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The Democratic Strategist

Political Strategy for a Permanent Democratic Majority

Political Strategy Notes

Re last night’s GOP debate, the pundit and prediction markets consensus seems to be that Rubio amped up his game with punchy rebuttals and hogging more time than previously. Carson won the new twitter followers and Facebook ‘likes’ derbies, while Bush scored the bold-type quote of the evening at Rubio’s expense with his carefully-crafted zinger referencing the “French work-week.” But Trump edged out Rubio and smoked all of the other candidates (Bush dead last) on stage on the applause-o-meter, reports Andre Tartar in his Bloomberg by-the-numbers post.
At FiveThirtyEight.com Nate Silver mulls over the debate and some recent numbers and concludes “Yeah, Jeb Bush is Probably Toast.”
The concerted GOP whine of the evening was that the media has failed to give their presidential candidate field enough softballs. NBC’s Chuck Todd called it a “premeditated attack” on the media. All of which smells like the GOP field hopes to intimidate the MSM from asking tough questions.
Speaking of softballs, the hapless “undercard” candidates were actually asked if they thought the day after the superbowl should be a national holiday.
A new Gallup poll indicates that “Americans’ support for the Tea Party has dropped to its lowest level since the movement emerged on the national political scene prior to the 2010 midterm elections. Seventeen percent of Americans now consider themselves Tea Party supporters.”
Back in the real world, a just-released Associated Press-GfK poll shows strong support for tighter gun laws: “Eight in 10 Democrats favor stricter gun laws, while 6 in 10 Republicans want them left as they are or loosened…Still, the results show the calls for tighter laws have some bipartisan appeal, with 37 percent of Republicans, including 31 percent of conservative Republicans, favoring stricter gun laws,” reports AP’s Emily Swanson.
A newly-published ‘Third Way’ report makes the case that “The Democratic economic agenda should be organized around one over-arching goal: sustained private sector economic growth that expands and greatly benefits the middle class.”
Could it be that the continuing litany of scandals involving former GOP House speakers and Boehner’s failed legacy sets an irresistibly low bar for Paul Ryan, as he preps for the speakership?
Partner” would be a contortionist’s stretch.

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