Primaries

In nineteen seventy-four, I reached three milestones in my life. In March of that year, I turned eighteen; ten days later, I registered with selective service—conscription ended in 1973, and naively I registered as an independent voter. I remember the sense of power I felt. I could join the military...

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  • October 27, 2021

Here’s the latest news out of Pennsylvania: The TV ad is no-holds-barred. It bluntly attacks a decision of the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania Supreme Court. And on Saturday, the state Bar Association said the spot went too far. The ad says the Democratic contender, Superior Court Judge Maria McLaughlin, “chose...

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  • October 25, 2021

So I may be burying the lede on this one—on purpose for once. The buried bit involves a bit of classic Trumpian projection that, sadly and predictably, ventures into the offensive. (Skip ahead if you want to see it. I’ll never know.) But first, let’s take a look at the most...

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  • June 7, 2021

Like any good con artist Trump now tries to call his losing a “big lie”, because he’s all about the disinformation as he does his lounge act in Florida and now New Jersey. Trump or his media image is the kind of synthetic construction that combines the GQP lie affirmed by...

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  • May 3, 2021

Two stories posted on Political Wire near each other (probably deliberately) caught my attention. First: Republicans pray for truce after Trump attacks on McConnell (Politico) Though the Senate GOP is tantalizingly close to retaking the majority next year and largely united in opposition to President Joe Biden’s agenda, the ongoing...

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  • April 13, 2021
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WaPo’s Greg Miller’s “main takeaway from ODNI report is that America’s enemies learned more from Russia-2016 about how to muck around in U.S. elections than the U.S. learned/did about how to stop it.” It didn’t stop Russia from trying to interfere again, although this time the Russians relied more on...

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  • March 17, 2021

More like stupid being bigger than evil, a few trial balloons for Sarah Palin have emerged as Trump makes official his promise to campaign against Lisa Murkowski in 2022. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin threatened to run a primary challenge against GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Ugh. pic.twitter.com/FXmEToYOdm — PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) March...

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  • March 14, 2021

Big news today out of Missouri: Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO): "After 14 general election victories, three to county office, 7 to the US House of Representatives, and four statewide elections, I won't be a candidate for reelection to the United States Senate next year."https://t.co/6HOm3KamIL — Dylan Wells (@dylanewells) March 8,...

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  • March 8, 2021

More contradictions: Ted Cruz flees Texas for Cancun and without Twitter, Trump is having trouble telegraphing personal insults like claiming Mitch McConnell has “more chins than smarts”. Mitch McConnell penned a Sunday op-ed in The Wall Street Journal defending his decision, which particularly angered Trump, according to a person familiar with the...

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  • February 18, 2021

I like to study potential  presidential nominees AND their running mates.   I believed correctly Obama/Biden before President Obama picked Biden.  I believed Biden/Harris….Long before Harris even dropped out of the primaries.   I missed Clinton/Kaine.  I always believed in Vice President Biden. I now believe without a shadow of a doubt the...

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  • February 3, 2021

This post-election period has been like no other, for reasons I don’t need to restate. While every outgoing president and presidential challenger in my lifetime—even Nixon, FFS!—left the White House and/or relinquished claims to power more or less gracefully, putting country far above self and party, Donald Trump is a...

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  • January 18, 2021

Now those are some tough fighting words: Pennsylvania Lt. Governor John Fetterman is a verified Shakespeare when it comes to crafting articulate, downright eloquent takedowns of the worst GOP members. Take his recent Josh Hawley takedown for example. Fetterman, who just announced a prospective Senate bid, guested on a Daily Beast podcast recently and unloaded...

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  • January 14, 2021

Politico says Trump has told his political aides to monitor statements by Republicans that oppose his efforts to hold onto the Presidency with an eye toward supporting primary challengers in 2022 and maybe beyond. High on the list would likely be the governors and other Republican state office holders in Georgia...

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  • December 24, 2020

A piece in The Bulwark gives us another political neologism, as if we had enough to deal with in designated “more conservative”, “more moderate”, “less liberal”, and even anti-progressive Democrats. At their margins they may be responsible for the Democratic losses in Congress even as Trump has been defeated. “Can’t we all just get...

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  • December 22, 2020

Trumpists keep repeating wrong numbers, hoping that the reiteration will magically transform them into the official count. Wrong-O, but they’re continuing the legal maneuvering. This time a GOP legislator’s suit tries to invalidate a GOP-passed law in order to throw out Democratic votes and fails in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. x 🚨BREAKING: We...

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  • November 28, 2020

Throughout the Democratic primaries, the dueling campaigns, and finally the day of November 3rd, I feared the United States would let me down. I have blown the horn of warning to anyone who would listen that this election was not a referendum on Donald Trump it was a referendum on...

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  • November 25, 2020

Donald Trump will forever be remembered as the man who shot himself in the foot while it was in his mouth. He has been his own worst enemy (as well as being the worst enemy of democracy, decency, and plain simple humanity). But one does have to give him credit...

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  • November 18, 2020

8pm ET join us as we celebrate with the victory speeches of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. x YouTube Video “Our democracy is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it, to guard it, and never take it for granted,” Harris opens with, quoting Rep. John Lewis. As...

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  • November 8, 2020

“Trump's odds of victory will decrease rather quickly, absent a sharp increase in his poll numbers.” Trends will out, and then there’s this bit of unhingery, as Trump bails on a 60 Minutes interview, because reasons… Likely Lesley Stahl asked more than a few uncomfortable questions. This recalls his historic comments to...

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  • October 20, 2020

Still about reality checks, considering that its still about GOTV and 3 November. Note that RCP is now showing a slight lead for Trump of +0.6% in some swing states, comparing 2020 and 2016. Things are different now especially with the candidates and pandemic constraints, but there are always potential bad signs...

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  • October 10, 2020
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So this bull shit just happened: The Michigan Supreme Court issued a split decision late Friday that ruled against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in a battle over her power to extend emergency declarations used to mandate COVID-19 restrictions. The court's decision throws in to question orders issued by Whitmer related to...

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  • October 3, 2020

First, from The Washington Post: Mining executive Tom Collier, who boasted in secretly taped conversations that he had leveraged his ties to Republican officials to advance a controversial project in Alaska, resigned Wednesday. Collier, CEO of the Pebble Limited Partnership, offered his resignation a day after the group Environmental Investigation...

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  • September 25, 2020

K. Sabeel Rahman, President of Demos, discusses some topics that afflict the working class in general and people of color in particular and solutions. He is the co-author of the book “Civic Power: Rebuilding American Democracy in an era of crisis.” K. Sabeel Rahman speaks x x YouTube Video Watch...

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  • September 16, 2020

There’s a BeijingBiden website, but Trump seems to have decided not to use this insult in speeches, leaving that meme to surrogates and media bottom-feeders. The meme was important to the Trump campaign in April, but since China “prefers” Biden, no amount of “China Virus” can offset Americans’ awareness of...

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  • September 9, 2020

Loving this: Joining forces with MJ Hegar, Beto O’Rourke blasted Sen. John Cornyn Thursday night as “the single greatest enabler of Donald Trump in the U.S. Senate”— urging Texans to oust the three-term Republican to save the nation from a lawless and dangerous president. “If you want to end not...

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  • September 4, 2020

No question, the November election is shaping up to be a unique one. Between the pandemic, the sabotage of the Postal Service (and have you thanked a postal employee today? I have), the fear of longer lines at the fewer polling places, lots and lots of voters are planning to...

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  • August 31, 2020

Tim Scott worries about Democrats turning the US into a socialist utopia (like that’s a bad thing?) Lines apparently got snorted, because it’s all on them. x This will haunt my dreams. pic.twitter.com/615fgtP6tj— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) August 25, 2020 x Given what I've heard about Don Jr's college years,...

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  • August 25, 2020

These are gobsmacking, jaw-dropping numbers, and they tend to make me think Jim Jones and David Koresh were underachievers. Wow. I mean, WOW. These people are kookaburra cray-cray devotees of Cocoa Puffs. CBS News: Republicans see an America — to borrow Ronald Reagan’s famous test — better off today than it was four...

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  • August 23, 2020

The GOP national convention will be even more Trumpist than 2016 as many major party figures will not be participating. The list of speakers is more about trying to spin Trump success from so many failures as well as a brand promotion for post-presidency Trump enterprises. This infomercial will feature more...

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  • August 23, 2020

Making an orange juice and rice wine trap for murder hornets doesn’t encourage thinking about the oncoming possibility that Washington State may also be a bellwether for Trump’s swing state strength. We all may be drinking more rice wine soon. Pray for Mantises. With murder hornets growing up to two inches...

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  • August 19, 2020

So many things to clean up starting January. A Josh Rogin piece at WaPo suggests that progressives will be sidelined in a Biden-Harris foreign policy. ‘Democratic muscular liberalism’ is more rebranding for the same centrism that often supported making wars last longer and often with less satisfying outcomes, despite multilateralism and...

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  • August 16, 2020

Today’s takeaway from another presser that this time was an hour late: Trump thinks the massive fertilizer explosion in Beirut was an attack, Trump gathered new data to try to divert attention from the current economic recession. And for some reason the state of Florida has superior mail-in voting ability...

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  • August 5, 2020

Presser started at 536pm ET. It ended at 613pm. Trump needed another faux-campaign speech opportunity today — he should be trying to clarify his criticism of Birx — perhaps there’ll be some faux-Kumbaya. The new tone will keep the press questions to a minimum. Perhaps Trump will double-down even further on the...

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  • August 3, 2020

I stumbled across this online meme recently, and it sparked something deep within my black, bloodless knot of a heart. My immediate, visceral reaction? FUCK YEAH, I would. People talk about the supposed enthusiasm gap between Donald Trump’s and Joe Biden’s supporters. To some degree, they may have a point...

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  • August 3, 2020

or at least, why I think many of the analysts are getting it completely wrong. Some analysts are saying that Trump supporters are more motivated than are Biden supporters.  But that misses the point. The comparison should be with Trump opponents, who are incredibly motivated to vote him — and...

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  • July 31, 2020

There are still people who think Trump will win in November, despite his usual attempts at kayfabe like threatening an election postponement today to distract everyone from the record slump in second quarter GDP. Despite a number of poll numbers that predict Donald Trump will lose his reelection bid, one...

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  • July 31, 2020

Received this e-mail today from former presidential candidate, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I. VT), in support of these down ballot Democrats campaigns: You know as well as I do that our campaign for president was never simply about winning an election. It was about building a movement that is prepared...

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  • July 27, 2020

From The Verge: An upcoming primary in Kansas has been upended by billionaire Peter Thiel, who is pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into a PAC supporting the hard-line anti-immigration candidate. While traditional Republican Party organizations have backed Rep. Roger Marshall (R-KS) for the open Senate seat, Thiel has put...

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  • July 21, 2020

http://www.floridaphoenix.com/… The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, by a vote of 10 of its 12 judges, said that it would take up the matter “en banc” — or as a committee of the whole — next month. In the meantime, it stayed enforcement of U.S. District Court Judge Robert...

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  • July 20, 2020

From CNN: x 1. Technically, Senator Kelly Loeffler is running to keep her seat. But she has decided to campaign against Black Lives Matter. Loeffler highlights her opposition to the movement in every campaign stop and TV appearance Who is supporting this campaign?https://t.co/3L1jHcoSWc— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) July 16, 2020 Sony...

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  • July 17, 2020

What a fucking moron: Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Hispanics in his state have higher rates of coronavirus and are less likely to social distance and wear masks. “Wear the mask out of respect. And I will tell you I’m not a scientist and I’m not a statistician, but...

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  • July 17, 2020

From Stephen Robinson at Wonkette: Former Kansas secretary of State, current Senate candidate, and known loser Kris Kobach has annoyed us all with his relentless, Javert-esque pursuit of imaginary voter fraud. Well, finally, at long last, we've found some for him, and it's right under his stupid nose. Republican Steve Watkins, who represents Kansas's second congressional district, is facing...

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  • July 16, 2020

From Huffington Post: x Here's the TV ad that @JohnCornyn's campaign is going up with tomorrow, similar to the attack ad that it first ran against @RoyceWestTX last summer: pic.twitter.com/05NBUzO12U— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) July 9, 2020 Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars meddling in...

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  • July 13, 2020
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The New York Times has a great piece out about how Democrats are eager to not only help Joe Biden take out Trump but also want him to expand the electoral map. The goal is to get to 270 electoral votes and here are the current states Biden’s campaign is...

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  • July 12, 2020

From Huffington Post: Leading Democratic Senate candidates from around the country are open to at least reforming the filibuster, according to a HuffPost survey, with at least two supporting wholesale elimination of the Senate’s 60-vote hurdle. The candidates uniformly argue that the filibuster has empowered obstructionists and prevented the country...

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  • June 29, 2020

Suprisingly, the 2020 Kentucky Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate was probably the major driver for the higher than expected voter turnout (initial estimate of 32% voter participation statewide).  Yes, I know that is still a terrible number for any democracy, but the usual voter turnout in Kentucky is around 20%...

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  • June 24, 2020

Received this e-mail today from Slate Magazine’s The Slurge that highlights seven U.S. Senate races to keep your eye one: 1. Kentucky The national Democratic establishment gets its way in Senate primaries. It’s a rule. Democratic primary voters aren’t like Republicans. When Republican voters hear that Mitch McConnell has recruited...

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  • June 19, 2020

Received this e-mail today from the People for the American Way: The coronavirus pandemic is impacting virtually every aspect of our lives – including our ability to participate in our democracy. We’ve already seen the impact that coronavirus has had on the primaries. We must ensure that moving forward, voters can...

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  • June 17, 2020

Fox News recently highlighted that Moscow Mitch is totally against the “defund the police” movement: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday slammed the growing liberal momentum behind the “defund the police” movement as “outlandish.” His comments referenced the growing left-wing movement in cities such as Minneapolis — where George Floyd died last month in police custody...

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  • June 15, 2020

My elderly Mom and I committed election fraud Friday.  I sent in our absentee ballots by mail instead of voting in person with everyone in the city of Louisvlle at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center on June 23rd.  Well, a certain orange baboon in the White House claims that...

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  • June 13, 2020