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The Democratic Strategist

Political Strategy for a Permanent Democratic Majority

Political Strategy Notes

From Sean McElwee’s HuffPost Politics article, “Republican Presidents Flunk the Economy: 11 Reasons Why America Does Worse Under the GOP“:
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Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich’s “Who lost the white working class?” argues that Democrats can win by “putting together a coalition of the working class and poor, of whites, blacks, and Latinos…This would give them the political clout to restructure the economy – rather than merely enact palliative programs papering over the increasing concentration of wealth and power in America…But to do this they’d have to stop obsessing over upper-income suburban swing voters, and end their financial dependence on big corporations, Wall Street, and the wealthy.”
So what happens to a top journalist who writes the most comprehensive, in-depth expose of the Koch brother’s financial and political operations? To find out, you can read Amy Goodman’s interview with the author, “How the Kochs Tried (and Failed) to Discredit Reporter Jane Mayer After She Exposed Their Empire” at Alternet.
Trump poised to “run the table,” says Bloomberg’s Mark Halperin.
Oodles of interesting reporting on the Great Republican Freakout about Trump and/or Cruz, including Ed Kilgore’s TDS post “A Panicking GOP Establishment Starts To Nourish Fantasies” at TDS yesterday. Neil King’s “Republican Party Grapples With Prospect of a Trump Victory” provides the latest Wall St. Journal take.
Granted, selecting “who do we hate less” to lead is not a very inspiring strategic option for a political party. Some GOP stalwarts are talking about going rogue, reports Steve Benen at msnbc.com. But other establishment Republicans may be ready to board Trump’s crazy train. At Daily Kos Joan McCarter explains why the “Republican establishment’s hatred of Ted Cruz is warming them up to Donald Trump.”
On the other hand, Palin’s whiner rant implying President Obama is somehow to blame for her son reportedly punching and kicking his girlfriend and threatening gun violence has to backfire on her endorsee, Trump…Um, doesn’t it?
NYT’s First Draft reports, “Senator Marco Rubio, who is placing only as high as third in most state and national polls, has been the target of more attack ads than any other candidate — more than $20 million worth since the first week in December, a huge sum that may help explain why the Florida senator is struggling to gain ground on his rivals for the Republican nomination.” Could this be an indication that internal polling of the Bush and other campaigns indicates hidden strength for Rubio?
The Maryland House of Delegates has voted to override Republican Governor Larry Hogan’s veto of legislation that would restore voting rights to felons who have served their time, reports Pamela Wood of the Baltimore Sun. “Some pointed out that former felons have jobs and pay taxes, and shouldn’t be taxed if they can’t vote for their representatives in government…Del. Dan Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat, made a statistical argument in favor of overriding the veto. He said after Florida restored voting rights to felons, recidivism — instances of offenders committing more crimes and returning to prison — fell from 33 percent to 11 percent…”This is actually an anti-crime bill,” he said.” The state senate, which has a Democratic majority, is expected to vote on the measure today.

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