Henry Olsen

Despite this election’s high stakes, however, the question of which candidate will bear the GOP’s standard remains shadowed in great uncertainty, owing mostly to the lack of an obvious frontrunner. Given these unusual circumstances heading into 2012, what kind of nominee should we expect? And what kind of nominee should Republicans want?

Wisconsin’s results do not mean conservatives should abandon entitlement reform, but they should expect an energized Democratic base that will fight with all its might. They will need to talk persuasively about what entitlement reform means, stressing that it is absolutely necessary to preserve the lifetime security that entitlements provide.

The results of the 2010 elections fail somehow to account for the continued difficulties that Republicans (at all levels of government) have had after past wave elections.

What can we learn from last week’s House vote on the tax deal? Politicos calculate that important elements of both party bases are unhappy with the compromise, but that the vast American middle wants it.

Look to Ronald Reagan’s conservative principle when rebuilding the new Republican Party. The fulfillment of Reagan’s dream will create the renewed Republican party that has taken back control of the House.

The employment rate has fallen farther and faster in this recession than at any time in the last thirty years and it continues to drop.

This week’s historic Republican landslide is due to a massive swing among white working-class independents in rural and exurban areas, rather than an enthusiasm gap between Republican and Democratic supporters, as the party predicted.

The anger, disappointment, and disgust that the voters will shower on the Obama administration and the Democratic congressional leadership is unusually deep, offering today’s conservatives a rendezvous with destiny.

In every wave year, the winning party ends up grabbing seats that just a short time before the election were on no one’s radar screen, and there are five such races where the GOP could spring a surprise this election.

In wave years, such as this one, approximately 70 percent of the seats in play on Election Day are usually carried by the victorious party.

The employment rate is a better reflection of the bleak future facing American workers than the unemployment rate, and a new report gives Americans little cause for hope.

For all the talk about independents and tea parties, the defining characteristic of this election is the revolt of the white working class, which may determine the outcome of the Senate election in West Virginia.