Then a series of electoral defeats and policy reviews led the party to alter its approach.
One keeps wondering what's going to happen next, and when we might hear something about policy or electoral strategy.
Though primarily known for his outspoken views on domestic policy and electoral politics, each of Dick Morris' many best-sellers deal with America's national security concerns and threats to the homeland.
It is clear that electoral worries rather than policy concerns are behind what the White House has described as a "charm offensive, " because since launching this offensive a few weeks ago, Obama not changed any of his policies towards Israel and the wider Middle East.
Foreign policy has entered the electoral debate more than was expected a few months ago.
While I am sure that Alexander Golts, the much-touted Russian military expert, knows a great deal more than I do about the inner workings of the Russian defense ministry, he apparently knows almost nothing about American electoral politics and how it influences the development of foreign policy.
FORBES: Obama's New Defense Strategy: Alexander Golts Doesn't Have a Clue About American Politics
"What it would reveal is that we have, in some sense, a profoundly undemocratic mechanism for dealing with a tie, " said Alex Keyssar, a professor of history and social policy at Harvard University, and a critic of the Electoral College.
Peter Lilley, who heads the Tory policy review, has been studying the record of other parties after major electoral defeats.
The review, called Moving Forward and led by Plaid's economic policy adviser Eurfyl ap Gwilym, recognised the party's lack of electoral progress.
With the resounding LDP Japanese electoral victory at the weekend, the market expects a strong influence on BoJ monetary policy decisions going forward.
"It's especially common in primary races in which the candidates are unlikely to be easily distinguishable on the basis of their policy preferences, " said Costas Panagopoulos, director of the Center for Electoral Politics and Democracy at Fordham University.
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Add to that Obama's electoral concern about looking like he is on the right side of justice and we have a US policy that is wholly antithetical to US interests.
For a short period the indignados managed to get a reform of the electoral system, that would improve the chances of small parties to be represented in parliament, on the policy agenda.
By contrast, Mr Aznar's policy stance has given the Socialists the political boost they need to have any hope of staging an electoral comeback.
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