Democratic (Party) Direction

lots of good news from last night's primary results, here's some: https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/primary-elections-california-alabama-iowa-new-jersey-montana/2018/06/04/5a4946c4-6764-11e8-bea7-c8eb28bc52b1_story.html?utm_term=.473aadc65cef

In general Dem turnout continues to way outperform projections, and more and more Districts look competitive/flippable

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/06/2018-biggest-primary-takeaways-628596

Check this out: Democrats also flipped a state Senate district in Missouri in a landslide, swinging it by more than 20 points

Dems picking up a Trump +5 state senate seat in MO by a landslide tonight - currently 60%-40% w/ 82% counted. https://t.co/yqHWyY4UGv

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) June 6, 2018

A Missouri Republican consultant, who asked for anonymity to speak candidly, said in a text message that "Every suburban Republican should be petrified tonight. This devastating loss signals they could lose this fall."

run scared, motherfucker

Higher Democratic turnout in special(!) and primary(!!) elections in a midterm year(!!!) all buck long-held trends/cw so yay let’s hear it.

Re the politico takeaways - bernie totally abandoning our revolution is nagl

and De Leon made the number two spot in the CA Senate race, meaning there won't even be a fucking GOP candidate for Senate in CA in the fall: https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Kevin-de-Le-n-to-face-U-S-Sen-Dianne-Feinstein-12971926.php

Re the politico takeaways - bernie totally abandoning our revolution is nagl

― officer sonny bonds, lytton pd (mayor jingleberries), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 16:08 (five minutes ago) Permalink

Not sure what you mean by this. Bernie was never actually affiliated with OR, it was more like a group that branched out from his campaign and was inspired by him.

a cult of personality without the personality

in other news, this is why Pelosi is good at her job: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/05/house-democrats-republican-spending-plans-598146

The longtime appropriator pointed out that $15 billion within his own bill goes toward nuclear weapons and security. “To vote against that would be crazy,” he said

non sequitur if I ever heard one

As of pre-yesterday, OR had more wins than losses in 2018 endorsements, so I wouldn't write them off, just yet. Skewed a bit toward lower level races but part of the idea is to build a bench.

https://ourrevolution.com/results/

Re the politico takeaways - bernie totally abandoning our revolution is nagl

― officer sonny bonds, lytton pd (mayor jingleberries), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 16:08 (five minutes ago) Permalink

Not sure what you mean by this. Bernie was never actually affiliated with OR, it was more like a group that branched out from his campaign and was inspired by him.

― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Wednesday, June 6, 2018 4:16 PM (forty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

its a small point to argue but if some organization runs off in your name you should maybe try to reign them in somehow? an example on my mind was on the this week in atrocity podcast.. some rich guy in CA basically started his own chapter and endorsed himself.

maybe im just having flashbacks to OFA starting off with promise then turning into a dumpster fire

Skewed a bit toward lower level races but part of the idea is to build a bench.

Which is a damn solid idea and will yield solid benefits up and down the ballot.

Nice formulation here:

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is seeking another six-year term at age 84 and is expected to cruise into November when her likely opponent will be fellow Democrat Kevin de Leon, the former state Senate leader. There are 11 unknown Republicans in the race and none was backed by the party.

http://time.com/5302723/democrat-gavin-newsom-california-governor-primary-john-cox/

Indeed, why would the Republican party want to oppose Feinstein?

I don't think Feinstein's ever faced a Dem challenger so this will be interesting (she will still win, most likely)

Newsom is a dick but A+ trolling here
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democratic-gubernatorial-candidate-in-calif-urges-trump-to-campaign-for-gop-opponent-as-much-as-possible/2018/06/06/0f5c2e06-69ad-11e8-9e38-24e693b38637_story.html?utm_term=.49725020a386

Intercept roundup of election results:

https://theintercept.com/2018/06/06/california-primary-election-results-2018/

I kinda gathered Rohrabacher's race was worth watching partly because there was a fear that no Democrat would advance (do I have that right?). Which didn't happen, right?

correct

District 48 - Huntington Beach
Dana Rohrabacher GOP 30.3%
Harley Rouda Dem 17.3%

https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/california-house-district-48-primary-election

“The GOP minibus package on the floor this week is partisan, wrong-headed and dangerous.”

vroom vroom

Οὖτις, so theoretically if enough of the ~70% non-Redenbacher voters vote against him, he loses.

that's right

Here's the total breakdown in District 48:

GOP votes: 53%
Dana Rohrabacher GOP 30.3%
Scott Baugh GOP 16.1%
John Gabbard GOP 3.2%
Paul Martin GOP 1.6%
Shastina Sandman GOP 1.4%
Stelian Onufrei GOP 0.4%

Dem votes: 46.1%
Harley Rouda Dem 17.3%
Hans Keirstead Dem 17.2%
Omar Siddiqui Dem 4.9%
Rachel Payne Dem 2.1%
Michael Kotick Dem 1.6%
Laura Oatman Dem 1.4%
Deanie Schaarsmith Dem 0.8%
Tony Zarkades Dem 0.8%

Other: 0.9%
Brandon Reiser Lib 0.5%
Kevin Kensinger NPP 0.4%

GOP definitely has a registration advantage in this District, and Rohrabacher's had this seat for a very long time, so Dems will have to throw significant resources into the race to try and make up that 7 point deficit from the primary.

Bob Menendez won his primary w/ 62% of the vote vs an unknown who spent no money

i guess the Dems will put up VOTE FOR THE CROOK, IT'S IMPORTANT billboards in NJ

duh

if he loses, they'll deserve it

he'll win

better the crook you know

I'm pretty sure he'll win; the Republican comes off like a real asshole in his ads, and not a let's-party asshole like Menendez but the kind of guy who calls the cops on his next door neighbor if the stereo's still on at 10:05 PM.

i guess the Dems will put up VOTE FOR THE CROOK, IT'S IMPORTANT billboards in NJ

― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius)

it's _new jersey_, where are they going to find an honest candidate?

They count Stacey Abrams among their candidates but she was endorsed by establishment Dems as well, who actually gave her money. I like the idea that they focus on lower level races, the long term vision of that though.

“As of pre-yesterday, OR had more wins than losses in 2018 endorsements, so I wouldn't write them off, just yet. Skewed a bit toward lower level races but part of the idea is to build a bench.”
https://ourrevolution.com/results/
― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Wednesday, June 6,

THat's a fair point, and it may apply to other candidates too. OTOH I don't know what a fair way to measure is -- maybe OR put her over the top or maybe she would have been fine without them.

*gasp* are you admitting that the Dem establishment actually backed a decent candidate

In the Politico exposure they said that the win-rate among candidates more solely backed by OR is 40%

And they didn't just 'branch out' independently, just as one small example they got Bernie's campaign email list to build on.

oh this seems good

https://splinternews.com/democrats-vow-to-bring-back-stupid-and-harmful-spending-1826620867

That article & headline seemed to me like utter propaganda when I read it last night.

- headline seems a little biased
- nobody’s really “bringing back” anything - the GOP has simply exempted the two spending bills they’ve been able to pass this Congress
- entire piece is sourced from like, 3 quotes?
- if you wanted to discourage progressives from showing up to vote in November this is almost exactly what you should be publishing

So, hooray, good job.

if you wanted to discourage progressives from showing up to vote in November this is almost exactly what you should be publishing

so...basically publish nothing critical from now till Nov?

Lol

Maybe just avoid invective-soaked clickbait built on a skeleton of two remarks by old people which in no way constitute a platform plank or policy

if major Dem players are pushing or even just appearing to push a dumb policy it seems worthy of public pushback in order to maaaybe help shame them into not doing that but clearly mileages vary

Christ:

The Democrats haven’t won back the House of Representatives yet, but their leaders in the House already seem desperate to make sure everyone knows that if they do, they’ll do fuck all to put forward a positive vision for the country they want to run.

That won't shame anyone, that will just make Pelosi and the DCCC laugh all the way to the next donor meeting.

- if you wanted to discourage progressives from showing up to vote in November this is almost exactly what you should be publishing

So, hooray, good job.

― El Tomboto

relying on the splinter news constituency to bring about meaningful political change is about as warranted as expecting a tidal wave of 18 year olds to reshape the political map

the spell only works if you constantly say bad things about Republicans. the minute you slip from that and do something harmful like critical thinking, it stops the magic from happening

yeah, platform planks, always the basis of governance