Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

I really should read my own blog.

T R E 4 5 O N

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Tick tock motherfuckers!

You cannot shame the shameless.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickle?”

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: People Get Ready

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: People Get Ready

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Theater review from the Washington Post:

Hollywood and Broadway elite came together in New York on Monday night to raise money for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and to warn of what they cast as the dangers of a Donald Trump presidency.

Comedian Billy Crystal, who served as the evening’s master of ceremonies, set the tone early in the program.

“Our goal tonight is simple,” Crystal told a sold-out crowd of 1,700 at the St. James Theatre in Manhattan. “We have to raise more money than Donald Trump lost in 1995.”…

From a remote location, singer and actress Barbra Streisand served as a co-host. Others on site who offered musical performances or assessments of the race (or both) included Sara Bareilles, Angela Bassett, Matthew Broderick, Lena Dunham, Josh Grobin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jon Hamm, Neil Patrick Harris, Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Helen Mirren, Sarah Jessica Parker, Bernadette Peters and Julia Roberts.

Clinton, heavy into preparations for the third and final presidential debate, did not attend, but she offered a brief video message in which she heralded the importance of the arts for telling “us who we are and where we’re going and what we’re striving for and who we will be.”…

A Clinton aide said most attendees paid between $45 and $2,700 for their seats. Some chipped in considerably more, ranging up to $100,000.

Proceeds were slated to go the Hillary Victory Fund, a joint venture of the Clinton campaign and national and state Democratic parties.

Apart from getting supplies ready for tonight’s debate, what’s on the agenda for the day?

Reader Interactions

163Comments

  1. 1.

    Tokyokie

    The description of where Streisand was sounds like she was sharing a bunker with Cheney. Hope she’s all right.

  2. 2.

    joel hanes

    People Get Ready

    Oh.
    Now you’ve got me where I _live_.

    The night Obama was elected, I spent all night hunting down youtube versions of that song.

    You probably remember it from Crystal Bowersox on American Idol in 2010.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_Op8Jph2kY

    and maybe Alicia Keyes
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMUaHJPZ44c

    Here’s the original, by the genius composer Curtis Mayfield
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdKEbnS1eBE
    I soaked in that album in the Army barracks in 1974.

    the Reverend Al Green recorded it a hundred times. I like this one
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEv93_UotoY

    The Staples did it
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_9SBySVEqg

    Aretha did it. U2 did it. Michelle Wright did it. Ziggy Marley did it.

    This Susan Tedeschi with the Blind Boys of Alabama is maybe my new favorite
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZN4ngxMhoI

  9. 9.

    amk

    schadenfreude in effing indiana.

    Women for Trump aside, though, rank and file female voters whom I spoke with across town seemed generally turned off by Trump.

    /

    “It was very typical of him,” Hicks said, as she discussed recent bombshell claims about Trump’s past. “With corn, they say the cream rises to the top. Crap does, too.”

    Looks like crap will be finally flushed out, come nov.

  12. 12.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    That’s happening all over, I bet. Special planning. Our Bd of Elections has a plan to announce results- R and D members go out together, announce one is an R and one a D, then read out results together. Traditionally the longest-serving member reads out results. This year that would be a Democrat.

    No person who actually works in elections wants chaos or contested results. They all hate conspiracy theorists because that makes their job harder and they don’t want to debunk the same lies over and over again because that’s exhausting and boring and demoralizing.

    I haven’t seen anything about True the Vote this cycle. They were the Texas Tea Party group who came into Ohio in 2012 to harass voters. It was quite the grift- they were raising money online, holding conventions, paying GOP lawyers as speakers. They really wore out their welcome here- by the end even the GOP Sec of State couldn’t stand them.

    The right-wing group True The Vote has been prohibited from monitoring elections in voting stations around Columbus, Ohio, and may soon find itself under investigation for fraud, the Columbus Dispatch reported Tuesday.
    The Houston-based group, which is dedicated to challenging the legitimacy of voters it considers suspect, had its status as an official vote monitor denied in Franklin County, after the necessary number of candidates to assign poll observers withdrew their support for the group, according to the Dispatch.
    Elections officials in Franklin County told the paper that some of application forms requesting observer status for the group’s Ohio branch, the Voter Integrity Project, appeared to have supporting names that were falsified or forged.

    Just another Right wing group ripping off Right wing small donors. The whole thing was a grift- the “founders” were living off donations from gullible GOP donors. There’s actually a Trump connection- one of his cable tv surrogates came out of True the Vote. Probably realized that scam was played out so joined the Trump Train.

  13. 13.

    Manyakitty

    Tim Kaine in the membrane. Yes, I live streamed the benefit to see Lin-Manuel Miranda. Thanks for posting his clip!

  15. 15.

    TS

    OK I’m listening to Joke – cause they make me laugh. Old Joke telling everyone – this is what we said way back …. This dimwit changes his “what I said” every day of the week.

    They are all procrastinating on what yellow fool should do to win the debate – hahahahaha – as if
    Joke thinks the GOP nominee is doing it all for a TV show – which sane folks know would fail as did Palin’s attempts at TV
    Offsider thinks he has some valid policies – It is so amusing.
    Edit: Mika thinks emails will be discussed – gosh who would think

  21. 21.

    Kay

    One of the things people can do if someone harrasses them at a polling place is look at their state rules for observers. Many states (including Ohio) have rules election observers have to follow. The point is to screen out clowns by adding accountability. So, for example, in Ohio an election observer has to be qualified by a candidate committee or Party org or nonpartisan group that is recognized by the state. That endorsement has to be filed with the Bd of Elections or the Ct of Common Pleas in the county where they’re observing prior to the election. They also have to “enter” each polling place. They do that by filling out an affidavit (sworn statement) which they sign. That goes to the lead poll worker in the polling station- called “judges” in Ohio. The “judge” then has the person’s name and sworn statement on file so if they break the rules they can be held accountable.
    People can’t just wander in and hang around harassing other people in a polling place. There are rules. If you’re harassed you can demand the poll judges enforce the rules. You can also call the Bd of Elections directly. I have stepped out of a polling place and called the Bd of Elections from the parking lot to avoid a big scene. Anyone can do this- they work for voters.

  25. 25.

    TS

    @Schlemazel: Translation
    Mika doesn’t like Hillary Clinton
    Both sides do it because the GOP attacks on President Obama were matched by the dem attacks on Pres Bush

    You’re welcome

  26. 26.

    David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch

    NEW YORK (AP) — While most grown-ups are a few weeks away from heading to the polls, more than 150,000 of the nation’s schoolchildren have already voted on who they want to be president.

    Scholastic says Democrat Hillary Clinton took 52 percent of its 2016 Student Vote, while Republican Donald Trump won 35 percent of the ballots. The company says 13 percent of students wrote in “other” choices, which it says is an unusually high number.

    The student vote has been a fairly accurate predictor of the actual election over the years. Scholastic says it has mirrored the results in every election since 1940, with the exception of election years 1948 and 1960.

    Booom!

  29. 29.

    bemused

    @TS:

    Ah Mika, the deep thinker. Every time she talks about her Knowing Your Value hobby horse, I remember the cheesecake photo of her perched atop the piano.

  30. 30.

    Kay

    @David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch:

    I actually believe in this poll. Younger kids vote for the person their parent is voting for. I listen to my son’s friends and it is amazing (and horrifying) how much you find out about parents by listening to their kids. “Horrifying” because this is also true of my son, I’m sure. I’m sure he says what we say when he goes to friends houses. They often just parrot what they have heard, which is understandable- they trust their parents.

    We always do a high school straw poll too and I remember when Obama won it in ’08. The Democrat never wins in this county. It was a giant headline in the local paper – landslide. Obama never carried this county so the high schoolers broke from their parents in ’08.

  37. 37.

    TS

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Current conversation emphasizes this point of view – both sides – the left and the right will be attacking Hillary after she is elected. They truly do not understand democrats – which is good to see. Most democrats realized that sooner or later the Bernie supporters would support Hillary – and most of them are now doing that.

    Now they are attacking the President because he would not move towards republicans. Seems they never heard about the GOPers who met to guarantee they would not do ANYTHING that President Obama wanted – or how the President changed policies to move towards the right & they still rejected everything.

    And now they are explaining why Hillary and the democrats have to move to the right – because the country wouldn’t allow anything else. Why is it when Republicans win – they are not advised to move to the left?

    Old Joke is still telling everyone how wonderful he was in congress – wonder why he left.

    You have to laugh – I watch to laugh

  39. 39.

    Joel

    Anyways, my link has thrown me in moderation, but any mention of People Get Ready needs to include Bob Marley and the Wailers’ version. They changed quite a bit of the song (One Love), which is why people don’t remember it as a cover. The Wailers covered a ton of Impressions songs: Another Dance, I Made a Mistake, Keep on Moving…

  40. 40.

    Patricia Kayden

    @David Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016 Koch: There is no doubt that history will be kind to President Obama. He wasn’t perfect but he was as close to perfection as this country deserved after electing Bush. He has turned around the economy and was an excellent representative of our values.

    @TS: Must be nice to have a job where you can change your mind daily and not get called out for it. My blood pressure is better for not watching Mika and Joe.

  41. 41.

    Kay

    You really wonder what Republicans do after this election. They found out a lot of things about their base but the biggest thing they found out is their voters don’t care about issues at all.

    Portman came out for a path to legalization for undocumented and Kasich expanded Medicaid and Kasich is popular. Yet, Donald Trump is even with Clinton in this state. At the same time. Their voters are completely and utterly unpredictable. No one has any idea why they do what they do. There’s just no connection to reality- which besides being really disturbing makes it very difficult to plan. Christian conservatives are the best example of this- WTF? They’re all backing this thrice-married degenerate sex offender? They’re like 20% of the Party. “Issues” for the GOP are a fantasy. They have no issue grounding at all.

  43. 43.

    TS

    Just mentioned a new poll with Hillary up by 5 in Arizona – I don’t know who the pollsters are – but interesting.

  44. 44.

    JPL

    @Kay: Trump’s trade issue is resonating with union workers, but it has no basis in reality. Trump had a choice to make products in America, and chose not to. If his plan to enact 45% tariff on goods made in China, Walmart shoppers would be hurt the most.

  45. 45.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    People can’t just wander in and hang around harassing other people in a polling place.

    This is what I’m expecting, but outside the building. Lots of glowering.

  46. 46.

    Kay

    This is a good piece.

    Donald Trump is going to lose this election. His campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, is going to lose this election. Even if they would never admit it, they know Donald Trump will never be president. Trump and Conway are on the political death march. (This, to be clear for the Trump fans, is a political metaphor, not an actual death wish.)
    This is the part of a losing campaign that exposes the true character of all those involved. So it should come as no shock that Donald Trump and his staff are failing this test in the most shameful and divisive manner imaginable.

    This is part of why Obama has contempt for them. He’s very good at politics and he thinks they’re weak and shouldn’t be in the top tier of competition.He doesn’t think they deserve to compete at this level. He’s right.

  47. 47.

    Matt McIrvin

    @TS:

    Current conversation emphasizes this point of view – both sides – the left and the right will be attacking Hillary after she is elected. They truly do not understand democrats – which is good to see.

    They will, though. Democrats don’t automatically fall in line for the leader.
    John was complaining on Twitter that something changed this year and the further left was attacking Hillary as intensely as the right, though he admitted that he hadn’t been a Democrat for that long and maybe things changed under Obama. I think they did change–in 2008, at least, Obama was a unifying figure (it had started to erode in 2012). Before that, we always had a lot of contempt for the Democratic candidate on the left. Remember Nader 2000, Gush vs. Bore, not a dime’s worth of difference? These movements never swing a huge number of votes, but they make a lot of noise.

  53. 53.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: I think we left the Great Orange Satan about the same time.

    ETA: I also quit drinking then, maybe there’s a connection.

  55. 55.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    The only reason it worries me is lower income people are often intimidated by “official” process. It’s justified. They’re often treated unfairly or treated like shit so they have learned to steer clear- they don’t win those battles. That’s why I think the billboards and such warning about “felony voter fraud” suppress turnout. It is literally and truly not worth the hassle to them- better to stay under the radar. That’s why I would get so upset with certain GOP pollworkers. This is NOT guilty until proven innocent. It’s just an ordinary state recording process and people shouldn’t be treated like someone or other is “allowing” them to vote. They’re presumed valid UNLESS there’s something real that says they get challenged. This “belt and suspenders” bullshit they do is NOT applied equitably. They make some people jump thru more hoops and their attitude sucks. It’s not “demand every piece of ID you feel like demanding”. It’s ONE piece and then stop bugging them. Follow the rules exactly.

    Some people just shouldn’t have any power. They abuse it the second they get it.

  57. 57.

    TS

    @Matt McIrvin:

    They do make noise, the Bernie supporters made that very clear & some will not vote for Hillary, but – the implication I was hearing was that the far left/far right would combine attempting to impeach/jail Sec Clinton. I just don’t see any democrat in congress doing that (maybe there are one or two, but I’m not seeing it).

  58. 58.

    Ben Cisco

    @Kay: No mystery there – they’re going to do what they ALWAYS do – double down. Just take a look at what the GOP has embraced this cycle in the name of “winning”, throwing away every “principle” they ever claimed to uphold in the process. You really think they’re going to LEARN anything from this? They’re not wired that way.

    Their candidate in 2020 may well be an actual uniform-wearing Nazi instead of a wannabe.

  60. 60.

    Baud

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Oh no, much earlier than that. I remember the brouhaha that Dr. Sanjay Gupta might be named Surgeon General. That was before the inauguration.

    I stuck it out for two years. I left after the 2010 midterms and never looked back.

    @Ben Cisco:

    Same here. Someone in one of the threads there was complaining how awful it had gotten and said Balloon Juice was much better. They were right.

  61. 61.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    Yes. I think that’s why there’s so much emphasis on early voting and an increasing number of “Souls to the Polls” campaigns.

  62. 62.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: …also, of course, even in ’08 there were PUMAs, but they dwindled to a tiny core once the primary fight was over, and there was also no coherent sense that PUMAs were the left wing of the party.

  63. 63.

    amk

    When Donald Trump ludicrously accused Hillary Clinton, at the first presidential debate, of trying to fight the Islamic State for her “entire adult life,” Clinton didn’t offer a rebuttal. Instead, she issued a request: “Please, fact-checkers, get to work.”

    They were already working. Thanks to the brazenness of Trump’s deceit, fact-checking, that unglamorous journalistic activity once mostly relegated to niche websites and little boxes beside newspaper articles, is having a moment. Big news organizations now assign teams of reporters to fact-check the debates in real time. CNN, among other networks, is using its bottom-screen chyrons to challenge Trump’s most obvious lies. And every day, full-time fact checkers take a false claim, or three, or four, and meticulously explain why it is wrong.

    I decided a month ago that this wasn’t enough.

    What we’re experiencing from Trump is a daily avalanche of wrongness. The essential truth of this election cannot be conveyed with an examination of any one particular chunk of ice. The story is the massive accumulation of nonsense, big stuff and little stuff alike, day after day.

  68. 68.

    amk

    orangegutan is gonna wake up morose today what with she-devil leading in AZ by 5 points and nationally by 9 points. His sole talking bragging point taken away.

  69. 69.

    TS

    Steve Schmidt is talking about the GOP nominee attacking the very basics of democracy – but Mika thinks fat shaming women was the problem.
    Can’t believe I’m supporting Steve Schmidt – He says Hillary will get over 400 electoral votes, democrats will take the Senate and are now looking to take the house.

  70. 70.

    Kay

    @Ben Cisco:

    Winning matters most of all though. They won as lunatics. They lost the Presidential race(s) but they won Congressional seats and statehouses. It wasn’t at all irrational to double down- they were winning. The reason it stings so much this time to “serious” Republicans is one word – “judges”. They lose big this time. Obama appointed lots and lots of judges with lifetime tenure and Clinton will appoint more. Third terms are rare. Clinton’s getting a bum rap as a candidate. The assumption was the Republican would win. She was the one with the uphill battle, not the GOP. All the stuff about how she should be winning in a walk was and is bullshit.

  71. 71.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: Heh:

    It can be too much for staffers to bear. In 2007, on John McCain’s first death march — he resurrected only to march again in 2008 — I was working for the campaign in Iowa when news came down that there were going to be layoffs. When I was brought into the campaign manager’s office to hear my fate, I am embarrassed to report that I was overcome with despair after I heard the news — I had been retained. My death march was going to continue.

  73. 73.

    Kay

    @TS:

    Mika should win an award for worst possible spokesperson for women. That’s why people shouldn’t appoint themselves spokespeople. They’re often terrible. Hiring yourself to speak for millions of people is probably never a good idea. She’s a tad biased on the relative merits of Mika.

  74. 74.

    Ben Cisco

    @Baud: I noticed an attitude when it was opined that the right was going to lose its shit when PBO won the election. The outright hostility shown to anyone who acknowledged it (it was obvious for some of us, after all) was enough to encourage me to pop the chute.

  76. 76.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I feel bad when they lose, I admit. Partly it’s just because I’m a sore loser but it’s also because I like the people and I want them to win. In 2004 I did GOTV out of my house. So we had all these people I know and like and they were really excited and it was breaking my heart. One in particular bothered me. We had a young gay man drive 100 or so miles from Indiana to make calls. Indiana was lost so he wanted an Ohio GOTV. He was upset about the same sex marriage amendments and he told me he was gay- he was a dental student. He made calls all day– just quiet and polite- he didn’t know any of us- came alone. I felt so bad because I was pretty sure he was going to lose.

  78. 78.

    germy

    @Kay:

    The only reason it worries me is lower income people are often intimidated by “official” process. It’s justified. They’re often treated unfairly or treated like shit so they have learned to steer clear- they don’t win those battles.

    My wife and I both grew up in working class families. Although we’re doing fine now, it’s still easy to feel intimidated by “officials”. It must be muscle memory, how we tense up.

    About 25 years ago my wife was reduced to tears when she tried to vote. The old lady at the desk bullied her; kept telling her she wasn’t registered. My wife KNEW she was. Later that evening we returned. The old lady had two pages stuck together, the page where my our names appeared. The woman was rude and dismissive.

  79. 79.

    TS

    @Kay:

    Mika should win an award for worst possible spokesperson for women

    Not sure if I’m seeing things, but her complete demeanor and conversation seems to have changed significantly since the first stories about her and Joke, her divorce and Trump’s tweet in relation to same. Years ago I didn’t see her as Joke’s echo – she certainly is now.

  80. 80.

    Ben Cisco

    @Kay: Good points, especially the one about Clinton getting the short end of the stick as a candidate. Literally caught in a pincer movement between the GOP and the press, she has adapted and persevered. She already knows they’re lining up against her just as they did PBO, and I feel she’ll be ready for them. Now if we can just get our states in order (c’mon NC, let’s get this done)!

  81. 81.

    PsiFighter37

    @amk: Up 5 in AZ? Good news if the poll is reliable…

    Will be watching tonight, although will be wary of Chris Wallace.

  83. 83.

    Kay

    @Ben Cisco:

    I am genuinely impressed by how tough she is. Those debates are difficult. She’s debating a lunatic, which is infuriating, and the idiot pundits sit there and act as if she’s debating a sane person. It must be unreal, yet she stays focused and grounded. Jeb Bush couldn’t do it. He fell apart.

  88. 88.

    Kay

    @germy:

    I used to get it working at the post office. It was hard for me to realize, that these people thought I had some power so I had to reassure them that no, they’re not getting arrested for not having their box key and I’m not standing there thinking they’re presumptive criminals.

    They can ask for the same things every other customer asks for- there won’t be blowback because actually I’m just a powerless postal clerk. It’s the stamp of “offocialdom” and it’s understandable. They know how this goes. They lose.

  91. 91.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:When you have the kind of character that POTUS has, how can you NOT be offended by Ferret Head. A con man gritting hustler. Racist. Fascist. Sexual predator. Ignorant of the issues. Has actually said that he won’t do the grunt work of being President, but will show up for the glamorous stuff.

    Knowing that this is only allowable because he’s a White man.
    NONE of this would be allowed with a non-White.
    NONE

  94. 94.

    Bostondreams

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Curt Schilling intends to run against Elizabeth Warren for US Senate seat

    BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA….

    On a FB Sox fan page I follow, someone posted this. The reaction was near universally negative. Even Republicans in Mass think he is an idiot and a wingnut. Love what he did for us on the mound, but no.

  97. 97.

    Jeffro

    Probably not a whole lot of Slate fans here, but this interview w/ Rick Perlstein is really good – sums up the GOP’s present and immediate future quite nicely.

    Besides the insights, I had no idea that at the time, there was a concern Nixon was going to fly a plane into the Capitol rather than be impeached…ah, history…

  99. 99.

    Matt McIrvin

    (Or just toss a lot of it into Senate races, which are probably more important at this point.)

  100. 100.

    satby

    Good morning. I’ve been working on coworkers to get out and vote early. Most will be Clinton voters, we’re aware of two Trump voters so far. Both white women (seriously??). I was disappointed when one of the smarter young ones said she still was writing in Bernie. It’s Indiana, so a lost cause anyway, but it would be nice to see it flip blue.

  102. 102.

    Tenar Darell

    @Kay: I think the party gets worse (& I have no idea what that means but it’ll be baad). There are too many officials who’ve had to resign because they couldn’t support Trump. That means the sanest ones (from this cycle) are no longer in power. That can’t be good.

  104. 104.

    hovercraft

    Good morning.
    Squint and the sockpuppet are on a don’t have a private server jag. If only Rubio or Bush had been the nominee, she would be going down, she might even be in legal jeopardy. Joe warns his fellow GOPers not to spend the next four years doing investigations of Clinton. The server must be covered and discussed because having a private server is dishonest. The only reason there was no quid pro quo is because the FBI guy shot it down, Patrick Kennedy wanted one to cover up the server.

  105. 105.

    hedgehog mobile

    Good morning. Pleased to report I survived my first phonebank experience. Most people not home. The ones I reached voting Democratic. I signed up to do one more shift next week. mr.h and I got our ballots yesterday so I know what tonight’s activity is ?

  110. 110.

    amk

    bloomberg poll

    Clinton tops Trump by 17 points among women and also leads among men, 46 percent to 44 percent, including those without a college a degree, 48 percent to 44 percent.

    “This poll shows movement toward Clinton with all the right groups it takes to win—including men and those without a college degree,” pollster J. Ann Selzer said. “Their alignment with Clinton is a formidable change in the algebra.”

  112. 112.

    Oldgold

    After years of watching Morning Joe, I have finally been abe to kick this bad habit. Has improved my mornings immeasurably. I recommend it.

  114. 114.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    It would probably be a better use of the kitchen sink to throw it at Ohio–it looks like she’s losing ground there after a short period when it was polling blue again.

    There’s probably a good strategic argument to let Ohio go it alone. Strickland is losing, will lose, so there’s no Senate justification for winning it on down ballot gain theory and it looks like Democrats are going south and west for new states.

    There’s nothing that says Ohio has to stay swing in Prez elections. Missouri was a swing state until it wasn’t. Ohio can be central to Republicans and not key to Democrats. Ohio will be the loser- we benefit from swing state status. If the new reality is states with low Latino share and 25% or less college grads are not fruitful territory for Democrats, that’s just reality and Democrats should invest accordingly.

    Ohio Democrats have to decide what they are– who they represent. Strickland doesn’t have a constituency. He’s a 1990’s Democrat- that pickup truck and gun thing while not really delivering on economic populism- and there aren’t enough of those in this state. He’s like an “attitude” or “social issues” populist. That’s just not a winning formula here anymore.

  115. 115.

    Cermet

    The house is a lost cause as far as wining it over; that said, some seats will be picked up. The senate is very, very close and that is an improvement since, till recently, that wasn’t the case since the dems had little chance. AS for running up the score? LOLOLOL. Just fucking win the Presidency – hold the line in PA, NH (then it is at least a 270 win) and maybe, FL. As for OH, AZ, and even NC, waste of money, time and resources compared to the irrelevant gain (100 days in as the thugs in the house continue to stop all Hillary’s policies, no one will give a shit if she won 270 or 325. Look no further then President Obama’s massive win in 2008.) Any other states besides these are an utter waste bordering on efforts to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

  116. 116.

    Peale

    @Baud: yep. Same here. Every lefty site I used to frequent had turned on him by May 2009. The reason the left are losers is that they can’t stay loyal to anyone in power for 90 days. They want to be tossed out on their asses. It makes them happy to be pariahs.

  120. 120.

    Elizabelle

    @Cermet: I wish you would shut up some times. I find your posts demoralizing. And useless.

    Would you rather be coconut cream? Peach pie?

    Are you doing anything to turn out the vote? Or are you too smart for that?

  121. 121.

    amk

    @Kay: I don’t get this I gotta love our candidate election mentality of dems. It’s an effing election, he is your effing politician, not your future mate.

  123. 123.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I tire of people in Ohio complaining about “the economy”. The Ohio economy doesn’t get any better than this, not for decades, so probably before any of these people were adults.

    I sat at a CLE with Republicans lawyers the other day and it’s just bullshit. They’re all busy because all of their working and middle class clients are working. Everyone is working. It’s 4-something unemployment. They know this. They just won’t admit it because they prefer to whine about Obama. It’s irrational.

    Income inequality and wage stagnation are real, but that’s a long term problem and Obama didn’t create it. Right now the Ohio economy is as good as the Ohio economy gets. The denial of this is either whining or Obama hatred. They KNOW it’s not true because they’re small businesspeople.

  124. 124.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay: I love seeing your posts every morning.

    Informative, and a tonic to all the “not-actually news” that gets shoveled our way.

  125. 125.

    Gin & Tonic

    @amk:

    formidable change in the algebra.”

    For fuck’s sake, it’s simple arithmetic. Nothing to do with algebra.

  126. 126.

    Corner Stone

    @Cermet: Thank you. This may be the stupidest thing I read all day before the debate starts. Now I at least have a bottom line idiotic comment with which to judge others against.
    You’ve made my day much easier. Appreciate y’as!

  130. 130.

    Kay

    @amk:

    It’s fine. The coalition splintered. It was always a really complicated thing. It’s urban and and rural and black and white and young and old and non-college and college. It was always hard to hold together- it didn’t hold for Strickland but it does hold for Sherrod Brown. I like that bridge role, that calculus, so I was suited to it. I felt like I could move around easily among all the groups so the “herding cats” thing never bothered me and sometimes it worked! It was in a way more worthwhile because it was harder than in a “blue” or “red” state. It was fragile.

    The truth is a lot of this re: Obama has to do with race and Democrats have race issues too. White rural Democrats looked for signs that Obama was favoring urban areas from almost the minute he was elected. “Urban” is code for “black” in Ohio. They resent that so much they deny the obvious, which is most of them are doing okay in the Obama economy. They’re spending, on everything from cars to lawyers. They know this.

  131. 131.

    TS

    @Cermet:

    The house is a lost cause as far as wining it over; that said, some seats will be picked up. The senate is very, very close and that is an improvement since, till recently, that wasn’t the case since the dems had little chance.

    Not sure what you are seeing but it’s wrong. The Senate is gone for the GOP and the house gets closer every day that passes. The excuse for a candidate is going down the full destruction path and will probably have lost the house by November 2.

  134. 134.

    Corner Stone

    I like that bridge role, that calculus,

    God, algebra, arithmetic, percentages and now calculus. Why do I feel like I am naked and forgot to study for the big math final in college again? What was I thinking? Why didn’t I study!?

  135. 135.

    Corner Stone

    @schrodinger’s cat: No, didn’t pop by too much the last couple days. I think the threat of any possible recession should be a motivating factor for all D’s to do everything they can to take back the House. If we can get some bills passed we can prolong this economic recovery for several more years.

  136. 136.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Corner Stone: It’s because you were overdosing on prepositions: “with which to judge others against.”

    Reminds me of Safire’s “what did you bring that book I don’t want to be read to out of up for?”

  137. 137.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Holy shit. I… holy shit. Trump tried to kiss a prepubescent girl on the mouth last night. I saw a clip. My phone won’t copy the link, so someone else find this, please. You all need to see this. She wouldn’t let him and he settled for the cheek.

  140. 140.

    Corner Stone

    @Kay:

    The truth is a lot of this re: Obama has to do with race and Democrats have race issues too. White rural Democrats looked for signs that Obama was favoring urban areas from almost the minute he was elected. “Urban” is code for “black” in Ohio. They resent that so much they deny the obvious, which is most of them are doing okay in the Obama economy. They’re spending, on everything from cars to lawyers. They know this.

    I thought it was code for “black” everywhere.
    In Texas, they are spending money on everything too. Nothing extravagant like flipping 5 houses but just steady purchasing and normal consumption. A lot of people are still looking to get their feet under them and find a sense of normalcy. But for a significant chunk, at least in TX, regular day to day business has been well re-established for a while now.
    The sense of economic despair is just hiding a lot of racial tension.

  141. 141.

    Kay

    @amk:

    The fun part is when it works because truly a lot of these people have nothing in common – you always have the sense that one or another group could bolt at any moment :)

    I don’t know how Sherrod Brown or Obama did it but I don’t think we can discount the idea that it MIGHT be merit- they might be extra-good at this! So of the small group that is “Presidents” or “Senators” they could be better than most even in that group at herding the cats. Strickland just isn’t extra talented.

  142. 142.

    Corner Stone

    @Gin & Tonic: Curiously, I never seem to have a nightmare about not studying for that which I had been already fully prepared, in this case the topic of writing the American language.

  144. 144.

    hovercraft

    @TS:
    Perhaps @Cermet is Joe of the morning, and in three weeks will be telling us, “I said that the democrat party would take the Senate, and win the House, I’ve been saying that the republicans need to separate themselves from Donald Trump.”

  145. 145.

    Kay

    @Corner Stone:

    Some of my nervousness about Trump is pure self-interest. I have X number of working years and I will get hurt with some big fucking idiot disaster brought on by this moron and his merry band of idiot insane people. That’s not fair to do to people who survived 16% unemployment. It’s not fair that GOP hacks get to hit me twice in one working lifetime. They can just fuck off with that- I have plans.

  146. 146.

    amk

    @Kay: Most of the world votes on what this candidate will do for me, or at least, promises to do for me. Or at the worst, the other guy/gal is gonna fuck up my life, so I better wake the fuck up. The US left is that special one needing that touchy-feely shite. That’s why rethugs are in power in every level. And to expect every pol to do what Obama did is just plain nonsense.

  147. 147.

    MattF

    @hovercraft: We’re just all pants wetters, I guess. Running up the score between Hillz and Trump is just comfort for our bruised elitist egos.

  149. 149.

    hovercraft

    @Kay:

    There’s nothing that says Ohio has to stay swing in Prez elections. Missouri was a swing state until it wasn’t. Ohio can be central to Republicans and not key to Democrats. Ohio will be the loser- we benefit from swing state status. If the new reality is states with low Latino share and 25% or less college grads are not fruitful territory for Democrats, that’s just reality and Democrats should invest accordingly.

    That is the strategy going forward, it was not supposed to happen this election, maybe 2020 or 2024, but the belief is that as the Midwest continues to age, and the demographics there change much slower than the South and the Southwest, those areas will become first swing and then staunchly blue states. Trump may have succeeded in accelerating the process by driving turnout among core democratic constituents to the polls in higher numbers than they normally vote. Who knows what the battleground map will look like in 2020, I doubt VA, CO will be on it, OH, WI, AZ and probably MI will be on it, not sure where PA will be.

  150. 150.

    Fair Economist

    @Kay: Interesting, and funny too:

     I was working for the campaign in Iowa when news came down that there were going to be layoffs. When I was brought into the campaign manager’s office to hear my fate, I am embarrassed to report that I was overcome with despair after I heard the news — I had been retained.

  153. 153.

    Jeffro

    @hovercraft:

    That is the strategy going forward, it was not supposed to happen this election, maybe 2020 or 2024, but the belief is that as the Midwest continues to age, and the demographics there change much slower than the South and the Southwest, those areas will become first swing and then staunchly blue states. Trump may have succeeded in accelerating the process by driving turnout among core democratic constituents to the polls in higher numbers than they normally vote. Who knows what the battleground map will look like in 2020, I doubt VA, CO will be on it, OH, WI, AZ and probably MI will be on it, not sure where PA will be.

    I wonder how much of it will be states with strong k-12 school systems and strong state higher-ed? That seems to account for what’s happened in turning VA & CO blue and NC & GA into ‘swing’ states.

  154. 154.

    Kay

    @Fair Economist:

    It is good. I read him on Twitter sometimes, just this cycle. He’s a good writer even on Twitter. I know people hate Twitter but it does show who can write because it’s so economical. It’s like what people say about poetry (and I like poetry).

    Every word has to carry a lot :)

  155. 155.

    Fair Economist

    @Cermet: The House is definitely flippable, and I think that should be an important focus. I’m not seeing it, because the states that will swing the House are not getting much attention. Two of the three more important states for control of the House are New York (6 districts) and California (4). The only other state I can recall with more than one swing district that’s not a swing state is Minnesota. The rule I suggested before is that the important districts are “red districts in blue states” because red states are gerrymandered too hard for even a wave to make a difference. Now, though I’m realizing that the shifts in college-educated and non-college educated districts are going to scramble the gerrymanders and put in play a couple of districts that might be untouchable otherwise. An example would be South Carolina 7, which is R+7 district, but which is on the coast and has more of the affluent, educated whites who are flipping. Still mostly about red districts in blue states.

    Unfortunately recruitment has been extremely weak in these stretch districts and most of the Democratic candidates seem to have no electoral experience whatsoever. I gotta say, if you want a mild longshot for getting into politics, you should run in a stretch district in a presidential election year.

  157. 157.

    joel hanes

    @The Golux:

    Vanilla Fudge

    You old hippie, you.
    Well do I remember their drawn-out renditions of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” and “Eleanor Rigby”.
    The “Voices In Time/Beat Goes On” medley from their “The Beat Goes On” album was the basis of an “alternative” church service to which I once helped subject our suburban congregation.

  158. 158.

    catclub

    The rule I suggested before is that the important districts are “red districts in blue states” because red states are gerrymandered too hard for even a wave to make a difference.

    So what about Pennsylvania, which is a blue state with a 13-5 GOP to Democrat Congressional delegation?

  159. 159.

    Matt McIrvin

    @TS: Sam Wang’s models agree mostly with Cermet. He has Democratic Senate control at just 62% probability, and the House looks pretty much out of reach (though his House model is crude).

  160. 160.

    Miss Bianca

    @Tokyokie: heh!

    btw. completely o/t, but what was the name again of that romance novel publisher that was looking for new writers? The link you sent looked so interesting, but I forgot to bookmark it! Ach!

  162. 162.

    JR in WV

    @Jeffro:

    I worked at a newspaper at the time, watched the Saturday Night Massacre on the news wires that late night after a newsroom party.

    Never heard that even as a rumor. Interesting. Nixon was evil, not crazy, big difference. Congressman Rodino obviously didn’t think it was impossible. Amazballs!

  163. 163.

    JR in WV

    @Kay:

    Something I don’t understand. Here in WV, the economy should be dead AND buried, as the high-earner coal miners are laid off. And we do see many older homes for sale, with owner finance signs in the yards. But we also see nice homes being remodeled to add 4 more rooms, and new stick-built homes going up.

    And there are more and more high-end cars on the road, Benzes and Land Rovers and Cadillacs. Even in our rural neighborhood. The office towers downtown have a higher vacancy rate, and the mall isn’t busy. But people are still spending on really big ticket items.

    Where does that money come from? Are people dumb enough to be borrowing for houses and $75K cars, here in WV?

    I dunno. We’re OK as long as our pensions continue, and Social Security. We can get by even if the pensions diminish quite a bit, though the expensive trips would have to go away, now that we’ve actually taken one, so far, and booked another modest trip.

    But lots of people, if they lose their job, which here in WV isn’t a rare thing, they are screwed. Why the big spending? How come the big house building?

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