Adding to what DougJ said this morning, I live in a mostly white, affluent Rochester suburb that sent two Democrats to the town board, and one to the county legislature, in the first time in probably forever. Both town board candidates ran a good campaign – one of them visited my house this weekend and was happy to hear I had already voted for her on my absentee ballot.
Part of the reason these three were elected is a few ugly racist incidents that occurred shortly after Trump was elected. Somebody distributed flyers in a few neighborhoods that had links to a (shitty) “Keep Rochester White” website. This was a very big deal – a group was formed to emphasize inclusiveness, people put signs in their yards welcoming people of all colors, faiths, ethnicities, etc. Organizers of the group appeared on local radio and TV.
The Republican town administration condemned the racist flyers in no uncertain terms. I also have to say that the Republicans run the town competently and essentially apolitically, though long-time town politicians end up with patronage jobs in the county administration and loyally support Republican candidates. Still, I have to assume that the reason three Democrats now hold office where once there were none is due in large part to the ugly shit that went down post-Trump.
Though my suburb is majority white, we have a fair number of minorities and immigrants. We all have Muslim, Hindi, Black and Asian neighbors. Our kids play together, and we attend school functions together. A sure way to turn a politically uninvolved Democrat or moderate Republican into a pissed off straight ticket Democrat is to fuck with their kid’s friends. It doesn’t matter that the town’s Republicans repudiated this hatred – it mattered that their party endorsed it.
In other words, fuck yes the suburbs are going to go Democratic. Last night was just a taste.
Baud
Good to hear. I’m tired of the GOP being exempt from the idea of collective responsibility.
Yarrow
Mr. Brown
The big news in Rochester was the 4-term Republican sheriff getting trounced.
BCHS Class of 1980
Is this Henrietta? My wife went to the South Henrietta Institute of Technology. A guy she knew was elected to the town council.
Major Major Major Major
Even better, the Breitbart base has decided that Gillespie’s problem was not embracing Trump enough.
Yarrow
@Major Major Major Major: Didn’t Trump tweet the same thing?
Mnemosyne
A lot of suburban white people got very complacent during Obama’s terms. They are not complacent any longer.
Major Major Major Major
@Yarrow: oh yeah, he did.
debbie
@Yarrow:
None of them should be able to sleep.
Steeplejack
Why, oh, why does Chris Hayes keep having these Republican congressmen on his show to pants him with their party-line talking points?! He really should stop until he takes that remedial John McLaughlin hard-ass moderator course (“Eleanor Clift! Wrong!”) that he missed the first time around.
Okay, it’s over to The Blacklist, where Raymond Reddington puts a cap in somebody’s ass if he doesn’t like their answers.
Mike J
Baud
@Mike J: Meanwhile, Tom Periello is on Chris Hayes being constructive.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack:
He’s just brutal. He should pull a Lib-FOX and just have left wing nutters on. That guy ate his fucking lunch. Again.
Thoughtful David
@Baud: Periello has ambitions, and unlike Wilmer, understands that you need a team, and therefore you need to be a team player.
Major Major Major Major
@Mike J: “president-elect Harris’s 39-state landslide is proof that voters have rejected President-elect Harris’s neoliberal agenda…”
Kent
Here in the Vancouver WA area just north of Portland we are in the same typical purple suburb that is represented by a GOP Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler who rolled into office during the 2010 tea party nonsense and hasn’t faced a really serious challenge yet. I’m hoping a really first rate candidate steps up. Because she is vulnerable. This area while still quite white has increasing Hispanic and Asian American populations. And is rapidly growing more urban. It’s places exactly like this that will turn the House blue in 218.
Baud
@Corner Stone: I just muted that segment as soon as he mentioned he had a Republican guest.
Yoda Dog
Chris Hayes sucks. When is Joy getting her well overdue promotion to prime time?
Emerald
Hayes is flat incompetent at hostile interviews. Wish he’d watch Joy Reid and learn how it’s done.
He won’t though. He thinks he’s great at it.
Thoughtful David
@Thoughtful David:
Although I’m not a huge fan of Periello. I guess it’s mostly personality issues; he just comes across to me as sort of standoffish, something that isn’t a good characterstic in a politician. Unlike Lt. Gov. and future Gov. Northam, who is the nicest most personable and relatable guy.
Ohio Mom
Last year I was surprised as anything that my little suburb went for Hillary since it’s pretty Republican around here.
But yesterday we voted to keep our city council dark Red even though we had what I thought were some strong Democratic challengers for a change.
I’m sad to say I lean towards thinking that just because people are smart enough to hate Trump, it doesn’t mean they are smart enough to stop voting for Republicans. I hope we can continue to leverage that hate but it is not a long term strategy.
Punchy
@Mike J: why do I care what a pro golfer thinks about politics?
Central Planning
So mistermix, I think we live in the same suburb. I’ve been here 18 years.
Might be time to try a Rochester meet-up. Feel free to send me an email. There’s a remote chance our paths have crossed – aren’t you in IT?
eclare
@Mike J: JFC…head, desk. STFU. Did whoever was interviewing him let him get away with this shit?
Steeplejack (phone)
@Corner Stone:
Hayes is too polite. He acts like it’s high school debate club and these weasels are trying to make reasoned arguments. They’re not. They’re just screwing with him. It’s painful to watch.
Baud
@eclare: Chances are, the interviewer wanted that shit.
Central Planning
@Ohio Mom: I always thought my town was bigger on the R side, but of the 2 D and 2 R candidates that ran, both Ds won, and they had a combined total of 53.66%, so I need to believe that people are getting smarter.
I posted on one of the other threads that there was a significant amount of yard signs for the Ds compared to almost none for the Rs. Maybe this time yard signs meant something.
eemom
@Mike J:
Ya gotta be shittin me.
Wild Cat
@Steeplejack:
Hayes is a longtime conservative apologist.
I stopped watching the dweeb when he said conservatives were both necessary and appreciated by him to put a check on liberal overreach a few years ago.
MSNBC is a hustle, albeit a few hours may be watchable.
eclare
@Baud: Very true. Sigh. Big happy families do not make good tv.
Baud
@eemom: You find it surprising?
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
I love Hayes on his old weekend show. Nobody organized and led better panel discussions. He got guests with different kinds of expertise and I always felt I learned something.
Chyron HR
@eemom:
You have to understand that when he says “people” he exclusively means “white people”.
Major Major Major Major
@Mike J:
The Thin Black Duke
@eemom: If Bernie said that, it’s not surprising. What happened last night would be his worse nightmare, wouldn’t it? Mr. Sanders, your fifteen minutes is up.
Thoughtful David
@Central Planning: Yard signs are a measure of enthusiasm. Although “enthusiasm” doesn’t mean votes.
Case: Last year, there were almost no a Drumpf signs in my area, and only a few Clinton signs. Republicans in this area still voted for Drumpf, but they weren’t really happy about it.
Ithink
Tom Perez just might be the best damn DNC Chair we’ve had since John Dean. He keeps his funds channeling into human resources and grassroots work instead of tame T.V. ads and is teflon @ repeling these annoying “the Democrats have no message” crap. These media asshats just aren’t listening to it. PERIOD!
Baud
@Major Major Major Major: Not in 2018 however.
I don’t see that sitting well with our people.
Baud
@Ithink: He just got a big boost. If things had gone poorly yesterday, he might have been pushed out.
jl
When the gang leader goes around pushing all the smaller kids, stealing their milk money, ruining class projects and setting trash fires, everyone in the gang gets tarnished. Pretty soon, all the school kids start shunning everyone in the gang, even if they are quiet people who are just letting the gang leader beat up whoever he wants too, is all. That is unfair, and frankly, communist, and not MAGA at all. But that is how a lot of low energy loser people think. SAD!
Steeplejack (phone)
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
He was much better in that more relaxed format. He just doesn’t do well in the weeknight “ripped from the headlines,” latest-sound-bites arena.
He still manages to have good segments. His relatively lengthy conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates a month or two ago was excellent.
MobiusKlein
@debbie: Is it so wrong to wish they get just one more big sleep?
eclare
@Major Major Major Major: Doesn’t the DNC have some control over who gets to put a D after their name? I’m seriously asking, I have no idea how he got to run as a D last time, but it sure seems like some rules need to be put into place.
Corner Stone
@Ithink: I think you may need to slow your roll a little bit. John Dean may be a little surprised at your attributed accolades.
After Howard Dean we had Tim Kaine who was clearly buying time to get to a Senate seat, Donna Brazile, DWS and then DB again. Not exactly a murderers row. I was on Team Tom from the beginning but he’s not exactly killing it so far. I don’t put VA’s winning spread on the DNC. IMO there were a whole spectrum of third party groups that organized and worked their butts off.
jl
@Ithink: John Dean? You must mean Howard Dean. Or maybe the short glamorous reign of James Dean?
Edit: or Jimmy Dean, master of smoke house filled back room deals involving yummy sausage.
Adria McDowell
@Mike J: I just came here to post that very thing!
WTAF?!
eclare
@MobiusKlein: Not at all, maybe with some fishes to keep them company.
Baud
@eclare: Party registration is usually done by the states. Vermont does not have party registration.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/24/politics/bernie-sanders-new-hampshire-eligibility-ballot/index.html
mike in dc
@The Thin Black Duke:
For one thing, he wouldn’t be running against Clinton. He’d be running against a bunch of younger pols competing fiercely for the votes of the left wing of the party. And most of them won’t have the blind spot he does with respect to the real base of the party. Lastly, Sanders would face the kind of oppo research that wasn’t really deployed against him last time.
Major Major Major Major
@eclare: I believe DWS let him because she thought it would be harmless/invigorating/good practice for Hillary.
eclare
@Baud: So it all comes down to the SoS and a few others in NH? Hope we have some legal eagles teed up.
different-church-lady
@Chyron HR:
Adria McDowell
@mike in dc: There is already a bunch of oppo research out there on the Interwebz. Won’t take much digging.
Mike J
@Kent:
Want to run? Tina P would love to hear from you. I will talk to my friends who have done it (and they together flipped our LD from two Rs to two Ds) and have them call you and tell you how much hard work and struggle it is and why should do it any way.
Be the change you’re looking for.
Baud
@eclare: Each state controls their own ballot in the primary, I believe.
Marcopolo
Just want to say Maddow is great tonight on looking at last nights’ election results.
eclare
@Major Major Major Major: I sure hope Tom has learned from that, although to be fair, hindsight is 20/20.
JPL
Our local races are non-partisan. I do know the candidate that I support is a republican, and the candidate that she faces in a runoff might be a democrat. In GA you can vote across party lines, so we know he voted in at least one democrat primary. This is where it gets confusing, he is a black minister who has preached for gay conversion therapy. He’s also against clear cutting of trees, except for here and here and here. The candidate I support is trying to find a public/private partnership to put community centers in apartments that are run down, and trying to hold the landlords accountable. The so called dem wants new apartments for affordable housing. New apartments are being built here, and a one bedroom is going for over $2,000. This is in GA. Affordable might be a buzz word, but affordable for whom? Oh, the so called dem candidate has lots of money, and it’s not from ordinary citizens. It’s from developers. Issues are important in local races, just sayin
dogwood
@Corner Stone:
Do you have evidence that the DNC played no important role in Va.? Would like to be linked to that analysis.
Thoughtful David
@eclare: AFAIK, no.
That’s why I’d like to see a rules change that says that you have to have been a registered Dem for the last 9 years (2 presidential terms + 1) or in states that don’t have registration by party, to have voted in the Dem primary every time in the last 9 years, before you can run as a Dem.
Yes, Wilmer is right in the crosshairs of this policy.
Better yet, you also have to have organized or hosted a fundraiser for a Dem not yourself at least twice a year for each of the last 9 years.
If the Dems had had this policy in place last year, no Wilmer. And if the Republicans had the equivalent, no Trump.
Major Major Major Major
@Adria McDowell: “environmental racist” was my personal favorite charge.
eclare
@Baud: But I would assume if NH allows him to run as a D, and he does well, other states would have a hard time saying no. So it’s important not to let him get on the first primary. He won NH.
BroD
Good post mistermix
Adria McDowell
@Major Major Major Major: And it ain’t even wrong.
Baud
@Thoughtful David: As I understand it, we’re currently busy attempting to stop his attempt to disenfranchise Democratic voters.
Corner Stone
@dogwood: Let me see if I can find a third party documentary that uses quotes that may or may not be from the same person as is needed to “prove” my statement and I’ll get back to you forthwith.
There were 33+ orgs canvassing, working and financially supporting candidates in VA.
eclare
@Baud: I will be so pissed if he gets states to switch to caucuses.
Ruckus
@The Thin Black Duke:
Even though he’s stretched it to 45 minutes. IOW his sell by date expired quite some time ago.
We should start a campaign to all the democratic orgs that BS will be to old, way not enough democratic to run as a democrat in 2020. Get that word out there now and for the next 2 yrs that he had his chance and he really should not be embraced this go round.
Thoughtful David
@JPL:
Sorry, but you can’t support a Republican ever.
Oh , and clearcutiing of trees is actually an important part of forest management, and can be very important for promoting biodiversity. Yes, it’s ugly, but don’t fall into the trap of only allowing mature forests. Mature forests can be biodiversity deserts. Don’t support someone only because he opposes clearcutiing.
Baud
This is from July.
Baud
@eclare: Me too. It might be the one thing on the horizon that causes me to go independent.
Thoughtful David
@Baud: Interesting. I had actually heard that Northam + DNC had outraised asshole Gillespie by a significant amount. Which is a good thing. And they won.
eclare
@Baud: Why is that?
Baud
@Thoughtful David: Hmm. I hadn’t heard that. I thought we were outspent, but I don’t have a cite for that.
JPL
@Thoughtful David: That’s not the clear cutting he wants though. Truth be known on social issues, and fiscal issues she is far more liberal, than he is. That’s important to me.
Since it’s non-partisan, state and national politics are not mentioned. I can assure you though that the local state senator who is republican, does not support her.
My point is that sometimes it is complicated. If she were ever to run on the state level as a republican, I would never support her.
Baud
@eclare: Caucuses are inherently voter suppressive, which is unjustifiable where primaries already exist. And open caucuses, which is what they want, means being a registered Dem is meaningless.
Major Major Major Major
@JPL:
So he’s… actively pro abusing minority children, possibly scarring them for life… but he’s nice to (some) trees and opposes building housing… so he has your vote. Do I have your priorities listed correctly?
Marcopolo
@Corner Stone: From what I’ve seen you’re correct that there were a lot of groups (many new as of Trump’s election) working hard to elect D’s in VA. That includes local D orgs, MoveOn, Indivisible, Our Rev, BLM, Dem Socialist, Jason Kander’s org, etc… Doesn’t mean the DNC did not also play a role and I think they did—though they’d be more focused on the top of the ticket. But worrying about who did more or less seems a little nit picky.
Thoughtful David
@JPL: Fair enough. I just find it really hard to associate anything good with “Republican.”
eclare
@Baud: Oh I agree they are suppressive, I guess I don’t understand how open caucuses work. Hope I don’t have to learn. BTW, my state, TN, does not have registration by party, so we have open primaries, which I don’t like, but it could be a lot worse.
ETA: Plus TN votes on Super Tuesday, and I don’t see enough crossovers to change anything. The Big Kahuna in the south, FL, has closed primaries.
TheOtherHank
Can someone explain ‘Wilmer’ to me? I checked the Lexicon; no joy I googled; the guy that played Fez on That 70s Show pollutes the results. I gather it has something to do with Bernie Sanders, but is it a nickname for him? Someone else? A generic term for Bernie supporters? I am at a loss.
TIA
Baud
@eclare: I can live with open primaries. Not ideal but primaries make participation easier.
raven
@TheOtherHank: I had to ask a couple of weeks ago and it was so thrilling that I forgot it!
Major Major Major Major
@TheOtherHank: it was theorized that certain trolls had a google alert up for his name being mentioned here. Somebody suggested that nickname. It stuck.
Barbara
@Corner Stone: Hopefully this link will work, but Tom Perez wrote a memo detailing what the DNC did in Virginia. They were not necessarily loud about it.
https://twitter.com/AlGiordano/status/928358897550839808
JPL
@Major Major Major Major: you missed the part about clear cutting is okay here and here and here. It depends on which way the money blows.
@Thoughtful David: That’s what happens in non-partisan races. During the summer lower income children will cross busy streets, because they qualify for hot meals, and need to go where they are provided. She realizes that it wouldn’t cost that much to have the meals provided by the local rec center that also has activities and classes.
Thoughtful David
@Baud: I don’t have a citation, but I heard from a party insider a couple of weeks ago that Northam had several hundred $k more on-hand at the time than did Gillespie. Which cheered me considerably.
And that that money was being directed where it needed to go.
I suspect that it also means that big Republican donors had seen the writing on the wall and closed their wallets.
Baud
@Barbara: Thanks. I hadn’t seen that.
Major Major Major Major
@JPL: so you’re supporting the child abuse enabler because he’s against building housing?
ETA or I’m reading your comment wrong?
eclare
@Barbara: Might have been smart not to be too loud about it, given all of the evil corporate neoliberal bullshit allegations.
opiejeanne
Bill in Glendale? Mnemosyne? Ruckus? Can you guys pick a restaurant and tell us what time?
I’ve been lost in a project for the past week and Sunday is rushing towards us.
Thanks.
Barbara
@Thoughtful David: Well, there were no Gillespie poll workers at the polls I saw in Arlington. Arlington went for Northam 79/19 so probably not a big deal, but there is usually someone there for any statewide race. OTOH, tv commercials were plentiful.
JPL
@Major Major Major Major: It’s non-partisan, so I’m supporting the republican, who is quite liberal. It’s confusing.
I don’t care if the other candidate proclaims to be a dem in order to get votes, his preaching about gays and therapy would cause be to campaign against him.
eclare
@Barbara: Wow, he took Kay’s playbook and put it to work. No TV, all ground work.
TheOtherHank
@Major Major Major Major: Thank you.
Mnemosyne
@Baud:
And rightly so, because a big loss would have shown that his current flying-under-the-radar strategy wasn’t working. Fortunately for all of us, Perez was proved right and his strategy paid off in a major way.
Major Major Major Major
@JPL: which one likes child abuse?
CarolPW
@Major Major Major Major: I think you need to reread his first comment – JPL is supporting a “she” who is apparently a republican against “he” who may or may not be a democrat but who does not like gay kids and does like trees.
Steeplejack
@TheOtherHank:
As you surmised, “Wilmer” is a Balloon Juice nickname for Bernie Sanders. Late last year, some Sandernista trolls apparently set alerts to remind them to come here if their sainted leader was mentioned, so the Wilmer protocol was offered as a stealth measure. It has outlived its usefulness, since any interested trolls have long since added “Wilmer” to their alert list. But it continues as a sort of “cool kids of Balloon Juice” inside reference.
And, no, it has nothing to do with the actor Wilmer Valderrama or the character Wilmer in The Maltese Falcon. Here is the origin of Wilmer (credit to Jim, Foolish Literalist, December 16, 2016).
ETA: I think the Maltese Falcon angle actually originated with one of the trolls screeching about how it was homophobic to use “Wilmer” as the nickname.
evap
@JPL: Just curious, where do you live? I’m in Atlanta and this doesn’t sound like the mayor runoff or any of the city council or BOE runoffs I will be voting in. Unfortunately, my candidate for mayor did not make it into the runoff.
Corner Stone
@Marcopolo: I did not say they did not. And I am also not worried about what they did do as I do not donate to the DNC.
Corner Stone
@Barbara: More statement than detail. But great! Happy it worked out for the D’s.
gwangung
Hm. This focus on the ground game….does it help when there are other players in the game that’s working the ground game? Or does it depend on how or if they work together?
different-church-lady
@Steeplejack: I would have gone with Fredo, because he was the not-so-bright brother who got passed over and then betrayed the family.
JPL
@evap: North of Sandy Springs. The next mayor will either be a female or a black male, which is unusual for us. Because of the Ossoff race, there are local dems who are fired up, and I just hope they do their research.
My son lives in district 6 for the state senate, and is a big Jen Jordan supported. He’s lucky because that seat will be a democrat no matter what happens in the run-off.
chopper
@Mike J:
oh you have got to be fucking kidding me. I swear to god, Wilmer must be paid to cock-punch the Democratic party at every goddamned opportunity.
Steeplejack
@different-church-lady:
Good point. But the whole thing is stupid at this point. Worse than “also, too”—which seems to be fading away, thank God.
J R in WV
@TheOtherHank:
Wilmer is a nickname / nym for Bernie. It was adopted because during the election era threads that mentioned him by his full name attracted Russ-bots and trolls who had alerts set searching for his name. “Wilmer” didn’t attract that attention, tho it may by now.
Not much worse than a Sandernista troll when you’re trying to have a real political discussion.
Matt McIrvin
@Thoughtful David: It’s also a measure of how much the campaign spent on yard signs.
Local races for things like the school board are actually the type where yard signs probably help in building basic name recognition. In Presidential elections they’re pretty much useless, so a smart campaign will use them to raise money or as rewards for volunteers, rather than just spamming them everywhere.
J R in WV
@chopper:
I think Senator Sanders has been owned by Russia (previously the Soviet Union) since way long ago. He claims to have been a Marxist for years, visited the USSR on his honeymoon decades ago, and they probably have all kinds of derogatory information about him they have been saving since he got elected to Congress.
I can think of no other reason for his irrational actions during national political events, unless, of course, he really is irrational. In any case, he is obviously NOT a Democrat in any way, shape, or form!
Rusty
Mistermix, guessing we are in the same town. I was once told that the town had not elected a Democrat since the 1920’s. The candidates ran good campaigns, and the party really supported them, we were inundated with visits, fliers and messages. For once the Democratic GOTV was excellent. The racist fliers moved a lot of people to become active. These are our neighbors, and it felt very personal to many (we were one neighborhoods hit with the fliers. By town standards we are fairly racially and religiously diverse). It was also helpful that the candidates ran issue oriented campaigns that talked about local issues. In combination a good win.
different-church-lady
@chopper:
No, no, I’m sure he does it voluntarily.
J R in WV
@different-church-lady:
I think it’s black-mail. The Russians have paperwork on him, from back when they were the USSR and Sanders was a Marxist who visited Russia on his honeymoon. If senior communist apparatchiks had asked him to do things, he would have been flattered and honored, and done whatever they asked.
Then they had him in their grasp forever. So it is voluntary, in a sense. He volunteered to work for the Communist International because he believed in it.
Omnes Omnibus
@J R in WV: I still think that you are off on this. If details come out saying otherwise, I’ll say I am wrong. I think he is a Socia1ist who generally agrees more with Dems than the GOP. He ran under Dem auspices because it was easier than running as a Socia1ist. I don’t think he gives a fig about the Democratic Party as an institution. None of that means means that he is owned by Moscow, now or then.
Uncle Ebeneezer
@different-church-lady: Yeah, you don’t need Russian blackmail to explain it. It’s ego, all the way down.
kevin
mistermix, i grew up in pittsford in the 60’s 70’s and early 80’s. nick tahoe’s still have the garbage plate? and do your kids go to east rochester to get served underage? how is ra cha cha doing really?
Omnes Omnibus
@J R in WV: @Omnes Omnibus: I do thank you for dropping this again and walking off.
mainmata
I don’t comment much but just want to say I live in Montgomery Co MD and our kids grew up partly overseas and partly in MD and they were better off in a highly diverse high school and community environment.
Tom
@Mike J: Thoughts and prayers, Bernie.
Aleta
@Mike J: Campaigning against the Democratic Party — late spring 2016 all over again.
mardam422
Suburbs may go Democratic due to Trump, racism in their midst, or whatever. But will they stay? How do we keep them? THAT is the question now.