{"id":17750,"date":"2018-10-18T16:56:52","date_gmt":"2018-10-18T23:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/?p=17750"},"modified":"2018-10-18T16:56:52","modified_gmt":"2018-10-18T23:56:52","slug":"whos-up-whos-down-who-cares-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/2018\/10\/18\/whos-up-whos-down-who-cares-2\/","title":{"rendered":"who’s up; who’s down; who cares?"},"content":{"rendered":"

California:\u00c2\u00a0 The peculiar logic of the state’s “top two” primary.\u00c2\u00a0 Two Democrats are in the general election.\u00c2\u00a0 One is Dianne Feinstein, long a partisan foil of derision but made more so for her actions during the Kavanaugh hearings.\u00c2\u00a0 Running against her, to her left, is Kevin De Leon.
\n… who … well… the state’s Republicans may just choose to vote for the “Bernie-crat”<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0and the “socialism” he represents.<\/p>\n

Texas:\u00c2\u00a0 Saw a guy in a “Beto for Texas” t-shirt.\u00c2\u00a0 That would be great.\u00c2\u00a0 Except for the part where he’s in Oregon.\u00c2\u00a0 Unless, maybe, Beto O’Rourke has a different constituency in mind…<\/p>\n

Arizona:\u00c2\u00a0 No duh that Kyrsten Sinema<\/a> was talking about the elected politicos and not the “people”.\u00c2\u00a0 But does it matter in a representative democracy?\u00c2\u00a0 Granted, the answer lies in who you’re wanting to vote for.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s still acting the part of social critic– always fine lines in assuaging political movements.<\/p>\n

As it were, Martha McSally wants you to know<\/a>… Kyrsten Sinema is a TRAITOR.\u00c2\u00a0 The fact-checkers look into it, and see that her hypothetical flotsam of 2003… fall somewhere short of it.<\/p>\n

Tennessee:\u00c2\u00a0 Somewhat interesting ad campaign from Marsha Blackburn<\/a>… Trojan Horse.\u00c2\u00a0 It is lazy, because all we have is the free floating head of Phil Bredesen.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe it’s not worth the production costs to come up with something smoother.<\/p>\n

Things are a little weird in this senate campaign.\u00c2\u00a0 Two new polls are out showing Blackburn up by three and down by one — statistical tie with a shrug toward the Republican.\u00c2\u00a0 Odd, because… everyone left Bredesen for dead since the race had been tied and then polls showed the bottom fell out and him sliding down to being down by fourteen.\u00c2\u00a0 What happened?\u00c2\u00a0 Did everyone move on from Kavanaugh –\u00c2\u00a0Bredesen’s disappointed liberal supporters shuffling back into the fold?\u00c2\u00a0 New topics emerge — it’s all about health care all of a sudden!\u00c2\u00a0 Taylor Swift actually successfully move the needle?\u00c2\u00a0 Republicans get complacent as Trump moves on to stump in the other states?\u00c2\u00a0 Really… what just happened here?<\/p>\n

As it were, interesting to note… a typical headline for the mainstream media blaring “Polls show\u00c2\u00a0Tight Race<\/a>“… and then the conservative Breitbart gets us…\u00c2\u00a0 Poll: Marsha Blackburn Leads Democrat Phil Bredesen in Tennessee Senate Race<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0— indeed true, but if we had the partisan balance reversed, and a Democrat who had opened up a fourteen point lead that had suddenly slid down to three… it would be a different headline.<\/p>\n

New Jersey:\u00c2\u00a0 God is on Bob Menendez’s side<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Good … strategy?
\nHave to counter-act… this.<\/a>..<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153President Obama\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Justice Department had evidence that for several years Menendez had been traveling to the Dominican Republic to engage in sexual activity with prostitutes, some of whom were minors,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the attack ad states.<\/em><\/p>\n

I suppose the idea is that in order to run a counter-attack on the ads, Bob Menendez is forced to dip into the real story of his corruption case.\u00c2\u00a0 But other than that… Sheesh.<\/p>\n

Missouri:\u00c2\u00a0 I suppose we can give James O’keefe’s outfit something:\u00c2\u00a0 it’s better material than what they got out of Tennessee <\/a>— ie: some words out of the candidate’s mouth.\u00c2\u00a0 They aren’t all that interesting — a call to campaign volunteers that you de-emphasize some things and emphasize other things to the more conservative electorate<\/em>. As for they wouldn’t have interviewed him had they known he was from Project Veritas… yeah, you don’t say.<\/p>\n

(Did Claire McCaskill really bluntly write out her cynical 2012 strategy<\/a>?)<\/p>\n

Michigan:\u00c2\u00a0 I really don’t understand what the take-away for making an issue of this would be<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Are they suggesting the candidate is sending out secret subliminal nazi messages to a core voting bloc?<\/p>\n

At about the 10-second mark of James\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 first general election TV ad, which is titled, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ready to Serve,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the ad shows a school hallway as James, in his narration, talks about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153failing schools.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d To the left in the hallway is a bulletin board with a red, white and black\u00c2\u00a0swastika pinned to it.\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

There is no mention of the symbol nor does it appear to have any direct link to the rest of the ad, which is centered on James’ argument that change is\u00c2\u00a0needed in Washington to fix Michigan’s most pressing problems. It was not immediately clear at which school the ad was shot.<\/em><\/p>\n

I suppose we can say that if the schools are teaching the kids to be nazis, they are indeed failing schools.\u00c2\u00a0 If they’re teaching kids that nazis were a thing… it is a sign of success.<\/p>\n

Indiana:\u00c2\u00a0 Battle of the surrogates:\u00c2\u00a0 Joseph Biden stumped for Joe Donnelly; Mark Pence stumped for Mike Braun.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0Sign that Joe Donnelly is in a pickle<\/a>…<\/p>\n

The\u00c2\u00a0video\u00c2\u00a0opens with clips of Medicare for All protesters, as a voiceover ominously warns that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153socialists want to turn healthcare over to the government.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Over my dead body,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Donnelly says. He later declares, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I support ICE\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and and touts his support for military spending. He closes by quoting President Ronald Reagan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mantra: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Peace through strength.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

No firearms shooting “Medicare for All”, though.\u00c2\u00a0 (That’s for Republicans and Joe Manchin.)<\/p>\n

As for Braun<\/a>…<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If Hillary Clinton was president, I would not be running for Senate,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he tells me in his office at Meyer Distributing, the company he founded more than three decades ago. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be hunkered down in southern Indiana, trying to survive over the next two years.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n

Doubt it.\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t the standard line that you’ve been called out to “fight” the opposition in some resistance or other?<\/p>\n

Florida:\u00c2\u00a0 Rick Scott and Hurricane Michael… the Rose Garden Strategy in action.\u00c2\u00a0 Scattered local Democrats praise the governor’s response — (some conservatives and crankly liberals see Christ Christie as being the deciding factor in 2012) — Bill Nelson aims to move the topic<\/a>… some hard-headed political analysis floats around<\/a> on what the facts of the shattered area mean for heavily Republican area voting.<\/p>\n

Montana:\u00c2\u00a0 The “personal vendetta angle” is all the rage<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Matt Rosendale has Trump coming in to stump.\u00c2\u00a0 Tester has… Jeff Bridges<\/a>?<\/p>\n

West Virginia:\u00c2\u00a0 Someone explain to me Nick Saban’s politic<\/a>s?<\/p>\n

North Dakota:\u00c2\u00a0 It is nauseating to see some grand high fiving from conservatives and Republicans <\/a>upon the sad fallout of Heidi Heitkamp’s naming of some sexual assault victims.\u00c2\u00a0 Some poor vetting on Heitkamp’s part as she segues into her post-senate life, having to make one last point against the ascendant Republican and his words about “prairie tough”… goes a tad screwy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

California:\u00c2\u00a0 The peculiar logic of the state’s “top two” primary.\u00c2\u00a0 Two Democrats are in the general election.\u00c2\u00a0 One is Dianne Feinstein, long a partisan foil of derision but made more so for her actions during the Kavanaugh hearings.\u00c2\u00a0 Running against her, to her left, is Kevin De Leon. … who … well… the state’s Republicans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17751,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17750\/revisions\/17751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}