Al Gross in Alaska Senate Race: Don't You For Forget About Me

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Tuesday November 10, 2020 · 9:31 PM PST

2020/11/10 · 21:31

Alaska: The Last Contested Senate Election that Ends in Calendar Year 2020

Is there a reason that the race for the US Senate seat from Alaska seems to have been written off in discussion of the of the next United States Senate? It is presumed that the two (2) Georgia Senate seats to be voted on in a January 5, 2021 Special Election will be needed for the Democrats to gain 2 votes to get to a 50-50 tie with the Republicans so that incoming Vice President Kamala Harris can be the tiebreaker. That analysis presumes that Democratic candidate Al Gross lost the race for Alaska’s US Senate seat when, in fact, votes are still being counted.

Incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan led by 62-33 over Gross after the Election Day vote was tabulated with 52% of the estimated vote in, but that itself was an estimate, and the amount of outstanding vote by mail in was possibly double the Election Day vote and Democrats voted by mail at substantially higher rates than Republicans. Meanwhile, the Independent/Democratic Candidate Al Gross is insistent that he is happy where he is at and that he has strong chance to secure victory with the uncounted mail in and early vote:

www.alaskapublic.org/…

I know the odds might seem like tough, but with counting starting today it has already closed to 58-36 with at least 35% of the vote still out. There are more than 100,000 ballots left to be counted as of the evening of November 10, 2020, there is an approximately 53,000 vote difference between Dan Sullivan and Al Gross.

www.cnn.com/...

As there are more than 100,000 votes outstanding, Gross would need to get roughly 70-75% of the outstanding vote to to catch up to and possibly pass Sullivan. Yes, that is a high percentage, but there is a chance with Democrats having a higher proclivity to vote by mail in Alaska as in other states so that the remaining vote in Red areas from mail in ballots is still likely to be Democratic:

www.alaskasnewssource.com/…

While it is not certain Gross will win the Alaska senate, he should be viewed as having sufficient chance to possibly win that he should be written off either. I think we all got a lesson from Pennsylvania where votes from mail in ballots were coming in the 60% range from Red areas and 80 to 90 percent in some heavily Democratic areas. For Al Gross, the message may be “Don’t You Forget About Me” as he continues to enunciate his strong belief in his chances to secure victory. So, I will hope that the Gross can pull out a victory in Alaska, so the Georgia seats can be a fight for Democrats to win the Senate outright 51-49.

More than 100,000 ballots left to count. 30% of the vote not counted out there! We can win this. #AlwaysAlaska
— Dr. Al Gross (@DrAlGrossAK) November 11, 2020

Trump Defeated: It's A Brand New Day!

ohiorobstephens

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Saturday November 07, 2020 · 9:39 AM PST

2020/11/07 · 09:39

The Doctor of Deceit has been Dumped and It's a Brand New Day!

Four years of a President who has mastered the art of deceit is coming to an end on January 20, 2021! There is an opportunity to restore America’s standing in the world as a leading Democracy and a chance to work towards bringing greater social, economic, and environmental progress. It’s time to celebrate a Brand New Day for healing and hope!

YouTube Video

Last Minute Open Note to Biden for Ohio Election Eve Visit

ohiorobstephens

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Sunday November 01, 2020 · 6:02 PM PST

2020/11/01 · 18:02

Trump's Lies and Broken Promises on Jobs: Lordstown, Ohio's Betrayed Workers Vent

Mr. Biden, I hear you are coming to Ohio on Monday, November 2, 2020, the eve of the momentous Presidential election. This election that will determine whether America will return to the "normalcy" of being a democratic republic or whether it will continue a decent into top-down crony capitalism with a neo-fascist bent. During the Presidential campaign, discourse has touched upon many issues including healthcare, the Supreme Court, and racial justice. But let’s be clear, there needs to be a clear repudiation of Trumpism. In a recent senatorial debate in Georgia, candidate Jon Ossoff gave the blueprint for confronting lying, cheating politicians when he denounced Senator David Perdue as a crook for engaging in insider trading for using information gained closed-door Senator’s only meeting in January 2020 to make stock trades to benefit from the impending COVID-19 pandemic before it had hit the United States. Trumpism is not simply about fomenting division, inciting racism, screwing with American allies, and making outlandish promises that are sure to be broken like promising to build a big border wall with Mexico that will be paid by Mexicans. Trumpism is also about broken promises to the American people of jobs and deals that he was supposedly going to make using his alleged business acumen about matters that affect American’s pocketbooks. Mr. Biden, when you come to Ohio, please remind the people that one of Trumps biggest lies has been about jobs starting right here in Ohio in Lordstown:

TRUMPS BROKEN PROMISE TO LORDSTOWN, OHIO

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/lordstown-auto-plant-trump-broken-promises-1073686/

LAID OFF LORDSTOWN AUTO WORKER CONFRONTS TRUMP RALLY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuOuLMCb664

DONALD TRUMP IS THE WORST JOBS PRESIDENT IN HISTORY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-Xi4xtqosw

Workers have been betrayed by Trump’s 2016 election campaign promises to bring manufacturing jobs back to America’s industrial heartland, but he has become the worst jobs President in recorded American history. These promises to expand manufacturing employment, despite a decades-long decrease in such employment, helped Trump when over support from former Democratic voters in the Industrial States and likely provided a margin of victory in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. After winning the 2016 election, Trump claimed to have made a deal to keep the Carrier air conditioning manufacturing plant in Indianapolis, but the plant ended shedding jobs to Mexico and is in danger of closing. Trump also made a very specific promise to workers at the Lordstown, Ohio GM plant that their jobs would be saved, but the plant later closed and 4,500 workers lost their jobs. Another company later took over the plant, but with a fraction of the jobs. Eschewing promotion of potential new jobs in clean energy, Trump has also failed in delivering promises to bring jobs to coal miners:

TRUMP’S BROKEN PROMISES TO COAL MINING WORKERS

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/24/donald-trump-coal-miners-us-election

In 2016, Trump told Black Americans that they had nothing to lose. Trump told Black Americans that Democrats had failed and they had nothing to lose in going with him. A small sliver of Black American’s heeded to Trump’s call – not only having promised jobs vanquished but by also having to deal with heightened racial tension that is enabled and inflamed by President Trump:

DONALD TRUMP SAID BLACKS HAD NOTHING TO LOSE IN GOING WITH HIM IN 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-jasg-_E5M

BLACK WORKERS LOST JOBS AT TWICE THE RATE OF WHITE WORKERS DURING PANDEMIC

https://fortune.com/2020/06/02/black-workers-losing-jobs-coronavirus-pandemic-lockdown-white-workers-data/

IN 2020, EVEN TRUMPS’S OWN PARTY WORRIES ABOUT IMPACT OF HIS RACISM

https://fortune.com/2020/06/02/black-workers-losing-jobs-coronavirus-pandemic-lockdown-white-workers-data/

VOTE OUT RACISM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tERKT1_RbDQ

So, Mr. Biden, on your own Election Eve visit to Ohio, please remind the people that Trump has used the Presidency to enrich himself and his family through crony capitalism with impunity through his perversion of the U.S. Department of Justice, his Republican enablers in Congress, and manipulation of the federal courts. Please remind the people that Mr. Trump has fomented division between people of different races, exacerbated divisions between communities from their police, and been silent or even encouraging to right-wing, racist nationalism, while he has continued to personally profit from side schemes to benefit the Trump Organization. Like Jon Ossoff did with Senator Perdue, Trump also needs to be called out for what he is - a first-class charlatan…a racist, a tax dodger with a Chinese bank account, a man who claims he is America First while employing illegal workers in his home and private businesses, a man who claims he is a great businessman while running multiple companies into bankruptcy, a President who has failed to give Americans promised jobs while he has stuffed his own coffers with shady schemes and who continues to harm American workers’ jobs and health even more by failing to properly deal with COVID-19 pandemic.

TRUMP CRIME FAMILY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_ticL9p_NE

TRUMP USING PRESIDENCY TO PROFIT

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/520549-tax-records-show-200-companies-groups-and-foreign-governments

MITCH MCCONNELL “BLINDSIDED” BY TRUMP CORRUPTION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUgOq96Yjuw

Happy People

ohiorobstephens

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday April 23, 2018 · 5:07 PM PDT

2018/04/23 · 17:07

barbara-bush-funeral-four-presidents-four-first-ladies.jpg — Presidents and First Ladies at Barbara Bush Funeral

Former Presidents George Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama; former First Ladies Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama; and current First Lady Melania Trump took an impromptu photo at the funeral of former First Lady Barbara Bush. The photo has gone viral as a rare example Presidents and First Ladies getting together. In the photo, which offers a unique glimpse of former Presidents and First Ladies interacting with each other and the current First Lady, the participants actually seem happy and to like each other despite coming from opposing political parties and viewpoints. No president is perfect, but it seems like a bit of nostalgia to have a President who at least attempted to project common decency through their public governance. One wonders how the atmosphere would have changed at the occasion had the current POTUS had been present with his ongoing bullying and demeaning of political opponents, his own administration, athletes, public servants, the media, anybody that says anything that he does not agree with, anybody who seems to be getting in the way of him trying to hide whatever bad stuff it is that he has done, and others in society who happen to be the wrong type of people according to him? Even his wife seemed to be smiling more than normal.

Poll

37 votes Show Results

In relation to the above photo, what is the most accurate statement?

37 votes Vote Now!

In relation to the above photo, what is the most accurate statement?

All of the people in the photo love broccoli

1 vote

None of the people in the photo like Donald Trump

30 votes

All of the people in the photo served in the White House in the 21st Century

2 votes

All of the people in the photo love Donald Trump

1 vote

All the people in the photo voted for major party candidate for President in the 2016 election

3 votes

Rural Progressivism or Why Is Iowa So Liberal?

ohiorobstephens

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday January 27, 2013 · 4:28 PM PST

2013/01/27 · 16:28

Statement from right-winger in Topix forum
"Since 1984, A republican candidate has won Iowa once (2004). Why? State is like 98 % White. Why isn't Iowa conservative like Kansas and Nebraska? Or the Dakotas.Eastern IA is mostly farmers. Aren't farmers less dependent upon the GIVERment? How could anyone support gay marriage and abortion?"

Link to Topix Forum on Why Iowa is So Liberal?

My response:
"Maybe many Iowans do NOT hold negative stereotypes of large segments of the population, do NOT vote out of hate for people who are different than they are, do NOT believe that everyone who isn't like themself is in a state of dependency, and DO believe that people should have some privacy and personal choice of how they run their personal affairs even if they wouldn't make some of the same choices. Maybe Iowans are fairminded and simply vote for what they believe is best for public policy and society, as opposed to running around putting down people and engaging in the politics of resentment?"

Personally, I think Democrats underperform in rural areas across the country. There are many people voting against their own interests because right-wingers stir up social issues (e.g., anti-gay, anti-minority, anti-feminist) to stigmatize people and keep potential progressive populist political coalitions from forming. This isn't just recent history or from the 1960s - even back in the 1890s, a populist movement in the South and West was splintered by using race as a wedge issue.

http://dig.lib.niu.edu/...

Would the Democrats not be a clear majority party if not for appeals to politics of division put forward by the right-wing that seem to disproportionately affect the progressive or Democratic vote in rural areas?

Poll

156 votes Show Results

Which region are Democrats underperforming the most in rural areas?

156 votes Vote Now!

Which region are Democrats underperforming the most in rural areas?

Midwest/Great Lakes

12 votes

Midwest/Great Plaines

26 votes

Upper South

9 votes

Deep South

73 votes

Florida

1 vote

Texas

14 votes

Mountain West

8 votes

Pacific West

4 votes

Mid-Atlantic

5 votes

New England

4 votes

Listen to the Hearbeat of America: 10 Thoughts for Undecided Voters

ohiorobstephens

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday November 04, 2012 · 9:49 PM PST

2012/11/04 · 21:49

"Listen to the Heartbeat" was a catchy jingle use in a Chevrolet ad campaign in the late 1980s. With Obama’s role in helping save is an appropriate theme to remember the Obama campaign, the theme seems an appropriate way of catching the mission at hand in Tuesday election. Below are some thoughts for undecided voters to consider:

ohiorobstephens

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday October 16, 2012 · 7:24 PM PDT

2012/10/16 · 19:24

As the November election nears and the campaigns enter the final weeks, the sense of urgency increases. I too feel a sense of nervousness over seeing every poll showing my favorite candidates up or down. I can’t stand listening to TV or radio ads touting a candidate I don’t support or attacking a candidate I do support, while also developing a “you’re talking to the choir” syndrome about ads supporting candidates that I support to the extent that the remote control has become an extra limb to switch away from the frequent ads (I’m in Ohio). Although politically conscious, I am separated enough from politics that I believe my impressions (as an Obama supporter) are close enough to what I think average voters are missing in the political communication in the campaign so far. There are five points I believe should be emphasized through Election Day with links to resources that can explain it in more detail better than I can:

RSS

Al Gross in Alaska Senate Race: Don't You For Forget About Me

Trump Defeated: It's A Brand New Day!

Last Minute Open Note to Biden for Ohio Election Eve Visit

Happy People

Rural Progressivism or Why Is Iowa So Liberal?

Listen to the Hearbeat of America: 10 Thoughts for Undecided Voters

THE FINAL KICK: FIVE THINGS OBAMA AND HIS ALLIES SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT THROUGH ELECTION DAY