IheartIheartTesla

There is a worthwhile debate to be had about a 50 state strategy versus battleground states....but the plan cooked by Donna Brazile and others to ramp up voting in places like Chicago and New Orleans (even though IL and LA were not remotely competitive) because they feared HRC would win the EC but lose the popular vote was lunacy. Local (or rather, non-EC) elections in all 50 states are important, but the goal above makes no sense. Its literally catering to some non-existent public perception that wouldnt matter once the election was won,

Leaving the impeachment aside, the NYT/Siena polls in the battleground states earlier this month, and the new Marquette poll for Wisconsin about now are showing head-to-heads that are close, within the margin of error. The 'good news' is that the battleground states now include Arizona (but also PA). Its still a ways away, but I suggest that the Democratic Party not lose sight this time of the states to go after. Man, I still cant believe the way they prioritized the campaign last time. Anyway, time for everyone to knuckle down in those states. Any effort, however small, will count.

Well, those two billion dollars would be distributed among TV ads, paid volunteers, businesses to print posters until it finally reaches the hands of more than 2 people, so I am ok with this redistribution of wealth. I am also ok with them being taxed more, but either way, lets have more redistribution, yeah?

Was this quote before or after he provided socialist health insurance to all workers in Germany?

Bevin has not conceded, but a recount is not mandatory in KY and he would have to get the courts involved. I would put this as a pick up for the Democrats.

Two governor elections and 3 state legislature elections happening today! Kentucky is competitive, and Mississippi less so (the latter has some weird requirement of both popular vote + state representative thingie), but the former has some ambiguous polling. Eventually I think both may go GOP though. The Virginia state legislature is a different matter. Lets see how that pans out,

Thats a good thing to keep in mind as we parse Nate Cohn's poll match-ups between Trump and Biden/Sanders/Warren in swing states. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/upshot/one-year-from-election-trump-trails-biden-but-leads-warren-in-battlegrounds.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage There is a table in there that is worth taking a look at (in particular Arizona where Biden is ahead of Trump the most compared to any other entries). We are still a year out, but a note of caution that preliminary indicators show similar behavior to 2016.

Although the Senate resolution that Graham proposed had 50 Republican co-sponsors, so for now most of them are ready to hold the line. The 3 senators who didnt co-sign were Romney, Collins and Murkowski, aka the usual suspects. Collins will eventually disappoint, and who knows about the other two. For now, there are cracks but the Senate appears to be mostly in line. Of course, all this is a matter of patience and waiting for things to play out. Public hearings may change things, and Trump's approval may slide further. The only thing that gives me a little bit of pause is that in swing states the public isnt quite in favor of removing Trump yet (although they favor the impeachment proceedings). We are now in a very extended inflection point IMO.

The House are rabble and dont count. Its the Senate that is the more deliberative body (and in general are also more vulnerable even in safely red or blue states) and I notice not too many of the Republicans there have offered full-throated defenses of the toddler in chief (except Graham, and even his toadying may have limits). There is still a way to go, and I dont see how Trump can improve his position from here on.

James Inhofe throwing a snowball in the Senate was also a doozy. It disproved absolutely nothing, but this grandstandig is just 'virtue signaling' to their hard-core followers (another thing conservatives like to rail against but are the biggest offenders)

It is quite likely there is a Biden gaffe for every occasion, but as a matter of strategy someone should look at what kind of censure he got for those remarks (for instance, did the head of the NAACP condemn the remarks then). Regardless of strategy, Democrats should also have their feet held to the fire when they make racially insensitive remarks. Still remember 2008 when Biden made quite a few of them but it didnt matter as much then. Good god, I dont look forward to 2020 if he becomes the nominee. I cant bring myself to defend him more than half-heartedly.

Also, Emoluments and Clause are capitalized. Anything else?

He's also making Miami International the biggest airport in the world, by executive order. And I hear the 'phony emoluments clause' will be Sharpied out of the constitution

Thats even worse, she cast aspersions on 5 (or is it 6?) candidates without showing any evidence.

By the way, not sure what Clinton was thinking talking about Gabbard being "favored by the Russians" (paraphrasing obviously). Didn't mind her parody of the Trump-Ergodan letter at all, but she should have known better than interfering in the Democratic primary. There are already enough criticisms about its unfairness without someone punching down at a candidate.