2024 Elections

[O Really]

South Carolina has an early primary.

And Alabama is thumbing its nose at the Supreme Court ruling on its illegally gerrymandered districts.

[Vrede too]

Last night trump was in Alabama.

Today in South Carolina.

Why? There's nothing to win in these places.

South Carolina has an early primary.

And Alabama is thumbing its nose at the Supreme Court ruling on its illegally gerrymandered districts.

Not to mention misogynist Tommy Tumor's war with the military and the loss of Space Command.

[GoCubsGo]

Last night trump was in Alabama.

Today in South Carolina.

Why? There's nothing to win in these places.

South Carolina has an early primary.

And Alabama is thumbing its nose at the Supreme Court ruling on its illegally gerrymandered districts.

Not to mention misogynist Tommy Tumor's war with the military and the loss of Space Command.

Again, nothing to win besides ego boost and fundraising (which is probably the correct answer).

You'd think that his advisers would want him burning energy and money in contested battleground areas instead of comfortable surroundings.

[O Really]

You'd think that his advisers would want him burning energy and money in contested battleground areas instead of comfortable surroundings.

Sure, in a world even on the fringes of rational. But he really doesn't have any contested battleground areas in the primary season, and when did he ever pay attention to advisers anyway?

I'm thinking about now he needs all the "comfortable surroundings" he can get.

[Vrede too]

Again, nothing to win besides ego boost and fundraising (which is probably the correct answer).

You'd think that his advisers would want him burning energy and money in contested battleground areas instead of comfortable surroundings.

You're thinking about the general. For now, TRE45QN is focused on winning the nomination.

[billy.pilgrim]

Last night trump was in Alabama.

Today in South Carolina.

Why? There's nothing to win in these places.

According to Trump, he "loves the poorly educated."

According to me, he's only going to go places he'll get an adoring crowd-ish.

Edit: Real life - Alabama is the 5th least educated state, South Carolina is #12.

[billy.pilgrim]

Last night trump was in Alabama.

Today in South Carolina.

Why? There's nothing to win in these places.

According to Trump, he "loves the poorly educated."

According to me, he's only going to go places he'll get an adoring crowd-ish.

Edit: Real life - Alabama is the 5th least educated state, South Carolina is #12.

Real life
SC - 39
Ala - 46

They ain't far apart

[Vrede too]

Last night trump was in Alabama.

Today in South Carolina.

Why? There's nothing to win in these places.

According to Trump, he "loves the poorly educated."

According to me, he's only going to go places he'll get an adoring crowd-ish.

Edit: Real life - Alabama is the 5th least educated state, South Carolina is #12.

Real life
SC - 39
Ala - 46

They ain't far apart

He was just in Erie, and he lied about the crowd size as usual. PA is a general election swing state. Idk where PA falls on whatever education rankings y'all are using.

How turnout at Trump's recent Erie rally compares to former president's past appearances

[GoCubsGo]

How turnout at Trump's recent Erie rally compares to former president's past appearances

Half capacity for a 9,000 seat arena.

Ouch.

[O Really]

Pennsylvania is about the middle for education, but remember PA is a big state wit Philadelphia on one end Pittsburgh on the other and Alabama in the middle.

[Vrede too]

Pennsylvania is about the middle for education, but remember PA is a big state wit Philadelphia on one end Pittsburgh on the other and Alabama in the middle.

Erie is a somewhat Dem city in a purple county. I think the Dolt .45 tour is at least a bit more strategic than just going where he's loved.

[Vrede too]

Democratic lawmaker mulling run against Biden says voters want 'competition' not a 'coronation'

Dean Phillips

I could see voting for him in the primary.

[O Really]

Democratic lawmaker mulling run against Biden says voters want 'competition' not a 'coronation'

Dean Phillips

I could see voting for him in the primary.

Yeah, that works. It got Trump nominated in 2016 and Hillary on the rubbish heap. IMNVHO, a competition works well when you've got 2-3 viable candidates, any of whom could be widely supported if they win. And if they run a campaign mostly positive, following Reagans' 11th commandment, and saying, in effect, "My opponent(s) are fine and capable people, but I'm better."

I wish we had better than Biden, and Phillips might be, but he can't show up from the back benches of Minnesota with his biggest claim to fame being that Abigail Van Buren was his step mother-in-law and expect to be competitive.

[billy.pilgrim]

I wish Al Franken could run. Maybe he should.

[Vrede too]

Democratic lawmaker mulling run against Biden says voters want 'competition' not a 'coronation'

Dean Phillips

I could see voting for him in the primary.

Yeah, that works. It got Trump nominated in 2016 and Hillary on the rubbish heap. IMNVHO, a competition works well when you've got 2-3 viable candidates, any of whom could be widely supported if they win. And if they run a campaign mostly positive, following Reagans' 11th commandment, and saying, in effect, "My opponent(s) are fine and capable people, but I'm better."

I wish we had better than Biden, and Phillips might be, but he can't show up from the back benches of Minnesota with his biggest claim to fame being that Abigail Van Buren was his step mother-in-law and expect to be competitive.

Yeah, all that occurred to me, too. Otoh, no one as old as Joe or Dolt .45 has ever been elected POTUS. So, charting new territory either way.

It doesn't sound like Phillips will trash Biden. I noticed this on the Wiki page:

Tenure

According to FiveThirtyEight's congressional vote tracker at ABC News, Phillips voted with President Joe Biden's stated public policy positions 100% of the time, making him more liberal than average in the 117th Congress when predictive scoring (district partisanship and voting record) is used. During the start of his first term in 2019, the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University placed him 27th out of 435 members in terms of bipartisanship.

I wish Al Franken could run. Maybe he should.

72 years old.

[O Really]

Yeah, all that occurred to me, too. Otoh, no one as old as Joe or Dolt .45 has ever been elected POTUS. So, charting new territory either way.

Also, getting elected President from the House isn't good odds either. Only once before, with Garfield, which didn't work out very well for him.

[Vrede too]

Yeah, all that occurred to me, too. Otoh, no one as old as Joe or Dolt .45 has ever been elected POTUS. So, charting new territory either way.

Also, getting elected President from the House isn't good odds either. Only once before, with Garfield, which didn't work out very well for him.

Surprising. AOC may be the second.

[billy.pilgrim]

Yeah, all that occurred to me, too. Otoh, no one as old as Joe or Dolt .45 has ever been elected POTUS. So, charting new territory either way.

Also, getting elected President from the House isn't good odds either. Only once before, with Garfield, which didn't work out very well for him.

We elected someone who had never been in any kind of election.
As far as no one from the House - that's more likely because once upon a time long long ago we considered a Senators experience, and even more so a governor’s experience, to be preferable to the more transient nature of Representatives. Those times have changed.
Obama wasn't the most qualified experienced politician according to republicans, so they doubled down with trump's stupidity as payback.

[GoCubsGo]

Hard to believe the two leading Republican candidates are trump and this guy.

Our country is broken.

[O Really]

We elected someone who had never been in any kind of election.

Yes but Trump is a unicorn - and not in a good way.
But your unspoken point is well taken that Trump has lowered the bar and made it more likely that personality, image, as well as the ever-present piles of money might be more important than experience. And in some cases, mostly at state level, that hasn't been awful. Ventura in Minnesota, the Governator in California both got elected on name recognition and did much better than might be expected. Tubbyville, though, as an example is awful. Eventually we'll be governed by a bunch of actors, ex-sports people, and media influencers. Can we make Simone Biles Secretary of Energy?