I think that the GOP now have to pump millions of dollars into a special election House seat in a deep red district they've had since 1979 (and just in November had Tom Price reelected with ease) and it's still completely neck and neck with a 30 year old documentary filmmaker who just joined politics in January is a bad thing for Republicans but that's just me.
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Georgia special election is now the most expensive House race in history
- Thread starter Unknown Soldier
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I think that the GOP now have to pump millions of dollars into a special election House seat in a deep red district they've had since 1979 (and just in November had Tom Price reelected with ease) and it's still completely neck and neck with a 30 year old documentary filmmaker who just joined politics in January is a bad thing for Republicans but that's just me.
Unknown Soldier
Member
What should be notable is that the Democratic Party was still in their post-election shell-shock and didn't even do anything for this guy before the first election in April. He raised most of his initial money with a massive groundswell of small-dollar donations from around the country and got where he was while being mostly ignored by his party. It's only now, with the stakes suddenly raised by the requirement of a runoff, that we're seeing Democratic and Republican money pouring in like this.
I didn't know that Ossoff actually interned for John Lewis. Yeah, that John Lewis, the same one we see endorsing him on https://electjon.com/ so while he's a political neophyte he's got some serious credentials backing him.
Dubbedinenglish
Banned
More than this being a generic D race, Ossoff is good candidate. Dems need to get more people that can connect and speak passionately. Candidates like Ossoff are the way forward.
br0ken_shad0w
Member
The Democratic base just needs that one tangible win to help with the unease and concern even if him winning doesn't really correlate to 2018.
Just donated from California. Hoping he pulls this off!
Aaron Strife
Banned
This is such an ignorant take. Ossoff took 48% in the first round. Even if Handel won every other voter (and there were several other Democrats running, mind) it'd still be a 52-48 split.
Of course, every Ossoff voter needs to show up again for round 2, but he seems to be the one with the momentum and energy here. I wouldn't call it any better than a tossup for either side.
One would think that there'd be some among those that voted for other republican candidates that will sit it out or even vote for Ossoff. Not everyone is going to be "oh my guy lost, guess I'll vote for the guy that beat him".
Yep. Honestly didn't have much hope, but didn't realize they would get the ahca through the house lol.
Bet that will motivate some folks on election day.
Herr Schwarz
Banned
If they don't use this health care news as hardcore ammo then wtf.
I'd expect Ossoff to win now that they are beginning to tangibly fuck with health care that the GOP sounds like fuckin idiots defending
I'd expect Ossoff to win now that they are beginning to tangibly fuck with health care that the GOP sounds like fuckin idiots defending
Team Alucard
Banned
Its not ignorant at all. This is a white, affluent, suburban district. These are people who have never voted Democrat, and never will vote Democrat because the only issue they care about is taxes.
hodayathink
Member
Then the answer is increasing turnout, which, if they're actually registering 100+ per day, is probably exactly their plan. A special election isn't going to have the same total votes as a general election, so if you can just get more of your people to show up, then that's good enough.
Carpe Libertatem
Member
Ossoff got 48% in the primary and Trump only won this district by 1.5%
The district and its voting patterns are changing. By some measures, possibly the fastest changing in the country
Unknown Soldier
Member
Really? So where did Ossoff get his 48% of votes in the April election from?
balladofwindfishes
Member
There hasn't been any polling for this election that shows it being at least a 5% difference.
This is, of course, not remotely true at all and yet another invented narrative selectively deployed by people who want to push a perspective about the Democrats strategy. It's #FakeNews, essentially. He attracted broad support from the DCCC (including mass ad buys targeting specific demographics), top Democratic donors and a wide base of Democratic party volunteers and talent to help.
Link, Link2, Link3
Now of course there is even more money pouring in. But to say Democrats "didn't do anything" for Ossoff is a bold-faced lie. Try harder.
It's like people have realized that sidelining the conversation on things we can't change when we aren't in power is part of the reason we are where we are right now.
But why should anyone vote for a party with that attitude? Do the Democrats actually stand for anything beyond "let's win so we can fix stuff later"?
If you are not in power, you cant change anything. Only a fucking idiot would unilaterally disarm with so much on the line. Politics is war. In our current system you need money to win, and be able to nominate supreme court justices and pass legislation.
If you dont have the stomach for it, that is ok. Stand out the way so we can put in the work to save lives and prevent untold suffering.
You can stay with your privilege and "principles."
WyndhamPrice
Member
You can't fix anything if you don't win first.
GoldenEye 007
Member
Why wouldn't "fixing stuff" be a valid point to make when voting for someone? Especially when the alternative is destroying stuff like the GOP is doing? And the first requirement to fixing anything is to actually be in power.
It's already clear the American people at large are not into hearing about the detailed plans and policies needed for actually fixing things. They just want charisma, excitement, and good vibes, etc. So why not have a message of fixing the very real things being destroyed right now as a general rule and leave the details for later?
And to more directly answer your question, of course the Democrats have plenty of policies beyond just "fixing" stuff. It's very easy to go to a campaign website or the website for the party.
I literally LOLed at this. Good job.
I never said the Democrats should stop raising money. My point was that the amount of money in your politics is seriously fucked up and weird, and should maybe be a topic of discussion in threads like this, instead of the handy way of keeping score that people are treating it as.
You don't understand the scope of the problem if you think it can be fixed with discussions and not victories
That discussion does literally nothing for us right now when we have no power. All it does is cause unnecessary infighting.
JoeyJungle
Banned
It's been discussed for years. It is fucked up. But after Citizens United, this is the way the system works. It was a problem before, but that put it on steroids. Bitching about there being too much money in politics doesn't accomplish anything. There's no appetite on the Republican side to change the system, so there's not really anything that can be done about it.
ClosingADoor
Member
They can't get the money out of politics in the US if the Supreme Court doesn't overturn some stuff, which needs judges that want to do that, which needs Democratic majorities. So for now, more money for Democrats to win elections is the way to get at least part of the money out of politics in the long run.
How do you fix stuff without winning first?
https://www.democrats.org/party-platform
It even has fixing the broken campaign finance system in there.
https://www.democrats.org/party-platform#campaign-finance
JoeyJungle
Banned
I mean if you're seriously just looking for a list of pretty universally agreed principles that the democratic party backs, here's a pretty succinct resource:
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/
I don't know, but how are voters supposed to trust them to fix stuff if vocal Democratic party members like the people in this thread are literally saying not to talk (to even talk) about a problem until after the Democrats win some elections?
To the two people above me who linked party platforms: that's great, honestly. But if Democrats are running on that stuff how come the PoliGAF yas queen squad thinks its so unproductive to even talk about? If the actual candidates are willing to talk about this stuff, why aren't the rank-and-file?
excelsiorlef
Member
Lol it always ends with an attack on PoliGAF and a exagration of the Yasss Queen thing... like clockwork
We all agree, what's to talk about? Right now the focus is resisting the Republican agenda and regaining power.
Because there's nothing to discuss? Basically every liberal hates how money has come to dominate politics. Hillary made overturning Citizens United a central point of her campaign. We all know money in politics sucks but until we have the power to change it that's not going to happen. Just talking about how much it sucks, which we've all done before, does nothing.
As someone who lives not too far off from the district, don't underestimate how stubbornly conservative the south is.
RPGCrazied
Member
Even if it means losing your healthcare? They don't mind dying?
ForsakenLotus
Member
Why is the final election so far apart from the runoff?
excelsiorlef
Member
It's another campaign basically
Link
The Autumn Wind
It means minorities dying too... so no.
TheCochese
Banned
They don't think that far ahead.
I'm fucking serious. Also, everyone has basically thrown support behind Handel on the Republican side like I said they would in the other thread.
Donated. Here's hoping he wins and can help turn the tide.
MisterNoisy
Member
The amount of money spent on elections is pretty nauseating. People could be doing something useful with all that money, but instead it's being lit on fire for this horseshit.
JoeyJungle
Banned
Because coming in with "Wow, American politics are fucked up and the minority party doesn't have enough votes to stop bad legislation." is a complete distraction from any conversation that political threads are created for and doesn't contribute anything to the discussion.
Sorry I thought this thread on this discussion forum was created for the purposes of discussion and not a clarion call to the lifesaving heroes of neogaf. My bad. You guys get back to it.
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
Kinda crazy there's this much interest in a house special election a month and a half away.
Hopefully there will be a lot of turnout to one of these for once.
Hopefully there will be a lot of turnout to one of these for once.
That's the thing to look out for. Republicans are worried because last week when they finished rubbing numbers, low turn out Democrats beat out low turn out Republicans by 9 points and thus forcing this run off.
All those people we worry about not voting in past elections are getting angrier with Trump.
If the run off was like now ir next week a Republican should win but June 20?
That's too much time for even more unreliable voters to get angry with Trump and motivated enough to vote.
BrutishMrFish
Member
The point of a discussion is that you bring a valid point worth discussing to the table.
You could have done that.
Republicans always pay attention to these house races and other more minor elections. Every seat matters, whether it's for some place in the middle of no where or in Houston Texas.
So money in politics isn't only a distraction, now it's literally not even a valid topic. Damn.
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