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The Democratic Strategist

Political Strategy for a Permanent Democratic Majority

Political Strategy Notes

Julia Preston reports at the New York Times that a new poll by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 69 percent of respondents said that the 57,000 plus unaccompanied migrant children from Central America who have come to the U.S. should be permitted to stay “if authorities determine it is not safe for them to return to their home country.” Only 27 percent said they should be deported. However, notes Preston, “There is broad consistency for a policy offering support for the unaccompanied children and a determination process, not just an open door,” said Robert P. Jones, the chief executive of the research institute. “At the same time, there are concerns that policy may bring some negative consequences, and the situation has raised people’s concerns about immigrants over all.”

At The Upshot Derek Willis reports on Kansas Democrats’ promising new emphasis on demographic modeling and micro targeting persuadable/mobilizable voters.
In her Washington Post column, “Building a progressive alternative to ALEC,” The Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuval observes, “Recently, the American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange and the Progressive States Network announced a merger to build an organization that will be focused on moving a progressive policy agenda in the states. While the goals of the new undertaking may resemble those of ALEC, their methods are vastly different. They will operate transparently, use no lobbyists, and make their model legislation and resources available to everyone; their database already showcases 1,800 examples of progressive legislation. And they will engage with people, not corporations…As [executive directory Nick] Rathod underscores, “For nearly a generation, conservatives have outpaced us at the business of movement-building in states. They have focused hard on it, poured resources into it and have been ruthlessly efficient at it. Starting now, we will do the same.”

Oppo alert: Time magazine’s Jay Newton-Small reveals how House Republicans are planning to get a larger share of women voters.

The National Journal’s Lucia Graves and Stephanie Stamm crunch the data, explain “What Keeps Women from the Polls?” and find that the voter turnout of women, and African American women in particular, is adversely impacted by disproportionate caretaking responsibilities.

From the Christian Science Monitor: Jared Gilmour’s “Why Democrats are campaigning on your student loan debt: Student loan debt is a big issue, and Democrats are increasingly talking about it in an effort to get voters to the polls in key states this November” notes that “Student loan debt is a big issue with big reach. In fact, 37 million Americans currently face a record $1.2 trillion student debt load. And nearly 7 million borrowers are in default on $100 billion in loans, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.” Gilmour quotes DCCC Chair Rep. Steve Israel: “Show me a suburban district, and I’ll show you a district where that’s going to be a motivating issue” and notes that Democratic candidatures are advocating reforms in major Senate races.

At Brookings Elaine C. Kamarck discusses reforms for “Increasing Turnout in Congressional Primaries

Take a gander at this nifty political demographic map of North Carolina at the American Communities Project web page. You hover over the color-coded regions and it tells you which demographic group (i.e. “working-class country,” “college towns,” “military posts” “evangelical hubs,” “African American south,” “graying America” etc.) dominates the population. The analysis accompanying the map bodes well for Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan.

The headline of Steve Benen’s Maddowblog post “The GOP loses control of its Frankenstein monster” sums up the impeachment follies nicely. Benen observes, “Republican leaders created a monster, doing nothing to tamp down the right’s crusade to tear down the Obama presidency, and they suddenly find themselves scrambling now that the monster is running lose. As Arit John put it, Republicans have “lost control of the impeachment plot they hatched.”

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