#re-elect tammy baldwin

[tomorrowusa]

Filthy rich Republicans wish to tax poor people more so that the rich can get even more tax brakes when the GOP is in power. That's pretty much the story of Eric Hovde.

Hovde is running against incumbent Wisconsin US Senator Tammy Baldwin.

Wisconsin is a fairly moderate state. But it features some of the most despicable Republicans outside the old Confederacy.

In 2017, Sunwest Bank CEO Eric Hovde advocated for reforms that would raise taxes for 72 million Americans, including retirees and low-income earners. Hovde, a Republican, is expected to announce a U.S. Senate campaign in Wisconsin soon. Hovde, who has been endorsed by national Republicans to challenge Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin in 2024, made the proposal in a Nov. 18, 2017, appearance on the radio program “The Vicki McKenna Show.”  [ ... ] Analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found the plan would have also raised taxes for middle- and working-class families as well as retirees. “More than 80 percent of the tax increase would be paid by households making about $54,000 or less, and 97 percent would be paid by those making less than about $100,000,” wrote Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow with the organization. “Low-income families with children would pay the most: Achieving Scott’s goal would slash their after-tax incomes by more than $5,000, or more than 20 percent. A Scott-like plan would raise taxes on middle-income households by an average of $450.” Scott’s plan failed to pass, but he has not given up pushing for it. If Hovde were to join him in the Senate and support the measure, it could gain traction. In Wisconsin, Scott’s plan would have raised taxes for 32% of people, according to analysis by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. 

Hovde wants to take away your healthcare in addition to raising your income tax (if you're not a millionaire).

Hovde ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in 2012, and during that campaign he called for a total repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which in 2022 made it possible for 212,209 individuals in Wisconsin to obtain affordable health insurance coverage.

The Eric Hovde and Donald Trump Agenda: Take Away Critical Health Care Protections From Wisconsinites

Hovde doesn't even live in Wisconsin. Just sayin'...

Bice: Eric Hovde may run for Senate in Wisconsin, but he's living large in Laguna Beach, California

Did I mention that Eric Hovde is an anti-abortion fanatic.

ERIC HOVDE ON ABORTION

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #10

March 15-22 2024

The EPA announced new emission standards with the goal of having more than half of new cars and light trucks sold in the US be low/zero emission by 2032. One of the most significant climate regulations in the nation’s history, it'll eliminate 7 billion tons of CO2 emissions over the next 30 years. It's part of President Biden's goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 on the road to eliminating them totally by 2050.

President Biden canceled nearly 6 Billion dollars in student loan debt. 78,000 borrowers who work in public sector jobs, teachers, nurses, social workers, firefighters etc will have their debt totally forgiven. An additional 380,000 public service workers will be informed that they qualify to have their loans forgiven over the next 2 years. The Biden Administration has now forgiven $143.6 Billion in student loan debt for 4 million Americans since the Supreme Court struck down the original student loan forgiveness plan last year.

Under Pressure from the administration and Democrats in Congress Drugmaker AstraZeneca caps the price of its inhalers at $35. AstraZeneca joins rival Boehringer Ingelheim in capping the price of inhalers at $35, the price the Biden Admin capped the price of insulin for seniors. The move comes as the Federal Trade Commission challenges AstraZeneca’s patents, and Senator Bernie Sanders in his role as Democratic chair of the Senate Health Committee investigates drug pricing.

The Department of Justice sued Apple for being an illegal monopoly in smartphones. The DoJ is joined by 16 state attorneys general. The DoJ accuses Apple of illegally stifling competition with how its apps work and seeking to undermining technologies that compete with its own apps.

The EPA passed a rule banning the final type of asbestos still used in the United States. The banning of chrysotile asbestos (known as white asbestos) marks the first time since 1989 the EPA taken action on asbestos, when it passed a partial ban. 40,000 deaths a year in the US are linked to asbestos

President Biden announced $8.5 billion to help build advanced computer chips in America. Currently America only manufactures 10% of the world's chips and none of the most advanced next generation of chips. The deal with Intel will open 4 factories across 4 states (Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico, and Oregon) and create 30,000 new jobs. The Administration hopes that by 2030 America will make 20% of the world's leading-edge chips.

President Biden signed an Executive Order prioritizing research into women's health. The order will direct $200 million into women's health across the government including comprehensive studies of menopause health by the Department of Defense and new outreach by the Indian Health Service to better meet the needs of American Indian and Alaska Native Women. This comes on top of $100 million secured by First Lady Jill Biden from ARPA-H.

Democratic Senators Bob Casey, Tammy Baldwin, Sherrod Brown, and Jacky Rosen (all up for re-election) along with Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Sheldon Whitehouse, introduced the "Shrinkflation Prevention Act" The Bill seeks to stop the practice of companies charging the same amount for products that have been subtly shrunk so consumers pay more for less.

The Department of Transportation will invest $45 million in projects that improve Bicyclist and Pedestrian Connectivity and Safety

The EPA will spend $77 Million to put 180 electric school buses onto the streets of New York City This is part of New York's goal to transition its whole school bus fleet to electric by 2035.

The Senate confirmed President Biden's nomination of Nicole Berner to the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Berner has served as the general counsel for America's largest union, SEIU, since 2017 and worked in their legal department since 2006. On behalf of SEIU she's worked on cases supporting the Affordable Care Act, DACA, and against the Defense of Marriage act and was part of the Fight for 15. Before working at SEIU she was a staff attorney at Planned Parenthood. Berner's name was listed by the liberal group Demand Justice as someone they'd like to see on the Supreme Court. Berner becomes one of just 5 LGBT federal appeals court judges, 3 appointed by Biden. The Senate also confirmed Edward Kiel and Eumi Lee to be district judges in New Jersey and Northern California respectively, bring the number of federal judges appointed by Biden to 188.

[sethshead]

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) said on social media that “the only just outcome” for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is “the peaceful coexistence” of an Israeli and a Palestinian state. “I am under no illusion that a two-state solution will happen in the immediate future but to assert that it should NEVER happen — that either Jews or Palestinians should never have self-determination — is morally wrong,” Torres continued.

Once again, Rep. Torres distinguishes himself as a voice of nuance and peace in this conflict.

I don't know what exactly are the conditions for aid the 18 senators have established, but if they focus on the "day after" need to lay all possible groundwork for eventual Palestinian autonomy and independence, I would be on board. As much as I am a Zionist and side unreservedly with Israel against Hamas in the current war, nothing will have been achieved if a two-state future is off the table. Netanyahu's vision only sets the stage for unsustainable occupation and future conflict. It is a dispiriting confirmation of what we all knew he believed and was working toward, despite his perverse willingness to live alongside a Hamas that never promised anything but what it did Oct. 7. Israel is in desperate need of better leadership, as are the Palestinians. If that is achieved, there is good reason to hope for peace.

After all this is the calculus: Israel is going nowhere and neither are the Palestinians. Both Jews and Palestinians demand and have every right to national self-determination, and each possesses its own form of indigeneity within the borders of the former British Mandate of Palestine. Neither people wishes to live as a minority under the other's rule. That leaves only partition into two sovereign and viable states as a just solution. Zionists understood this in 1947, but have inconsistently acted in accordance with this logic. The Palestinians, well, when they're ready to accept this conclusion, there has to be something concrete as an incentive for conceding to reality.

[mariacallous]

Rick Scott, Josh Hawley, and Ted Cruz (plus Marsha Blackburn) are all up for re-election in 2024

So are Krysten Sinema, Debbie Stabenow, Jon Tester, Jacky Rosen, Martin Heinrich, Sherrod Brown, Bob Casey, Joe Manchin, and Tammy Baldwin.

[sa7abnews]

'Squad' faces final primary challenge as 4 states go to polls Tuesday

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/13/squad-faces-final-primary-challenge-as-4-states-go-to-polls-tuesday/

'Squad' faces final primary challenge as 4 states go to polls Tuesday

After a tough summer at the ballot box for members of the so-called “Squad,” the group of progressive and diverse House Democrats is facing its final intraparty challenge on Tuesday as four states in the Midwest and New England hold primary elections.Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota faces voters one week after her fellow Squad member, Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, lost her bid for re-nomination and nearly two months after another Squad member, Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York, fell to his primary challenger.But Omar, who made history as the first Somali American in Congress and the first woman of color to represent Minnesota on Capitol Hill, is the favorite as she faces three primary challengers in the Democrat primary. Omar is seeking a fourth two-year term representing the Minneapolis-anchored 5th Congressional District.CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKING IN THE 2024 ELECTIONBush and Bowman faced well-funded challengers and millions in outside spending by United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. While Omar is also a very vocal critic of Israel, she hasn’t been targeted by any ads from the United Democracy Project.And Omar is considered to be in a much better political position than she was two years ago when she narrowly defeated Don Samuels, who for a second straight cycle is her top challenger.But Samuels, in an interview Monday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” said he’s seen a surge in his fundraising and in volunteers to his campaign in the week since Bush’s defeat. And he said Omar is “divisive and combative. She picks a side including, simply trying to divide her, her constituency, and ignores the other side.”Minnesota’s primary comes a week after Vice President Harris named the state’s governor, Gov. Tim Walz, as her running mate on the Democrat 2024 ticket. And an old clip of Walz praising Omar has gone viral in recent days.Arguably the highest-profile Squad member, three-term Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, easily crushed her primary challenger in June.The only other Squad member with a primary yet to come this cycle is Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, who is unchallenged in her September contest.Sen. Amy Klobuchar is the overwhelming favorite in a five-candidate Democrat Senate primary as she seeks a fourth six-year term representing Minnesota in the chamber. Eight candidates are running in the GOP Senate primary.In neighboring Wisconsin, Democrat Sen. Tammy Baldwin is unopposed in her party’s primary as she seeks a third term. Republican businessman Eric Hovde, a real estate developer who’s loaned his campaign $13 million and who is backed by former President Trump, faces nominal opposition in the GOP primary.Two Democrats are running in their party’s primary in western Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, with the winner taking on Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a staunch Trump ally, in November.And in northeast Wisconsin’s heavily red 8th Congressional District, all eyes are on the GOP primary in the race to fill the seat of former Rep. Mike Gallagher, who left Congress in April. Taking place alongside the primary is a special election for the remainder of Gallagher’s current term, which expires at the end of the year.In Connecticut, the spotlight is on Republican primaries to challenge two longtime Democrat members of Congress: Sen. Chris Murphy and Rep. Jim Himes.In Vermont, two Democrats are vying for their party’s gubernatorial nomination, with the winner challenging Republican Gov. Phil Scott in November.Scott, a moderate Republican and GOP Trump critic, is unopposed in his party’s primary as he seeks a fifth two-year term steering Vermont. Even though Vermont is a reliably blue state. Scott remains popular and grabbed nearly 70% of the vote in his 2022 re-election.Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

[alaturkanews]

Biden’s Fate Hangs Over Baldwin and Democrats in Congress as Voters Question His Fitness

Senator Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat seeking re-election, has noticed voters returning to the same question in recent days as she crisscrosses her state to make the case for her campaign: Does she think President Biden can win in November, and should he even try? “Typically, I’ll go to an event; I’ll share my remarks,” Ms. Baldwin said in an interview on Friday at a newly opened campaign…

[wausaupilot]

Baldwin touts buy-American legislation in first Senate re-election campaign TV ad

The ad will run statewide and on digital platforms.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin launched her first television campaign ad Thursday, releasing a 30-second spot touting buy-American legislation she sponsored. The ad features workers at Scot Forge in Clinton praising the bills. One was signed by President Donald Trump in 2018 that created a five-year requirement that federally funded water infrastructure projects use…

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 11.6

447 – A powerful earthquake destroys large portions of the Walls of Constantinople, including 57 towers. 963 – Synod of Rome: Emperor Otto I calls a council at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Pope John XII is deposed on charges of an armed rebellion against Otto. 1217 – The Charter of the Forest is sealed at St Paul's Cathedral, London by King Henry III, acting under the regency of William Marshall, 1st Earl of Pembroke which re-establishes for free men rights of access to the royal forest that had been eroded by William the Conqueror and his heirs. 1792 – Battle of Jemappes in the French Revolutionary Wars. 1860 – Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States with only 40% of the popular vote, defeating John C. Breckinridge, John Bell, and Stephen A. Douglas in a four-way race. 1869 – In New Brunswick, New Jersey, Rutgers College defeats Princeton University (then known as the College of New Jersey), 6–4, in the first official intercollegiate American football game. 1900 – President William McKinley is re-elected, along with his vice-presidential running mate, Governor Theodore Roosevelt of New York. Republicans also swept the congressional elections, winning increased majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. 1936 – Spanish Civil War: The republican government flees from Madrid to Valencia, leading to the formation of the Madrid Defense Council in its stead. 1943 – World War II: The 1st Ukrainian Front liberates Kyiv from German occupation. 1947 – Meet the Press, the longest running television program in history, makes its debut on NBC Television. 1963 – Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ is appointed to head the South Vietnamese government by General Dương Văn Minh's junta, five days after the latter deposed and assassinated President Ngô Đình Diệm. 1971 – The United States Atomic Energy Commission tests the largest U.S. underground hydrogen bomb, code-named Cannikin, on Amchitka Island in the Aleutians. 1977 – The Kelly Barnes Dam, located above Toccoa Falls College near Toccoa, Georgia, fails, killing 39. 1985 – Colombian conflict, leftist guerrillas of the 19th of April Movement seize control of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá. 1986 – Sumburgh disaster: A British International Helicopters Boeing 234LR Chinook crashes 21⁄2 miles east of Sumburgh Airport killing 45 people. It is the deadliest civilian helicopter crash on record. 1988 – Lancang–Gengma earthquakes: At least 938 are killed after two powerful earthquakes rock the China–Myanmar border in Yunnan Province. 1995 – Cleveland Browns relocation controversy: Art Modell announces that he signed a deal that would relocate the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore. 2002 – Jiang Lijun is detained by Chinese police for signing the Open Letter to the 16th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. 2002 – A Fokker 50 crashes near Luxembourg Airport, killing 20 and injuring three. 2004 – An express train collides with a stationary car near the village of Ufton Nervet, England, killing seven and injuring 150. 2012 – Tammy Baldwin becomes the first openly gay politician to be elected to the United States Senate. 2016 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launch an offensive to capture the city of Raqqa from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

[thedepressedweasel]

Please donate/boost this to help Tammy Baldwin win

[dhaaruni]

There's been chatter over the last few days about Trump having all but decided to run again in 2024, which is obviously terrifying. Assuming that happens, and with what we know right now, how would you rate a Biden-Trump rematch in three years? Would you agree that the battleground states that have been trending blue (AZ/GA/TX) will become even bluer in 2024, while MI/PA/WI continue to get redder, even if only slightly?

Okay so, I really don't want Trump to run again because he draws out low-propensity white voters like nobody else does, and as a result, when Trump's not on the ballot like in 2018 and during the Georgia runoffs, Democrats do better. But, I think he will run and we need to be prepared for it. I really need Joe Biden to run for re-election because literally almost other Democrat has any concept of messaging discipline, but his approval numbers in swing states need to come out of the 30s. His approval numbers ignoring outliers are in the mid-40s nationwide but in swing states, they're about 10 points lower, and he's not winning re-election against Trump if that's the case.

I think that Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin are going to get redder in the next 4 years, especially if Trump is on the ballot, but my other huge concern is the Senate in 2024. Debbie Stabenow in Michigan is possibly retiring, which means there won't be incumbency advantage there and that Senate race will be competitive, and all the other Midwestern Senate Dems, Tammy Baldwin, Sherrod Brown, Amy Klobuchar, and Bob Casey, are up for reelection. I think Klobuchar is fine, but the reality is, if Trump's on the ballot, Brown is almost surely toast. He previously won in 2006 and 2018, blue wave years, and in 2012 when Obama won Ohio at the top of the ticket, and Biden/Hillary lost Ohio by 9. Manchin and Tester are already most likely gone, and if the Democrat at the top of the ticket doesn't carry Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Casey and Baldwin might viably lose too, because once again, they and Brown won re-election when Trump wasn't on the ballot. And, due to a lack of ticket-splitting, I don't believe they can outrun a losing presidential candidate on the same ballot by enough to keep their seats.

As for AZ/GA/TX, Democrats need to stop pretending that Texas is going to flip blue in 2024 (or probably even 2028) because it's not, and Republicans have that electoral buffer along with Florida unless Democrats stop talking about socialism period and do Clinton level numbers with the Cubans/Venezuelans, which won't happen. I believe Texas will eventually flip blue, but as I've said, Ohio is a swing state when Trump isn't on the ballot and a red state when he is, and Texas is a red state always, but is less red when Trump is on the ballot. As for Arizona, I honestly believe that Arizona flipped blue on the presidential level thanks to the ghost of John McCain and Cindy McCain endorsing Biden, and that also means I don't think it'll stay blue without her endorsement.

Sorry to be a huge downer but I'll end by saying that Georgia seems to be pulling a Virginia, and is helped along by Stacey Abrams' efforts of course but also by huge demographic shifts in the state and the growing Atlanta metro. Like, Arizona isn't there demographically because Phoenix and Maricopa County and the suburbs around it are much less blue than Atlanta and Fulton County and the suburbs around it. So yeah, I trust Georgia to stay blue way more than I trust Arizona, and if Joe Biden's not at the top of the ticket, god help us all.

[foreverlogical]

RALEIGH, N.C. — As the pandemic prompts a surge in voting by mail, voters in a handful of states, including the presidential battlegrounds of North Carolina and Wisconsin, are facing a requirement that already is tripping up thousands — the need to have a witness sign their ballot envelope.

A lack of a witness signature or other witness information has emerged as the leading cause of ballots being set aside before being counted in North Carolina, with problems disproportionately affecting Black voters in the state, according to an Associated Press analysis of state election data.

While there is a process for fixing the omissions, voting rights advocates say the numbers are an early warning sign that the extra step is becoming a barrier that could disenfranchise voters — and a potential source of legal battles in a tight race.

“People are confused by this whole witness requirement,” said Barbara Beckert, an advocate for Disability Rights Wisconsin, which was part of a lawsuit that unsuccessfully challenged the witness mandate. “Voting absentee is complicated. To get it right, you have to follow a lot of very specific rules.”

There are early signs that voters are struggling to follow those rules. In North Carolina, over 200,000 ballots have been returned and processed since early voting began almost three weeks ago. At least 1,700 couldn’t be counted because of lack of a witness name, signature or address. That number accounted for nearly half of all ballots that couldn’t be accepted through Tuesday, according to State Board of Elections data.

As of Tuesday, Black voters cast 43 percent of the ballot classified as having incomplete witness information, according to the state elections data. Yet Black voters have cast roughly 16 percent of overall ballots returned to date.

Pat Gannon, a spokesman for the state elections board, attributed the mistakes to inexperience with the process. North Carolina is one of several states where relatively few voters cast mail-in ballots in past elections.

“Many of these voters are voting by mail for the first time and may not fully understand the requirements of the law,” Gannon said.

As part of a legal settlement this week, the state board agreed to make it easier for voters to fix the issues, streamlining the process for curing ballots.

The witness requirement is relatively rare. Before the pandemic, 12 states required voters to have notary or witness signatures with their ballots. However, several changed their laws to make it easier for voters to cast ballots remotely and avoid the risk of contracting the virus, leaving the total now at eight, including Alabama, Alaska, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Wisconsin, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

A witness signature is not required in any of the five all-mail voting states in the West.

Proponents of the requirement say it’s designed to prevent voter fraud by holding others accountable for vouching for a voter.

Absentee ballot applications played a prominent role in the investigation of a 2018 congressional election in the state that required a new election. Workers for a political operative in a rural county testified they were directed to collect blank or incomplete ballots, forge signatures on them and even fill in votes for local candidates. It happened during a time when North Carolina required two signatures or one notary public as a witness.

But advocacy groups say the rules unnecessarily complicate a process for older people, people who live alone and those with disabilities or chronic health problems. Several groups and Democrats are among those who have sued over rules in states with the requirement.

In Wisconsin, a federal judge this week upheld the requirement for the November election. A judge in South Carolina struck down the state’s witness mandate, writing it would only “increase the risk of contracting COVID-19” for vulnerable populations. On Thursday, a federal appeals court reinstated it, at least temporarily.

In Wisconsin, where about 80% of votes cast in the August primary were absentee, voting groups are focused on coaching people on how to fill it out and educating voters in advance.

Even U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat, said she empathizes with the challenge.

“I live alone and I actually went outside and waited for the first person I saw walking their dog and asked if they could stop for a moment and be my witness,” Baldwin said, describing her experience voting in the April presidential primary. “Imagine living in a rural community and living alone where that wouldn’t an option. Or living alone and being afraid to let someone in because we’re in a pandemic.”

Until this week, the lack of witness information on a North Carolina absentee ballot meant the ballot was essentially canceled, and a second ballot was sent to the voter to fill out, with a witness still required. Liberal and union-advocacy groups, bankrolled by Democratic groups to challenge absentee rules in court, argued that re-vote unfairly burdened voters during the pandemic.

Under a settlement unveiled Tuesday between the board and some plaintiffs, voters now will be able to fix the problem by returning an affidavit the voter signs affirming under penalty of a felony that they actually filled out the original ballot.

“This agreement is a victory for all eligible older voters in North Carolina,” said Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, whose North Carolina affiliate sued over the rules.

Republican legislative leaders are incensed by this change and others in the agreement, which they intend to oppose in court. The affidavit fail-safe essentially eliminates the witness requirement, said GOP state Sen. Ralph Hise. Democrats in charge of the state board have “rewritten election laws while the election is actively underway,” Hise said.

Still, the trouble of emailing, faxing or mailing an affidavit is something voters would prefer to avoid. North Carolina’s election board is highlighting the witness requirement online.

In Wisconsin, election officials in Madison also planned to be in all city parks for the next two weekends to accept absentee ballots and serve as witnesses if needed.

The North Carolina NAACP is assisting Black voters work through the process by suggesting family and friends as options for witnesses, said the Rev. C. Bradley Hunt of Greensboro, the group’s political chair. The NAACP is emphasizing a can-do attitude, no matter the obstacles.

“The message to our folks is that we have to be resolute and we have to deliberate...in order to get the vote out,” Hunt said.

Bauer reported from Madison, Wisconsin. Associated Press writer Jonathan Drew in Durham, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

[schraubd]

Who Will/Should Be the Democratic VP Nominee?

With Joe Biden's resounding victory in South Carolina, political observers can spend a few more days pretending like this primary field is anybody's ballgame before Super Tuesday re-confirms that Bernie Sanders will be the Democratic nominee. So in this narrow window of faux-potentiality, why not ask the question: Who will each Democratic contender nominate as their VP? And who should be their nominee? Bernie Sanders Who it will be: Elizabeth Warren. Who it should be: Tammy Baldwin. The first big point of potential conflict between Sanders and his base will come when he picks a VP nominee, as he'll be under immense pressure to select a "unifying" figure and they'll be on sharp watch for a centrist fifth column. Sanders' uneasy, at best, relationship with the Democratic establishment limits his options -- there are only so many high profile Democrats he trusts, and most of them are simply double-downs on his own electoral profile. Elizabeth Warren will seem like an appealing option as a "unity" pick -- she's long been floated as a bridge between the establishment and the insurgents anyway, and she's by far the highest-profile party member whose at least arguably ideologically in his corner. Plus, I think Sanders knows that he needs a woman as VP. But as an outreach gesture towards the center of the party Warren (and I say this as someone who voted for her) is about as stingy as Sanders could get. And depending on how long she stays in the race his base is unlikely to forgive her perssssstance. Instead of being a unity candidate, Warren might again be caught in the middle as the worst-of-all-worlds choice. By contrast, Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin has sufficient gravitas to be a viable VP pick and has solid progressive bona fides while not being alienating to the center. Most importantly, she's kept a relatively low profile this primary campaign, so nobody on either wing of the party is conditioned to hate her. And the fact that she's from a midwestern swing state that Sanders will target hard is a not-insubstantial bonus. Joe Biden Who it will be: Stacey Abrams Who it should be: Stacey Abrams Biden announced early on that he wanted Abrams as his VP, and its easy to see why: she's a young, energetic Black woman who has unifying appeal across party constituencies and strong appeal in the areas Democrats are looking to grow in. Abrams herself has largely stayed out of the primary fray, and it's far from clear that Biden is her first choice, but I don't think she would turn him down if he was the nominee. Mike Bloomberg Who it will be: Kamala Harris Who it should be: Lucy McBath Having been hammered on his record on race, Bloomberg might think that lining up with the most prominent African-American woman in elected office right now might help assuage skittish Black voters going into the general. But Harris never really caught on with the Black community, and if your weakness is on race generally and racial injustice in law enforcement specifically, Kamala "IS A COP" Harris may do less for you than you'd think. Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA) would be a stronger choice. Gun control is Bloomberg's signature issue, and since there's no way for him to run away from it come November, he may as well lean into it, and McBath's personal story (her son died after being shot in an incident of gun violence) is a natural fit. McBath herself already endorsed Bloomberg, and while she's taken flak for allegedly having her endorsement "bought", if Bloomberg's the nominee frankly anyone who chooses is going to face that accusation -- so it might as well be someone that endorsed him early. Elizabeth Warren Who it will be: Julián Castro Who it should be: Julián Castro If my Twitter feed reflected real-life, Warren would be the nominee in a landslide, but if my Twitter account reflected real life Castro would have at some point risen above 2% in the polls. In any event, Castro quickly endorsed Warren after he dropped out and they clearly have a good relationship with one another and a mutually-congenial approach to politics. Castro's youthful dynamism pairs well with Warren's wonkishness, and he also benefits from having dropped out early enough to avoid being hated by large numbers of people. Pete Buttigieg/Amy Klobuchar To be honest, even for purpose of this exercise I can't imagine them winning, so it's hard to imagine who they'd pick. Cory Booker could be a solid choice for either one -- Klobuchar could use someone to round off her sharper edges and Buttigieg cannot pick a White guy. Booker is a bucket of positive energy and a good team player, and while he doesn't do a ton to appease the Sanders Sib crowd, I can't think of any VP pick that either Klobuchar or (especially) Buttigieg could make that could mend that rift. I have heard folks suggest, only half-joking, that Klobuchar and Buttigieg jointly would make a decent all-in-on-the-midwest ticket. There's no way that Klobuchar would serve under Mayor Pete, but I can imagine she might be fine with him being her subordinate. Just think of how many opportunities she'd have to throw a stapler at him! via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/2wjZHK8

[antoine-roquentin]

Publicly, the Democrats who wrote and co-sponsored the bank bill insisted it was a great way to help the vulnerable. It would “provide needed relief for community banks and credit unions so they can support consumers in rural areas,” according to Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.). It included “common sense fixes to assist small banks and give them the flexibility they need to lend,” according to Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).

In the president’s words, it was “a very, very important bill from the standpoint of people, and jobs and loans.”

Few members of Washington officialdom put much stock in any of this. There was no shortage of money to lend in the spring of 2018. Banks large and small were and are doing very well. In the first quarter of the year alone, the banking industry booked a combined profit of $56 billion, up from $43.9 billion the year before and nearly double its level from 2011, according to the FDIC. Not a single bank in the country has failed in all of 2018.

Privately, other Democrats on Capitol Hill offered a more plausible explanation for the vote. The bank bill could help Democrats in red states raise money for the November election. Most voters don’t pay close attention to legislative fights over bank regulation, but bankers do, and they aren’t shy about contributing to political campaigns. Ultimately, 16 Democratic senators and Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, voted for the bill.

And indeed, the top four recipients of campaign cash from commercial banks in 2018 were authors or co-sponsors of the bank bill: Heitkamp received over $320,000 from the sector, followed by Sen. Jon Tester of Montana at nearly $275,000, McCaskill at $236,743 and Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana at $232,966, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. During election season, the Credit Union National Association advertised on behalf of all four. The American Bankers Association hit the airwaves for Tester starting in April...

[O]n Tuesday night, senators who voted their values did better than senators who voted with the American Bankers Association. Heitkamp, Donnelly and McCaskill were crushed, while Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) ― all representing states Trump won in 2016 ― coasted to re-election after voting against the bank bill, with both Baldwin and Brown outperforming other Democrats running for governor in their states.

In the vast majority of races, the bank bill seemed to have been electorally irrelevant. Kaine, Stabenow and King didn’t need the bank money to win, and neither did Brown, Baldwin and Casey. McCaskill, Donnelly and Heitkamp weren’t close in their losses. That leaves Tester, Sinema and Nelson as still-undecided races where, perhaps, advertising support from the financial sector played a meaningful role.

Was it worth it? Democrats in Washington still debate exactly how bad the bank bill was, but it’s hard to argue that it didn’t do active harm. The new law makes it cheaper and easier for large banks to merge (so long as they don’t break a $250 billion threshold) and, according to the Congressional Budget Office, increases the risk of a financial crisis by reducing regulatory oversight of large regional banks.

Republicans didn’t have the votes to enact these big projects without Democratic support, and instead of asking for offsetting liberal items, red-state Democrats demanded additional GOP-friendly provisions in exchange for their votes. One provision authored by Donnelly benefits billionaire Warren Buffett by eliminating consumer protections in the mobile home industry. Heitkamp secured an item attacking the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability to police racial discrimination in the mortgage market.

[finnglas]

Okay, one more post (haha, sorry) and then I’m going to go, idk, play Stardew Valley. I got an email a few minutes ago from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. I know the Senate was a lot of people’s big disappointment from the election, and I wanted to share this with you because I think it has some good perspective.

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It was a long night, team.

And with a competitive Senate runoff in Mississippi later this month, pending results in Arizona, and a recount fight in Florida, we’ll have to wait a while longer to know what the final Senate count will look like.

But today we want to take a moment to pause and reflect on what you helped accomplish last night.

This was the toughest Senate map Democrats have seen in modern history. 26 Senate Democrats were up for re-election, 10 of them in states that Trump won, and at the start of this cycle Republicans were bragging that they could achieve a filibuster-proof Majority of 60 seats.

But because grassroots Democrats like you jumped into the fight, despite the odds and because of all that was at stake, here's where we stand today:

22 Democratic Senators were re-elected last night, despite the millions upon millions of dollars Mitch McConnell and Trump's golfing buddies poured into our races.

The AP called the Montana Senate race for Jon Tester, who pundits called Trump's #1 target.

Jacky Rosen flipped Nevada's Senate seat from red to blue -- a race where the DSCC invested $11 million in a robust GOTV operation and television ads.

Democratic challengers reshaped the map and forced the GOP to spend millions on defense in Tennessee and Texas. Beto O'Rourke came within three points of Ted Cruz in a state Mitt Romney carried by 16 points just six years ago -- that's real progress.

The pundits are looking at how well Sherrod Brown, Tammy Baldwin, and Bob Casey -- Senators all in states where Trump won -- did and called their strong final days “a stunning development from where the cycle started.”

That's because of you. Thank you.

We are so grateful that you stood with us, that you helped make sure that Mitch McConnell didn't get anywhere near a filibuster-proof Majority, and that you've set the stage for a favorable Senate map in 2020.

There were some tough losses along the way and we are so proud that you stood with Claire McCaskill, Joe Donnelly, Heidi Heitkamp, Phil Bredesen, and Beto O'Rourke in competitive races til the very end.

Now, we wish we could say it was time to take a rest, but there are still a few races that need us. We still don't know the outcomes in Arizona and Florida. And there's still one more Senate seat up in the air. In Mississippi, where Mike Espy (D) virtually tied his Senate opponent on Election Day, there is a scheduled runoff on November 27th.

We look forward to keeping you updated in the days ahead -- and thank you for making so many important victories possible last night.

With our heartfelt thanks,

Mindy Myers

DSCC Executive Director

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I hope you come away from this feeling lighter and more hopeful. I hope you take some time, gather your hope close, and get ready to keep up the momentum. 

Here, have some words from my favorite poet, Carl Sandburg, from The People, Yes.

The people is the grand canyon of humanity and many many miles across. The people is a Pandora’s box, humpty dumpty, a clock of doom and an avalanche when it turns loose. The people rest on land and weather, on time and the changing winds. The people have come far and can look back and say, 'We will go farther yet'.

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

People like to understand things. It’s an earnest and charming quality of the human race. We like to flip to the back of the book to look at the answers. We like it when there’s a tidy way to summarize. One or two takeaways, please. It’s why Aesop’s fables continue to do so well.

Lately, Americans have looked for concise ways to name what ails us. “Divided” and “partisan” seem to be the words most commonly landed upon. Given that these are our adjectives of choice, it seems odd that anyone would expect some kind of clear answer about the mood and direction of the country from a single night. And yet that seems to be what many wanted out of Midterm election night 2018. They didn’t get it.

If anything, the 2018 midterm elections were without a cohesive narrative. There was no overwhelming blue wave that served as a sharp rebuke to President Trump. The Democrats are projected to take control of the House of Representatives by a healthy seat margin, but Trump still found reason to celebrate; the Senate remains under Republican control. Governors mansions in a number of states will change into Democratic hands, but in a number of high-profile contests the party fell short. A record number of women are headed to Congress, but several high-profile women incumbents were voted out of office. There was no single, stunning take-away to grant us clarity about the direction and mood of the country.

Instead, the election was an accurate reflection of where the country stands: existentially muddled, politically divided and historically engaged with its politics.

Democrats retained their Senate seats in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and West Virginia — all states that Trump won in 2016 — and won back governor’s mansions in Illinois, Kansas and Michigan. In Wisconsin, a state that Hillary Clinton lost two years ago, Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin held onto her seat and Republican Governor Scott Walker lost to Democrat Tony Evers. Democrats won the national popular vote by an estimated 7 points, no small margin.

But popular as they were nationally, Democrats still couldn’t pull off wins in high-profile races in states like Ohio and Florida, swing states that are the crown jewels on any party’s presidential map. (We’d be fools if we didn’t mention the lurking implications of 2020 in Tuesday’s results.) Ohio split its ticket, as it were, electing Republican Mike DeWine for governor even as it re-elected Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. It was a reminder of the challenges Democrats face in winning back white voters, particularly those without a college education. Candidate choice still seemed to matter. Preliminary exit polls indicate that Brown won over the key demographic of non-college educated white women, but that Cordray lost them.

In Florida, Republicans had a good night, defeating incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, and perhaps more surprisingly, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee. The race had always been tight, but narrative momentum seemed to be at Gillum’s back after his buzzed-about debate performance against Republican opponent Ron DeSantis. Gillum’s loss is freighted with more meaning than most, perhaps. As a black candidate in a purple state in the South, he proposed he could win with increased minority turnout as well as an appeal to Florida’s swing voters of all races. In the end, the math didn’t pan out.

In Georgia, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams — who could be the country’s first black female governor — proposed a similar path to victory, one by which registering and turning out minority voters in a red state could bring Democrats victory. As of this writing, Abrams trails by about 2 points, but she said she would not yet concede the close race.

But again, it’s not as simple as looking at who won and who lost. While Gillum and Abrams’s races didn’t fulfill liberal hopes in the southeast, felons regained the right to vote in Florida, a massive victory for progressive activists. And in Texas, Republican Ted Cruz won his election against Democrat Beto O’Rourke, but only by less than 3 points, an astoundingly close result for the red state. (Cruz won his 2012 election by 16 points.)

Perhaps the single thing that we can say about Midterm Election Day 2018 is that America was paying attention. According to New York Times estimates, 114 million votes were cast in House races, up from the 83 million in the last midterm elections in 2014. This is unsurprising in some sense, given the way that politics has become ingrained in popular culture over the past three years. Americans live and breathe their politics now, though the breath can sometimes be labored and the life it brings is usually filled with more caustic takes than inspiring words.