Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Maine is one of the most interesting Senate races right now — Biden is way up but Sara Gideon is only up on Susan C. by a little. Gideon is raising a lot of money…but so are all the Democratic Senate candidates in competitive races. Let’s help her out.
Barbara Bollier won the Democratic primary for the Senate seat in Kansas last night. Unfortunately, she won’t be running against Kris Kobach but the Republican she will be running against isn’t that strong either. Bollier’s a great candidate and this could be an off-the-radar pick-up opportunity.
One of my favorite political number crunchers, Harry Enten, thinks Dems are better than 50-50 to end the Republican supermajority in the Kansas state lej, which will give the Democratic governor some say in redistricting. Let’s raise some money for the Kansas state Democratic party too.
I’m never quite sure what to do with the races where a smart young Democrat raises tons of money in a race that may not be winnable — Beto in ’18, Amy McGrath (running against Mitch in KY) and Jaime Harrison (running against Graham in SC) this year. My thinking is that it’s actually complicated — Senators like Mitch and Graham will probably do whatever it takes to outspend their opponents anyway, so maybe every dollar you raise against them results in Rs blowing more than a dollar of resources on defense. And then also, I do think Dems need to have more “stars”. Every fucking Republican who’s remotely charismatic gets called a “rock star”. We should have that too.
It turns out that the race in South Carolina looks pretty close now. Harrison is a great candidate. Let’s raise some money for him.
You’re gonna see my point of view even if I have to scream and shoutPost + Comments (75)
The family is holding a private service. Please respect their privacy in this difficult time. https://t.co/GxibCsmBGd
— Jason Kander (@JasonKander) August 3, 2020
What’s he gonna do at Gettysburg, mourn the loss? https://t.co/mr7gBedxDi
— Tentin Quarantino (@agraybee) August 4, 2020
When you dither too long for Plan B to be effective…
… Despite the surging coronavirus pandemic, which forced Mr. Trump to cancel the convention in Jacksonville, Fla., after moving it from its original location in Charlotte, N.C., he and his advisers are counting on some form of the spectacle to serve as a boost to the flagging incumbent as he heads into the final stretch of the campaign.
Mr. Trump has said he plans to travel to Charlotte to thank delegates who are still planning to gather there for meetings and the official roll call, despite the state’s social distancing requirements…
In meetings at the White House, Trump advisers have also discussed the possibility of returning to Mount Rushmore for an encore performance. And they have proposed to Mr. Trump other national monuments closer to the White House that could serve as outdoor vistas for his renomination speech on Aug. 27.
One such venue that drew Mr. Trump’s attention was Gettysburg, a wide-open national park with a built-in theme about a country divided against itself. The aides thought the setting would flatter Mr. Trump by allowing him to draw a comparison he loves: one between himself and Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Trump delivered a speech at Gettysburg during his campaign four years ago, calling it an “amazing place” and suggesting that the country was as divided as it had been during the Civil War. He also said that the election was rigged against him and that he planned to sue the women who had accused him of aggressive sexual advances (he never did).
A White House official said the president was leaning toward a series of speeches that could be held outdoors in different places, and a stage that would serve as the main hub of activity all week in Washington. It is also not yet clear if any of the ambitious plans will come to fruition for a convention set to start on Aug. 24…
So far, however, little except an overarching theme about the “forgotten men and women of America” has been finalized, and Mr. Trump has been characteristically indecisive about signing off on any plans. Tim Murtaugh, the campaign’s communications director, said the convention would still be “a celebration of the accomplishments of President Trump on behalf of all Americans.”…
Tuesday Morning Open Thread: All the ‘Spectacle’ of A Train WreckPost + Comments (126)
I find all the Harper’s letter/”cancel culture” stuff too dumb and navel-gazey to talk about (tho I like doing parody tweets about it), but there is one thing that fascinates me: there are now several “writers” who talk exclusively about “cancel culture” — Sully, Jesse Singal, Bari, Thomas Chatterton Williams, probably others. That’s it. No “oh Trump is bad” or discussions of what they’re streaming on Netflix or anything. I think that’s strange. Also, I’m not able to understand most of their tweets, there’s a lot of stuff about “critical race theory” and “neo-Marxism” and banh mi. I wonder if we’ve entered the age of “post-centrism” or Pale Fire centrism as we did years ago with conservatism.
Anywho, let’s do some plain old reg’lar Senate fundraising today.
Let’s do Cunningham in North Carolina
And Greenfield in Iowa:
Lately something’s changed, it ain’t hard to definePost + Comments (54)
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin tells @MarthaRaddatz “there’s no question” that $600 unemployment insurance is a disincentive to find a job in “some cases.”
“There are cases where people are overpaid,” he adds when pressed about study refuting his argument. https://t.co/HNQgCe39RN pic.twitter.com/1zceOdxULW
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) August 2, 2020
JUST IN: McConnell says more than a third of Republican senators will not vote for any coronavirus relief package https://t.co/nDYfPGhH8u pic.twitter.com/mhZdOO0XqR
— The Hill (@thehill) August 1, 2020
This is at least the third time this week Sen McConnell has said a large portion of his caucus thinks we should do nothing more on coronavirus. https://t.co/PIoFqNtN2q
— Dan Yoken (@yokendan) July 31, 2020
Late Night Open Thread: The GOP Death Cult Leaders Despise American VotersPost + Comments (121)
I’ve been getting a lot of requests for real bang-for-your-buck ways to help Democrats. This seems like a good one — that I found on Sam Wang’s site. It’s money for the Dallas County and Tarrant County Democratic parties. There are multiple pick-up opportunities in the state lej in those counties. Flipping a house in the Texas state legislature would be huge. In my experience, a lot of the nitty-gritty is done by country parties.
Did you ever see Dallas from a DC-9 at night?Post + Comments (54)