Time For A Democratic Majority In The House...

[Crackpot]

Ray you do realize Hillary can endorse anyone she feels like regardless of how the candidate feels about it right?

I might see and possibly agree with your point if you were talking about campaigning for. But endorsing?! That level of stupid surpasses anything I’d come to expect from any other member of this board.

[Big RR]

She damn near killed my party with her manipulation of the DNC running up to the '16 elections

Her manipulation? The DNC did it to themselves; they were the ones who didn't want Bernie and sought to block his candidacy, and then like good politicians they tried to cover it up. Sure, she might have taken advantage of it, but I blame the DNC, pre and simple.

[Burning Petard]

Sorry RR. I think Bernie should never have been on primary ballots running for Dem presidential candidate. Bernie had a lifetime career of running and getting elected for public office, including senator, as something other than a Democrat. For similar reasons I think Donald Trump should never have been on the GOP ballot.

The be legally permitted to change party affiliation, just to run for office, rubs me as fundamentally wrong.

snailgate.

[Big RR]

BP--I can appreciate that, and the parties can change their rules as they see fit, but if the rules permit it, then they should be honored. I personally think the DNC thought a Bernie candidacy would be headed for a defeat (maybe, maybe not, but I could see how they felt that way) and worked behind the scenes to assure HRC would win. And I find that fundamentally wrong; either we have a primary conducted in accordance with party rules and honor the results, or we just let the party bosses anoint a candidate without considering the primary results; the DNC had a lot of tools to help Hillary, but like Nixon with the Watergate break in, they didn't want to take the chance and did some imrproper things to push the results their way.

Again, I am not a member of any party (although I have voted in the democratic (and di so in this last primary) primary per the rules in my state) and leave it to the members to eneact rules acceptable to them, but I find it offensive when the party bosses flout those same rules for their own ends.

[RayThom]

Ray you do realize Hillary can endorse anyone she feels like regardless of how the candidate feels about it right?
I might see and possibly agree with your point if you were talking about campaigning for. But endorsing?! That level of stupid surpasses anything I’d come to expect from any other member of this board.

My "level of stupid may surpasses anything you'd come to expect from any other member of this board" but it tells me that if Hillary endorses any candidate -- with or without their knowledge or approval -- then that candidate will have the sword of Damocles hanging above their head in '18 and/or '20.

And my brothers, Caleb and Clem, agree with me.



IDIOT!

[Scooter]

[RayThom]

I don't have a horse in this race... Just for grins, I did sent $50 to a Dem candidate in another state who is no relative but shares my last name.
snailgate

Well, the easy part is over. I think it will be a close race in November but I feel Tammy will prevail.

Leah Vukmir Wins Wisconsin GOP Primary to Take On Tammy B. Petard
http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/l ... my-baldwin

Vukmir -- she sure looks Republican.

[Econoline]

[Lord Jim]

The DNC should email this quote of Trump's to every registered Democrat in the country, (and then send it again right before the election):

Trump: Dems ‘give up’ when I come to town for campaign rallies

President Trump is downplaying the potential for his campaign appearances to ramp up Democratic turnout in this year's midterms, saying the rallies have a more positive effect on his base.

Trump told The Wall Street Journal in an interview on Wednesday that the rallies -- which he has held more frequently in recent weeks -- might energize Democrats, but countered that "it energizes my people much more than it energizes them."

“I think the Democrats give up when I turn out,” Trump said. “If you want to know the truth, I don’t think it energizes them. I think it de-energizes them. I think they give up when I turn out.”

Trump has held rallies in recent weeks in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida to drum up support for congressional and state-wide candidates. He has also taken the credit for Republican victories in recent special elections, and for his preferred candidates prevailing in primaries.

“As long as I can get out and campaign, I think they’re going to win, I really do,” Trump told the Journal. “It’s a lot of work for me. I have to make 50 stops, it’s a lot. So, there aren’t a lot of people that can do that, physically. Fortunately, I have no problem with that.”

Trump has indicated he plans to be on the road campaigning "six or seven days a week" to support Republican candidates.

The president has repeatedly expressed optimism about the GOP's prospects in the midterms, suggesting a "red wave" is possible.

Polls and historical trends suggest otherwise, however. The party in power typically loses seats in midterm elections, and a RealClearPolitics average of generic ballot polling shows Democrats leading Republicans by nearly 7 percentage points.

A CNN poll released Wednesday showed Democrats with an 11-point advantage.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... gn-rallies

[rubato]

Nunez seat is in play as his opponent pulled even in the latest poll and Ted Cruz is losing ground to his challenger, Beto O'Rourke. They changed his seat from "safe Republican" to "Leans Republican". If the Democrats pick up two Senate seats (Rosen and O'Rourke for example) as well as the House it's going to get very hot for Donny and the Losers.

yrs,
rubato

[Bicycle Bill]

Trump has indicated he plans to be on the road campaigning "six or seven days a week" to support Republican candidates.

I thought when Trump was inaugurated in January 2017 he took an oath to be POTUS, not a shill or a flim-flam man for other candidates.  Campaigning "six or seven days a week" to support Republican candidates isn't leaving him much time to do the job he was — for better or worse — elected to do.

-"BB"-

[Big RR]

I'd rather have him campaigning than doing the job he thinks he was elected to do. Hell, I'd rather have him playing golf (or cavorting with urinating hookers) 7 days a week than doing that.

[Lord Jim]

Trump is a very busy man; he has a lot on his plate...

Afterall, Fox And Friends, Hannity, and The Ingraham Angle aren't going to watch themselves...

[BoSoxGal]

Trump is getting plenty of work done behind the scenes of all this drama in the media; his people are steadily churning out EOs and other administrative directives to eviscerate the EPA, Education, HUD, etc.

[Big RR]

Not Trump, his "handlers" (or the powers behind the throne); I doubt Trump even knows what and EO is, let alone what those deprtments do.

But honestly, now is the time for congress to exercise its legislative muscle and not to allow presidents to unilaterally assume that power by Executive Orders. I understand the frustration of even the most well intended executive when Congress reuses to act, which is why I think congress has to do its job, but these unilateral actions scare the hell out of me--especially with a jerk like Trump in the WH who will sign anything he is told to sign (and then spout off about it even though it is clear he has no understanding of the issues or the action.

[Lord Jim]

And of course the Republicans on Capitol Hill have reacted to Trump's being implicated in a criminal conspiracy to influence the 2016 election with the usual courage and forthrightness that has distinguished their reaction to nearly all of Trump's poisonous words and vile deeds:

WASHINGTON — Moments after Donald Trump’s former personal attorney implicated the president of the United States in a felony, Sen. John Cornyn declared “People who do bad things, who break the law need to be held accountable.”

Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, quickly made clear his statement wasn’t aimed at Trump.

For Republicans, Tuesday’s courtroom drama revived an uncomfortable and all-too-familiar predicament. On a seemingly weekly basis, party leaders and lawmakers have found themselves trying to explain away a slew of Trump-generated controversies, hoping that occasionally stern statements can carry them through until the latest round of chaos blows over.

It’s a strategy the party has leaned on through Trump’s refusal to unequivocally blame Russia for meddling in the 2016 election, through his statements equally blaming white supremacists and counterprotesters for violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, and through his numerous insults aimed at women and minorities.

But Trump attorney and fixer Michael Cohen’s extraordinary plea deal — it came less than an hour after former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was found guilty of eight financial crimes — ups the pressure on the GOP in a midterm election year.

Cohen’s plea marks the first time a Trump associate has been found guilty of a crime directly related to the 2016 election. And it’s a crime Cohen says Trump was not only aware of, but personally involved in carrying out.

Yet the initial response from Republicans offered little indication that the party planned to treat Cohen’s revelations any different than the numerous other controversies that have dogged Trump during his 17 months in office. Most GOP lawmakers simply said nothing about Cohen’s guilty plea.

One of the few statements from Republican leaders came from an unnamed spokesperson for House Speaker Paul Ryan, who said the speaker was aware of Cohen’s plea to “these serious charges” and needed “more information than is currently available at this point.” [Way to stake out the moral high ground, Paul]

More:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... 76566e01b8

[MajGenl.Meade]

...and the hits just keep on comin'

U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and his wife, Margaret Hunter, were indicted Tuesday on charges of improperly using campaign funds for private use.

A grand jury in San Diego indicted the Hunters on charges of filing false campaign finance records, saying the couple misused more than $250,000 after a 1½-year investigation. The Justice Department said the pair used political money to pay for their children’s tuition and spent thousands of dollars at shopping malls, Washington restaurants and surf shops, among other expenditures.

Hunter had blamed his wife, who acted as a campaign manager, for many of the improper charges, saying she controlled the campaign’s credit card, and in February he feigned ignorance in an interview with Politico, saying: “Nah, I know the rules.”

“And if I did” spend campaign funds improperly, he said, “it was an accident and I paid it back.” He repaid his campaign more than $60,000 earlier this year for improper expenses dating back to 2015, but the FBI began investigation additional charges dating back as far as 2009, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

In a speech earlier this month, Hunter echoed President Donald Trump and castigated the Justice Department, accusing the agency of being “corrupt, answerable to no one” and said it “uses the law to extort the American people and effect political change.”

“I call on this Congress to root out all the corrupt lawyers and bureaucrats in the DOJ and the FBI so the greatest president of my generation can do the work that the American people duly elected him to do,” Hunter said.

The lawmaker is running for re-election in November against Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar. When HuffPost asked Hunter how his campaign was going at the end of July, just before House lawmakers left for the August break, Hunter said things were good.

“I don’t think there’s a big wave right now,” Hunter said, referring to a wave of Democratic gains. He said polling had him safely above his opponent — “We’re looking good” — and he indicated he wasn’t really afraid of losing.

“The Republicans left in California are pretty well-liked by their constituents,” he said.

[Lord Jim]

California secretary of State: GOP lawmaker can't be removed from ballot after getting indicted

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) will remain on the ballot in California's 50th Congressional District in November, despite being charged Tuesday with misusing at least $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses.

"There exists no process in California Elections Code for Duncan Hunter to remove his name from the November ballot," Sam Mahood, a spokesman for California's Secretary of State, told The Hill in a statement.

Mahood noted that Hunter was one of the top-two vote getters in the district's June primary. He added that there can be no write-in candidates for the November election.[Yes, this great bastion of democracy doesn't allow write-in votes.]

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/40 ... rom-ballot

With Hunter unable to get off the ballot even if he wanted too, this may be yet another safe GOP seat that is now in play; this poll was taken before the indictment:

An internal poll from embattled California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter’s challenger Ammar Campa-Najjar showed the 50th District race in single digits.

The Tulchin Research poll found the five-term congressman ahead of his Democratic opponent, 51 percent to 42 percent.

First elected in 2008 to succeed his father, Hunter won his most recent re-election with 64 percent of the vote. His father, also named Duncan Hunter, represented various iterations of the historically conservative Southern California district for 14 terms.

https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/ ... gle-digits

California's nutty jungle primary system produced a Democratic nominee who would normally be way too liberal to win in this district, but this is obviously not a normal situation...

[Scooter]

The first two members of Congress to support Trump have now been indicted (first Chris Collins and now Hunter). Tell me that isn't a campaign ad that writes itself.

[Scooter]

Real Clear Politics has moved CA-50 to toss up, although they have not update the district page to reflect that, so it looks like they did so recently in reaction to the indictment.