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The Democratic Strategist

Political Strategy for a Permanent Democratic Majority

Political Strategy Notes

From Sean McElwee’s Politico post, “The Income Gap at the Polls“: “…The gap between voters and non-voters breaks down strongly along class lines. In the 2012 election, 80.2 percent of those making more than $150,000 voted, while only 46.9 percent of those making less than $10,000 voted. This “class bias,” is so strong that in the three elections (2008, 2010 and 2012) I examined, there was only one instance of a poorer income bracket turning out at a higher rate than the bracket above them. (In the 2012 election, those making less than $10,000 were slightly more likely to vote than those making between $10,000 and $14,999.) On average, each bracket turned out to vote at a rate 3.7 percentage points higher than the bracket below it…This class bias is a persistent feature of American voting: A study of 40 years of state-level data finds no instance in which there was not a class bias in the electorate favoring the rich–in other words, no instance in which poorer people in general turned out in higher rates than the rich. That being said, class bias has increased since 1988, just as wide gaps have opened up between the opinions of non-voters and those of voters.”
Here’s an interesting by-product of lower voter turnout — fewer signatures are needed to get issues on ballots where applicable. Case in point: Ohio, where it will now require almost 80K fewer signatures to get pot legalization on the ballot.
No ‘exploratory’ yada yada yet. But it looks Like WI Gov. Scott Walker is running for the GOP presidential nomination.
A worthy strategic insight from Isaiah J. Poole’s post, “How Democrats in 2015 Can Honor Mario Cuomo’s Progressive Vision” at Moyers & Co, “Now that political timidity and triangulation is a proven loser, it’s time to be bold, passionate and visionary…”In the minds of a lot of voters, economic fairness and the Democratic brand have in some ways separated, which is really tragic because that really is what we stand for,” said Rep. Keith Ellison, (D-MN), co-chairman of the House Progressive Caucus in an interview with the McClatchy News Service. “The president can help rebuild that brand.”
Democratic strategist Robert Creamer writes at HuffPo about the paradox of Nancy Pelosi’s political influence increasing as a result of GOP House gains in 2014.
And Bloomberg News provides an excellent and welcome example of Pelosi’s leverage — leading the successful opposition to a Republican measure to further weaken Dodd-Frank.
Greg Sargent previews the upcoming fight over President Obama raising the overtime pay threshold of the Fair Labor Standards Act, below which the private sector is required to pay overtime. Progressives want it increased to $51,000 from $23,660 — an excellent example of a reform which could have wide middle class appeal.
Jonathan Chait explains why “Why the Republican Congress’s First Act Was to Declare War on Math.” The GOP has implemented “dynamic scoring” to destroy the impartiality of the Congressional Budget Office.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren has coined an apt term, which may prove useful for describing “dynamic scoring” and other forms of GOP statistical manipulations — “magical accounting.”

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