it would seem like natural business niche-seeking. But the Times points out a catch: "Having a prime-time lineup that tilts every more demonstrably to the left could be risky for General Electric, MSNBC's parent company, which is subject to legislation and regulation far afield of the cable landscape."
In other words, MSNBC's parents have a lot more to lose if one of those rotten tomatoes actually hits Cheney in the double chin.
New York's Clogged Airspace Ruins Flying For Everyone
Start spreading the news: If you want to be a part of it, you'd better drive or take the train, because New York's airports are so clogged they are singlehandedly ruining the service averages for the entire industry.
It's well known that this year will go on record as the country's worst for flight delays and airport gridlock. But USA Today adds an extra twist for New Yorkers: Most of the nation's aviation system is actually performing relatively well and reducing delays.
It's the volume of late flights at the New York City area's major airports - John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and Philadelphia, which shares New York's airspace - that surged so much this year that it swamped the entire aviation system.
According to a USA Today analysis of flight delay data and interviews with airline executives, the largest 31 airports outside New York saw an 8 percent improvement in delays so far this year over the same months last year. Meanwhile, delays at the four New York-area airports jumped nearly 23 percent, driving a 3.7 percent in total delays nationwide.
"It's as if there are now two different aviation systems in the USA," the paper reports. "In New York, ther are too many scheduled flights and hemmed-in airports that can't expand. But in other major airporst, new runways, incremental improvements in air-traffic procedures and airlines' moves to improve efficiency have begun to make a measurable difference to travelers."
For many travelers, the key to a tolerable trip is simple: Avoid the Big Apple.
A NOTE TO READERS: The Skinny is available via e-mail. Click here and follow the directions to register to receive it in your inbox each weekday morning.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. During the last election cycle, if you lived in one of those sprawling outer suburban regions where new subdivision seem to sprout like mushrooms in the night, chances are good you voted Republican.
But now that the housing crisis has left many of those new houses with embarrassing "foreclosure" signs in front of them, you might be changing your tune, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The change is troubling for Republican strategists. As recently as 2004, high-growth exurban areas were fertile ground for GOP organizers, who rallied conservative volunteers from churches and community groups to turn out new voters.
Take Loudon County, a once-largely rural area on the western fringes of Washington that has become one of the fastest-growing regions in the U.S. In 2004, Loudon County voted to reelect President Bush by 56 percent. The nine-member County Board of Supervisors consists of six Republicans, one Democrat and two independents who are former Republicans.
But with local elections scheduled today, the ranks of independents and Democrats appear to be growing, the Times reports. There are as many lawn placards supporting Democrats as Republicans in some neighborhoods.
Residents say that fears over the housing slump are driving the shift. Nationally, foreclosure filings have about doubled, but in high-growth exurbs like Loudon County, they have escalated far faster. In 2005, the county recorded 12 deeds of foreclosure. In the first nine months of 2007, it was 643 - a 50-fold increase in two years.
"I don't like seeing that," said Karla Schroeder, who once used to consider herself a Republican but now says she's independent. "We think about moving, and I worry about whether we could sell our house."
MSNBC Makes A Left Turn
Bashing Bush is good for ratings, executives at MSNBC have discovered, so they are reaching out for a bigger club.
Two executives from the cable channel's parent company whispered (anonymously, of course) in the ear of the New York Times yesterday that they were talking to Rosie O'Donnell about a prime-time show on MSNBC.
Hiring O'Donnell would be a significant nod to both ratings and the left. The loudmouthed host made waves on "The View" during the nine months ending this spring by lamenting the unabated casualties in the Iraq war and advocating the right to gay marriage - and in the process sending rating skyward. Rumors are swirling the channel might pit her against CNN's "Larry King Live" and Fox News' "Hannity & Colmes" at 9 p.m.
But the leftward tilt is evident whether or not Rosie signs on. MSNBC is already presenting a three-hour block of nighttime talk - Chris Matthews's "Hardball" at 7 p.m., "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" at 8 p.m. and "Live with Dan Abrams" at 9 p.m. - that expends a fair amount of its air sticking it to the Bush administration. (Olbermann asked the president to resign in July; two months later, he hosted the channel's coverage of Bush's prime-time address.) The one early evening program that doesn't is "Tucker" at 6 p.m. with Tucker Carlson, and it is in "real danger of being cancelled," according to the Times.
Having a cable channel that's throwing rotten vegetables at the administration as enthusiastically as Fox News does cartwheels for it would seem like natural business niche-seeking. But the Times points out a catch: "Having a prime-time lineup that tilts every more demonstrably to the left could be risky for General Electric, MSNBC's parent company, which is subject to legislation and regulation far afield of the cable landscape."
In other words, MSNBC's parents have a lot more to lose if one of those rotten tomatoes actually hits Cheney in the double chin.
New York's Clogged Airspace Ruins Flying For Everyone
Start spreading the news: If you want to be a part of it, you'd better drive or take the train, because New York's airports are so clogged they are singlehandedly ruining the service averages for the entire industry.
It's well known that this year will go on record as the country's worst for flight delays and airport gridlock. But USA Today adds an extra twist for New Yorkers: Most of the nation's aviation system is actually performing relatively well and reducing delays.
It's the volume of late flights at the New York City area's major airports - John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and Philadelphia, which shares New York's airspace - that surged so much this year that it swamped the entire aviation system.
According to a USA Today analysis of flight delay data and interviews with airline executives, the largest 31 airports outside New York saw an 8 percent improvement in delays so far this year over the same months last year. Meanwhile, delays at the four New York-area airports jumped nearly 23 percent, driving a 3.7 percent in total delays nationwide.
"It's as if there are now two different aviation systems in the USA," the paper reports. "In New York, ther are too many scheduled flights and hemmed-in airports that can't expand. But in other major airporst, new runways, incremental improvements in air-traffic procedures and airlines' moves to improve efficiency have begun to make a measurable difference to travelers."
For many travelers, the key to a tolerable trip is simple: Avoid the Big Apple.
A NOTE TO READERS: The Skinny is available via e-mail. Click here and follow the directions to register to receive it in your inbox each weekday morning.
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