A Teaching Moment

I believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. How can you not? Her testimony was powerful, persuasive and painful. She clearly was traumatized by what Brett Kavanaugh did to her. Her life was derailed. And now she has to go through this. If Republicans stick with Kavanaugh, they have only one way to go: “Well, what a…

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The Election, a Summary

This year, after four elections with Obama in the White House, the political world has changed. We’re in a Blue Moon election where Democrats are voting heavier than usual and where Republican voter turnout is likely to be lower than usual. Independents blame both Republicans and Democrats for the political mess in Washington and, back…

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Two Unique Groups of Voters

Let’s compare two unique groups of voters. First, people who have high school degrees. African American Democrats in this group already overwhelmingly disapprove of Trump (Approve 10%, Disapprove 85%) and also overwhelmingly vote for Linda Coleman, George Holding’s Democratic opponent. Among the remaining voters with high school degrees, men approve of Trump 79% to 20%…

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Three Kinds of Elections

Well, today, I’m back to writing about George Holding’s election – which now may or may not be in November and, may or may not be in a new district. I guess we may know sometime next week. All that said, assuming wiser (legal) heads prevail and George Holding will be running in the current…

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Blue Moon Elections: Who Votes

Two years ago, just before the election, when early voting started, a surprising trend appeared out of thin air. Fewer African-American Democrats were voting than had voted in the 2012 Presidential election. And the impact was profound. Before the 2016 election polls showed Richard Burr running even with, or a couple points ahead of, Democrat…

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McCain and Trump

Both were part of the Vietnam generation. One served; the other didn’t. One was shot down over North Vietnam, imprisoned for over five years and tortured so brutally he couldn’t even comb his hair. The other had five draft deferments and bone spurs. And spends a lot of time combing his hair. One dedicated his…

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Blue Moon

The first time I ever laid eyes on a ‘blue-moon’ election was thirty-six years ago, after Ronald Reagan was elected. What’s a blue moon election? It’s the first election after a new President takes office, when there’s not a Senator or Governor on the ballot running statewide. Back in 1982, Jesse Helms’ political organization had…

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Don’t impeach!

Democrats: Don’t impeach Trump. Don’t talk about it. Don’t even think about it. Think this through. We want every Republican officeholder and candidate to spend every day of the next 27 months, all the way through Election Day 2020, defending, rationalizing, apologizing for, agonizing over and tiptoeing around Trump. When a Democrat in Congress gets…

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It’s not about Trump, stupid

“It’s the economy, stupid.” (Sign in the 1992 Clinton war room.) For Trump, it’s always about Trump. For his acolytes, it’s all about Trump. For Steve Bannon, 2018 is all about Trump (so he can get back into the game, the news and the money). Democrats, don’t take the bait. Voters, real people, have strong…

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Dogging Trump

A reader offers this suggestion: If I were a Democratic pundit I would, henceforth, refer to our President as “Putin’s Poodle.” In the first place, it’s true. He respects and trusts Dictator Putin more than he respects and trusts American intelligence services. In the second place, Trump can sure dish it out. You remember —…

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