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The Democratic Strategist

Political Strategy for a Permanent Democratic Majority

Political Strategy Notes

Jonathan Bernstein explains “Why Clinton is pushing campaign-money reform” in his Bloomberg syndicated column: “Campaign-finance reform is a safe subject. It’s hard to see how events will make current talking points on it look silly or embarrassing in the future. Restricting money in politics is broadly popular (especially with a lot reporters and their editors), even if it isn’t something that will sway a lot of votes in the general election next year.”
Amy B. Dean, a fellow of the Century Foundation, rolls out a compelling argument that “Democrats must have a concrete plan to empower workers.”
At The NYT Noam Scheiber reports that “Democrats Are Rallying Around $12 Wage Floor.” Scheiber elaborates: “A January 2014 poll by the Pew Research Center showed that 73 percent of Americans, including 53 percent of Republicans, supported raising the minimum wage to $10.10…”In a deeply polarized country, the minimum wage is one of a small handful of issues that gets broad bipartisan support,” wrote Daniel H. Pfeiffer, who until recently was a senior adviser to President Obama, in an email in response to questions. “The Republican problem of opposing the minimum wage grows much worse when paired with their support of tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations. The 30-second ad writes itself.”
Nate Silver addresses an interesting, if way-too-early question “Is Bush Doomed In The General? (Or: A Lesson In Conditional Probability).”
At Vox Ezra Klein argues that “Raising Social Security’s retirement age is a disaster for the poor.” Klein says “A 2012 Pew poll found that 56 percent of Americans opposed even gradually raising the Social Security retirement age — more than opposed cutting military spending, or increasing taxes, or reducing Medicare benefits for richer seniors. In 2014, the National Academy of Social Insurance performed an even more detailed survey and found that 75 percent of Americans opposed raising the retirement age to 70. Hell, even self-identified Tea Partiers would prefer to raise taxes than raise the Social Security retirement age.”
At Sabato’s Crystal Ball Alan I. Abramowitz and Steven Webster explore “the Republican lock on the House.”
Despite mounting incidents of police abuse of African American citizens, Nick Wing reports that “Most Americans Still Have Faith In The Police.” Says Wing: “White Americans were more likely to support the police, with 67 percent indicating some level of trust in their local police and 63 percent saying the same for police nationwide. Black Americans expressed considerably less support, with 36 percent indicating some level of trust in their local police and only 27 percent saying the same for police nationwide.”
National Journal’s Karen Bruggerman’s probes whether “Is Virginia Becoming a Liberal State? Some Democrats Are Betting on It.”
Yes, that’s the spirit! Let the GOP’s demolition derby begin. But I have a feeling that this is not going to end well for Paul the younger.

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