This is from an old story on 538.com (which if you're interested in politics and NOT reading 538, that needs to change) http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/12/red-states-gaining-ground-but-migration.htmlThe analysis basically outlines what has been a growing trend in the past decade, or historically blue states losing population and historically red states gaining. I think on the surface that might be something that a progressive would be worried about, putting their control of Congress at risk but I don't think that's the whole story. The states gaining seats are almost universally Southern or Western states, and they include many states who Nate Silver is classifying as Red, but who went for Obama in '08 or at least where Obama had a significant and surprising showing, AZ, FL, GA, NC, OR, WA, SC. Really the only states who are gaining seats that are truly Red are TX and UT. I think it's important to keep in mind that gaining a seat is a backwards looking event. These States already have the population that is going to give them the additional representation. So if that holds, maybe the fact that Obama won is not inspite of the growth of these states, but because of it. If Latino immigrants (a voting bloc that the Republicans squandered and lots) are swelling the population of the Sun Belt, it's more and more likely that this last bastion of Republican strength is eroding. I think that this, more than anything should be the clarion call to the GOP that they need to reinvent themselves and reconsider those issues that keep them from being winner these voters. The conservative and republican message can be very compelling if presented the right way, this is a classic need for re-branding and realigning to meet the changing times. The Obama election is just one data point, and certainly his success does not exist in a vacuum, a product of demographics alone, but it revolutionary impact cannot and should not be dismissed. The country as always is changing and it's important that both parties work to change with it, otherwise they will increasingly find themselves irrelevant.
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