President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

My wife and I went to vote in our primary, and there was a middle-aged man and woman there near the entrance (but appeared to be far enough away from the entrance to be legal), wearing shirts and hats with a candidate's name. Not just any candidate, but one of the most reprehensible (to me) right-wing nutjobs on the ballot. One who had every campaign ad shooting off a semi-automatic rifle or flame-thrower, talking about ridding America of the "woke fringe left" and all that shit.

We're walking past them and the woman says, "Good morning", and I replied with a "Go fuck yourself!" I should have been the bigger person and ignored her, and my wife was a little pissed at me.

I told my wife, "They want to be a violent extremist, be all 'Fuck your feelings, snowflake' and that, then I can play that game, too."

I'm so ready for this election to be over.

 

If Harris is going to win, it’s because she makes a significant jump in support from white voters compared to Biden in 2020 (who in turn did better with those voters than Hillary Clinton). There are too many reports from too many places showing that black voter turnout is weak, even before accounting for the fact that Trump will peel away a small but significant number of those voters he didn’t have in 2020. I can’t find much reporting on how Hispanic voters are faring on that front but it doesn’t look all that promising either.

Now that isn’t an impossible strategy for her. The gender gap has grown and women outvote men. I’ve been skeptical of the idea of “silent blue” women canceling their man’s vote in the privacy of the booth, but in a race this close a little of that could do a lot. And midterm elections in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin held up well for the Democrats even as turnout suffered in Philly and Milwaukee.

But that’s an awfully small target to aim for. Her campaign needs to find a way to turn around enthusiasm in minority communities and they are practically out of runway. If the results still look grim after the early voting figures are updated from this weekend (traditionally the biggest “souls to the polls” Sunday push for African-American congregations) then hold on to your asses.

 

100% agree with this. She thought it was in the bag, and the "bag of deplorables" wouldn't in any way, shape or form be able to overcome Goodness & Righteousness & All My Experience!

She got smug, elitist, showed a "got his ass!" attitude and then just couldn't believe how she was rejected.

Many people voted for him simply because they thought smart people would keep him in line, he couldn't be that batshit crazy, and they simply hated her and the thought of another Clinton in the WH. A lot of them would've voted for a roadkill 'possum before her.

 

Or balls comma blue.

 

Some of that has crept back in for the Democrats the last two weeks. My pet theory is that after Harris made this a real race with unconventional tactics, the campaign machinery she inherited let out a sigh of relief and then started steering things back to the kind of conventional campaign they are familiar with running. And most of the entrenched Democratic gurus in this field are dogshit.

 

Honestly don't know how they get comfortable and smug about something like this. You simply cannot do it.

Didn't any of these Dem gurus play sports? Do they listen to Carville or just ignore him as some country bump eating shrimp and yammering on pods?

 

You don't get down in the slop and come out smelling like a rose.

 

^^^ agrees.

 

I really think this is unfair to Harris's campaign. What should she and they have done differently in the past month?

 

They should have continued hammering the "weird" point. It was working and there are far too many people in this country that simply cannot have an honest conversation about Trump, so when you call him a "fascist" or "threat to democracy," they shut down and tune out. That's a bridge too far for them, like a parent who doesn't want to have a talk about their kid having a learning disability. "La la la that's over the top la la la we'll get him a tutor and he'll be fine la la la."

And they are fuckin' weird.

 

Zero argument there.

 

The best ad I’ve seen this cycle is going to waste on a congressional race here that will end up R-plus 40.

Digital billboard on I-65. “Gary Palmer voted NO to fixing this road.”

Short, descriptive, provocative and true. More stuff like that please instead of taking two paragraphs to make some esoteric point about a Republican opponent.

I still think on balance Harris has run a helluva campaign to have a slightly worse than coin flip chance in a classic anti-incumbent year. My fear is there has been much time and money in the final days spent on chasing the unicorn of “reasonable Republican voters” instead of motivating the Democratic base that they assumed would show up regardless.