Democratic (Party) Direction

A sign of the times: In 2016, there were 4 U.S. House runoffs in Texas (1 D, 3 R). In 2018, there will be 17 (11 D, 6 R), and 5 of the GOP runoffs are due to Republican retirements pic.twitter.com/BPMKEoo1o1

— Daily Kos Elections (@DKElections) March 23, 2018

This from Daniel Biss, who was beaten as a progressive challenger in the Illinois gov primary but did much better than anyone expected, and now has this to say to nominee JB Pritzker:

"I spoke with JB about the two structural changes I see as necessary to solve so many critical problems in Illinois: a progressive income tax to fund the investments we need in healthcare, education, and job creation; and public financing of elections to create a political system that's accountable to everyone, not just big money. We cannot just pay lip service to those ideas -- we must have a clear plan for how to get them done.

That conversation was just the beginning. I look forward to continuing it in the days ahead, and I hope that before long the results of these discussions will enable me not just to advance our shared goal of defeating Bruce Rauner, but also to affirmatively endorse JB."

still give Biss side-eye from when he dropped Rosa off his ticket tbh

oh it's your friend's not yours; i don't expect you to be able to OK that, then

but very cogent

xp

― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, March 23, 2018 12:32 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm sure he'd be fine with you even attributing it to him, a lot of people are sharing it. If you really want the name I'll message you.

All the big insurance companies are starting to pour money behind Blue Dog Democrats to ensure Medicare for All supporters aren't elected into congress with the blue wave pic.twitter.com/LCvyQL3rG5

— Michael Sainato (@msainat1) March 25, 2018

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/religious-democrats-young-republicans-what-the-stereotypes-miss-about-both-parties/

The concept of “Medicare for All” has majority support in 42 states, according to the small liberal policy shop Data for Progress. Using numbers from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which tracks public opinion about health-care policy, a handful of researchers found that the concept of universal Medicare was popular in all but two states (Montana and West Virginia) where Democratic senators are seeking reelection this year.

“We find that there are a number of states, such as New York, Illinois, Rhode Island and California, where there is majority support for Medicare for All but Democratic senators who have not signed on to S1804,” said Data for Progress’s Sean McElwee, giving the number for the Medicare legislation introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2018/03/19/medicare-for-all-enjoys-broad-support-but-pollsters-worry-that-it-hasnt-been-tested/?utm_term=.8209ad9d56f5

Do read the whole piece, though. It's pretty good.

mcelwee on nixon/cuomo and the "democrats" of the ny senate

https://www.patreon.com/posts/17821438

Randy Bryce (@IronStache) does a good job making the concise case for abolishing ICE: It's a new agency that spends a massive amount of money breaking up families and terrorizing children who haven't committed a crime. Simple as that. https://t.co/lfQjcFtrFg h/t @SeanMcElwee pic.twitter.com/enwWt2cMw9

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) April 3, 2018

fuckin a

what do you know

Good for him.

relevant convo with Thomas Frank about the party history from the early 70s on. They do talk about the deliberate split with labor some, but not enough as I would have liked

Fuller quote from Cynthia Nixon from a brief phone call yesterday evening on Andrew Cuomo's politics https://t.co/D772FhTDbf pic.twitter.com/31uHctUmxs

— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) April 5, 2018

cynthia nixon 4 prez

😍 😍 😍 https://t.co/NS0jFOV7Cq pic.twitter.com/d8lERUassV

— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) April 9, 2018

Yeah I like what I'm hearing but I am also a little sad because I was looking forward to coining the term "Cuomomentum."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/style/wp/2018/04/09/feature/the-vindication-of-dennis-kucinich/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.cc2ae5e7c190

Kucinich, who spent some of his time away from elected office serving as a Fox News contributor, is a rare politician who is now occupying that sweet spot where Sandersism meets elements of Trumpism.

wtf is up with that goofy zoom effect

kung-fu action

Huge Dem strategy report from McElwee commissioned by Justice Dems. (Have yet to read.)

https://www.futureoftheparty.com/

Again, no mention (at least the summary) of campaign finance reform. IDGI...

at least in the summary I mean

i know i know 538, but i think this is at least a useful way of thinking about 2018 strategy, even if the individual views advanced are not useful. i'm not sure what the right answer is. don't focus on russia. focus on healthcare even though they "won" that battle. what else?

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-issues-should-democrats-ignore-in-2018/

soybean farmers

Huge Dem strategy report from McElwee commissioned by Justice Dems. (Have yet to read.)

https://www.futureoftheparty.com/

― Simon H., Monday, April 9, 2018 8:16 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is cool but boy are some of these graphs demanding of a hard squint

It would be cool if voters gave as much of a shit about "issues" as they claim to

Why should they

because It would be cool

if people voted that would be cool too

lets all agree to do cool stuff in 2018

otm

so you're saying that what's left of 2018 can be salvaged? good great idea!

Democrats 2018: Let’s Salvage Some Stuff

Democrats 2018: Please Salvage

21 salvage

Democrats 2018: Because We're Still Having Elections, Probably

HOOS, can you send someone to give Bill Nelson a shot of bull's blood or something

"He's a very nice young man" -FEINSTEIN after meeting ZUCKERBERG.
"He's very young. And he has 27,000 employees. And it's - that's amazing. He's obviously smart. He obviously knows what he's doing and he has a very pleasant personality. He's not hard-edged in any way that I saw."

— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) April 9, 2018

feinstein needs to retire

that sounds like something that someone who doesn't know how to use email would say. zuckerberg is one of those young computer using guys, he knows how to send the emails, he seems very nice

I’m at an analyst conference with a bunch of g4rtner types and I have seen two people drafting tweets in Microsoft word. Feinstein reminds me of these people.

They suck btw

Zuckerberg probably called her "Madam Senator" until she insisted he just call her Diane.

their interests are aligned, whaddaya expect

I have seen two people drafting tweets in Microsoft word

― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Tuesday, April 10, 2018 6:10 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh what the fuck is this

So you’re telling me if I write an MS word plugin that posts tweets I can sell it to consultants for $79?

Bang where is my $10k/mo MRR

I'm not gonna lie when I tweeted for my job I drafted in a text editor because I was so scared I was accidentally going to hit "Tweet" before it was ready