Monthly Archives: July 2016

Missouri Primary

By tmess2 | Published July 31, 2016

The state that gave voters Todd Akin in 2012 is back at it again.  Missouri used to have campaign finance limits, but — when the Republicans held the Governor’s mansion between 2005 and 2008 — those limits went away.  (There might be a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall to restore those limits.  In recent years, policy proposals have tended to be constitutional amendments to avoid any legislative attempts to repeal voter-approved legislation such as the original campaign finance limits.)  It is not unusual for one donor (actually one of two or three individuals) to give several hundred thousand dollars in seed money to a candidate.  As a result, the pre-filing period sees a lot of candidates changing races in response to these well-funded candidates.  Outside of the U.S. Senate race, each of the state-wide races (there are five state offices on the ballot) has a competitive primary on at least one side of the ballot.

Republicans like to describe Missouri as a state with two thorns in its sides.  The two thorns being the St. Louis area and the Kansas City area; both of which tend to vote for the “liberal” side of any proposition or race, often overcoming a “conservative” majority in almost all of the remaining counties.  This picture of Missouri tends to be reflected in the two primaries.  On the Democratic side, there is often a battle between St. Louis and Kansas City,  On the Republican side, it is often Springfield against the Kansas City and St. Louis exurbs.  On to the individual races.

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Sunday with the Senators: Framing 2016

By DocJess | Published July 31, 2016

US SenateCurrently, the Senate has 54 Republicans and 44 Democrats, and two independents who caucus with the Democrats. 34 seats are up this year, of which 24 are GOP and 10 are Democratic. The math says…we need five.

Let’s play.

Here are the seats. For those of you who are new to this, they are ranked from Bright Blue – Safe Democratic, Medium Blue – Likely Democratic, Pale Blue – Lean Democratic, Yellow- Toss-up, Pale Red – Lean Republican, Medium Red – Likely Republican, and Bright Red – Safe Republican. Continue Reading...

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Primary Season

By tmess2 | Published July 30, 2016

Now that the two national conventions are done, the next significant political events are primary elections across the country for offices ranging from the U.S. Senate to local offices and party committee people.  As with presidential primaries, each state legislature gets to choose the date for their primary.  Twenty states conserve money by holding their federal primary (and if they have state elections in an even year, their state offices primary) on the same date as their presidential primary.  Ten states hold their non-presidential primary in May or June.  (In addition, you have two weird states.  New York holds three separate primaries — a presidential primary in April, a federal offices primary in June, and a state primary in September.  Louisiana does not hold a separate primary, allowing all candidates to run in the general and using a run-off if nobody gets a majority.)

That leaves eighteen  states that hold their non-presidential primary in August and September.  Four states (Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, and Washington) hold their primary on August 2.  Tennessee holds its primary on August 4.   Four states (Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont, and Wisconsin) hold their primary on August 9.  Hawaii holds its primary on August 13.  Alaska and Wyoming hold their primary on August 16.  Arizona and Florida hold their primary on August 30.  Massachusetts holds its primary on September 8.  The last three states (Delaware, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island) hold their primary on September 13.

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The Presidential and Vice Presidential Debate Schedule

By DocJess | Published July 30, 2016

The conventions are over. Mark your calendars for the debates:

  • Mon 26 Sep – 1st Presidential Debate – Hempstead, New York
  • Tue 4 Oct – Vice Presidential Debate – Farmville, Virginia
  • Sun 9 Oct – 2nd Presidential Debate – St. Louis, Missouri
  • Wed 19 Oct – 3rd Presidential Debate – Las Vegas, Nevada

Note: The Trump campaign has objected to this schedule, so who knows what he’ll do.

 

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Weekly White House Address

By DocJess | Published July 30, 2016

Joe BidenBecause it’s not just politics, it’s GOVERNANCE.

Federal Judge Timothy LewisIn this week’s address, retired Federal Judge Timothy Lewis joined Vice President Joe Biden to discuss the nomination of Chief Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Vice President talked about his experience as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, during which every nominee got a hearing and an up or down vote on the Senate floor. Despite having more federal judicial experience than any other Supreme Court nominee in history, Chief Judge Garland’s nomination has now been pending longer than any other Supreme Court nominee who wasn’t withdrawn from consideration. Judge Lewis emphasized that this lack of action is preventing the Supreme Court from fulfilling its duty of interpreting the law and resolving conflicts in the lower courts. The Vice President made clear that for the sake of our Nation, everyone must do their job. That’s why the President did his job by nominating Chief Judge Merrick Garland. Now, it’s time for the Senate Republicans to do their job. Full transcript after the jump. 

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Donald Trump, you have sacrificed nothing

By Matt | Published July 29, 2016

What some are calling the best speech of the convention:

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Just for fun…

By DocJess | Published July 29, 2016

Get your Trump Score here. You won’t be sorry, but you will laugh out loud. And then you’ll sign up to work the Clinton campaign. If you’re not there yet, remember there are Senate and Congressional campaigns, as well as row office campaigns that you can work. Get your Trump Score and then get out there and make sure it doesn’t happen.

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UPDATED: SCORE: Cleveland 400, Philadelphia 11

By DocJess | Published July 29, 2016

Update: A friend from Cleveland has informed me that the arrest number I heard for Cleveland on the radio is incorrect: rather it was 23 arrests. He was kind enough to send the list of those arrested, which you can read here. I regret the error. 

In this case, the lower number wins. There were 400 23 total arrests in Cleveland, and only 11 in Philadelphia for the RNC and DNC, respectively.

I wasn’t in Cleveland, and so can’t speak to it, but here in Philly, the cops, State Troopers, Homeland Security, Secret Service, and TSA people were really great. It was incredibly hot, and the Philadelphia police, as of Tuesday night, had given out 110,000 bottles of water to protesters and marchers. The idea was to keep order while still respecting people’s constitutionally-guaranteed right to protest. I spoke to many officers walking by their areas. No one had an attitude, and all they cared about was safety for all: the attendees, the locals going about their business, the protesters, and their own.

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Reflections on the Last Day of DNC 2016

By DocJess | Published July 29, 2016

First and foremost, to Matt and Oreo – wow! our third convention together. How things have changed. For those of you new to DCW, while Matt started DCW in 2005, we really took off in 2008 when we were THE place for Superdelegate information. Before anyone else even thought about them (except the Obama campaign) we were covering Superdelegate by Superdelegate, naming names when the MSM was only giving rough numbers. Heady times.

Back then, bloggers were in our heyday. The DNC ran a contest for which bloggers, a few national and one from each state, would attend. At Denver there were special places for bloggers. There were many fewer bloggers in 2012, but still. This year, there was “Specialty Media” which included the very few bloggers, plus local outlets, some foreign press, and other outlets that are related to a “special interest” area. There was a “Specialty Media” area, where they didn’t really want pictures taken, which had tables set up with paper signs at each: “ADA” “Jewish” “Women” “LGBT” and like that. There were also comfy chairs arranged around power strips. But no specialized WiFi as there had been previously. I plan to write about what has happened to bloggers, and it’s a sad comment on media and society, which I hope will be rectified. But that’s for another day.

I spent a lot of time yesterday doing two things; first, attending a panel discussion hosted by the Roosevelt Institute, on which economic message will win Hillary Clinton the election, and which will cost her the election. The panel included Joseph Stiglitz, who I would have crawled over hot coals to hear. They handed out a lot of information which I am still synthesizing, and will post over the weekend. Continue Reading...

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Hillary Clinton acceptance speech text

By Matt | Published July 28, 2016

Thank you! Thank you for that amazing welcome.

And Chelsea, thank you.

I’m so proud to be your mother and so proud of the woman you’ve become. Continue Reading...

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