Some good news, for a change, from Nate Cohn at NYTimes‘ The Upshot:
A few months ago, the Democratic path to a Senate majority looked long and arduous. It has started to look easier.
The Democrats started the campaign with a clear advantage in enough races to end up with 45 seats, well short of the 50 needed to retain control of the chamber…
But today the Democratic path to victory looks as clear as it has at any point this year. That path remains narrow, to be sure. The Democrats will probably still need to sweep those five fairly close races. Yet with just two months to go, the party appears to have an advantage in four of them. And the Democrats have other opportunities that might give them more breathing room…
Much wonkish detail at the link, but if the Grey Lady is ready to soften their preferred “DOOMED DEMS IN DISARRAY” stance…
And then there’s this, from Dave Weigel, “Democratic Voters Can Save Harry Reid’s Job, if They Just Realize That He Runs the Senate“:
Yesterday Greg Sargent talked to Democratic pollster Celinda Lake and made a discovery that startles us political obsessives. Lake’s firm polled 1,000 “drop-off” voters—people who vote in presidential elections but stay home during midterms—in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, and North Carolina. (Democrats are increasingly favored in Michigan’s Senate race, behind in Kentucky, and tied in the rest.)
“One of the things that came up,” said Lake, “is that these drop-off voters had no idea that control of the Senate was even up for grabs and were even very confused about who controlled it.”…
And this is the point of MoveOn’s poll, taken for its “Voters Rising” campaign. The theory is that there are enough voters who basically support the Democrats, but don’t know what’s at stake, to motivate and elect the party’s on-the-edge candidates. The most potent messages for these potential voters, both supported by 71 percent of them: “Republicans will shut down the government again” and “Republicans will cut funding for Head Start and K-12 Education.” When told that they could make the difference between keeping the Senate Democratic or letting it fall to Mitch McConnell, 50 percent became “very interested.”…
…[A]ccording to MoveOn [these voters] always voted for Democrats. All they needed to be told was how bad Republicans were, and what they stood to gain if Democrats stayed home. MoveOn had seen similar message spike turnout before, as Sasha Issenberg and others had reported, and as MoveOn had learned from targeting its 8 million members in 2012. This is the dream of the final midterm: If Democrats just don’t refuse to drop off like they did in 2010, if they show up proportionately, they win.
Good to be reminded of this two months before the election, and not ten minutes after it’s too late.
***********
Apart from girding our loins, and this evening’s Boston area meetup, what’s on the agenda for the day?
Tommy
Agenda today is simple now, since my insomnia has me up since 3 AM CST I’ve got a lot of the little stuff around the household done already. Laundry. Cleaning bathrooms. Paid bills. All the little stuff that never seems to get done during the week for this reason or that reason.
Around 8 AM headed to the last Farmer’s Market of the year and the hardware store. Home for a few hours of work in the yard. Then I have a sexy date cooking a huge pork loin (and whatever veggies I get at the Market), my couch, and college football for the rest of the day/night. Maybe sounds boring, but for me a “perfect” Saturday.
OzarkHillbilly
Today’s weather: Sunny, 64. So whatever I do, it will be outside.
@Tommy: Perfect.
BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: Today’s weather, sunny 99.
Tommy
@OzarkHillbilly: Since I am not that far from you “OzarkHillbilly” we have about the same forecast. I normally take my mountain bike to the Farmer’s Market. The weather is so nice I plan to walk, and not walk nearly in a straight line to the place.
@BillinGlendaleCA:
99, well that kind of sucks. But then in a few months and it is like 5 here and in the 80s where you live you can then mock me (or feel somewhat sorry).
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA: Naaaaanaaaanaaaanaaaaa….
BillinGlendaleCA
@Tommy: Well, I did get my walk in today; after it cooled to the low 80’s.
I did my hardware store trip(online) last week. Got a cordless drill and circular saw. I didn’t need the drill(I’ve got two other cordless drills) but the package deal was much less than the saw, 2 batteries and charger.
Baud
I read that as “grinding our loins” and was regretting missing last night’s meet up.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I read it the same way at first read; I thought that AL was a bit kinkier that she lead us to believe.
Mustang Bobby
Rainy and overcast here in South Florida, so I will follow Tommy’s lead and do household stuff like laundry. I already did the bill paying since I too was up early for no other reason, and unlike John I keep my office tidy since I am like that. (And I wonder why I can’t keep a boyfriend…)
Settling in with the NY Times crossword and whatever TiVo decided to save for me for the rest of the day.
Tommy
@BillinGlendaleCA: Cordless rocks. I bought a cordless weed eater a few weeks ago after getting sick of trying corded and gas powered ones. I have to admit I was stunned how well it worked. The sheer power. I went to cordless/battery power tools much as film to digital with my cameras. Kicking and screaming. Then once the switch was made I ask, “dude why did you wait so darn long?”
BillinGlendaleCA
@Tommy: The reason I went with a cordless saw is that I don’t have an outlet in the front of the Man Cave. I’d have to get the corded saw out of storage, run an extension cord from inside, and the 40yo corded saw is heavy.
Tommy
@Mustang Bobby:
When people see my home office they use the phrase “you are sick” and “it isn’t that clean all the time is it?”
I am like yes, yes it is.
I was had a date over a few weeks ago for the first time in my house. She works at the Defense Logistics Agency. I didn’t show her my office, but I guess she stuck her head in when she went to the bathroom (they are next to each other). She asked if she would walk in.
I am sure. She asked me what all I had. You got the server, desktop (three monitors), two laptops, two tablets. The wireless Bluletooth speaker system which is throughout the house. The five gaming systems. She noted that a military satellite could pickup the heat signature of my office (why I mentioned she works at the DLA).
Went on to note it was like something out of Star Trek. I said, yeah that was kind of what I was going for. Not totally sure she founded this sexy :)!
Iowa Old Lady
Re elections, I can’t believe Iowa would elect Joanie Ernst to the Senate. And there’s a good chance that instead of sending 2 Ds and 2Rs to the House, we’ll send 3 Ds and 1 R. Of course, the 1 R is Steve King so that’s a lot of horror packed into one representative.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mustang Bobby:
”
I was thinking that maybe I’d get a maid
Find a place nearby for him to stay.
Just someone to keep my house clean,
Fix my meals and go away.
Keith G
Its going to be a beautiful day in Houston (both before and after our regularly appearing wave of thunderstorms sweep the area around mid day). Of course I’m at the bakery this morning baking the weekend goodies.
Mustang Bobby
@Tommy: Mine looks more like an executive office with big oak-like Federal-style desk from Office Depot and matching credenza for the computer (just one; a laptop hooked up to a monitor with wireless keyboard etc.) and bookshelves. My diplomas are on the wall in order of receipt, posters and pictures from my produced plays, trophies from various antique car shows, and an earthenware urn with Sam’s ashes and his picture on top of the bookshelf. I’m not sure if it’s a turn-on for my date…
satby
I woke up to a wonderful surprise this morning! My rescue gofundme is 2/3 of the way to my goal so that I have the funds to take my oldest rescue boy to the vet, and hopefully get treatment for his tumor, as well as keep the other 11 fed and warm while I try to get my situation improved. I’m so humbled and grateful. The Balloon Juice community is the best. I love each and every one of you! Thank you barely seems adequate. But thank you all!
OzarkHillbilly
@Tommy: My wife’s office is the same way and I find her sexy. Then again, I don’t think you are trying to impress me...
Mustang Bobby
@OzarkHillbilly: “Feed me, adore me, get out of my way…”
ThresherK
I must send my regrets for the soiree in Watertown.
But, given that, I’m glad my name was way down the on the “bill”.
SiubhanDuinne
(Reposted from the Watertown meetup thread):
Finally catching up with Juicethreads, and I will be there with my hosts John Emery and Ilana Hardesty. Really looking forward to seeing everybody tonight. Thanks so much for making the arrangements, AL!
OzarkHillbilly
@Mustang Bobby: For all too many, that’s about it.
Tommy
@Mustang Bobby: That is kind of the style of the rest of my house. I have a TV in my bedroom, but outside of that no “technology” really anywhere else. Mostly a lot of bookcases. Comfy places to sit and talk.
My technology used to be more “spread” out. But I found when I started working out of my house that if I had a computer in the living room or a laptop on my bedroom I never stopped working. I could be lounging on the bed watching a Cardinals baseball game. Surfing the web for enjoyment. Get an email from a client at 10 PM and next thing I know, well I’d start working.
Same with a TV in the living room or kitchen. Found myself eating right in front of the TV and not really enjoying the meal or reading a book.
So I have kind of put everything in one room. Took a lot of time to get everything to fit. Cost a small fortune, because quality (and matching) desks, bookcases, A/V units (mine are all glass and gray steel) isn’t inexpensive.
BTW: I think more than anything her Star Trek comment might have been about my office chair. It isn’t that one that was all the rage during the dot.com time, that cost like $5,000 (I forget the brand). But a “knockoff” that was about $1,000. My parents got it for me a few months ago. I never would have paid more than a couple hundred max for a chair. But they said “Tommy you spent 12-15 hours in that chair, you should have a better one.” It has a freaking manual. Everything can be adjusted. And I have to admit, I have no idea why I used a shitty chair now I have a quality chair. It is like sitting on a cloud.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Tommy: I had a really nice chair from Costco, lasted about 10 years. The last 2 have been from Office Depot, cheaper and only last about 2 years.
MomSense
We are pretty sure that we have lost our dear kitty to a fox or a fisher. He somehow snuck out the other night and hasn’t come home. This is a cat who was always home and his idea of going out was onto the deck but only if the boards were not wet or cold or covered in snow. His favorite thing was to be carried around like a baby by his boy who is now 6’5″ so kitty would jump onto furniture or counters and then climb onto his boy so he could be carried by him. My son is devastated. The dog has been glued to him which is very sweet and probably more comforting than anyone else could be.
ThresherK
@Mustang Bobby: Until I clicked back to Ozark Hillbilly’s comment (to get a completer view of the convo), I thought you were describing my cat’s inner monologue.
Mustang Bobby
@Tommy: I would love a chair like that seeing as how I spend so much time in the home office — like now. The one I have came from Office Depot on sale about twelve years ago and it’s beginning to show its age.
I resist the temptation to bring my office laptop into the house where I could sit in the living room and write/blog from there. No, the living room is for entertainment and analog technology: a crossword puzzle on paper and a pen (yeah, I do the NY Times crossword in pen, bitches).
What I can’t get away from is going from home to work and still spending eighteen hours a day during the week in front of a monitor. But I’m getting better at compartmentalizing job work from my writing work. Or so I hope.
mb
Feels a little late to me to overcome the fundamental ignorance that Weigel describes. There’s really no one to blame but our pitiful excuse for a party. If the Rs weren’t knee-walking nuts, we have no chance at all.
Mustang Bobby
@MomSense: Oh, I hope for the best.
WereBear
@MomSense: Oh, that waiting time is terrible! I’m so sorry for your boy.
Mustang Bobby
@mb: What I find curious is that all these “low-information voters” on the right know there’s an election and the supposedly highly-knowledgeable Democrats don’t. Fox News aka GOTV-TV does it again.
p.a.
Dems have been remiss in using the fear factor to motivate voting. Surrogates like NOW, NARAL, MoveOn do it, but they are generally preaching to the choir. Republicans almost use nothing but motivation by fear. And it works. (Well maybe SocSec fears have helped the Donkey, but they haven’t extended the lesson.). Maybe they’re learning!
ThresherK
@Mustang Bobby: Left-handers do all crosswords in pen (based on my sample size of 1), but especially newsprint, as opposed to computer-printed.
PurpleGirl
It’s chilly and overcast in NYC. I will probably stay home this afternoon but I do have errands to run this morning.
When I moved into the current apartment, I decided that I wouldn’t have a TV or computer in the bedroom. A CD player, yes, but no TV or computer. Those are in the living room and so I spend most of my time in the living room. The bedroom is for sleeping, maybe some reading.
Keith G
@MomSense: I am putting some positive thoughts out into the cosmos hoping that your news is good.
mb
@Mustang Bobby: Yeah, the right really works at changing reality while the left is passively victimized by it. How many times has someone like Ezra Klein patiently, pedantically explained how “it’s the midterms and D voters just don’t turn out.” Guess there’s nothing anyone can do. Woe is us.
Feh, meh, bleh.
lonesomerobot
Milbank’s piece in WaPo yesterday is actually worth a read.
Basically, the prosecutor for the Michael Brown case comes from a family of cops, his father was killed while on duty (by a black man)… so, no chance in hell he’s going to lift a finger to move the Grand Jury to indict the officer that shot Brown.
Also… he’s a dem that appears to have the full support of Claire McCaskill and Jay Nixon.
Sometimes I hate it. Gotta stop reading news in the morning.
PurpleGirl
@MomSense: So sorry for you and your son. I’ll think healing thoughts and hope the kitty does come home.
Tommy
@BillinGlendaleCA: @Mustang Bobby: Before I had this chair if you told me you spent close to $1,000 for a desk chair I might have openly questioned your sanity. But now I’ve had it for two or so months I can’t imagine having anything else.
When I said it has a manual it is because everything can be adjusted. I am a short dude (5’4 on my tippy toes). That I can adjust the level of the arms is nice. But what is amazing is the seat itself can be adjusted to move forward or backwards. That lets me push it all the way in so my butt is in the center of the seat yet my back is firmly placed against the back support “thingy.”
Kay
I went to two county-level “bipartisan” political events last week where I went over and spoke to activist Republicans, people I know, and they (now) think Obama was only elected in this state because of a dramatic uptick of black voters- they make up percentages, so they say “20-30-40%” and so forth. The percentage varies.
It’s funny because after the 2012 election the word from them was Romney lost because of a drop in turnout of white working class voters (that was also the state GOP’s conclusion). The line was white working class didn’t come out for Romney.
I just think it’s amusing how they’ve flipped this, and I wonder where it’s coming from- whether the state or national Party is pushing this.
They’ve completely cordoned Obama off into the “black candidate” column, essentially taken him out of the Democratic column, which means they don’t have to change anything in the GOP because once he’s gone, their “problem” is gone now that they’ve diagnosed their problem as an increase of black voter turnout driven by Obama. Done! That was easy!
satby
@MomSense: oh, so sorry! I’m also sending the hope he comes back… I looked for years for one of my old cats, who I think had gone off to die at an advanced age (and that was almost 25 years ago, before I started keeping them inside). I knew in my head he was gone and had had a good life, but I looked for him in my neighborhood for more than a year. But they do sometimes come back, so I’m going to wish for that for your family.
OzarkHillbilly
@lonesomerobot: “I could indict a ham sandwich…”
SteveM
Sam Wang has been saying for weeks that the Democrats are on course to hold the Senate, based strictly on polls of the actual races. (All the other quants throw in numbers having to do with presidential approval, vote margins in 2012, etc.) Cohn is just inching closer to Wang’s thinking, because candiates like Hagan and Braley stubbornly refuse to plummet in the polls.
MomSense
Thanks, everyone for the good wishes. Waiting is the worst.
When I was a kid we had a 22 year old orange tabby with about 3 teeth left who ran off one morning and we all assumed he went off to die. He came back 3 months later missing an eye and most of one ear. We couldn’t believe it but that cat truly had 9 lives.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: World view? Intact! Mission accomplished.
Kay
@lonesomerobot:
I don’t know why he doesn’t just step aside and let a different prosecutor come in. It happens all the time. They didn’t have to make a big deal out of it. Just bring in someone else. It’s not personal. It’s not about his feelings or “impugning his integrity” or whatever. Every time they step aside there isn’t this blanket conclusion that they’re corrupt or biased. It’s seen here as a smart way to retain credibility and avoid questions on the case. If anything, it works the other way- it makes them look better. I don’t know why they had to turn it into this big battle ‘o righteousness.
Mike E
@Mustang Bobby: Heh, and cryptoquotes, too…my mom taught herself English by doing the puzzles and listening to the radio, thank FSM there was no Rush at the time! She showed me her Jedi ways in breaking code, the most memorable was, “Pencils are for cowards.”
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
Exactly. It’s wonderful for them in so many ways. Flip the focus to those voters who aren’t “real” anyway, avoid any discussion of why they lost two presidential elections, avoid any questions of why Romney’s economic agenda didn’t bring out white working class.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@MomSense: Fingers crossed that he just went out “catting around” and got a little lost and will be back soon. Losing a pet is hard. Hang in there.
Cheers,
Scott.
Frankensteinbeck
@Kay:
They can’t change their message or platform. Without racism, bigotry, and hate they don’t have a party. They can’t see Obama through any other lens than the color of his skin, and that’s baked into the party, who it attracts, and the entire Republican worldview.
TS
@Kay:
He didn’t step aside because he doesn’t want Darren Wilson to be arrested/tried. If a different prosecutor put the case before the grand jury Wilson would be indicted.
lonesomerobot
@Kay: I think, given his family background, that it’s personal for him. Which is exactly why he should step aside, but he won’t. Also, Missouri.
JPL
@Mustang Bobby: I hate you. I do the puzzles online but I do have Sunday delivery of the NY Times. Friday and Saturdays are usually beyond my reach. Google helps though.
Baud
@Mustang Bobby:
I believe a large part of the problem is that Democrats are told to be cynical and pessimistic. In that environment, voting becomes something of chore.
JPL
@MomSense: Hopefully the cat finds his way home. Fingers crossed.
Kay
@lonesomerobot:
There’s a kind of conceit that comes in, in my opinion, where people deny that they’re biased or conflicted because while ordinary folks may be vulnerable to these failings THEY remain above the fray, in the pure abstract atmosphere of Justice and Facts. It bugs me, because we’re all human and we all see things thru our experiences and to deny that possibility is to set yourself apart and above everyone else.
His feelings come SECOND to the perceived integrity and validity of the process, not first. It isn’t supposed to be about whether he’s “honest” or not. We shouldn’t have to rely on that.
Baud
@Kay:
Whew. What a relief! Introspection is a bitch.
Joel
@Mustang Bobby: well, a lot of that has to do with age and retirement status. Working people have it hard enough already.
Kay
@Baud:
Those are the “mainstream Republicans”
But. They have such an ugly part of their base. Someone comes up and confronts me every year and I’m always taken aback. It’s just the spittle-flecked intensity of it. It’ll knock you back in your chair. This year it was a tall white guy, thirties, approaches smiling and then just launches into this low-voiced, race-based attack on Obama. It’s like the smile is a cover so he can get close enough to make himself heard, but only by us, because he’s carefully quiet and the room is noisy. I’m looking across the venue at the busy Republican Rotary Club types and thinking “he doesn’t say this shit over there”. Just repellant.
Baud
@Kay:
Yep. Why people like that aren’t motivation enough for our side to vote in every damn election, I’ll never understand.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: No, he does say that stuff over there, and they just kind of smile with embarrassment, nod a little and sidle away before somebody catches them listening and nodding. Not because they disagree, some do disagree but many more do not, but rather because people just don’t talk that way anymore.
Jeremy
@Baud: I agree. I disagree with MB when he says it’s the democrats fault that certain voters are ignorant. The democratic party is not perfect but how can you blame them when a large amount of Americans are idiots. It’s time that people stop making excuses for the American populace as a whole and finally acknowledge that the majority of people in this country are not really bright.
Frankensteinbeck
@Kay:
If Obama’s election has taught me nothing else, it’s that polite racism is just as virulent and evil as spittle-flecked racism. They would never even think the words ‘I don’t like blacks’, but Martin and Brown were obviously thugs who had to be put down and they vote blatantly against their self-interest now that a black guy is in charge. (They used to vote deniably against their self-interest, if it punished blacks.)
@Baud:
I figure because we don’t deliberately court the afore-mentioned spittle-flecked zealots. Facts, reality, and thoughtful decisions are inherently boring.
Jeremy
@Kay: LOL ! Well when things go bad for them in 2016 like they did in 2008 and 2012 I wonder what the excuse will be this time. They seem to forget that the white population is shrinking and the non-white population is increasing. If they want to continue being the racist white people party then by all means continue because it’s a stupid strategy.
Frankensteinbeck
@OzarkHillbilly:
Exactly. They would never say such things because only racists say such things and they’re not racists. Of course, they hold exactly the same positions he does on everything and their arguments only make sense if you use the same assumptions he does. But heavens no, they don’t think blacks are lazy and inferior. They would just be better off without the chains of welfare.
Jay C
@Kay:
I just consulted with my Inner Cynic, and he opines that it’s simply a matter of (disgustingly) pragmatic politics. Any prosecutor in Missouri is going to catch a major shitstorm whether he indicts Officer Wilson in the Michael Brown case or not. I.C. says that the determining calculation will be that if he does indict, the shitstorm will be coming from the “mainstream” , i.e. white folks; while if he doesn’t, the outrage will “only” come from Those People, who can be either ignored, or stomped on for their outrageous violence and rioting over trivia…
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
That’s why I disagree with the people who say “the same thing happened to Clinton”
No, it didn’t. It is much, much different on many, many levels.
I never had someone come up to me, hands shaking he was so mad, and hiss “the President isn’t American“. Whoa! Should I call security? Maybe a medic? Your blood pressure must be sky-high!
I don’t know if you remember Kerry’s campaign but it was the first time I saw a Democrat use lit that was directed to particular groups; “Women For Kerry”, “GLBT for Kerry”, etc. Republicans here made fun of that, and I get it, I really do. It’s easy to portray that as “silly Democrats with their POLITICAL CORRECTNESS HA HA HA” but you know what it isn’t? It isn’t ugly and hateful. Given a choice between people who worry about whether they have a sign language interpreter at an event and people who loudly proclaim there is no bias, against anyone, ever, I’ll go with the “silly” people.
Anoniminous
@Kay:
Obama did bring out the black vote in larger numbers. But that’s not the only reason the GOP lost the presidency nor is Obama the sole reason blacks have started to turnout and vote.
Mnemosyne
We tramped around looking at a couple of apartment buildings, but it’s already in the 90s at 10:00 am, so we’re back at home sitting in the air conditioning. We want a 3-bedroom, but those seem to be about as common as unicorn teeth, at least in our price range. Still, there’s no hurry — it’s just frustrating.
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne:
I thought you guys found a place you liked way back in the spring. Seem to remember a lot of discussion about end units, location, etc.
Mnemosyne
@Steeplejack:
We did, and then they jacked the price up beyond what we’re willing to pay. :-( So we took a break and now we’re back to looking again.
zoot
stay-at-home democrats are the true A-holes of the nation. Without them, republicans wouldn’t be run by vile, insane loons, the Tea Party would the laughing stock national embarrassment that they are, and the koch’s would be crying in their Chivas. Instead we have just the opposite: a monster insane lurch to rightwing dystopia anchored in violence, division and hatred, ignorance, theft of the average persons wealth by the obscenely rich, and denigration of the poor and needy; a downward death spiral that we have stay-at-home democrats to thank for.
mb
@Jeremy: The majority of voters aren’t stupid but even if they were, stupid people can be motivated to vote. Blaming voters is like blaming customers for not coming to a secret, hidden store without a marketing campaign that sells products they don’t know they need. Dems know certain things about their base — and those who should be D voters. Lotta talk about it, serious furrowed brows; shit gets done about it. Every midterm, same deal — 435+ separate elections run as though each was a member of a Party of One. And it’s a shock to discover that folks don’t even know the players? But what the fuck do I know — maybe that’s the only way to have any dems in congress, i.e., sneak ’em in.
But you can’t blame the voters for their ignorance — or even their lack of motivation, which is a product of their ignorance, until you’ve offered them a party with a coherent identity and message.
cckids
@Mustang Bobby:
This is the daily song of my cats.
cckids
@Mnemosyne:
I feel your pain. We went through it earlier this year, because our 2 younger kids are off at college & we did not need 4 bedrooms & 3000 sq ft anymore, nor could we afford the $700 power bills to keep the place at 79-80 degrees.
We are constrained by our 4 animals and mostly by the fact that we can’t have stairs, but found a decent 3 bedroom place. I’m loving the small size, even in the kitchen. Of course, lots of our stuff is still in storage, which needs to get sorted. There is a certain freedom in letting go of lots of that stuff.
Matt McIrvin
@SteveM: Well, he says their chances of holding the Senate if the election were held today are more than 50%, but he also says that any probabilities within the 20-80% range are really nothing to get very excited about, not much different from a coin flip if you really think about it.
Matt McIrvin
@Anoniminous: He did! But most of the analyses that have tried to figure out the effect of Obama’s race on his elections concluded that it had to be negative on balance. He lost more white votes for being black than he gained black votes, or white liberals wanting to congratulate themselves for voting for a black man.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: The thing is, that talk was always around… it was just directed at people other than the President. I remember the things white college students used to tell me about the affirmative-action hordes who were getting all the admission slots, usually after furtively looking over their shoulders first.
Mnemosyne
@cckids:
We’re actually looking for a bigger place so I can have a craft room and G can have a man cave, but I have pledged to get rid of excess crap before we move. Hopefully I’ll be able to do it. ;-)
Sondra
First of all, here in South Florida, we call these voters GAP voters. It doesn’t take a lot of science to know that the turnout is terrible in the mid-terms.
I’ve been phone-banking like crazy to get these folks out to the polls, but judging from a lot of the posts here, most of you are rather ho hum about it: just like those other GAP voters.
So yes it’s nice to be “reminded now instead of 5 minutes after”, but it would help us all if some of you would join me in volunteering to get out the vote and do some phone banking this Sunday with a campaign where you live.
Do those chores later. Right now some of us could use your help.