Healthcare reform: A prescription for the 2010 republican landslide?

Less than two years ago, Barack Obama was sworn in as president amidst proclamations of a partisan realignment. But in this fall's midterms, scores of his fellow Democrats lost their jobs. The best evidence suggests that Obama's signature accomplishment - passage of a healthcare reform bill that had long eluded progressives - played a key role in the historic defeat. It also highlighted the delicacy of partisan regimes, particularly those prematurely designated as realignments by academic or popular observers.