Meet Dan Sena, DCCC Executive Director (the one on the right)Here's how the DCCC staff Hive Mind works: we have to win this cycle so we'll be worth more as consultants next year. Here's how the DCCC leadership Hive Mind works: we have to win this cycle so we can... get the leadership back and do something or other... you know, whatever Pelosi and Hoyer think we need to do.
Whether on the air or here at DWT, whenever I want an example of the worst of the worst DCCC recruits for Congress, I invariably turn to south Jersey (NJ-02) and state Senator Jeff Van Drew. He has no saving grace... other than his ability to placate conservatives. That's because he is one himself. Next year, when he's in Congress, there will be virtually no crucial issues on which you will find Van Drew voting with the Democrats.
Unless you can make a clear case for outright villainy-- a really clear case-- Democratic primary voters do not like Democratic primary opponents attacking each other. They hate it. Republican primary voters love to see their primary candidates attacking each other, but Democrats want the attacks saved for general elections, not primaries.
Best People by Chip ProserJonathan Freedland, in last week's New York Review of Books took a step away from his usual role of defending all things American. Trump has changed all that-- and probably for many more avid fans of America than Freedland. "We’ve seen hideous U.S. presidencies before," he wrote, "but what is happening under Trump goes further.
Normally, I don't buy into "lesser-of-two-evils" politics. If Democrats nominate a corrupt reactionary Blue Dog, I'm at least as incensed as I am over a Republican. That's not going to change either. And, I'm still saying that "normally" no longer applies, not with Trump and his Congress-ful of enablers and rubber stamps.
Trump is underwater-- and so is his party-- especially in swing statesWe were all aware that Señor Trumpanzee’s net approval rating-- the percentage of people who approve of the president minus the percentage who disapprove-- has declined nationally since January 2017 but what's a little surprising is that
The Democratic establishment was happy, happy in far right extremist Dave Brat's 7th congressional district in Virginia. There was a fairly evenly matched race between two moderates-- at DWT, when we use the word "moderate," we mean moderate, not conservative the way the Beltway media uses it. Both Democrats, ex-CIA agent Abigail Spanberger and marine Daniel Ward, raised around $900,000, just as Brat had.
The White House by Nancy OhanianThe worst-run White House ever? You bet! Just ask Susan Glasser at the New Yorker.
Max Boot is a 48 year old Republican historian who was born in Moscow. His parents emigrated to L.A. when he was young and he now lives in Westchester County. He writes books and essays for establishment publications, generally of the right-wing persuasion. He described his own politics like this last year:
This is hard for me. I've been running my mouth over the past several years that I'm done with the "lesser of two evils politics" the Democrats (and, I guess, the Republicans) thrive on. The Democrats persuade base voters to back their putrid candidates by threatening us all with how bad the Republican is in comparison.
