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[Trouble]

I wonder if it's possible for dems to switch to mail in ballots for caucuses, and just change the caucus rules enough so it would work.

No in person bullshit, just a modernized caucus. Or go really bold, and make it online, no mail needed.

So a primary then?

 

[Suikoguy]

So a primary then?

Yeah, but the issue is with states not wanting to pay for primaries so they let the party do a caucus.

 

[Trancos]

Funko created a Hillary Clinton vinyl figure. Now you can have Hillary on every establishment desk.

*transcripts sold separately

 

[Fedelias]

Funko created a Hillary Clinton vinyl figure. Now you can have Hillary in every establishment desk.

They didn't go with the GOAT yellow pantsuit

 

[Chichikov]

yas queen!

(from the NPR politics podcast - father tells his daughter about the Butcher of Benghazi).

 

[ivysaur12]

My guess is that the final NY margin will be 55 - 43 Clinton.

 

[Macho Madness]

Was Rick Lazio considered to be a good opponent

 

[Suikoguy]

So her stance is malleable?

Spoiler

i keed, i keed

No, can be restored with Wood Glue.

 

[Trancos]

So her stance is malleable?

Spoiler

i keed, i keed

They used her famous and iconic 'give me your dirty corporate money' pose.

 

[ivysaur12]

Was Rick Lazio considered to be a good opponent

It's complicated, but sort of. Not a great one, but an interesting one. He made one really bad error during a debate (he basically walked over and invaded Hillary's personal space) and Hillary's handling of it was really well done.

But Giuliani was also supposed to be the nominee and that did not happen because of personal scandals and health issues in his own life.

Lazio basically kept Peter King from running, so yeah, he wasn't an Alan Keyes.

 

[ivysaur12]

THIS ARTICLE

https://web.archive.org/web/2007100...POLITICS/stories/09/12/primary.day/index.html

CHAPPAQUA, New York (CNN) -- First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton overcame a challenge from a Manhattan surgeon to formally claim New York Democrats' U.S. Senate nomination in one of several states to hold primaries Tuesday.

Minnesota Democrats were vying for a chance to challenge a vulnerable Republican incumbent, while in Vermont, a backlash against a state law allowing "civil unions" for gays was expected to drive voter turnout higher. In Selma, Alabama, a 36-year incumbent and former segregationist lost the mayoral primary to his African-American challenger.

In the New York suburbs Tuesday morning, President Clinton said it was a "thrill" to cast a vote for his wife as Mrs. Clinton faced voters for the first time. The first lady is running for the Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

President Clinton signs in at a polling station with U.S. Senate candidate first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton Tuesday as they prepare to vote in the New York Democratic primary near their home in Chappaqua, New York
Mrs. Clinton said she was "surprised, in a way," to see her name in the voting booth.

"I stood there for a minute, staring at my name," she said.

The first lady's challenger, Manhattan surgeon Mark McMahon, said Tuesday that "the Clintons have tried to hijack the Democratic Party."

"This campaign gave the Democratic process back to the voters," McMahon said.

Long Island Congressman Rick Lazio, the Republican candidate for the Senate seat, had no challenger in the GOP primary. Polls indicate the race between Lazio and Clinton in November will be a close one. Barring an upset by McMahon, she and Lazio are set to debate in Buffalo on Wednesday night.

Half a continent away, in Minnesota, State Auditor Mark Dayton led four Democrats in a race to challenge Republican incumbent Sen. Rod Grams. Dayton, a department store heir who has spent at least $5.2 million of his own money on the campaign.

Minneapolis lawyer Mike Ciresi has nearly matched Dayton in spending, with $4.6 million for an equally aggressive ad campaign. State Sen. Jerry Janezich and Rebecca Yanisch, a former Minneapolis economic development official, lag far behind in the polls.

First elected in 1994, Grams is considered one of the most vulnerable Republicans as Democrats push to reclaim control of both houses of Congress for the first time since the 1994 elections.

"The Democrats have been salivating for months at this seat," said Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report.

In many states, turnout was expected to be low. But in Vermont, a backlash against a state law authorizing "civil unions" for homosexuals is expected to drive more voters to the polls in gubernatorial and legislative primaries. Opponents of the law, which confers some of the same benefits on gay couples that married heterosexuals enjoy, have turned against incumbents who supported the measure.

"It hurts very much," said state Rep. Marion Milne, before Tuesday's vote was counted. Milne, who supported the law, lost the Republican primary to Sylvia Kennedy, a political novice and evangelical Christian who opposes civil unions.

Rep. Milne, who sits among photos of her seven grandchildren at her office in Barre, Vermont, voted in favor of civil unions for same-sex couples this spring
"We've opened a can of worms by creating legislation for a small minority of people," Kennedy said.

A loosely organized movement called "Take Back Vermont" has galvanized opposition to the civil union law. Opposition could even threaten the re-election chances of Democratic Gov. Howard Dean, once considered a shoo-in for a new term.

Dean faces only token opposition on Tuesday, as does incumbent Republican Sen. James Jeffords. Former GOP gubernatorial contender Ruth Dwyer and lawyer William Meub are seeking the Republican nomination for governor.

Four other states -- Arizona, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Wisconsin -- hold congressional primaries Tuesday. In addition, New Hampshire holds a gubernatorial primary; the District of Columbia holds a City Council primary.

Meanwhile, a runoff in Selma, Alabama, unseated longtime Mayor Joe Smitherman, who was seeking a 10th term.

Less than half an hour after polls closed, the former segregationist conceded victory to James Perkins Jr., 47, an African-American computer consultant who had lost two prior attempts to win the mayor's office

Dayton beat Grams that year.

Milne ran in 2014 for Governor of Vermont and narrowly lost.

Howard Dean won his re-election that year.

 

[Hexa]

Nixon predicted that Trump would become president.

Spoiler

OK. So it's Mrs. Nixon, and not really serious, but its still funny.

 

[Aaron Strife]

Glad Dayton won the Senate seat, but it clearly wasn't the right job for him, whether that's a matter of personality or just time and place (he was battling depression at the time, likely exacerbated by Wellstone's death)

He's been a super effective governor though, so it's all good. I was skeptical to begin with, voted Margaret Anderson Kelliher in the primary as she seemed to have a more realistic tax plan.

Fun fact, Dayton is the first DFL governor to win in 20 years, the last one lost reelection in the 94 wave. Also Dayton's first election was won by only around 9,000 votes - 1% is all that stood between us and becoming another Wisconsin, as the GOP won the state legislature even while the governor's mansion flipped over.

 

[TheLaughingStock]

Noticed how 95% went suuuuper quiet once the more complete rebuttal that utterly destroyed whatever the blogosphere still tried to prop up from the corpse came out, though?


Oooops.


The saddest part of the whole story is still that the Sanders campaign not only did not distance itself from it, they posted defenses of it on their own website.

The funniest part is when 5 economists got embarrassed by James Galbraith via his formal letter. Even if they were going to put out their more complete rebuttal anyway, they claimed in it:

1. The economy would recover along their baseline projection without Obama/Bush stimulus packages. That's different from saying the economy will bounce back but not fully recover with just automatic stabilizers and monetary policy initiatives by the FED.
2. WW2 & the New Deal programs didn't help end the Great Depression because sustained public activity can't lead to a permanent change in output where the private sector takes over. Apparently according to the Romers', the Great Depression conditions should have returned because of self-evident temporary effects of public activity.

Refresher links!

Galbraith's response to the initial smear: http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/ResponsetoCEA.pdf

Full rebuttal of Friedman's economic analysis: https://evaluationoffriedman.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/romer-and-romer-evaluation-of-friedman1.pdf

 

[Man w/ Glasses]

THIS ARTICLE

https://web.archive.org/web/2007100...POLITICS/stories/09/12/primary.day/index.html

Dayton beat Grams that year.

Milne ran in 2014 for Governor of Vermont and narrowly lost.

Howard Dean won his re-election that year.

Different Milne--her son Scott almost took the governorship in 2014. But damn, what a blast from the past that article was. I remember the Take Back VT days...

Funny story about Scott: I worked at a newspaper publisher during the '14 election. I'm tall, worked at a standing desk at the time. Scotty comes walking right through, not saying a word to anyone--looking around--and spots me. "Hey shorty." Winks, points, grimaces, leaves.

Awkward guy. But Shumlin was weak that year.

 

[Spoiled Milk]

Funko created a Hillary Clinton vinyl figure. Now you can have Hillary on every establishment desk.

*transcripts sold separately

She looks like a strawberry. Sad!

 

[makingmusic476]

I don't get how you can argue that Bernie is less (or more) popular than Clinton based on primary + caucus vote totals, given how insanely depressed turnout is at caucuses.

 

[neurosisxeno]

Milne ran in 2014 for Governor of Vermont and narrowly lost.

Marion Milne died in August 2014, and didn't run for anything. Her son Scott Milne ran against incumbent Peter Shumlin and narrowly lost. I always remember 2014's election well because I got interviewed by a local TV Station on the ground that I was "30 years younger than anyone else" they had seen, and they thought interviewing the one person in his 20's at that ward would be better than Senior Citizen X.

 

[CCS]

Preordered it on Amazon.


Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

So tempted to get it too.

 

[shinra-bansho]

I don't get how you can argue that Bernie is less (or more) popular than Clinton based on primary + caucus vote totals, given how insanely depressed turnout is at caucuses.

Well the argument to the contrary seems based on dank memes, which is about equal in credibility to votes. So I guess we're at an impasse.

 

[Necrovex]

So tempted to get it too.

I'm tempted to have my mother order it, and place it in my soon Queen Hillay decorated car when I take my next vacation to the states!

 

[Man w/ Glasses]

I always remember 2014's election well because I got interviewed by a local TV Station on the ground that I was "30 years younger than anyone else" they had seen, and they thought interviewing the one person in his 20's at that ward would be better than Senior Citizen X.

30? What was the average age in that ward? Dead? 😜

It surprised me at the time that Milne did as well as he did, being from what I saw a lackluster campaigner and a total stiff. May have been my bubble, but I totally underestimated how unpopular Shumlin's failed single-payer plan was. Even the renewable initiatives had blowback.

 

[excelsiorlef]

"In 2006, he campaigned for the Senate saying, 'I’m tough on crime.' What was his evidence? I voted for the '94 crime bill,” Podesta said on ABC’s "This Week With George Stephanopoulos."
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/clinton-campaign-chair-bernie-sanders-airbrushing-history-crime/story?id=38278036

I really should take offense at a politician pretending they are not a politician. He's a politician.

Bwhahahaha.


I honestly think this is why I take a sort of twisted pleasure in watching him fail even if I do like a lot of his ideas, I love watching non-politicians be exposed for being politicians.

 

[TheAutomator]

It's quite fascinating seeing people here nitpicking everything Bernie says. I wonder if it partly stems from fear.

 

[RastaMentality]

It's quite fascinating seeing people here nitpicking everything Bernie says. I wonder if it partly stems from fear.

Fear of what exactly?

 

[excelsiorlef]

It's quite fascinating seeing people here nitpicking everything Bernie says. I wonder if it partly stems from fear.

Boredom. Honest to god boredom.

That and he basically asks to be nitpicked because his whole thing is how not like every other politician he is. When you play a purity game, dirt that would normally blend in on any other candidate stands out.

 

[CCS]

I'm tempted to have my mother order it, and place it in my soon Queen Hillay decorated car when I take my next vacation to the states!

Definitely do this, I love it

It's quite fascinating seeing people here nitpicking everything Bernie says. I wonder if it partly stems from fear.

More boredom I suspect. So long without anything important happening leaves us nothing to talk about.

EDIT: Beaten like Bernie in South Carolina

 

[CCS]

Also, real talk: since his supporters unofficially adopted Centipede by Knife Party, Donald Trump does have the best song out of any of the candidates.

 

[BanGy.nz]

Fear of what exactly?

Fear that comrade Sanders will usurp our Queens rightful place.

FUCK!

 

[User 463088]

Fear that comrade Sanders will usurp our Queens rightful place.

FUCK!

WERK!
FUCK!
QUEEN!

That freaking endorsement was BRUTAL. Just brutal. Personally, I loved it.

 

[TheAutomator]

Fear of what exactly?

Fear of change.

 

[Drek]

It's quite fascinating seeing people here nitpicking everything Bernie says. I wonder if it partly stems from fear.

Try more like schadenfeude.

And it is delicious.

 

[Trancos]

I like very much the demographics studies that the guys at Benchmark Politics do. I think they are always very thorough and we can see that they love their craft. But their posts are so cringy to read when they end with (non verbatim): even losing NY, the legacy of Bernie Sanders will last for centuries.

Seriously? Did he abolish slavery or something? I know we all love the candidate we support, and sometimes we are very passionate about it. But in 300 years Hillary will be just one more name in a ever growing list of president that you have memorise in school, and nobody will talk about this primary. Have some perspective.

 

[Y2Kev]

Hm...Siena poll shows significant tightening!!!

 

[shinra-bansho]

Hitlary will be notable as the first woman President. And she'll be another President Clinton.
So at least it will be easier to memorise.

 

[TheAutomator]

Try more like schadenfeude.

And it is delicious.

Schadenfeude. So you enjoy other peoples' misery? That's not a good look.

 

[Y2Kev]

I mean it's also not a good look to come into a thread and say "I smell fear" but whatever. You're not so concerned with looks I think!

 

[Trancos]

Hm...Siena poll shows significant tightening!!!

They did change their demo sample from registered voters to likely voters. Not sure why. But I think that's irrelevant. What I was about to say is that the poll was taken at the same time (6-11 April) than the Quinnipiac (+13) and the Marist polls (+14) so it doesn't show an aftermath or evolution of the vote, just a different sample of the same moment in the race.

We need new polls (probably by the end of the week) to see if the margin is moving.

 

[TheAutomator]

I mean it's also not a good look to come into a thread and say "I smell fear" but whatever. You're not so concerned with looks I think!

Well, I did say I was just wondering. Change can be a hard pill to swallow, especially if it changes what you're comfortable with.

 

[CCS]

Well, I did say I was just wondering. Change can be a hard pill to swallow.

We don't fear change, we fear badly thought through changes with holes in them you could drive a bus through.

 

[Y2Kev]

Well, I did say I was just wondering. Change can be a hard pill to swallow, especially if it changes what you're comfortable with.

Oh ok thanks for clarifying that you were just suggesting people have a problem with change, I wasn't sure if that's what you were hinting at how you are more adaptable to change than everyone else

They did change their demo sample from registered voters to likely voters. Not sure why. But I think that's irrelevant. What I was about to say is that the poll was taken at the same time (6-11 April) than the Quinnipiac (+13) and the Marist polls (+14) so it doesn't show an aftermath or evolution of the vote, just a different sample of the same moment in the race.

We need new polls (probably by the end of the week) to see if the margin is moving.

Hillary is DONE

 

[TheAutomator]

We don't fear change, we fear badly thought through changes with holes in them you could drive a bus through.

Well, what do you expect? It's going to be a new system and it will take time for all holes to be closed.

 

[Gruco]

Lot of people seem to be concerned about a president Trump. I do wonder if it's because people are afraid of change. Change is scary to people and Trump would be something different. QED.

 

[shinra-bansho]

What new system? What are you even talking about?
It's not like he's going to be the nominee, let alone President.
He's not getting anything done.
And if he was President, he'd still get nothing done. Because he doesn't even really know what he wants to do specifically. And if he did, it would get blocked.

 

[CCS]

Well, what do you expect? It's going to be a new system and it will take time for all holes to be closed.

That's acceptable for some holes. It's not an acceptable excuse for things like his policy on the Fed, which is beyond the point of "I disagree with this" to "This is genuinely insane and incredibly dangerous".

 

[Safe Bet]

ITT: We Pretend It's Politics As Usual

?

 

[shinra-bansho]

I mean on the Dem side it basically is.

The Party Decided. And they chose Hitlary not wacky Bernie.

The difference is that the internetz and FOMO made it possible for Bill Bradley v3.3 to keep on going and going and going ad nauseum as Tad Devine and the media markets rake it in.

The question for the insurgent left candidate who promises the world to the kids after he makes it all better is still, as always, "Ok, but how?"

 

[Frank the Great]

The sad reality for Sanders supporters is that in a couple months even the media, which has been propping him up, will move on to the GE and Sanders will lose all relevance. His memory will be lost like tears in the rain.

I can't wait.

 

[Tom_Cody]

On the delegate selection front, Team Trump dropped the ball on yet another state. This time Nebraska.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/donald-trump-nebraska-cruz-221863

It is looking like a sure thing for Cruz on the second or third ballot if Trump doesn't get to 1237.

 

[TheAutomator]

What new system? What are you even talking about?
It's not like he's going to be the nominee, let alone President.
He's not getting anything done.
And if he was President, he'd still get nothing done. Because he doesn't even really know what he wants to do specifically. And if he did, it would get blocked.

Of course he knows what he's doing. He went from a nobody to someone people will be talking about for years. If he becomes President he will undoubtedly get blocked by the Congress repeatedly, but his influence and ideas will aggressively shift the country to the left.

There's no way he's winning against Trump though, which is why I'm also skeptical.