If you’re running Sarah Palin’s home state, you run on the benefits, not the name. If you’re running in Pennsylvania, you can run as a Democrat because of this:
As governor I will take the Medicaid expansion because 500,000 Pennsylvanians need health care.
It’s such a complete no-brainer that it’s a sure winner in any state that regularly elects Democrats.
(via Greg Sargent)
Belafon
And only in a Christianist nation such as ours could you not use that in every election.
Eric U.
it should say, “As governor I will take the Medicaid expansion because 500,000 working Pennsylvanians need health care. ”
Because the medicaid expansion is for people that have too much income, but not enough for subsidies.
rikyrah
Obama could drastically expand drug clemency
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Rachel Maddow discusses President Obama’s recent promise to extend clemency to potentially hundreds of drug offenders currently serving harsh sentences, and the overhaul to the presidential pardoning process that will precede it.
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http://on.msnbc.com/1eYohS4
rikyrah
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/22/us-koch-group-hispanics-idUSBREA3L07F20140422
Conservative Koch-backed group uses soft touch in recruiting U.S. Hispanics
The conservative advocacy groups backed by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch are known mostly for spending millions of dollars to pelt Democratic candidates with negative television ads.
But this year, one Koch-backed group is using a softer touch to try to win over part of the nation’s booming Hispanic population, which has overwhelmingly backed Democrats in recent elections. The group, known as The Libre Initiative, is sponsoring English classes, driver’s license workshops and other social programs to try to build relationships with Hispanic voters in cities from Arizona to Florida – even as the group targets Democratic lawmakers with hard-edged TV ads.
Taking a cue from liberal groups that have been active in Hispanic neighborhoods for decades, Libre says it aims to use these events to build support for small-government ideas in communities that typically support big-government ideals.
“If they trust us, they may seek our opinion on something else,” said Michael Barrera, a former Bush administration official who now works for Libre, which says it has built a mailing list of 90,000 people during the past three years.
People need to know about this. These people don’t give a tinker’s damn about Hispanics or anyone else for that matter!
JPL
@rikyrah: They certainly reject the notion that we are a democratic society, that’s for sure. One for all and all for one.
Keith G
It is a very good advert. I hope that it is paired with others that deliver a harder punch. Sad to say, but assertive messaging (up to the point of being combative) does sway certain audiences.
@rikyrah: That is a very good thing that needs to be done. I do think that this policy idea would have been best presented after Nov. of this year.
Keith G
It is a very good advert. I hope that it is paired with others that deliver a harder punch. Sad to say, but assertive messaging (up to the point of being combative) does sway certain audiences.
@rikyrah: That is a very good thing that needs to be done. I do think that this policy idea would have been best presented after Nov. of this year.
MrSnrub
Allyson Schwartz was my congress-critter until last year, when we got redistricted into a tea party asshole district. Occasionally I’d see her on the SEPTA train (Philly regional transit) on her way to DC.
When we had trouble securing my adopted son’s birth certificate from the state, we called her office and they got it straightened out ASAP. Good constituent service.
Amir Khalid
Speaking of ads:
1) someone should have a whisper in the shell-like of whomever buys John Cornyn’s online ads to explain that Amir Khalid Hussain, a Malaysian resident in Malaysia, does not vote in Texas, or for that matter anywhere else in America. Amir Khalid Hussain believes that it is gun owners that other people need to be protected from, rather than the other way around as John Cornyn seems to believe. And if he, Amir Khalid Hussain, voted in Texas, his votes would reflect this belief.
2) I just saw this on Charles Pierce’s blog. 112 ringgit for a pair of ugly socks? Freaking heck.
feebog
She was interviewed by Chris Hayes last night. He played the ad and they discussed the strategy of going all in for Obamacare. We have a very good chance of getting some of those five million left uncovered by the insurance subsidy/Medicaid gap if we can get people like Allison Schwartz elected.
Higgs Boson's Mate
Short and sweet.
Keith G
@feebog:
Interesting that you mention that in light of the top story over at Talking Points.
“taken steps to guarantee that many of their poorest residents will remain uninsured [at great tax payer expense]” could be the line of another series of advertisements.
mak
Allyson is my rep, and while I applaud her embracing Obamacare, and think it would be cool to have a neighbor for a governor, my fear is that her ad campaign will be too little, too late. The formerly unknown former state revenue head, Tom Wolfe, came out early with a series of well-made, self-funded ads that moved him from single digits to a majority lead in polls before anyone else had even gotten out of the gate. Now we are seeing Allyson, Rob McCord and Tom Wolfe ads fairly regularly, and I have to say, hers are probably the weakest of the bunch. The fourth candidate, Katie McGinty, has been basically invisible, at least in the Philly market.
The primary is May 20th, so there is still some time, but my guess is that Wolf will hold the lead unless somebody comes up with a Dante DeBlasio masterpiece soon.
Mnemosyne
@Amir Khalid:
Geez! My Democrat socks only cost me $8.95, and they’re not as ugly.
And two pairs of Obama socks will only cost you $8 on eBay. Somebody’s getting ripped off.
Roger Moore
@Amir Khalid:
It’s not a straight commercial transaction. The idea is that people are donating money because they support the party, and the socks are a “reward” and a way of showing off that they contributed. It’s like one of these fund-raising dinners where people pay thousands of dollars to attend. That isn’t because the meal is anything special; it’s because getting a chance to dine with the candidate and schmooze with other big donors is a way of rewarding people for giving money.
Keith G
@Roger Moore: And, in his decline, George H. W. Bush has become a sentimental favorite – the last party leader that many in the GOP can feel good about. The socks are in this case a memento of other times.
Phantom 309
@Keith G: Heh! The GOP is a memento of other times. Really bad times.
schrodinger's cat
@Amir Khalid: Clown socks for the party of clowns, how fitting.
Villago Delenda Est
@Keith G:
Before the dark times. Before the Muslim Usurper.
Redshift
@Eric U.: Actually, it also covers people with lower incomes who aren’t covered under current Medicaid. Standard Medicaid only covers families with children and the elderly. (Some states may have broader coverage, but that’s the general rule.) I hadn’t realized this until I was trying to help friends sign up in VA, which doesn’t (yet) have Medicaid expansion.
However, for campaign purposes, i agree it might well be better to emphasize working people.
RSR
Rep Schwartz voted to cut SNAP food benefits. (Just the cost of doing business in DC, her supporters will say.) She was associated with Third Way.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/One-more-reason-why-Gov-Allyson-Y-Schwartz-may-not-happen.html
She also was a supporter of education reform policies that undermine public education (although that may have changed in the recent past).
It’s not likely I’ll be voting for her.
RSR
OTOH, there is a terrific candidate running to replace Rep Schwartz (who is giving up her seat to run for PAGov): Daylin Leach.
http://votedaylin.com/
I won’t be able to vote for him ,as it’s not my district, but I would if I could.
MomSense
@Redshift:
Aren’t there usually asset restrictions? Let’s say I have two kids and qualifying income but I own a lobster boat that is worth more than 2,500 or 3,000 or whatever the limit is. I still don’t qualify because I have too much value in assets.
rikyrah
Dems doing the unexpected: embracing the ACA
By Steve Benen
At a press conference last week, a reporter asked President Obama whether “it’s time for Democrats to start campaigning loudly and positively on the benefits” of the Affordable Care Act. The president suggested the larger political discussion should start to include other issues, but he nevertheless gave Dems some direction.
“I think that Democrats should forcefully defend and be proud” of the Americans benefiting from the ACA, he said, “I don’t think we should apologize for it, and I don’t think we should be defensive about it. I think there is a strong, good, right story to tell.”
And with increasing frequency, Democrats have become eager to tell this strong, good, right story. In Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race, Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D) launched this new spot today, which Greg Sargent fairly characterized as “probably the most aggressively pro-Obamacare ad of the cycle.”
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/dems-doing-the-unexpected-embracing-the-aca
rikyrah
@RSR:
it’s a primary, how about McCord
Gene108
@mak:
I live in Southern NJ. I get the PA gov ads. I think any of the bunch running will be a big improvement over Corbett.
In my view it is all win.
SatanicPanic
@rikyrah:
They must think Latinos are stupid. I mean, I know they do, but still
Iowa Old Lady
The 2010 debacle brought us not only a bunch of crappy congress people, but also a bunch of crappy governors. I hope we get rid of least some of them in November, though I don’t see any hope of that happening here in Iowa.
geg6
@mak:
Agreed. Though McGinty ads have been running here in Western PA for a month or os.
Wolfe seems fine to me. I was all out for Schwartz (as a woman, I was all for a female governor) until I found out that she was way into that whole Third Way thing and almost had to be forced to resign from their board. I worry about that. Now I’m torn…McCord is a pretty good and reliable Dem. I really like how Wolfe has gone about his campaign and I like a lot of his ideas, which I know because he has spent a lot of money on making sure people can see exactly what he plans to do. And I still have that old feminist inside screaming at me that I should vote for the woman. I haven’t been this torn in a gubernatorial primary in decades. Maybe never. Still not sure.
schrodinger's cat
@SatanicPanic: They think the same about women too.
Eric U.
I wish we didn’t have to live with “third way” types in Pennsylvania, but it seems like all we get. Rendell did a batch of good things, and a batch of things that are consistent with corporatist nonsense that you would expect from someone like him. I have always enthusiastically voted for these types in the general election, but it seems like we could do better.
@MomSense: IIRC, Virginia Medicaid has a limit of $2k cash and your house. I don’t know about business assets, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I don’t remember talking about that to my brother’s social worker.
Davis X. Machina
@MomSense: Asset restrictions are one of the many changes in Medicaid due to the ACA — they’re gone. It’s MAGI alone now — mostly.
Austin Frakt’s ever-helpful Incidental Economist:
mak
@Gene108: No question about that. Anyone would be a huge step up, so then the question becomes who stands the best chance of beating him in the general. My fear with Allyson is that, while she is actually a pretty standard corporate dem (see RSR’s comment re: the Third Way thing and voting to cut SNAP), she has also, unfairly or not, been tagged by R’s as an extreme liberal baby killer (I think she was associated with some women’s health clinics that performed abortions), and probably would present Corbett with his best chance of winning reelection. Wolf and McCord, on the other hand, don’t seem to carry that baggage. Also interesting to see McCord come at Wolf from the left, by stating that he’ll tax the drillers more (10%) than Wolf (5%).
mak
@geg6: I feel about the same, but it’s a good problem to have.
jayjaybear
My union (AFSCME) has endorsed McCord, I believe, and I’m liking his ads, so he’s the likely vote from me.
rikyrah
Red States Hatch Plans To Block Obamacare Even If Dems Take Over
Dylan Scott – April 22, 2014, 6:00 AM EDT
Republicans are taking no chances when it comes to Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion. They’re closing every possible door. Under bills passed in Georgia and Kansas recently, even if a Democratic candidate were to pull off an upset and take the governor’s seat, they would not be able to expand the program without the consent of the state legislature — which will almost certainly remain Republican.
In other words, GOP lawmakers have taken steps to guarantee that many of their poorest residents will remain uninsured under the health care reform law, no matter what happens in the gubernatorial election.
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) and Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) both oppose Medicaid expansion. They both look likely — if not quite certain — to win re-election in November. That should make the bills passed by their respective state lawmakers unnecessary, but they seem intent on guarding against even the remote possibility of a Democratic governor.
An explanation offered by a GOP lawmaker in Kansas, where the bill was signed into law by Brownback last week, points to the motive.
“Governor Brownback’s not always going to be the governor. It’s my fervent hope he’s going to be the governor for four more years after this one, but he may or may not be,” Rep. John Rubin (R) told the Wichita Eagle.
Georgia Republicans have been adamant in denying any political motivations, but the question has still been raised by the press
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/gop-bills-medicaid-expansion-democratic-governors
Brian R.
It’s a good ad, but isn’t Schwartz trailing Wolf by a lot now?
He seems all right, but I’d love to see her surge with this tactic — the MSM’s heads would explode.
JPL
Since GA is an open primary state, I can vote in the republican primary. The purpose would be to insure a runoff for the Senate seat. The downside of the vote, is that you are now on a republican list for phone calls.
mak
@Eric U.: As RSR noted above, one of the guys running to replace Allyson, Daylin Leach, is a fire-breathing liberal. Since this is a pretty safe blue seat, that primary also includes Marjorie Margolies Mesvinsky (former 1-term rep, Chelsea Clinton’s mother in law), Valerie Arkoosh (physician and Obamacare functionary), and Brendan Boyle (Philly state rep, I think).
All but Mesvinsky would be acceptable to me; she has ethical issues, has been out of office for 20 years, has been ducking the other candidates at debates (at when she finally showed up, attacked them from index cards) and, policy-wise, would represent a huge step backwards – she’s stated that SS needs to be cut or curtailed.
Daylin, on the other hand, has been ahead of the curve on every liberal cause out there – gay marriage, legal pot, education funding, environmental protection – I can’t think of any issue I disagree with him on.
On top of that, he’s a good guy with a great sense of humor. Think Alan Grayson, without the anger issues. I’m looking forward to voting for him.
Villago Delenda Est
@SatanicPanic: If only we can pull the confidence game on them (through better marketing) we can get our shitty policy proposals supported.
That’s what it boils down to every time. They will not change their shitty destructive policies, so they need to refine the sales pitch.
These people need to go the way of the Village. Annihilation.
MomSense
@Davis X. Machina:
Even in non expansion states?
Another Holocene Human
@Eric U.: No shit. Good catch.
Keith G
@Villago Delenda Est:
That cohort of the GOP (few that they appear to be) don’t feel that way. Better days are the time before the wacko extremists changed from being willing rubes to actually being able to navigate the party’s direction.
Bobby Thomson
Beating Corbett isn’t going to be easy, despite his nickname. The nominee has to be ready to take it to him hard and not rely on “Generic Democrat” polls.
The Democrats not named Tom Wolf seem to have been caught flat footed, which doesn’t say much for how aggressively they would have campaigned in the general. I’m just hoping Wolf doesn’t wind up having a glass jaw that was never tested.
Bobby Thomson
@rikyrah: Brownback is in trouble. He has really pissed off Kansas teachers (even the hard right ones), and Kansas is a small enough state that that matters.
Bobby Thomson
Nit: Pennsylvania doesn’t regularly elect Democrats to statewide office. In fact, it is notorious for always electing a Governor from the party not in the White House. This time, it should be able to break that trend. Should.
gratuitous
Waitasecond. Are you saying that Democrats don’t have to use Republican phrasing? We can call it the Affordable Care Act instead of Obamacare? We can say common-sense firearm regulation instead of gun grabbing? We don’t have to say tax-and-spend but paying our bills?
The deuce you say!
brendancalling
@mak: I know her campaign people. They have been busy running ads in Pittsburgh where she’s not as well known. Philly is coming.