None of us, not even supporters of one of the final two, was hoping for a final two Democratic primary that looked like this:
Despite the very real despair of those of us who supported candidates who would have brought more diversity, we can’t lose sight of how very far we have come.
We had multiple female candidates for the nomination who made it really far into the process. Not one token lady, but multiple strong and diverse women.
and this:
The Powerful Gay Meaning of Pete Buttigieg’s Presidential Run
His presidential run is now over, but the Buttigieg Effect will go on. It will ripple outwards. Whether you, as a LGBTQ person, loved or did not love Pete Buttigieg, he—and other LGBTQ political history-makers like Danica Roem in Virginia—have changed the playing field for LGBTQ candidates coming after them.
Buttigieg showed it was possible for a LGTBQ candidate to go for the big prize in a convincing fashion, and he showed the breadth of what that candidate could say or do—or be—in that space. As his example encourages other LGBTQ candidates to stand, the diversity of those candidates will increase. Buttigieg is a leader, history-maker, an avatar of change—and as such others will follow him. This is, one hopes, just a political beginning.
He was the first openly gay person to win a nominating contest in American history, and on Sunday said he hoped “we sent a message to every kid out there wondering if whatever marks them as different means that they are somehow destined to be less-than.”
He is right. The simple fact of Buttigieg’s visibility as a gay man is, or was, important. Here was a gay man taking his place on a presidential candidate debate stage (and winning the Iowa caucus) where his sexuality was known and occasionally central—a significant story, but never the whole story. He faced prejudice, and did so by taking on the bigots, and winning, in their own space.
This is something: Mayor Pete making it so far. Bloomberg and Bernie making it so far. Kamala, Elizabeth, Kirstin, and Amy making it so far.
It isn’t enough but it is something important. Something big. Think back twenty years and try to imagine multiple female candidates. Try to imagine a gay candidate. Try to imagine two Jewish candidates. You can’t because it would never have happened.
Amidst our well deserved grief for our own candidates and the diversity they brought, we need to remember that we have made it really far and we will make it even further. This is not the end of our evolution. This is not the end of our fight. This is just the beginning.
We are on the cusp of making real important change in this great land. We are on the cusp of a election where we not only have a chance to win the White House (with hard work). We have a real shot at taking the Senate (and keeping the House). We are on the cusp of real and important social change.
We Can Win The Senate
The Senate is actually, really within our reach! You guys, can you imagine how great it would be to take that gavel from Mitch!! It isn’t going to be an easy fight, but the numbers are well within our reach.
New Polling Suggests Democrats Can Flip Senate
Democratic pollster Public Policy Polling has released three new polls showing Democrats with the lead in key Senate battlegrounds.
In Arizona, the firm finds Democrat Mark Kelly up 47-42 on Republican Sen. Martha McSally, similar to the 46-42 edge Kelly enjoyed in January. At the other end of the country, meanwhile, PPP's poll of Maine is its first of the cycle. There, Democrat Sara Gideon is ahead of Republican Sen. Susan Collins 47-43.
Lindsey Graham backlash powers Democratic Senate challenge in red South Carolina
South Carolina is a red state, without question -- but that didn't stop one man from yelling out the rallying cry "Yes we can" at a recent gathering for Jaime Harrison, a Democrat who hopes to challenge longtime Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham in the fall.
There are some places where Democrats have broken through. In 2018, Democrat Joe Cunningham flipped South Carolina's first district, which includes Charleston. It's a higher educated, higher-income area that Trump carried in 2016. But Cunningham faced off against an outside Republican challenger who defeated incumbent Mark Sanford, the state's former governor, in the GOP primary.
Newcomers to the state, moving in from blue areas like New England, have sparked hopes of expanding that Democratic support in the booming Charleston area, and Harrison is working to register black voters, who turned out in record numbers to vote for Obama in 2008.
"This should be Graham's most competitive election since his first contest in 2002," said Gibbs Knotts, a political science professor at the College of Charleston
a little over 527K voters voted in South Carolina this primary season. In 2016 only ~369K people turned out. That’s a net difference of about 158K votes or ~42%.
Cook Political Report moves North Carolina Senate race to 'toss-up'
The Senate race between Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Democrat Cal Cunningham in North Carolina is now a toss-up, according to The Cook Political Report.
The election handicapper moved the race to its most-competitive classification on Friday, three days after Cunningham clinched the Democratic Senate nomination in a four-way primary contest. Tillis also won his primary on Tuesday, though he faced only nominal opposition in the race.
Steve Bullock Is Poised to Run for Senate in Montana, Officials Say
Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana is poised to reverse himself and run for the Senate, according to three Democratic officials, a decision that would hand the party a coveted recruit who could help reclaim a majority in the chamber.
We really can do this! Think about it: even if we lose the WH, if we win the Senate we can block Supreme Court nominations! We can do real investigations! And if we WIN the WH we can enact REAL change for our country!
Let’s grab that gavel from Moscow Mitch (and maybe even take his seat). Any money you're able to donate now will get held in escrow for the Democratic primary winner in our nine top chance states for flipping and for Alabama incumbent Doug Jones.
Click Here to Donate to Flipping the Senate.
No really, take a break from reading this and join the rest of the GNR community in flipping the senate. We have already raised over $5000! Let’s do more!
Click Here to Donate to Flipping the Senate.
We Can Beat Trump
Super Tuesday showed a level of enthusiasm that will bode well for us in November. When people vote, Democrats win:
Turnout rose significantly in most Super Tuesday states
Turnout was up 33 percent from 2016 primaries across nine Super Tuesday states in which the vote count is complete or has been projected by the United States Election Project.
Turnout grew in all but one of these states (Oklahoma, though votes are still coming in, and it may exceed 2016).
The biggest increases were a 69 percent jump in turnout in Virginia and an expected 60 percent uptick in Texas compared with 2016 turnout.
Tennessee was more typical, seeing a 37 percent increase in turnout when compared with the state’s primary four years ago.
and Trump keeps bragging about those poll numbers showing that people think he is handling this virus well without pointing out how old those number are. People are finally seeing the downside to a president who is incompetent, hates government, and lies all the time
and Bloomberg is putting all he has towards bringing down trump:
Bloomberg is putting his fortune to good use: Destroying Trump
Former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg has decided to form an independent expenditure campaign that will absorb hundreds of his presidential campaign staffers in six swing states to work to elect the Democratic nominee this fall.
The group, with a name that is still undisclosed because its trademark application is in process, would also be a vehicle for Bloomberg to spend money on advertising to attack President Trump and support the Democratic nominee, according to a person familiar with the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The sheer abnormality of a massive single-fortune campaign like this directed only at ousting Trump — and its acceptance by Democrats in an all-hands-on-deck spirit that recognizes the uncomfortable compromises needed to survive our current crisis — will perhaps also signal to voters just how abnormal things are right now, and how urgent it is to set them right.
Don’t Forget that they are not all powerful
One mistake we make is that we see all the awful they do and convince ourselves that those bad acts mean we can’t beat them. Yes, they cheat and lie, but that doesn’t make them all powerful. they CAN be beat:
Trump’s push for South Carolina Republicans to vote for Sanders went unheeded
Despite President Donald Trump urging South Carolina Republicans to turn out in Saturday’s open Democratic primary to vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the Washington Post’s exit poll shows very few did.
Despite Trump’s urging, an exit poll from the Washington Post showed just 5 percent of registered Republicans actually voted in the primary, a number too small for pollsters to give details on which Democratic candidate received the most votes from that group.
the Democratic primary also served as a reminder that there are limits to what Trump can convince his Republican supporters to do.
and this trump-like asshole is learning some lessons about how far fighting dirty will take you:
Even Netanyahu’s Dirty Tricks Couldn’t Quite Win Him a Majority
Over the last year he’s flashed Israelis with racist taunts, and he’s heaped contempt on the system that made him and kept him in power for longer than any other Israeli prime minister. Like Donald Trump, he’s mocked his opponents with schoolyard nicknames.
Indeed, Netanyahu often is compared to President Trump, with whom he shares a deep affinity and a close alliance.
He has now led his country into two fruitless electoral campaigns that failed to result in governments because, like Tarzan hanging from a vine, Netanyahu simply can’t let go.
It is the third time Netanyahu has declared victory in under 11 months, and the third time his party faithful loyally whip huge flags in front of the television cameras, while dutifully bellowing some new version of the Likud party’s anthem.
But by Tuesday morning the stark fact emerged that for now—as in both of the previous elections—Netanyahu has yet to secure a governing majority.
On Monday Netanyahu Was Toasting Victory. Now He’s Toast.
An elated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu roared “this is the biggest victory of my life!”—but that was Monday.
By Thursday, his voice hoarse, a tired Netanyahu growled, “We won’t let them steal the election!” In the words of Netanyahu’s centrist rival and Israel’s probable next prime minister, Benny Gantz, “Someone here celebrated too early.”
Then came a remarkable cascade of bad news for Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving prime minister, and its first to be indicted while in office.
Avigdor Lieberman, his onetime defense minister and now a fearsome nemesis, announced his support for a law proposed by Gantz, a former army chief of staff, which would bar an indicted legislator from being appointed to form the government.
Such a law would eliminate any route to immediate political survival for Netanyahu, whose trial in three separate cases of bribery, fraud and breach of trust is scheduled to open in Jerusalem District Court on March 17.
Democrats are amazing
In the meantime, we have GREAT people on our side fighting hard for our democracy
House Democrat angrily confronts Mnuchin over refusal to release Trump's tax returns
A House Democrat grilled Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin Tuesday over Mnuchin's refusal to release President Donald Trump's tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee.
During a Ways and Means Committee hearing, Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey laid into Mnuchin for not handing over the tax documents to the committee, accusing the Treasury secretary of "staggering lies" in his reasons not to comply with Congress.
With everyone in Michigan talking politics, former first lady and bestselling author Michelle Obama is coming to Detroit to get into the act.
No, she isn’t endorsing a candidate in next Tuesday’s Michigan Democratic primary (as far as we know).
Instead, she is headlining a voter participation rally later this month at the University of Detroit Mercy, the first event of the year being organized by an effort called When We All Vote.
Stacey Abrams Is Building a New Kind of Political Machine in the Deep South
In 2018, largely thanks to Abrams, Georgia’s Democratic Party had a full-time voter protection director; there was a hotline to report problems, volunteers to chase down provisional ballots, lawyers ready to go to court to keep polls open. It wasn’t enough, it turned out, against Abrams’ opponent, Georgia’s then-secretary of state, Brian Kemp, who was in charge of overseeing his own election — but it nearly was.
Now, with $21 million raised in 2019 alone, Fair Fight is training similar teams in 18 states. “I don’t have the capacity to sit still and wait for the next term, the next opportunity for me to stand for an office that let’s me do the work,” Abrams says.
Dozens of Democratic heavies descended on the summit that morning, including Michael Bloomberg, who has donated $5 million to Fair Fight. “Voter suppression efforts are happening across the country,” Bloomberg tells Rolling Stone, “and there is no one better to lead the counterattack than Stacey.”
Dems Pounce After Trump Says He Intends to Cut Entitlements
President Donald Trump said he intends to cut entitlement programs during a town hall forum in Pennsylvania on Thursday night.
When Fox News host Martha MacCallum suggested that if “you don’t cut something in entitlements, you will never really deal with the debt,” Trump jumped in right away.
“Oh, we’ll be cutting,” he said to an audience in Scranton.
Within minutes, Biden had already pounced. “Here’s the deal, folks: social security is on the ballot this year, and the choice couldn't be clearer: I’ll protect and expand it. Donald Trump will cut it and take it away,” the former vice president tweeted on top of a clipped video of the remarks that the Democratic National Committee was promoting.
Silver Linings
And even some of the worst stories have silver linings
Coronavirus: Nasa images show China pollution clear amid slowdown
Satellite images have shown a dramatic decline in pollution levels over China, which is "at least partly" due to an economic slowdown prompted by the coronavirus, US space agency Nasa says.
What the McGahn case means and does not mean
The court did not reach the merits of the case. The majority specifically did not address the president’s claim of absolute immunity. There were actually two votes against the proposition that a president can simply deny access to witnesses and documents.
Facebook takes down deceptive Trump campaign ads — after first allowing them
Facebook removed Trump campaign ads on Thursday for violating its policy against misleading references to the U.S. census amid criticism that it has given politicians too much leeway to misinform users on its platform.
The Trump ads urged Facebook users to “take the official 2020 Congressional District Census today,” but despite the look and language of the ad, they were not related to the once-a-decade national count of U.S. citizens happening this year. Instead, the ads linked to a survey on the “Certified Website of President Donald J. Trump,” which collected information and requested a donation.