Too Soon To Start Thinking About 2020? No, it's 2020!

[Holman]

Wow, the Markey-Kennedy primary in MA has really flipped.

I haven't followed it closely, but the last time I was aware of it (a couple months back) Kennedy had a double-digit lead. Now it appears that Markey is 15 points ahead.

[Zaxxon]

Again with the quiet part out loud...

[Kraken]

Wow, the Markey-Kennedy primary in MA has really flipped.

I haven't followed it closely, but the last time I was aware of it (a couple months back) Kennedy had a double-digit lead. Now it appears that Markey is 15 points ahead.

Cite? As of a few days ago, it was neck-and-neck.

What's funny is that, in the Before Time, I made a thread to track this race because it was expected to be high profile. Then some distracting stuff happened.

[Zaxxon]

Fuck you, I'm voting (Scalzi).

[Holman]

Wow, the Markey-Kennedy primary in MA has really flipped.

I haven't followed it closely, but the last time I was aware of it (a couple months back) Kennedy had a double-digit lead. Now it appears that Markey is 15 points ahead.

Cite? As of a few days ago, it was neck-and-neck.

What's funny is that, in the Before Time, I made a thread to track this race because it was expected to be high profile. Then some distracting stuff happened.

Here's just one link: UMass Amherst

A new University of Massachusetts Amherst / WCVB poll released today shows incumbent Sen. Edward Markey leading challenger Rep. Joseph Kennedy III by 15 points in the Massachusetts Democratic Senate primary, notably expanding his lead since the last time the race was polled by UMass Amherst in February.

It's not an enormous poll, so the margin of error is pretty rubbery. But the story Google-wide is that Markey has opened up a significant lead.

[gbasden]

Fuck you, I'm voting (Scalzi).

I love Scalzi. He's such a good human, and does a pretty killer dance party as well.

[Kraken]

Wow, the Markey-Kennedy primary in MA has really flipped.

I haven't followed it closely, but the last time I was aware of it (a couple months back) Kennedy had a double-digit lead. Now it appears that Markey is 15 points ahead.

Cite? As of a few days ago, it was neck-and-neck.

What's funny is that, in the Before Time, I made a thread to track this race because it was expected to be high profile. Then some distracting stuff happened.

Here's just one link: UMass Amherst

A new University of Massachusetts Amherst / WCVB poll released today shows incumbent Sen. Edward Markey leading challenger Rep. Joseph Kennedy III by 15 points in the Massachusetts Democratic Senate primary, notably expanding his lead since the last time the race was polled by UMass Amherst in February.

It's not an enormous poll, so the margin of error is pretty rubbery. But the story Google-wide is that Markey has opened up a significant lead.

Thanks. I just got text-polled a few minutes ago. Dunno who was conducting it.

[Zaxxon]

Yes, please put a ton of money and effort into winning New York.

[Smoove_B]

I saw that and thought it was strange. He knows NY hates him - so much so that he changed his residence to Florida. I know he's a moron, but I can't believe he would think his effort is best spent there.

[TheMix]

Maybe he thinks he's being incredibly "clever". That Biden will go "Oh no!" and rush to NY to defend it. It is the type of ploy I'd expect from a child.

[malchior]

This letter is rated one raised eyebrow. The irony is that she is squarely partially responsible for the financial struggles of the postal system.

[Zaxxon]

Hopefully she didn't mail the letter.

[Defiant]

Bush and Cheney briefly campaigned in Hawaii in 2004, so it's not the first time Republicans tried a transparent bluff like that.

Or maybe they just wanted a chance to be in a nice climate. Makes as much sense as anything else.

[Kraken]

Hopefully she didn't mail the letter.

[stessier]

This letter is rated one raised eyebrow. The irony is that she is squarely partially responsible for the financial struggles of the postal system.

"Squarely partially responsible" is a very odd phrase.

[malchior]

This letter is rated one raised eyebrow. The irony is that she is squarely partially responsible for the financial struggles of the postal system.

"Squarely partially responsible" is a very odd phrase.

True it should be as above. I had edited it and thought I dropped in the strikethrough. I softened it because she was one of several who sponsored it.

[Holman]

Yes, please put a ton of money and effort into winning New York.

I have to suspect there's some way in which this is just channeling campaign money into Trump pockets.

Look for a huge, expensive event at his NYC hotel.

[malchior]

Good take. I just figured he was delusional. Lining his pockets or a mix with a little of the former is on the right path.

[LordMortis]

I also imagine there is no shortage of wealthy NY donors that he wants to appeal to, whether that money goes to the campaign to line his family pocketbook.

[El Guapo]

This is pretty compelling. Hopefully more Trump alums will follow.

[Defiant]

Aaron Coleman, a 19-year-old who admitted to blackmail, revenge porn, and bullying, has won his primary race for the Kansas House of Representatives.

Coleman is currently running unopposed as a Democrat for the state's November election, according to KSHB Kansas City.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/19-old-admit ... 04424.html

[Blackhawk]

Aaron Coleman, a 19-year-old who admitted to blackmail, revenge porn, and bullying, has won his primary race for the Kansas House of Representatives.

Coleman is currently running unopposed as a Democrat for the state's November election, according to KSHB Kansas City.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/19-old-admit ... 04424.html

My usual reaction when I see a story like this these days is that it's exaggerated, or uncorroborated, or focused on a single mistake made decades before.

But no, some extra reading shows that this is a genuinely 'WTF?' moment.

[Carpet_pissr]

That said, I would be inclined to let him file. I didn't care for the logic when Republicans shut down Gary Johnson in Michigan in 2012 for being 3 minutes late (I wonder if that was more than 3:01 or less) and I don't care for it now. I am rules follower but there is a time and a place for wiggle room and a time and a place to deny wiggle room.

Also note the GOP collectively called Johnson a sore loser, what do they say about Kanye?

Very VERY different GOP now than in 2012. I would (and do!) argue that they should change the name, considering their swift embrace of an evil slurry of populism, Trump, and the worst Tea Party ideas.

[Daehawk]

[malchior]

Sometimes I wonder what game Pelosi is playing at.

[Kraken]

Pelosi has a longstanding friendship with the Kennedys. I think it's that simple. Markey's last campaign ad was a veiled swipe at the family legacy.

[$iljanus]

Pelosi has a longstanding friendship with the Kennedys. I think it's that simple. Markey's last campaign ad was a veiled swipe at the family legacy.

That’s politics. She should have minded her business if that’s the main reason for chiming in at this late stage.

[El Guapo]

I also read that she's close to Joseph Kennedy and that he got a lot of credit with her for doing a ton of work to help the Democrats win the House in 2018.

In any event, I don't really care.

[Defiant]

The Wisconsin Elections Commission tossed out West’s efforts to qualify for the 2020 presidential ballot in the swing state, ruling that because his campaign didn’t submit its ballot signatures until shortly after the state's 5 p.m. legal deadline on August 4, they weren’t valid to qualify him for the ballot.

Ruhland claimed in an affidavit that she was told she was in the office at 5 p.m. and 14 seconds, and West’s current lawyer, Mike Curran, argued that this counted as by no later than 5 p.m. But according to testimonial from the commission staff, Ruhland entered the building until 5 p.m. and 14 seconds, and didn’t enter the office itself until 5:01 or 5:02.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/n7w5 ... -wisconsin

[El Guapo]

Primary day in Massachusetts. Looks like Rep. Neal (who I didn't know was from MA, and who is terrible) unfortunately defeated his primary challenger. Also looks like Markey is going to beat Kennedy, though it hasn't been called yet.

[Holman]

Just saw that Kennedy has conceded to Markey.

[Defiant]

A noteworthy consistent pattern you saw across the three different primaries in Massachusetts is that the “progressive” candidates do better in more upscale, highly educated towns and the moderates in more working class ones.

The Democratic party's growing problem with the working class is being masked in part by Biden, who is one of the few Dem candidates good at winning them. But many progs despise him precisely for the things that generate this appeal. That's a coalition problem going forward

[Smoove_B]

The Democratic party's growing problem with the working class is being masked in part by Biden, who is one of the few Dem candidates good at winning them. But many progs despise him precisely for the things that generate this appeal. That's a coalition problem going forward

Do you know what else is a coalition problem? Trump and the GOP death cult collectively dragging us back into the Dark Ages.

[coopasonic]

The impressive thing is how they do it without providing a single tangible benefit to the working class.

[Defiant]

I dunno, wouldn't bringing us to the Dark Ages greatly enlarge the working class, with the increase in manual labor and the lack of technology? That sounds like it might be a tangible benefit if you don't have to worry about Robotic overlords.

[LordMortis]

The impressive thing is how they do it without providing a single tangible benefit to the working class.

I think the working class or "uneducated" according to Kurth's NYT link, I suspect (I don't have an NYT sub) have the benefit of feeling like they are being listened to and valued and having their opinions validated (opinions that were often fed to them by short sighted industrialist tycoons past, ie global warming is lie) and their claims to knowledge as being things that are true, something the progressive left has an arrogance about. I'm guessing partly from wanting to flaunt being right and partly from having been not listened to, not valued, and having had no influence for so long.

I don't know the answer. I don't agree with flocking to an oligarchy to revel in ignorance while we goosestep toward authoritarianism but I get that nobody wants to be marginalized and if there is a choice is between being marginalized by those openly look down on you and those who are lying to you and telling you you're special. It's not hard to see people going for the lies, even as the people who look down on you are working in your best interests.

I used to invite the US losing its arrogant supremacy. I didn't see this being the path. I'm hoping someone better than I can see comes along sets us right and the I am capable of seeing they are right person. I really believed Beto or Booker were the best shot of right now in the field and I was clearly off on that thought with how quickly they were each chased out. I never even got my chance to vote for either one.

This editorial headline from the NYT caught my eye this morning: Disdain for the Less Educated Is the Last Acceptable Prejudice
It’s having a corrosive effect on American life — and hurting the Democratic Party.

It's basically a lament that we've turned into a meritocracy that disparages and demeans uneducated, working class people. I think the gist is captured in this section:

Building a politics around the idea that a college degree is a precondition for dignified work and social esteem has a corrosive effect on democratic life. It devalues the contributions of those without a diploma, fuels prejudice against less-educated members of society, effectively excludes most working people from elective government and provokes political backlash.

Not sure how I feel about this, but it was an interesting perspective that's worth a read.

[Kurth]

Again, a choice between light and darkness, good and evil, isn’t a choice at all. But that’s where we’re at today. Some may disagree, but I don’t think it’s always been that way. There were alliances and close ties across the aisle in the halls of power, and it followed (or maybe the reverse is true) that it wasn’t noteworthy in the least that people generally had friends with politics that differed starkly from their own.

Now, we’re all backed into our respective corners and have a hard time even recognizing the humanity of people that don’t vote with our tribe.

Earlier this week, I went to pick up my daughter from babysitting downtown in my small Portland suburb. Coming home we were stopped at a light, and there was a group of 100 or so Blue Lives Matter/MAGA supporters on one corner trading shouts with a group of 100 or so BLM supporters on the other corner. The BLMers were mostly young, White families, and the MAGA folks were mostly older white folks. As we pulled up a woman who looked to be 65 or so was closest to our car and locked eyes with me. I quickly closed my windows and shook my head at her. She didn’t even seem like a person to me. I couldn’t imagine she was probably someone’s grandmother. I couldn’t fathom having any kind of conversation with her, and certainly not about the issues that were dividing us in that moment.

This country is like a long married couple spiraling towards a divorce. It feels like we don’t see each other and can’t hear each other, no matter how loudly we shout.

We don’t need a Commander in Chief.

We need a Therapist in Chief.

[Holman]

We don’t need a Commander in Chief.

We need a Therapist in Chief.

Honestly, that might be Biden's role.

He has been unapologetic in insisting that healing the country and finding common purpose is what's needed. He attacks Trump, but you don't hear him demonizing the portion of the country that supports Trump. Maybe we stumbled upon the right choice after all.

If he wins, I know the surviving Republican establishment won't see it this way at all. But possibly the confused middle and the non-participants will.

[stessier]

I applied to be a county poll manager today (they have a number of openings). If I'm turned down for that for whatever reason, I'll apply to be just a poll worker. Most of these positions are historically filled by retired people in my area, so this is my attempt to make sure we have as many polling places as possible open in November. My wife and I discussed the likely health risks given our area is already the hottest spot in our state and think this is one of those times that it's worth it.

Got a survey today making sure I was available to work and attend the in person training sessions. Should hear back in about 3 weeks. In person training is sometime between 9/8 and 10/24. The election is 11/3, so they might be cutting it a bit close at the end there.

Got my in-person training set up for 10/5 - it's a 3 hour class. I've started the online training. The first 2 (or 5) modules took 41 minutes to complete and covered setting up the polling place, making sure it's accessible to all, and how to set up the ballot marking machines and the scanner. It's surprisingly interesting. They also covered how to account for people who voted absentee - I don't see how someone could vote twice unless they were never recorded requesting an absentee ballot - but then the absentee ballot wouldn't be counted, so still only one vote.

[Defiant]

Aaron Coleman, a 19-year-old who admitted to blackmail, revenge porn, and bullying, has won his primary race for the Kansas House of Representatives.

Coleman is currently running unopposed as a Democrat for the state's November election, according to KSHB Kansas City.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/19-old-admit ... 04424.html