Democratic (Party) Direction

how many among the "trump or bust" crowd will turn out to vote in the midterms, when he's not running for anything?

i'm sure a few 'we need more republicans!' tweets come october 29 will do the trick

Clinton squeaked it in MN, yes, but voter turnout of 74 per cent was unusually low for the state (it usually runs above 80 per cent). We all know the left wins if voter turnouts are high.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/opinion/democrats-memes-social-media.html

I have heard many Democrats comment that they will not stoop to Mr. Trump’s level by trying to use memes for political gain.

: o

Two Views of Conor Lamb

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/is-there-a-problem
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/03/how-a-democrat-could-win-in-trump-country/554543/

Democrats, however, have been slow to see the potential of memes as a political weapon. Many seem to regard the form as amateurish, vulgar or low-brow.

Motherfucker, get you an agit-prop department

lmao I'm liking the meme candidate more and more every day

Paul Ryan’s opponent, @ironstache, just got arrested protesting in front of Ryan’s office demanding they pass a fair DREAM Act pic.twitter.com/FpLWgC465q

— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) March 6, 2018

dope

attastache

This seems bad to me.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.politico.com/amp/story/2018/03/05/democrats-warren-bank-regulations-383779

xpost Pfft, I would never vote a criminal into office, except for president.

Here’s another take on that bill weakening Dodd-Frank that 12 Dems are misleadingly selling as moderate

https://theintercept.com/2018/03/02/crapo-instead-of-taking-on-gun-control-democrats-are-teaming-with-republicans-for-a-stealth-attack-on-wall-street-reform/

Misleading Intercept headline but article by David Dayen is worth reading

The idea that using bipartisanship to ram through banking deregulation is going to be popular is such a dumb-ass Dem idea.

That's the rationale/justification; I don't buy that it's the reason.

yep, the reason is sweet sweet donor cash.

Even a centrist goon like Yglesias can smell the bullshit

...though it’s very hard for Democrats to influence this sort of thing while the GOP holds a monopoly on power in Washington, the bank bill would be a golden opportunity to exert some influence. But they haven’t done it. The dozen moderates voting for the legislation aren’t striking a deal with the GOP to get something done. They’re giving away the store.

And while it’s nice that the party leadership is formally opposed to the legislation, it’s clear enough that you wouldn’t see defections on this scale — including critical ones from senators representing blue states — if leaders really wanted to block it. It’s an abdication of responsibility, and it’s appalling.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/6/17086452/democrats-dodd-frank

Coons is following in the fine foosteps of Joe Biden, I see.

https://www.texastribune.org/2018/02/21/senate-minority-leader-chuck-schumer-endorses-upstart-candidate-housto/

and then...

In TX-29 Dem primary, Sylvia Garcia running away with early vote, leading 63.43% to 21.79% for Tahir Javed. #txlege

— Michael Li (@mcpli) March 7, 2018

the only interesting race that i voted in is my state senate race between a progressive and a centrist (the dude literally had purple signs lol). the progressive candidate is holding on to a 52-48% lead.

both parties are going to a runoff in my US rep district (formerly lamar smith who, btw, shd eat shit and die). the berniecrat i voted for is in close 3rd, unlikely to catch up.

looking like the D runoff in TX-21 will be between a guy who bragged about voting for reagan and a progressive mathematician/minister who is also a lesbian. i think i might volunteer in this one.

Richard Wolf lost his primary. :(

Jason Westin finished a close third in TX-07 and is out, too bad, I liked that guy

https://www.vox.com/2018/3/7/17090012/texas-primary-women-latinas-winners

Is Emily's List the organization with the best outcome?

Moser was notably *not* backed by Emily's List

https://theintercept.com/2018/02/22/emilys-list-laura-moser-texas-congress/

The Senate wasn't the only body in Congress to vote to weaken Dodd-Frank yesterday. House Republicans passed another bill -- with these 38 Democrats joining them. https://t.co/rt3tzou4fS pic.twitter.com/rNrXyVzqgt

— Jonathan Cohn (@JonathanCohn) March 7, 2018

Moser was notably *not* backed by Emily's List

https://theintercept.com/2018/02/22/emilys-list-laura-moser-texas-congress/

― Simon H., 7. marts 2018 15:50 (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

And Moser ended up behind the EL-endorsed candidate.

Yes.

women won big in the dem primary.

time to stop Cuomo w/ Emily Dickinson

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/cynthia-nixon-could-mount-a-primary-challenge-to-cuomo.html

she's a full-on Bernie bro, apparently.

1) These two clips are really worth watching. Looks like Cynthia Nixon has decided to join the revolution. pic.twitter.com/GW3LvzGnxZ

— Shant Mesrobian (@ShantMM) March 7, 2018

I'm pretty sure she would win NYC

I'd trust her with anything after her performance in A Quiet Passion.

go Keith

I just received unanimous consent from my colleagues to assume leadership of former Rep. John Conyers' historic single-payer health care bill. Health care is a human right, and Medicare for All is an idea whose time has come. pic.twitter.com/kcmbvZRtud

— Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) March 7, 2018

teamkeith4life

https://i.imgur.com/VaB0wIf.png

Good for Keith

That’s my congressman! Go, Keith!

https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2018/03/messing-texas

I'll take actors over military goons and spooks any damn day. (Why did I have to resort to the ICFI's news site for this breakdown?)

One quarter of all the Democratic challengers in competitive House districts have military-intelligence, State Department or NSC backgrounds. This is by far the largest subcategory of Democratic candidates. National security operatives (57) outnumber state and local government officials (45), lawyers (34), corporate executives, businessmen and wealthy individuals (30) and other professionals (18) among the candidates for Democratic congressional nominations.

Of the 102 primary elections to choose the Democratic nominees in these competitive districts, 44 involve candidates with a military-intelligence or State Department background, with 11 districts having two such candidates, and one district having three. In the majority of contests, the military-intelligence candidates seem likely to win the Democratic nomination, and, if the Democrats win in the general election, would enter Congress as new members of the House of Representatives.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/03/07/dems-m07.html

(hoping to find some stats on how this breakdown compares w/ folks currently in office)

That seems off. Chris Lamb has been in the military, but does that mean he is defined by a 'military-intelligence' background?

It's kind of tricky to draw a strict line as to what amount/level of military service "defines" someone, I suppose. There was some grumbling about Lee Carter's Marine service in lefty quarters, as one might imagine.

Doesn't it seem quite likely that it's happening for the quite simple reason that it seems to be working? Jason Kander overperformed a lot in 2016 in a shitty environment, and Chris Lamb might actually flip a seat in deep red Pennsylvania. It's an easy way to signalize understanding with red-state values, without actually having to align with them.

And this is of course also what would really turn the tide in the battle for m4a and class values in general: A track record of it actually winning elections. Instead of shouting about how stupid the DNCC is, that won't really help anywhere in the long run. (even though they really are almost unimaginably stupid, it's kinda mind-blowing how dumb that move against Moser was)

Conor Lamb.

I was wondering why I was having a tough time Googling him.

Doesn't it seem quite likely that it's happening for the quite simple reason that it seems to be working?

That can certainly be *a* reason, though it's not clear to me we actually have the data to back this up yet.

Wait, then who the fuck is Chris Lamb? Oh well.

I liked this interview, btw: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/7/17092410/texas-primary-2018-turnout-evan-smith