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Cresent Hardy, Republican candidate for Nevada's 4th Congressional District, was targeted by the state's Democratsthis week for saying that he, at first, didn't think the race was winnable because it was "a minority district."

Whether or not the attack hits very hard remains to be seen, but Hardy's candor, exposing the sort of calculus that goes into the decision of whether or not to run and for what office, is interesting. And it raises an interesting question: Can Republicans win in majority-minority districts? The answer, as you might expect, is yes. But it doesn't happen often.

Nevada's 4th District is a relatively new one. As America's population has shifted west, Nevada was the beneficiary of a new Congressional seat following the 2010 Census. The newly created district is, indeed, majority-minority, meaning that its population is more non-white than white. About 46 percent of the district's residents are white; nearly a third are Latino. Hardy is challenging incumbent Rep. Steven Horsford who is African-American, like about 13 percent of his consituents.

Since the 109th Congress, the earliest for which racial data is available by congressional district from the Census Bureau's online database, the number of majority-minority Republican House districts has stayed pretty flat, beneath 10 percent. There was a slight uptick in the 111th Congress -- the Congress following the dominant Democratic performance in 2008, when Democrats ate away at what normally would be Republican areas. That dropped the Democrats' percentage of majority-minority districts, and boosted the Republicans'.

But what's more insightful is how the makeup of each party's districts falls across the spectrum of diversity. Over at Wonkblog, Christopher Ingraham looked closely at the racial composition of the 113th Congress, including how many of the Republican Party's seats fell into various densities of whiteness. We rewound that data back a decade to see how it has changed.

In the 109th Congress, the plurality of Republican seats were in districts that were 80 to 100 percent white. As time passed, and as the country got less white overall, the vast majority of Republican seats moved into the 60 to 100 percent white range. Very few districts are under 60 percent white; nearly none are less than a fifth white. For Democrats, the change has been more dramatic. The number of districts controlled by Democrats that are more than 80 percent white is the lowest of the five quintiles. But it's densely mixed; about as many Democratic seats are between 20 and 40 percent white as are between 60 and 80 percent.

What does this mean for Cresent Hardy? Well, not a lot. But of Nevada's now-four Congressional district, two are majority white and two are majority-minority. The two that are majority-minority are currently represented by Democrats. Republicans do win seats like that, but it doesn't happen often. And it didn't happen in 2012, when Horsford first won election.

Philip Bump writes about politics for The Fix. He previously wrote for The Wire, the news blog of The Atlantic magazine. He has contributed to The Daily Beast, The Atlantic, The Daily, and the Huffington Post. Philip is based in New York City.

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Republican House districts are not getting any less white

Last winter, Virginias Republican legislative majority blocked Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffes plan to extend Medicaid to 400,000 Virginians without medical insurance.

Afterwards, McAuliffe vowed to take executive action but discovered legal restrictions limited him to adding 25,000 people to the rolls, mostly those with mental illnesses, though he included funds to encourage 160,000 more to enroll in private insurance.

As a result, he was denounced for failing to live up to his vow by the same Virginia GOP whose legislators blocked Medicaid expansion in the first place.

To make sure he failed, the Legislatures Republican majority last week again blocked what The Washington Post termed McAuliffes top legislative priority.

Once again, Terry McAuliffe has far over-promised, and mightily under-delivered, said state GOP communications director Garren Shipley, echoing the way Republican officials regularly portray actions limiting the Affordable Care Act as defeats for Democrats like McAuliffe and President Barack Obama.

In truth, preventing Medicaid expansion or other aspects of Obamacare in Virginia and other states, including Texas, is less a defeat for its political champions than a defeat for millions of Americans. After all, their participation in the landmark universal health care program is at stake when states consider the expanded Medicaid program, at mostly federal cost, or courts decide if its legal for them to receive a federal subsidy.

As a result, 375,000 poor and often elderly Virginians will still be denied health insurance. Over the next 10 years, the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation estimated, the state will lose $1.5 billion in additional Medicaid funds and its hospitals will lose more than $6 billion in reimbursements.

That pattern has been repeated on an even larger scale in Texas. The Urban Institute-Johnson Foundation analysis estimated more than 1.5 million people would be denied Medicaid coverage because Gov. Rick Perry rejected federal funds to underwrite 90 percent of the cost. The state will lose a potential $65.6 billion in federal funding.

By 2016, the Urban Institute says, those Texas numbers would deny 176,000 cholesterol screens, 44,100 Mammograms, 75,200 Pap smears and 3.2 million additional physicians visits for Medicaid-eligible Texans.

That pattern has been repeated in other states where Republican governors or legislatures have sought to undermine or halt the Affordable Care Act, preventing more than 5 million Americans in 20 states from participating in Medicaid.

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Carl Leubsdorf: Health care battles continue to roil

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, listens while Republican Sen. Pat Roberts talks to supporters at a campaign stop at Johnson County Republican headquarters Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014, in Overland Park, Kan. AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Declaring "I am tea party," Sarah Palin on Thursday hit the campaign trail in Kansas to convince Sunflower State voters that imperiled Republican Sen. Pat Roberts is an bona fide champion of the ideological mulishness another of his surrogates lambasted just days before.

"He's not wishy-washy on the fence like you-know-who, the other guy," Palin said, according to the Washington Post, referring to Roberts' opponent, independent candidate Greg Orman, who's given the incumbent an unexpected run for his money. "I am so thankful because we need those with that stiff spine, with the principles that are so invicted [sic] within them, that they take a side."

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Greg Orman, an independent Senate candidate from Kansas, tells CBS News' Nancy Cordes why he believes Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, needs to be def...

Since her brief stint as the GOP's vice presidential nominee, the former Alaska governor-turned reality TV star has made a career out of heckling members of both parties whose heels do not dig into her particular mold of conservatism. And she's just the latest in a string of the party's heavy hitters who've trickled through the Sunflower State hoping to help Roberts hang onto his seat as Republicans eye a Senate takeover.

Earlier this week, former Senate Majority Leader and 1996 Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole lent his stature as a prominent Kansan to Roberts' cause, bemoaning the very intransigence that Palin promoted. Recalling fondly the largely defunct days of bipartisan deal-brokering, Dole said in passing reference to the Republican's tea party wing: "Some of those guys are so far on the right they're gonna fall out of the Capitol."

One reporter challenged Roberts to declare which of the competing messages aligned most closely with his values.

"Both," he reportedly answered. "How 'bout that."

Regardless, though, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, suggested Wednesday during his own stump through the state, the ultimate objective is to defeat Orman. He joined a chorus of others in the GOP who have called Orman a Democrat in an independent's clothing.

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Sarah Palin, John McCain, NRA line up to help Sen. Pat Roberts

Washington The Republican Party is raising money off President Obamas awkward coffee-cup salute.

Youve heard about latte-gate, right? On Tuesday when arriving in Manhattan, Obama exited Marine One with a hot beverage cup in his hand. When the Marine guard at the foot of the stairs saluted the debarking commander-in-chief, the president lifted the cup to his forehead in return. It wasnt a graceful gesture.

Lots of people got upset that the president wasnt showing proper respect to the troops, despite the fact that President Bush once did the same thing when holding his dog Barney. So on Wednesday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee figured they would try to take advantage of this perceived outrage to make some cash.

Theyve created a pop-up web site, Semperlatte.com, that charges Obamas poor salute is indicative of a larger pattern, though it doesnt specify what that larger pattern is.

Put that coffee down! says the big red banner splashed across an Obama salute image on the site.

Why are they doing this? Well, the opportunity presented itself. Why not? Consultants are always saying politics is not bean-bag in a sage manner, though none of them really have any idea what bean-bag is and whether its a symbol of restraint.

Also, they need the money. Heading into the last weeks of the 2014 mid-terms, Democrats have outraised Republicans across the board. GOP strategist Karl Rove wrote last week in The Wall Street Journal that in Senate races Democrats have spent $24 million more than Republicans on TV ads. This disparity might allow Democrat Harry Reid to remain majority leader, Mr. Rove warned.

Republican candidates and groups must step up if they are to substantially reduce that gap, wrote Rove.

Thats what the Semperlatte site represents: The NRSC stepping up and trying to close the gap.

North Carolinas Senate race shows how the Democrats cash advantage is playing out in practice. Through the end of June, Democratic incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan raised four times more money than the GOP candidate, state Rep. Thom Tillis, according to The New York Times. That advantage has probably dwindled since then but Senator Hagan is all but assured to spend more money on the general election than [Rep. Tillis] will, writes Nate Cohn of the Times Upshot data site.

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GOP fundraising off Obama 'latte salute.' Appropriate?

Washington The Republican Party is raising money off President Obamas awkward coffee-cup salute.

Youve heard about latte-gate, right? On Tuesday when arriving in Manhattan, Obama exited Marine One with a hot beverage cup in his hand. When the Marine guard at the foot of the stairs saluted the debarking commander-in-chief, the president lifted the cup to his forehead in return. It wasnt a graceful gesture.

Lots of people got upset that the president wasnt showing proper respect to the troops, despite the fact that President Bush once did the same thing when holding his dog Barney. So on Wednesday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee figured they would try to take advantage of this perceived outrage to make some cash.

Theyve created a pop-up web site, Semperlatte.com, that charges Obamas poor salute is indicative of a larger pattern, though it doesnt specify what that larger pattern is.

Put that coffee down! says the big red banner splashed across an Obama salute image on the site.

Why are they doing this? Well, the opportunity presented itself. Why not? Consultants are always saying politics is not bean-bag in a sage manner, though none of them really have any idea what bean-bag is and whether its a symbol of restraint.

Also, they need the money. Heading into the last weeks of the 2014 mid-terms, Democrats have outraised Republicans across the board. GOP strategist Karl Rove wrote last week in The Wall Street Journal that in Senate races Democrats have spent $24 million more than Republicans on TV ads. This disparity might allow Democrat Harry Reid to remain majority leader, Mr. Rove warned.

Republican candidates and groups must step up if they are to substantially reduce that gap, wrote Rove.

Thats what the Semperlatte site represents: The NRSC stepping up and trying to close the gap.

North Carolinas Senate race shows how the Democrats cash advantage is playing out in practice. Through the end of June, Democratic incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan raised four times more money than the GOP candidate, state Rep. Thom Tillis, according to The New York Times. That advantage has probably dwindled since then but Senator Hagan is all but assured to spend more money on the general election than [Rep. Tillis] will, writes Nate Cohn of the Times Upshot data site.

Continued here:
GOP fundraising off Obama 'latte salute.' Appropriate? (+video)