I keep thinking O'Malley has officially declared...but he hasn't has he? What in the world is he waiting for?
He hasn't yet. But he was in Iowa laying out his vision for the future like two weeks ago. The only reason why he'd be in Iowa is because he's running. Or gunning for VP.
Webb was also in Iowa at the same time.
I think both O'Malley and Webb have formed exploratory committees ersumshit.
IDK if it's really that many people that support him. Voter turnout is embarrassing, honestly, in a lot of areas (not sure about Texas specifically or his specific race when he was elected). Was his Senate race close? I'll be interested to see what primary turnout is like as that unfolds.
I'm not really saying people have no right to be terrified by him, though. He just doesn't scare me and the fact that he was elected doesn't scare me - I didn't know who he was prior to his election so what was his record even like? Is he likely to win reelection when the time comes if this whole president thing doesn't work out for him? If you ask me, there's a reason he's running now as a first term senator... and it's not because he has a ton of support. It's more like, it's now or never because he's not going to ever be in a better position (and his position is not that great imo - maybe he's the nominee, but he doesn't win the general). I get the impression that he thinks this is his time, for real, but maybe I'm wrong and he has some larger plan and he'll be around for the next 50 years in American politics and I'll move to a deserted island.
Maybe I've just become so cynical... most of the people elected in the state of TN are complete idiots, and they do an amazing amount of awful things. But they don't scare me. I just get mad. Apparently my default reaction in life is rage.
I'm not really saying people have no right to be terrified by him, though. He just doesn't scare me and the fact that he was elected doesn't scare me - I didn't know who he was prior to his election so what was his record even like? Is he likely to win reelection when the time comes if this whole president thing doesn't work out for him? If you ask me, there's a reason he's running now as a first term senator... and it's not because he has a ton of support. It's more like, it's now or never because he's not going to ever be in a better position (and his position is not that great imo - maybe he's the nominee, but he doesn't win the general). I get the impression that he thinks this is his time, for real, but maybe I'm wrong and he has some larger plan and he'll be around for the next 50 years in American politics and I'll move to a deserted island.
He defeated David Dewhurst in the GOP primary, and Dewhurst is...not exactly moderate. He was endorsed by prominent Tea Party activitists. He was endorsed by Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, and even friggin' Erick Erickson (Red State douche). His extreme positions have always been part of the appeal. He beat the Democrat 56.4 percent to 40.6 percent, which is quite a large margin. He received 4.5 million votes.
I'm not really saying people have no right to be terrified by him, though. He just doesn't scare me and the fact that he was elected doesn't scare me - I didn't know who he was prior to his election so what was his record even like? Is he likely to win reelection when the time comes if this whole president thing doesn't work out for him? If you ask me, there's a reason he's running now as a first term senator... and it's not because he has a ton of support. It's more like, it's now or never because he's not going to ever be in a better position (and his position is not that great imo - maybe he's the nominee, but he doesn't win the general). I get the impression that he thinks this is his time, for real, but maybe I'm wrong and he has some larger plan and he'll be around for the next 50 years in American politics and I'll move to a deserted island.
He defeated David Dewhurst in the GOP primary, and Dewhurst is...not exactly moderate. He was endorsed by prominent Tea Party activitists. He was endorsed by Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, and even friggin' Erick Erickson (Red State douche). His extreme positions have always been part of the appeal. He beat the Democrat 56.4 percent to 40.6 percent, which is quite a large margin. He received 4.5 million votes.
Thanks for the info!
Would you argue that the current environment is as friendly to Tea Party types right now? It seems to me there has been definite movement from where we were in 2010 and 2012 with regards to the Tea Party and their popularity/support. There seemed to be a swell of support during the 2010 and 2012 elections, but I'm failing to remember if I saw as much of it in 2014. I know among my family that tends towards Fox News Conservatives, they are all over the Tea Party and used to be all about it.
I guess I'm not arguing he didn't run on an extreme platform or far to the right; he was a well known TP candidate. I'm questioning whether the environment and support for those types of positions is still as popular? I wonder if any TP challengers to R incumbents won primaries in 2014 and went on to win the Senate seat. If I get a chance, I'm going to look into that.
Post by downtoearth on Apr 23, 2015 10:37:40 GMT -5
I'm so late to the party, but no, I'd probably never find a R (that is currently active in the political world) that I would vote for b/c they don't represent my core beliefs. They aren't scary, they are wrong.
I also think I'm biased b/c I also don't think they represent their own core beliefs... they seem to spend so much more time playing the politics game and moving shells around that they are just pretending to care at all about fiscal changes. It's a shell game at best, they throw out that fiscal responsibility is so important b/c more money in everyone's hands (poor and rich) means more business and progress, but under that shell is nothing - no budget plans that compromise, no ability to realize that the income inequality is not going to get fixed by leaving money out in the world, and no real policies.
He defeated David Dewhurst in the GOP primary, and Dewhurst is...not exactly moderate. He was endorsed by prominent Tea Party activitists. He was endorsed by Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, and even friggin' Erick Erickson (Red State douche). His extreme positions have always been part of the appeal. He beat the Democrat 56.4 percent to 40.6 percent, which is quite a large margin. He received 4.5 million votes.
Thanks for the info!
Would you argue that the current environment is as friendly to Tea Party types right now? It seems to me there has been definite movement from where we were in 2010 and 2012 with regards to the Tea Party and their popularity/support. There seemed to be a swell of support during the 2010 and 2012 elections, but I'm failing to remember if I saw as much of it in 2014. I know among my family that tends towards Fox News Conservatives, they are all over the Tea Party and used to be all about it.
I guess I'm not arguing he didn't run on an extreme platform or far to the right; he was a well known TP candidate. I'm questioning whether the environment and support for those types of positions is still as popular? I wonder if any TP challengers to R incumbents won primaries in 2014 and went on to win the Senate seat. If I get a chance, I'm going to look into that.
Well, I think as ESF said, things are splintering regionally right now. I have no doubt that after Cruz loses the presidential race, he'll be re-elected to the Senate in 2018. Would he get elected in Massachusetts? No. Texas? Abso-freaking-lutely. Because the GOP has gone totally bonkers there. Yet it dominates everything. I do not understand why so many people are voting for these radical candidates, but they are.
Texas Republicans? LOL. They are why I left the party.
Jeb Bush intrigues me. I got to hear some of a speech he gave to my DH'S company (please don't quote), and I liked what I heard. And I don't see the problem with "another" Bush. They are all different, and if he shakes out as the best, then I don't give a shit what his name is.
The Ohio governor is another, as is Sandoval in Nevada, and Martinez in New Mexico.
I likely would've voted for HRC, until the email bullshit.
Paul and Cruz make my eyes roll.
None of them "terrify" me.
I guess this is an issue of perspective.
Ted Cruz shut down the government because he was Lucy moving the football. He got basically everything he wanted and then was like, "Nope, I want more. NO MORE GOVERNMENT!"
That someone would exercise such incredibly poor judgment and would use federal workers as a political pawn like that does terrify me. My livelihood depends on the federal government operating. My city was a mess while the government shut down. That is a pretty unforgivable offense to me.
Someone who thinks shutting down the government is NBD and has no regrets about being the key player in the shutdown has no business holding public office, IMO. Certainly not the presidency. He read Green Eggs and Ham on the floor of the Senate. Talk about looking to actions - I just do not see how that demonstrates the temperament necessary to dealing with foreign governments and international crises. (FWIW, I totally get why people find HRC to be shady with the email thing - I am pretty disillusioned with her, trust me, I get it.)
YES to all of this! What is this idea that federal workers and their families aren't just regular people with mortgages and kiddos? No raises, constant threats to actually CUT pay, shut out of a job because some asshole is an asshole... Aren't we regular, middle class Americans, too?!?
He defeated David Dewhurst in the GOP primary, and Dewhurst is...not exactly moderate. He was endorsed by prominent Tea Party activitists. He was endorsed by Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, and even friggin' Erick Erickson (Red State douche). His extreme positions have always been part of the appeal. He beat the Democrat 56.4 percent to 40.6 percent, which is quite a large margin. He received 4.5 million votes.
Thanks for the info!
Would you argue that the current environment is as friendly to Tea Party types right now? It seems to me there has been definite movement from where we were in 2010 and 2012 with regards to the Tea Party and their popularity/support. There seemed to be a swell of support during the 2010 and 2012 elections, but I'm failing to remember if I saw as much of it in 2014. I know among my family that tends towards Fox News Conservatives, they are all over the Tea Party and used to be all about it.
I guess I'm not arguing he didn't run on an extreme platform or far to the right; he was a well known TP candidate. I'm questioning whether the environment and support for those types of positions is still as popular? I wonder if any TP challengers to R incumbents won primaries in 2014 and went on to win the Senate seat. If I get a chance, I'm going to look into that.
Yes. At the end of the day, there are a lot of very, very angry white people who used to live in homogenous communities who are now seeing changes, and fear that black people are going to come for their stuff.
I think the fact that Ted Cruz is Latino makes it very hard to portray all this as being about race, when that's what this actually comes down to. All this rhetoric about the ACA, about food stamps, about tax rates - it's not about fiscal responsibility or the proper role of the government. It's all about reminding blue collar whites that minorities are coming for their paycheck.
The first shows how voters are getting more ideological, and the electorate is getting more polarized. Swing voters are not going to be what drives elections anymore. Instead, contempt for the other is what is driving things now.
The other explains research that show that white people vote in higher rates and for more conservative policies when more minorities move in.
And let's not forget about what Fox News is going to do for this election.
Anyway, Ted Cruz is insane enough that I think that if he were to lose the primary, he will take his base of frothing, angry neo-confederates and run as an independent. He has already demonstrated that he will stop at nothing to stand up for them. He will do it to make a point to the GOP - that they can't win without these people, and that these people represent a sizable portion of the country. And when that happens, and the GOP suffers epic losses to the Dem candidate, it will be a day of reckoning for the GOP. Do they want to purge the disgusting elements of their party, or continue to be what they are?
Ted Cruz shut down the government because he was Lucy moving the football. He got basically everything he wanted and then was like, "Nope, I want more. NO MORE GOVERNMENT!"
That someone would exercise such incredibly poor judgment and would use federal workers as a political pawn like that does terrify me. My livelihood depends on the federal government operating. My city was a mess while the government shut down. That is a pretty unforgivable offense to me.
Someone who thinks shutting down the government is NBD and has no regrets about being the key player in the shutdown has no business holding public office, IMO. Certainly not the presidency. He read Green Eggs and Ham on the floor of the Senate. Talk about looking to actions - I just do not see how that demonstrates the temperament necessary to dealing with foreign governments and international crises. (FWIW, I totally get why people find HRC to be shady with the email thing - I am pretty disillusioned with her, trust me, I get it.)
YES to all of this! What is this idea that federal workers and their families aren't just regular people with mortgages and kiddos? No raises, constant threats to actually CUT pay, shut out of a job because some asshole is an asshole... Aren't we regular, middle class Americans, too?!?
no you aren't.
government workers are FAR more likely to be unionized, and therefore, are the enemy. FFS, just look at what they're doing to the postal service because they hate that union so much.
also, if you're going to make government small enough to drown in a bathtub, you can't worry about the collateral damage to a bunch of whiny liberal union members who probably couldn't get jobs in the private sector (why wouldn't they, when they could be paid so much more?)
Would you argue that the current environment is as friendly to Tea Party types right now? It seems to me there has been definite movement from where we were in 2010 and 2012 with regards to the Tea Party and their popularity/support. There seemed to be a swell of support during the 2010 and 2012 elections, but I'm failing to remember if I saw as much of it in 2014. I know among my family that tends towards Fox News Conservatives, they are all over the Tea Party and used to be all about it.
I guess I'm not arguing he didn't run on an extreme platform or far to the right; he was a well known TP candidate. I'm questioning whether the environment and support for those types of positions is still as popular? I wonder if any TP challengers to R incumbents won primaries in 2014 and went on to win the Senate seat. If I get a chance, I'm going to look into that.
Yes. At the end of the day, there are a lot of very, very angry white people who used to live in homogenous communities who are now seeing changes, and fear that black people are going to come for their stuff.
I think the fact that Ted Cruz is Latino makes it very hard to portray all this as being about race, when that's what this actually comes down to. All this rhetoric about the ACA, about food stamps, about tax rates - it's not about fiscal responsibility or the proper role of the government. It's all about reminding blue collar whites that minorities are coming for their paycheck.
The first shows how voters are getting more ideological, and the electorate is getting more polarized. Swing voters are not going to be what drives elections anymore. Instead, contempt for the other is what is driving things now.
The other explains research that show that white people vote in higher rates and for more conservative policies when more minorities move in.
And let's not forget about what Fox News is going to do for this election.
Anyway, Ted Cruz is insane enough that I think that if he were to lose the primary, he will take his base of frothing, angry neo-confederates and run as an independent. He has already demonstrated that he will stop at nothing to stand up for them. He will do it to make a point to the GOP - that they can't win without these people, and that these people represent a sizable portion of the country. And when that happens, and the GOP suffers epic losses to the Dem candidate, it will be a day of reckoning for the GOP. Do they want to purge the disgusting elements of their party, or continue to be what they are?
I'm in the middle of cleaning, so I will check those out later today... but quick question: how does the electoral map affect the swing voter situation? I feel like I've read that the electoral map favors Dems fairly heavily. I get that in very red states, people will likely come out in droves to vote for some of these clowns, but won't the election still come down to the states where those people aren't the majority? Are the people in those states as polarized and extreme as the people in the states that are locks?
I personally think that 2016 is going to be a massacre one way or the other for Rs. Whether it's because they run Ted Cruz or because he runs as an Independent.
Would you argue that the current environment is as friendly to Tea Party types right now? It seems to me there has been definite movement from where we were in 2010 and 2012 with regards to the Tea Party and their popularity/support. There seemed to be a swell of support during the 2010 and 2012 elections, but I'm failing to remember if I saw as much of it in 2014. I know among my family that tends towards Fox News Conservatives, they are all over the Tea Party and used to be all about it.
I guess I'm not arguing he didn't run on an extreme platform or far to the right; he was a well known TP candidate. I'm questioning whether the environment and support for those types of positions is still as popular? I wonder if any TP challengers to R incumbents won primaries in 2014 and went on to win the Senate seat. If I get a chance, I'm going to look into that.
Well, I think as ESF said, things are splintering regionally right now. I have no doubt that after Cruz loses the presidential race, he'll be re-elected to the Senate in 2018. Would he get elected in Massachusetts? No. Texas? Abso-freaking-lutely. Because the GOP has gone totally bonkers there. Yet it dominates everything. I do not understand why so many people are voting for these radical candidates, but they are.
Interesting. I thought Texas had a pretty diverse population and I had read some articles that suggested it was moving more...purple, I guess? But I also remember Katie being disgusted with the state GOP recently, too.
TN has a very dominant GOP that does a lot of really dumb shit, but in 2014, in my area, I think all of the more moderate R candidates won in the primaries (and then won in the general). And Alexander did not face a tough primary battle. It's not like Rs won't win here, but the battles are fought in the primaries, and it seems to some degree (I'm only familiar with my area and Alexander), some of the more moderate ones won last cycle compared to idiots like Campfield being elected in previous years. I know that's not the case everywhere in TN, though, and I also know that once in office, the pressure on the moderate Rs is pretty intense. Our governor is a relatively moderate R, all things considered, but he still gives in to various things and some of his initiatives are shot down in our huge majority R house and senate. I think the house is crazier than the senate...because the house passed making the bible the official state book and the senate did not. Sigh.
I actually think part of the solution is making sure voter turnout in primaries is significant. I think it's psychological for some people in these very red states to habitually vote R over D in the general - to the point that the races aren't even competitive - so the battle needs to be fought in primaries. I think in the past few years/cycles, the trend has been that the more rabid and extreme candidates have the money and ability to get out the vote and get their people to vote, but if more people participated and paid attention to the primaries, I think there would be a different outcome.
YES to all of this! What is this idea that federal workers and their families aren't just regular people with mortgages and kiddos? No raises, constant threats to actually CUT pay, shut out of a job because some asshole is an asshole... Aren't we regular, middle class Americans, too?!?
no you aren't.
government workers are FAR more likely to be unionized, and therefore, are the enemy. FFS, just look at what they're doing to the postal service because they hate that union so much.
also, if you're going to make government small enough to drown in a bathtub, you can't worry about the collateral damage to a bunch of whiny liberal union members who probably couldn't get jobs in the private sector (why wouldn't they, when they could be paid so much more?)
Yes. At the end of the day, there are a lot of very, very angry white people who used to live in homogenous communities who are now seeing changes, and fear that black people are going to come for their stuff.
I think the fact that Ted Cruz is Latino makes it very hard to portray all this as being about race, when that's what this actually comes down to. All this rhetoric about the ACA, about food stamps, about tax rates - it's not about fiscal responsibility or the proper role of the government. It's all about reminding blue collar whites that minorities are coming for their paycheck.
The first shows how voters are getting more ideological, and the electorate is getting more polarized. Swing voters are not going to be what drives elections anymore. Instead, contempt for the other is what is driving things now.
The other explains research that show that white people vote in higher rates and for more conservative policies when more minorities move in.
And let's not forget about what Fox News is going to do for this election.
Anyway, Ted Cruz is insane enough that I think that if he were to lose the primary, he will take his base of frothing, angry neo-confederates and run as an independent. He has already demonstrated that he will stop at nothing to stand up for them. He will do it to make a point to the GOP - that they can't win without these people, and that these people represent a sizable portion of the country. And when that happens, and the GOP suffers epic losses to the Dem candidate, it will be a day of reckoning for the GOP. Do they want to purge the disgusting elements of their party, or continue to be what they are?
I'm in the middle of cleaning, so I will check those out later today... but quick question: how does the electoral map affect the swing voter situation? I feel like I've read that the electoral map favors Dems fairly heavily. I get that in very red states, people will likely come out in droves to vote for some of these clowns, but won't the election still come down to the states where those people aren't the majority? Are the people in those states as polarized and extreme as the people in the states that are locks?
I personally think that 2016 is going to be a massacre one way or the other for Rs. Whether it's because they run Ted Cruz or because he runs as an Independent.
Did you see this when I posted it a few months ago?
The electoral map does heavily favor the Democrats. When you look at the actual numbers behind this map, things look even worse for the GOP. Obama got far more votes in Wisconsin than Scott Walker did on his best run, which provides a lot of clues as to how this blue state governor would really do in a national race. Obama got a lot more votes in Florida than Rubio did, and HRC killed Obama in the Florida primary. Rubio may be perceived as a moderate, but the odds seem excellent that he will get pummeled in Florida if HRC is his opponent.
So I don't actually think that rural white male anger is going to be enough to carry a national election where you've got a multicultural population and less devout partisans driving the outcome.
But I think it's enough to drive the outcome of the GOP primary. Even if we don't end up with Cruz, what the GOP candidates will have to say to get primary votes will alienate a lot of national race voters.
If Cruz breaks off and runs as an independent, I think we'd see the closest thing ever to a sweep in our lifetimes.
Why is thr email a faux-scandal? Unless transparency is not necessary in your world? Maybe it is bush/obamatransparency definition?
Ehh...I guess in my mind it's doesn't rise (yet??) to the level of criminal activity?? It was a mistake & poor judgement, and it still may blow up into something bigger if it comes out that she intentionally destroyed more documents with an ulterior motive.
IMO it's no different than the leeway ALL feds are given with regards to email and what should be kept vs. what can be deleted. That decision is left up to every fed employee
Well, I think as ESF said, things are splintering regionally right now. I have no doubt that after Cruz loses the presidential race, he'll be re-elected to the Senate in 2018. Would he get elected in Massachusetts? No. Texas? Abso-freaking-lutely. Because the GOP has gone totally bonkers there. Yet it dominates everything. I do not understand why so many people are voting for these radical candidates, but they are.
Interesting. I thought Texas had a pretty diverse population and I had read some articles that suggested it was moving more...purple, I guess? But I also remember Katie being disgusted with the state GOP recently, too.
TN has a very dominant GOP that does a lot of really dumb shit, but in 2014, in my area, I think all of the more moderate R candidates won in the primaries (and then won in the general). And Alexander did not face a tough primary battle. It's not like Rs won't win here, but the battles are fought in the primaries, and it seems to some degree (I'm only familiar with my area and Alexander), some of the more moderate ones won last cycle compared to idiots like Campfield being elected in previous years. I know that's not the case everywhere in TN, though, and I also know that once in office, the pressure on the moderate Rs is pretty intense. Our governor is a relatively moderate R, all things considered, but he still gives in to various things and some of his initiatives are shot down in our huge majority R house and senate. I think the house is crazier than the senate...because the house passed making the bible the official state book and the senate did not. Sigh.
I actually think part of the solution is making sure voter turnout in primaries is significant. I think it's psychological for some people in these very red states to habitually vote R over D in the general - to the point that the races aren't even competitive - so the battle needs to be fought in primaries. I think in the past few years/cycles, the trend has been that the more rabid and extreme candidates have the money and ability to get out the vote and get their people to vote, but if more people participated and paid attention to the primaries, I think there would be a different outcome.
Texas has the lowest voter turnout of any state in the country and has for years. I think you are right that it absolutely has the potential to turn purple if the voter turnout issue can be fixed.
It is no coincidence that the purple and about-to-turn purple states are where the GOP has focused efforts on curbing voter participation through voter ID laws, confusing regulations, reduced numbers of precincts, and other kinds of voting hurdles.
He defeated David Dewhurst in the GOP primary, and Dewhurst is...not exactly moderate. He was endorsed by prominent Tea Party activitists. He was endorsed by Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, and even friggin' Erick Erickson (Red State douche). His extreme positions have always been part of the appeal. He beat the Democrat 56.4 percent to 40.6 percent, which is quite a large margin. He received 4.5 million votes.
Thanks for the info!
Would you argue that the current environment is as friendly to Tea Party types right now? It seems to me there has been definite movement from where we were in 2010 and 2012 with regards to the Tea Party and their popularity/support. There seemed to be a swell of support during the 2010 and 2012 elections, but I'm failing to remember if I saw as much of it in 2014. I know among my family that tends towards Fox News Conservatives, they are all over the Tea Party and used to be all about it.
I guess I'm not arguing he didn't run on an extreme platform or far to the right; he was a well known TP candidate. I'm questioning whether the environment and support for those types of positions is still as popular? I wonder if any TP challengers to R incumbents won primaries in 2014 and went on to win the Senate seat. If I get a chance, I'm going to look into that.
I dunno. My state reelected our Tea Party governor last year, which shocked the hell out of me. We're a blue state, too.
ESF I recently visited some friends in the Dallas area and was really disappointed in voter outreach by the Democratic Party in their area. My friends are low income African immigrants living in an area dominated by naturalized Asian, African and to a lesser extent Hispanic Americans. These people would overwhelmingly vote D but no one in their massive apartment complex seemed to be a voter and none of them knew how to register. Get some college democrats off their butts and set them up outside the grocery store with voter registration forms!
Voter suppression is real and it's a problem, but the Democratic Party is not doing itself any favors by failing to reach the pockets of heavily concentrated likely D voters who want to engage but are intimidated by the process and don't know where to begin. My friend was going on and on about how she wanted to vote for Wendy Davis but couldn't figure it out in time. If the party can't get these people registered they kind of don't even deserve to win.
I agree completely. The Dems need to do much better. I think they focus their efforts on the usual swing states, but they are missing out on a huge opportunity by just writing Texas and so many other states off.
I'd be interested in donating to an organization that is focusing on vote participation and assisting with compliance with ID laws. I need to find one.
ESF I recently visited some friends in the Dallas area and was really disappointed in voter outreach by the Democratic Party in their area. My friends are low income African immigrants living in an area dominated by naturalized Asian, African and to a lesser extent Hispanic Americans. These people would overwhelmingly vote D but no one in their massive apartment complex seemed to be a voter and none of them knew how to register. Get some college democrats off their butts and set them up outside the grocery store with voter registration forms!
Voter suppression is real and it's a problem, but the Democratic Party is not doing itself any favors by failing to reach the pockets of heavily concentrated likely D voters who want to engage but are intimidated by the process and don't know where to begin. My friend was going on and on about how she wanted to vote for Wendy Davis but couldn't figure it out in time. If the party can't get these people registered they kind of don't even deserve to win.
I agree completely. The Dems need to do much better. I think they focus their efforts on the usual swing states, but they are missing out on a huge opportunity by just writing Texas and so many other states off.
I'd be interested in donating to an organization that is focusing on vote participation and assisting with compliance with ID laws. I need to find one.
a 50 State Strategy was a huge part of Howard Dean's chairmanship of the DNC
Interesting. I thought Texas had a pretty diverse population and I had read some articles that suggested it was moving more...purple, I guess? But I also remember Katie being disgusted with the state GOP recently, too.
TN has a very dominant GOP that does a lot of really dumb shit, but in 2014, in my area, I think all of the more moderate R candidates won in the primaries (and then won in the general). And Alexander did not face a tough primary battle. It's not like Rs won't win here, but the battles are fought in the primaries, and it seems to some degree (I'm only familiar with my area and Alexander), some of the more moderate ones won last cycle compared to idiots like Campfield being elected in previous years. I know that's not the case everywhere in TN, though, and I also know that once in office, the pressure on the moderate Rs is pretty intense. Our governor is a relatively moderate R, all things considered, but he still gives in to various things and some of his initiatives are shot down in our huge majority R house and senate. I think the house is crazier than the senate...because the house passed making the bible the official state book and the senate did not. Sigh.
I actually think part of the solution is making sure voter turnout in primaries is significant. I think it's psychological for some people in these very red states to habitually vote R over D in the general - to the point that the races aren't even competitive - so the battle needs to be fought in primaries. I think in the past few years/cycles, the trend has been that the more rabid and extreme candidates have the money and ability to get out the vote and get their people to vote, but if more people participated and paid attention to the primaries, I think there would be a different outcome.
Texas has the lowest voter turnout of any state in the country and has for years. I think you are right that it absolutely has the potential to turn purple if the voter turnout issue can be fixed.
It is no coincidence that the purple and about-to-turn purple states are where the GOP has focused efforts on curbing voter participation through voter ID laws, confusing regulations, reduced numbers of precincts, and other kinds of voting hurdles.
Also, Texas is just weird. The demographics are changing, and it does have the potential to turn purple. But then there are people like my dad, who has basically become a caricature of an angry white rural male who are convinced Obama does not love American and we need to put God back in the White House. And he's hardly an anomaly.
well, beyond the national elections, what's really fucked up is that the local level gerrymandering has so skewed the districts that the GOP will continue to control the state level politics & the HOR for generations to come So even if more & more people are voting for a Democrat, it doesn't matter except in a POTUS or senate election.
I'd love to see election reform where districts were drawn by non-partisans in a common sense manner.
I think Ted Cruz is this election's Herman Cain. I look forward to his similar ride off into the sunset. And hope his horse bucks him off and steps directly on his ballsack.
Also, Texas is just weird. The demographics are changing, and it does have the potential to turn purple. But then there are people like my dad, who has basically become a caricature of an angry white rural male who are convinced Obama does not love American and we need to put God back in the White House. And he's hardly an anomaly.
It is interesting here. Obviously the cities are really blue. I think there are lots of more moderate types of voters, who if you sit & talk to them about issues, would tend to be on board with some (most?) of the Dem policies, especially in the social realm (abortion, women's issues, environment, judicial reform). However, they watch too much Fox news, have voted GOP their entire life, are generally disinterested in politics enough to follow it, and still have boogie man issues (like gun control & immigration & taxes) that will always make them vote GOP even if they recognize that the GOP has some batshit crazy positions on other things.
Andplusalso, see my note above about gerrymandered districts & the fact that some how the GOP gets to (laughably) claim the title of the party that cares about fiscal responsibility.
I could be on board with John McCain if he ran again, but only if the Dem was someone I could not stomach.
I waited 12 years (12 YEARS) for McCain to get the nod and then he picks that god-damn BSC dingbat Palin as his running mate. I could not would not vote for her, so he didn't get my vote either. That was a sad day.
I don't think HRC is writing off states. She just hired some CA big guns to run a nor cal/so cal base of operations. I think she is taking a 50 state approach.
Also my sister is going to be part of the Texas blue wave as she is moving there next year with her liberal H and they are going to birth a couple of liberal babies. Just in time to vote. Yeeeeehaw!!!