Democratic (Party) Direction

yeah he seems cool. that's a dumb twitter interaction, but it's a great example of not being afraid to unapologetically pursue almost unbelievably popular policies.

it's one thing to say you support an unbelievably popular policy and another to force a reckoning on it, though--these last couple shutdowns seem instructive on that front

DCCC steps into TX-7 primary:

https://www.texastribune.org/2018/02/22/rare-move-national-democrats-come-out-against-laura-moser-primary-cand/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

I've been following Jason Westin, who I like a lot, don't know much about Moser, but I don't relish the party taking sides in primary fights (unless there's really something wrong with Moser I don't know about.)

Then, referring to a 2014 Washingtonian magazine piece in which Moser wrote that she would rather have a tooth pulled without anesthesia than move to Paris, Texas, Kelly added:"Unfortunately, Laura Moser’s outright disgust for life in Texas disqualifies her as a general election candidate, and would rob voters of their opportunity to flip Texas’ 7th in November.”

I'm sure urban south Texas Democrats would be horrified that someone wouldn't want to live in a rural town on the Oklahoma border.

i know he's not perfect, and it's a long shot, but would love it if this guy beat cruz

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfll_mRll1m/

https://slate.com/business/2018/02/cap-floats-a-new-health-care-plan-called-medicare-extra-and-its-good.html

medicare extra, simply: a public option will either be rendered nonthreatening to the existing insurance industry, and will thus be insufficient; or it will require the same political capital to pass as single-payer, while abdicating responsibility to address health inequality

— kill 💀 tim 💀 faust (@crulge) February 22, 2018

I love the Beto challenge, and I don't think it's absolutely impossible for him to win, but I worry that people are throwing money away in a state without the votes yet and against an incumbent whose fundraising to date says little about his potential resources from not just direct contributions but also independent expenditures, especially given the support of the Mercers who gave him $11 million to run for President and the other wealthy fans who more than doubled that number.

I love the Beto challenge, and I don't think it's absolutely impossible for him to win, but I worry that people are throwing money away in a state without the votes yet and against an incumbent whose fundraising to date says little about his potential resources from not just direct contributions but also independent expenditures, especially given the support of the Mercers who gave him $11 million to run for President and the other wealthy fans who more than doubled that number.

― Moo Vaughn

you know what, at this point, fuck it, throw money away. i'm fucking sick of "smart money" politics.

a credible statewide race in texas is *essential* for the half dozen flippable congressional seats. if that requires throwing money away i'm down.

and the credible state race there sure isn't going to be the one for governor

As I told my wife, I have spent or donated money on dumber things than a politician who could potentially change the direction of the country for the better.

as caek understands, turnout for one high profile race will affect the entire ballot. a win isn't always necessary in the high profile race in order to have a net positive effect in power gained.

Let’s all have a moment of silence for the money some Dem supporters might be throwing away by supporting Beto. After all, Republicans gave his opponent over $20,000,000 to run for President. PS lol @ that money.

Honestly, there's a democratic senator from Alabama right now. As far as I'm concerned, extenuating circumstances or not, all bets are off.

there's a democratic senator from Alabama right now who is not conspicuously racist!

ftfy

No, he just votes with 'em.

Please do stuff it

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/doug-jones/

He's only got a month's worth of votes to look at, but it's not like he's been a bait-and-switch character. And he also doesn't sexually assault teenage girls, so

Wait, was that link supposed to disprove my point? Cause it does the opposite

Half of those votes were those reopen the government/keep spending votes. I think that's cheap if you call that 'agree with Trump,' since he was mostly sidelined.

He's in the McCaskill/Heitkamp range as far as Dems v Trump voting goes, but he has a much smaller number of votes to average. Just cool it and see how this plays out.

Sure.

Simon, I don't know where you live, but in an Alabama or Missouri or North Dakota, being a progressive's wet dream of a candidate/member of congress isn't going to get you anywhere but second place.

as we know from all those times progressives earned party backing and ran there and lost, I'm sure

As someone who was born in Alabama and lived there my first 24 years of life, and has continued to bounce around the southeast, I am telling you that dog won't hunt.

rmdemeyes

I look forward to that voting record percentage bounding on down then.

To put it this way, my dearly beloved parents could not bring themselves to vote for Doug Jones because he's pro choice and, instead, voted for Roy Moore because they were willing to take the gamble he'd immediately be kicked out of the senate. That was a huge gamble, and it resulted in me not talking to them for several weeks afterwards. Roe v Wade is settled law every place besides the bible belt, where people still think you're in allegiance with Satan if you're pro choice.

Doug Jones would've been smeared by any Republican running who hadn't sexually assaulted multiple teenagers.

So, like, don't look this gift horse in the mouth.

vvv

Sorry, I get that it's personal, I just recoil against these narratives of change as being strictly incremental.

I am very interested in this nearby race:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/a-conservative-democrat-in-illinois-feels-the-ire-of-a-restive-liberal-base/2018/02/23/ea501eb6-18e8-11e8-8b08-027a6ccb38eb_story.html

You've got a Dem Rep. in an overwhelmingly Dem district who is nonetheless being primaried hard from the left. This is the district with the literal Nazi GOP candidate, so it seems like a pretty safe seat. At the same time, this is a Dem who votes with the GOP often, and in particular is anti abortion. So the question is, will a Dem Rep in an all but guaranteed Dem district be voted out for being too conservative?

I just recoil against these narratives of change as being strictly incremental.

The future is big. There's room for both incrementalism and rapid revolution.

guys, stop feeding the troll

re: Lipinski, I hope he gets destroyed, and I assume he will. Long overdue.

oooh after 15 years of ILXing I finally earned the t-word

fwiw I hope you're right

I’ve only recently noticed you developing Fred B levels of interest in US electoral politics, might account for the delay.

I reject that comparison, even foreigners interested in US electoral politics would know how unusual it is for a senator from Alabama to only vote with a Republican president 55% of the time. Jones has a 538 Trump +- score of -33, the 7th lowest in the senate. Simon is just trolling.

obamadirtfromshoulder.gif

support incremental progress, get incremental votes

yeah idg the excitement over a guy who mostly votes with the enemy, and I also don't see a reason folks won't just change brands as soon as there's a non pedo repub to vote for. unless of course he marked a substantive change at some point later on...

I also don't see a reason folks won't just change brands as soon as there's a non pedo repub to vote for.


Yeah, I agree with this. He’s going to be gone in the next election. He might as well vote like a democrat while he’s there imo, but I guess the strategy will be to try to become a new manchin/mccaskill. Good luck with that.

The really close healthcare vote (with life and death stakes for all the people calling and protesting for weeks) wasn’t that long ago. If it that happened much longer ago I could see the “but Jones isn’t progressive enough” position as it would be harder to imagine these minority party holding the line situations. Jones in that seat would have made McCain’s fluke vote unnecessary.

yeah idg the excitement over a guy who mostly votes with the enemy

you don’t have a womb or receive Medicaid either iirc

https://wtop.com/national/2018/02/california-democratic-party-isnt-endorsing-sen-feinstein/

also about time

Yeah, I agree with this. He’s going to be gone in the next election.

He's got until 2020 to establish some kind of record that may make him palatable back home while still being in good graces with the national party. It's kind of fascinating to see what happens, imo.

good on Cali Dems.

don't they do that to feinstein every time?

Apparently not.