Among the most popular reforms the public would like to see the new congress address, according to a new NBC News/Wall St. Journal Poll: 82 percent support Congress providing access to lower the costs of student loans; 75 percent support increasing spending on infrastructure, roads and highways; 65 percent support Congress raising the minimum wage; 60 percent support approving emergency funding to deal with Ebola in West Africa; 59 percent support addressing climate change by limiting carbon emissions…So much for the Republican’s midterm ‘mandate.’
Democratic strategist Cornell Belcher makes the case that “Democrats didn’t lose because of Obama,” based on a poll indicating that a plurality (45%) of surveyed voters said the President was not a factor in their vote. Belcher argues further, that data also suggests benching Obama was a bad call.
It’s one thing to get your butt kicked. But you really don’t have to pay for it. Here’s a little smart phone app that identifies Koch brothers products for your supermarket convenience.
Charles Blow gets it mostly right, despite the misleading title of his column on “the solid south.” However, NC, FL and VA had close enough margins in big state-wide races to still be designated as purple states, despite the the midterm bummer.
I guess one of the side lessons of the midterm campaigns is that big-shot endorsements don’t mean much. Bill Clinton didn’t help re-elect Mark Pryor in Arkansas, Sam Nunn and Jimmy Carter didn’t help family members a whole lot in Georgia. But, hey, those are political figures. The real value of celebs in politics is that they help raise money. Still, I’m hoping that Stevie Wonder’s fund-raiser for Mary Landrieu in the Big Easy on Dec. 1 will give her a needed boost, same day as her run-off debate with GOP opponent Bill Cassidy.
So what was the impact of voter i.d. laws on the midterm outcomes? Trip Gabriel and Manny Fernandez have some answers at The New York Times.
2016 game on for former Democratic Sen. Jim Webb.
At Roll Call’s Rothenblog Stu Rothernberg has “Lessons for Democratic Strategists From 2014,” few of them encouraging.
If you haven’t yet seen “Web Therapy,” the over-the-top Showtime Series featuring Lisa Kudrow as Fiona, a manipulative narcissist who peddles three-minute ‘therapy’ sessions to her unfortunate clients, you can also check it out on Netflix. Fiona is married to a mainline lawyer Republican candidate for congress and ‘friend of John McCain’, but the real political fun is the burlesque of the upscale Republican mindset. Nary a soul, even among the characters played by a-list guest stars (Streep, Crystal, Hamm, Paltrow etc.) has a shred of interest in the commonweal, and all are grabbers.
