States are already mired in unprecedented numbers of legal battles over voting.At worst, this means that a second consecutive election may be decided in the courts, with potentially dire consequences for the legitimacy of the electoral system.
The struggle to come up with a defining message is familiar for candidates trying to win a third consecutive election for their party.
Including 1868, when Ulysses S. Grant won a third consecutive election for Republicans but directly succeeded Johnson rather than Lincoln, the incumbent party's track record improves to 6-of-12 in the popular vote and 5-of-12 in the Electoral College.
Not for more than a century has any government, with the exception of the Conservatives of 1979-1997, had a fourth consecutive election victory.
Last week, Narendra Modi, a deeply polarizing Indian politician, led his party to a third consecutive election victory in the western state of Gujarat, which he has led for more than a decade.
And for the second consecutive election, Representative Benjamin Gilman, a 14-term incumbent Republican, defeated Paul J. Feiner, a Democrat and the supervisor of the Town of Greenburgh, in a district that covers Rockland County, and parts of Westchester, Orange and Sullivan Counties.
The results suggested that for the second consecutive election cycle, Republicans' high hopes for a takeover of the Senate were dashed in large part by their own candidates.
For the second consecutive election — counting 2010 — Rasmussen Reports polls had a statistical bias toward Republicans, overestimating Mr. Romney's performance by about four percentage points, on average.
Democrats swept every statewide office for the second consecutive election cycle.
For the second consecutive election — the same was true in 2010 — Rasmussen Reports polls had a statistical bias toward Republicans, overestimating Mr. Romney's performance by about four percentage points, on average.
