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You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2020 / Election Year Open Thread: I Just Donated to Sara Gideon…

Election Year Open Thread: I Just Donated to Sara Gideon…

by Anne Laurie|  February 10, 20208:43 pm| 48 Comments

This post is in: Election 2020, Local races 2019/2020, Open Threads, Take Back The Senate 2020, Cosplay Socialists

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… because if *this* person is her opponent in November, Susan Collins will win reelection handily:

As a Maine resident, I can personally testify that more guillotine jokes are what redneck lobstermen and retirees want to see in politics https://t.co/FypRpccuTl

— Sneer Review (@TheSneerReview) February 9, 2020

According to the local Press-Herald, Kidman is an attorney who’s running in the Democratic primary, hoping to garner the existing $4million ‘Susan Collin’s opponent’ pot. I guess it’s not easy, getting legal work in Portland — ‘earned media’ is cheaper than buying tv ads.

Of course they have only the very best intentions…

We’ll be giving these shirts (& patches & buttons) to folks who talk with Mainers about our campaign to #StopElectingTheRich and #ShowUpForME.

More details on how to get your GuilloTee tomorrow! In the meantime, remember: there is not going to be a more convenient revolution.

— bre?️‍?kidman??for?Maine?(D) (@BeeKay4ME) February 5, 2020

Show Up for ME… Irresistable as a hashtag, I guess, but SRSLY?

I’m aware of the French Revolution, and how the story ends. A guillotine t-shirt reminds others about it in hopes that we’ll all be motivated to address the very serious problems with our government before a similarly violent uprising becomes inevitable.

— bre?️‍?kidman??for?Maine?(D) (@BeeKay4ME) February 8, 2020

Obvious question, answered:

Thanks for asking! AFAIK, I’m the only candidate in the race who‘s endorsed Bernie. I identify as a democratic socialist and I believe no industry which derives profit from denying us healthcare has a right to exist. Also support public-owned utilities. Happy to chat more!

— bre?️‍?kidman??for?Maine?(D) (@BeeKay4ME) February 7, 2020

Not helping. Well, not helping Democrats. Which is, I suppose, on brand for the Rose Emoji gang.

I think you need to take the L here

— AMMac (@BaklavaFairy) February 9, 2020

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Next Post: GOP Stupidity Open Thread: Mitt Romney Has Nothing to Worry About »

Reader Interactions

48Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    February 10, 2020 at 8:46 pm

    To be clear, there are several candidates in the primary.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_Senate_election_in_Maine

  2. 2.

    My Side of Town

    February 10, 2020 at 8:55 pm

    I have been donating to Gideon, also. watched an Amazon prime movie tonight that was really good; Unfinished Sky. The impressive final music was prophetic. I could see it becoming the Democratic theme song of 2020: https://www.youtube.com/embed/mDTph7mer3I?fbclid=IwAR1ihWG5jm9GLjUTQ7rJHdxgnKEXCEhybKFOpCSuhLuD-8tCzWsm4ILHC4I

  3. 3.

    Sab

    February 10, 2020 at 9:00 pm

    Am I allowed to comment since updated my e-mail to a resl one? Apparently not. Silly me.

  4. 4.

    Sab

    February 10, 2020 at 9:04 pm

    Tried to update my e-mail. Comments still in moderation. Trying now on old e-mail.

  5. 5.

    JanieM

    February 10, 2020 at 9:05 pm

    because if *this* is her opponent in November, Susan Collins will win reelection handily

    This is not going to be her opponent in November. Sheesh.

  6. 6.

    PJ

    February 10, 2020 at 9:05 pm

    Speaking of revolutions, I just came across this “cartoon” (it’s barely animated) designed to reach children about Marxism by showing that pet ownership is just like the exploitation of workers by capitalists: https://mobile.twitter.com/means_tv/status/1226891259656142848

  7. 7.

    My Side of Town

    February 10, 2020 at 9:09 pm

    @JanieM: Where have I gone wrong? “THIS” is not  a something.

  8. 8.

    Sallycat

    February 10, 2020 at 9:10 pm

    I am a lurker, but I need advice and thoughts this might be a good place to ask my question. I live in Pinellas County, Florida. I received an voter registration card in the mail last week. It had my address, but it had someone else’s name as being registered to vote from my address. No one has lived in this house other than my family since 1956, so address confusion on the part of the person whose name is on the card is highly unlikely. I called the county supervisor of elections who is republican, but seems to run clean elections. The person to whom I spoke did not really seem to get that it is a problem when people register to vote using someone else’s address. I think she finally got it and told me that her supervisor would investigate and call me the next day. No call. I also called the state office number designated as the number to call to report voter fraud. No one answered the phone and no one returned my message. I called the local democratic office; the person was concerned but did not take any information about the fraudulent or false registration. I want someone to notice the situation and determine whether this is an isolated incident or something more nefarious. Any suggestions on who to call next? Thanks.

  9. 9.

    Davis X. Machina

    February 10, 2020 at 9:12 pm

    @JanieM: We have ranked choice voting in primaries now. Should damp down some of the foolishness.

    In any case, the cool kids are all voting for Betsy Sweet anyways.

    Get the parties out of politics! Get the politicians out of politics! Get the politics out of politics!

  10. 10.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    February 10, 2020 at 9:14 pm

    @My Side of Town:

    Link doesn’t work (for me). This one does: Leonard Cohen, “Anthem.”

  11. 11.

    JR

    February 10, 2020 at 9:17 pm

    Kidman is an attorney

    Does she know what happened to the lantern attorney?

  12. 12.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    February 10, 2020 at 9:17 pm

    @Sab:

    Any time you change your e-mail address or nym your comments go in to moderation until a front-pager gives them the seal of approval—which I see has happened.

  13. 13.

    My Side of Town

    February 10, 2020 at 9:17 pm

    @Sallycat:

     

    @Sallycat: I live in Polk county, and got a letter.  I called the election site and said I wanted to change my registration. They sent me a form and I filled it out with changes and sent it back.

  14. 14.

    JanieM

    February 10, 2020 at 9:19 pm

    @My Side of Town: I have no idea what you’re talking about. I quoted AL’s OP, then snarked about it. She’s the one who referred to Bre Kidman as “this.”

    @Davis X. Machina:  Since I live in Maine, I’m well aware that we have ranked choice voting in primaries. Also, I’m a bit of a hermit, so I don’t have a very good sample to judge by, but do you really think Betsy Sweet has a chance? Or maybe you were just snarking yourself.

  15. 15.

    Wag

    February 10, 2020 at 9:22 pm

    @Sallycat:

    have you googled the erroneous name?  Could be interesting

  16. 16.

    Kylroy

    February 10, 2020 at 9:23 pm

    “I think you need to take the L here.”

    Ah, if only Bernistas could *ever* take the L.

  17. 17.

    cain

    February 10, 2020 at 9:26 pm

    @Kylroy:

    What is the L?

  18. 18.

    My Side of Town

    February 10, 2020 at 9:30 pm

    @Steeplejack (phone): My browser link gets me there and your link does too. :) Baloon Juice has it all!

  19. 19.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    February 10, 2020 at 9:30 pm

    Using the guillotine or the Khmer Rouge as a campaign logo –  tough choice.

  20. 20.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    February 10, 2020 at 9:30 pm

    @My Side of Town:

    You don’t really address her issue, that someone else has registered at her address. Presumably she has her own up-to-date voter registration (which she should check). Multiple people can be registered at one address, but I would think that each would have to prove their residence. That’s how it is in Virginia. Interesting that someone might have been able to “prove” that they live at Sallycat’s address.

  21. 21.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    February 10, 2020 at 9:31 pm

    @cain:

    “Take the loss.”

  22. 22.

    ThresherK

    February 10, 2020 at 9:32 pm

    @cain: It means “take the loss”.

    My dad would call it “quit while you’re behind”.

  23. 23.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    February 10, 2020 at 9:33 pm

    @My Side of Town:

    Your “embedded” link gets you there probably because you were streaming the movie. It probably doesn’t work for others who weren’t.

  24. 24.

    Chris T.

    February 10, 2020 at 9:34 pm

    @Steeplejack (phone): It was probably a typo. Instead of 1234 Main St, someone wrote 1334 Main St, or that sort of thing.

  25. 25.

    Sab

    February 10, 2020 at 9:35 pm

    @Steeplejack (phone): So now I don’t know who I am or what mailbox I live in.

    I’ll get over it. Night time for me, which makes me whiney.

  26. 26.

    My Side of Town

    February 10, 2020 at 9:39 pm

    @JanieM: Okay. See, to me, what you did was like multitasking in a whirlwind.

  27. 27.

    Ohio Mom

    February 10, 2020 at 9:40 pm

    Sallycat @8: in all this confusion, I hope you have double-checked that you and everyone else in your household are still on the rolls. That is critical.

  28. 28.

    Barbara

    February 10, 2020 at 9:43 pm

    @Steeplejack (phone): But it could be a mistake, like it is South First Street, but someone wrote down North instead, or Fifth instead of First, etc. When the choice is between stupid and evil, stupid is usually the correct explanation.

  29. 29.

    frosty

    February 10, 2020 at 9:44 pm

    AL: I think you missed a tag: “I read this stuff so you don’t have to.”

    I don’t know how you come up with all of these tweets. I enjoy them though.

  30. 30.

    My Side of Town

    February 10, 2020 at 9:44 pm

    @Steeplejack (phone): I actually do. Florida Elections boards send out a letter saying to the person living at so and so address and if you are not that person, please respond and correct it. They give you a postage free reply to do so and you can call them and talk to a friendly person

  31. 31.

    Kent

    February 10, 2020 at 9:45 pm

    @Sallycat:I am a lurker, but I need advice and thoughts this might be a good place to ask my question. I live in Pinellas County, Florida. I received an voter registration card in the mail last week. It had my address, but it had someone else’s name as being registered to vote from my address. No one has lived in this house other than my family since 1956, so address confusion on the part of the person whose name is on the card is highly unlikely. I called the county supervisor of elections who is republican, but seems to run clean elections. The person to whom I spoke did not really seem to get that it is a problem when people register to vote using someone else’s address. I think she finally got it and told me that her supervisor would investigate and call me the next day. No call. I also called the state office number designated as the number to call to report voter fraud. No one answered the phone and no one returned my message. I called the local democratic office; the person was concerned but did not take any information about the fraudulent or false registration. I want someone to notice the situation and determine whether this is an isolated incident or something more nefarious. Any suggestions on who to call next? Thanks.

    Is your address easily confused with another one?  There are a lot of ways that a street address could be typoed and just coincidently ended up as yours.

    701 Main Street becomes 101 Main Street.

    907 192nd Ave SW becomes 907 192 Way SW

    and so forth.  I spent a year of my life working on updating the Seattle Times delivery address system for the east side of the Seattle metro area when it was growing like gangbusters around 1990.  There are infinite numbers of ways to screw up addresses.  Many people calling me about their subscriptions did not even know THEIR OWN correct addresses.

    I wouldn’t necessarily be alarmed about voter fraud when the other explanation is much more likely.

  32. 32.

    Davis X. Machina

    February 10, 2020 at 9:50 pm

    @JanieM: Sweet’s lost one statewide race already, establishing her ‘No politicians!’ bona fides.  Justice Democrats have endorsed.

  33. 33.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 10, 2020 at 9:51 pm

    @Sallycat: Go down to the Supervisor of Elections office and ask to speak to a supervisor so you’re dealing with someone in person. It is possible that the person tried to register legitimately and this is a data entry error. If you are concerned that it is not actually a data entry error, but identity theft/use of a fraudulent address to register, contact either the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office or whichever police department exists in the part of Pinellas County you live in (as in I don’t know if you’re in St. Pete, Clearwater, Pinellas Park, and/or Largo which have their own local police departments or somewhere else in Pinellas County where the PCSO covers law enforcement issues).

  34. 34.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 10, 2020 at 9:54 pm

    She seems nice!

  35. 35.

    Just One More Canuck

    February 10, 2020 at 9:59 pm

    Pro Reign of Terror – why isn’t she a republican?

  36. 36.

    Anne Laurie

    February 10, 2020 at 10:03 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Kidman, per the twitter bio, prefers they/them pronouns.   I get in enough trouble unintentionally, without taking flak for misgendering people.

  37. 37.

    My Side of Town

    February 10, 2020 at 10:04 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: You see the elections boards in Florida have all the addresses on file and send letters there to verify if the voters living there are registered and if they are Republican, Democrat or Not Registered. At least in Polk County. I just went thru this, this past week.

  38. 38.

    Sallycat

    February 10, 2020 at 10:04 pm

    I googled the woman who appears to be registered to vote at my address.  I found two arrests-one in 2015 for child neglect and another about ten years earlier for possession of Roxicodone (?)  The date of birth on the arrests is the same as the one on the registration card.   I thought that you have to have proof of address to register to vote-maybe not.  I realize that this may be a typo but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone is paying people to register and to vote.  The past few years have inflated my normal cynicism to paranoia.  I will put nothing past the repubs as they debase our constitution and lie unabashedly about everything, it seems.

  39. 39.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 10, 2020 at 10:05 pm

    @Anne Laurie: I didn’t read their twitter bio as I didn’t click on their tweets.

  40. 40.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 10, 2020 at 10:06 pm

    @My Side of Town: I do all my stuff online with the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections. I got my sample ballot by email late last week and the actual ballot is supposed to be mailed tomorrow.

  41. 41.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 10, 2020 at 10:10 pm

    @Sallycat: Like I wrote earlier: go down to the actual office and speak to a manager in person. If necessary, contact the PCSO.

  42. 42.

    My Side of Town

    February 10, 2020 at 10:12 pm

    @Sallycat: You need a utility bill in your name to prove you live at the address.  A Florida Drivers License or Passport to prove you are and If you know the persons name trying to impersonate you a complaint with the sherrif.

  43. 43.

    Gvg

    February 10, 2020 at 10:16 pm

    @Sallycat: If you got the registration card, it doesn’t seem like a very successful fraud attempt. I don’t think it was fraud. One person pretending to live somewhere else doesn’t swing an election or do much “good” tho occasionally you read about some idiot who gets caught claiming it was just to show how easy it is, I.e. a GOP gullible conspiracy nut who bought all the stories about hoards of illegal voters.

    Effective fraud is changing lots of votes, suppressing vote or losing/throwing out lots of votes from districts likely to vote for the other team. No individuals pretending to be someone else or live somewhere else are ever involved, most of them don’t know their vote was “lost, stolen or changed” tho they probable know if their right to vote was denied.

    if you google/find the person with that name, you might be able to warn them their registration is screwed up, on time for them to get it fixed.  In Florida we have to have ID (drivers license) to cast a vote and it has to match the address on the voter registration so the person on that card is actually unable to vote unless they get the mistake fixed. Fake drivers licenses are harder to do due to real ID, so that is why I conclude it’s a mistake.

  44. 44.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 10, 2020 at 10:17 pm

    So I’m staying in one of these national-brand “suites” type hotel – fridge, microwave, sink, various kitchenware, you can even ask at the desk for an induction cooktop and a pan.

    Among other things they have a standard diner-style salt and pepper shaker. But the salt shaker doesn’t have loose salt in it (I guess I can understand the security issues), it has those paper salt packets you see everywhere. You have to unscrew the top of the salt shaker, stick your finger in to try to pull one out, since they are a bit too wide to fall out on their own, but then your finger is in there and you can’t exactly pull the packet out. Question: what on earth is the point of the salt shaker? There are loose packets of sugar for the coffee I can make, why not just leave loose packets of salt and pepper? Yeah, first world problems.

  45. 45.

    JanieM

    February 10, 2020 at 10:27 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Question: what on earth is the point of the salt shaker?

    They’re worried that you won’t know there’s salt if it’s not in a salt shaker? Someone’s brother-in-law got the salt shaker contract for the hotel chain?

    People think and do the weirdest things……. ;-)

  46. 46.

    JanieM

    February 10, 2020 at 10:30 pm

    @Davis X. Machina: I saw Sweet speak in public a couple of times years ago, and she was far too full of herself to make a good impression on me. Then I saw her in one of the gubernatorial debates, and she had actually calmed down a lot and sounded like a grown-up. But she’s still not my cup of tea. My money’s on (and for) Gideon. I don’t see anyone else winning the primary, much less beating Collins.

    ETA: I don’t see anyone else *who’s actually running* beating Collins. And I’m not remotely taking it for granted that we can oust her.

  47. 47.

    BruceFromOhio

    February 10, 2020 at 10:44 pm

    No dog in this hunt, I don’t live in Maine.

    But you put one historical symbol of wealth inequality on a t-shirt…

    Funny, that.

    Ammosexual cosplayers in full gear flood a state capital, ptah.

    Spawn of dumpster fire has hordes of flying monkeys on hand to intimidate the fuck outta everyone breathing, whatevs.

    Put a guillotine on a t-shirt … no clue why, but it reminds of this.

  48. 48.

    misterpuff

    February 11, 2020 at 1:27 pm

    The dog whistle is “Tumbrels” not the blade. Berners, always saying out loud…….

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