The most powerful political brand of 2018 belongs to Randy Bryce, the iron worker, single dad, caring son and veteran running against Paul Ryan in southeast Wisconsin: IronStache. He's raised over $5,000,000 in small contributions and he's so popular among ordinary working folks that incumbents are asking him to come to their districts and campaign with them! The Republicans had a military vet with a mustache running as well... and on Tuesday his red, red district swung 20 points blue and he lost to some mediocre woos Democrat named Conor Lamb in 2018's first mega-upset... first of many in all likelihood. Republicans are looking for a reason they got creamed. My favorite excuse was in the Washington Examiner. "Frustrated by Saccone’s performance, some Republicans have gone so far as to zero in on his mustachioed appearance. 'It's a porn stache,' said one Pennsylvania-based GOP strategist. 'He should have lost the mustache.'" Tell it to Randy Bryce. Women of all ages seem to swoon over his mustachioed everyman appearance. And, unlike Saccone-- or for that matter Lamb-- Bryce has something to say, something voters pay attention to... and find relatable.The PA-18 race was pretty simple. The Republicans spent $10,000,000 to make the election about Nancy Pelosi. You don't think so? This is what voters in Allegheny, Washington, Westmoreland and Greene counties were seeing for the last six weeks:and this:and, when they wanted to get out of the gutter (a little), this:But Trump, more than the DCCC, more than the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, and far more than Lamb's campaign, made the PA-18 election about Trump. Trump-- who can't help himself, made the special election (in a district he had won by over 19 points) all about him. Tuesday was a referendum on Trump and Trump lost-- BIGLY! Trump is a fool-- and he won't listen to anyone. He's president so he believes everyone under him is also stupider than him, because... they're under him. In remarks delivered at a private fundraising event for Missouri right-wing nut Josh Hawley on Wednesday and obtained by The Atlantic, Señor Trumpanzee attributed Lamb’s success to the fact that he "sounds like a Republican."After the GOP spent millions painting Lamb as a Frankenstein monster made up of pieces of Obama, Pelosi, Bernie, Pocahontas and... did we mention Pelosi?, Trump told the Hawley supporters that "The young man last night that ran, he said, 'Oh, I’m like Trump. Second Amendment, everything. I love the tax cuts, everything.’ He ran on that basis," Trump said. "He ran on a campaign that said very nice things about me. I said, 'Is he a Republican? He sounds like a Republican to me.'"Actually, what Lamb sounds like is exactly what he is, a wishy-washy Blue Dog Democrat with no political courageousness. He's not a Republican; he's from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. And he doesn't sound like Trump at all, although they agree-- to some degree-- on a few issues.
[T]he day after Saccone lost by a razor-thin margin against Lamb, a square-jawed Marine veteran who was careful not to make anti-Trumpism the central tenet of his campaign, Trump’s Twitter feed was empty of any mentions of the race. The president did return to one familiar self-congratulatory mode: He argued at the Hawley fundraiser that his last-minute rally for Saccone on Saturday in Moon Township had been an overall success, saying that it boosted the candidate’s vote total.“We had an interesting time because we lifted [Saccone] seven points up. That’s a lot,” Trump said. “And I was up 22 points, and we lifted seven, and seven normally would be enough, but we’ll see how it all comes out. It’s, like, virtually a tie.” (It was not exactly clear what Trump was basing his conclusion of a seven-point boost on.)He also attempted to downplay the race’s significance. “It’s actually interesting, because it’s only a congressman for five months,” Trump said, referring to the fact that the district will likely be redrawn ahead of the midterm elections in November"... Trump may have attributed Lamb’s success to the seemingly conservative message in his campaign, but he also cautioned that Lamb’s party affiliation would take priority in Washington, despite his pledge not to back Pelosi for speaker. “The bottom line is when he votes, he’s going to vote with Nancy Pelosi. And he’s gonna vote with Schumer,” Trump said. “And that’s what’s gonna happen, and there’s nothing he can do about it. So it doesn’t matter what he feels, it doesn’t matter.”Speaking of which... this morning Mike Allen started the day with a warning that Pelosi could be in trouble after the Democratic wave sweeps her party back into power in November. He wrote that "Top Democrats" tell him that "if they take back the House in November, a restoration of Speaker Nancy Pelosi is no longer guaranteed."• In fact, some well-wired House Democrats predict she will be forced aside after the election and replaced by a younger, less divisive Dem.• Conor Lamb, 33, won his U.S. House race in Pennsylvania this week after saying he wouldn't vote for her for leader-- a new template for moderates.• Pelosi has hung in through the minority, and remains the party's most consistent fundraiser. As for whether she'll return as Speaker, she has just said that it's up to the members. (Her allies note that she has never lost a leadership vote.)• But others have their eye on the gavel, and many members want a younger, newer face. Her No. 2 and longtime rival, House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, 78, covets the job but is three months older than she is.• Pelosi is more likely to be the bridge to a younger generation. A possible successor, who works the caucus behind the scenes, is Rep. Joe Crowley of Queens, N.Y., who turns 56 tomorrow.• Another possible candidate who's getting buzz: Rep. Adam Schiff, a fellow Californian who has a sky-high profile as the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, investigating Russia's role in 2016.One Democratic source told me that Pelosi hears footsteps: “She used to be retributional. Now she’s more inclusive.”
• Pelosi allies see some of the criticism as sexist, and say she has always been inclusive of all parts of the caucus' diversity, including newer members.• Pelosi told the Congressional Progressive Caucus at a retreat in Baltimore last week: "Every morning, I don a suit of armor, eat nails for breakfast, and go fight inequality."• President Trump plans to invoke her frequently in midterm speeches, and Republicans already use her image to raise funds. And in campaigns this fall, many Dems challengers will be put on the spot about whether they'd vote for her as Speaker.One scenario, from a Pelosi ally:
• "She could win the caucus vote [for Speaker] easily but lose the floor vote."• "[I]f Dems win the majority by, say, a 10-vote majority, and 15 newly elected Dems have committed not to vote for her [like Conor Lamb in Pennsylvania] for leader of the party, ... she could lose the floor vote for Speaker. That would give the House to the head of the Republicans."• "She would never let that happen, and she would bow out to someone else."• "[S]he’s the best vote counter this generation has ever seen. So she’ll know this scenario well in advance, and will figure out a way out that will preserve her legacy."Be smart: If there's a post-election coup against Pelosi, Crowley is the likely winner because Schiff and the others would scramble the field and Joe is acceptable to all factions.
• One knowing Dem says: "My guess is Crowley is the next Dem Speaker/Leader. He’s the fresh face that the majority of the caucus yearns for ... He’s a spring chicken by congressional standards, at 55 years old."
Crowley is the most corrupt Democrat in the House. The Queens County Democrat boss who was handed his seat and never fought a real election in his entire life and the "former" head of the New Dems, is the bagman who launders Wall Street's money into the Democratic House Caucus. He's "acceptable to all factions" because he pays off all factions. Pelosi's corpse would make a better Speaker than Crowley. The thought of Crowley as Speaker is so disgusting that I'm going to go to the bathroom and vomit now. Crowley is even worse than this: