Ron Bownstein: “State by state, election by election, Democrats since 1992 have methodically constructed the party’s largest and most durable Electoral College base in more than half a century. Call it the blue wall.”
“After Barack Obama’s sweeping victory in November, 18 states and the District of Columbia have now voted for the Democratic nominee in at least the past five presidential elections.
The last time Democrats won that many states so consistently was from 1932 to 1948, when Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman won 22 states in five consecutive presidential races.”“Together, D.C. and these 18 contemporary Democratic strong-holds—running up the East Coast from Maryland through Maine, through the Upper Midwest, and down along the Pacific Coast—are worth a combined 248 Electoral College votes. That’s more than 90 percent of the 270 votes required to win the presidency.”
“Although Republicans have come close to capturing some of these states since the Democratic streak began in 1992, particularly when President Bush won re-election in 2004, the Democratic hold on all of them solidified in 2008.”