Writing in the opinion pages of The Wall Street Journal (why I'm quoting The Journal's opinion page is almost beyond me), Michael Barone opines that, in effect, Democrats are in serious trouble because of the population shifts in this country away from liberal coastal metropolises and states to interior ones that are more conservative and Republican today. In case you can't stomach going over to OpinionJournal.com, below is a paragraph from Barone that I think is generally representative of his whole piece.

The bad news for [Democrats] is that the Coastal Megalopolises grew only 4% in 2000-06, while the nation grew 6%. Coastal Megalopolitan states--New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois--are projected to lose five House seats in the 2010 Census, while California, which has gained seats in every census since it was admitted to the Union in 1850, is projected to pick up none.

I've devoted some time in the past to debunking theories like this and would like to take a brief moment to recall some of the responses I put forward in the past when others predicted Democratic gloom.

There's more...