2020 congressional elections

Gym Jordan by Chip ProserLast week, much of the nation united in its hatred for a man few had ever heard of before, Gym Jordan, the former wrestling coach who allowed one of his colleagues to molest his Ohio State University students for years, despite their pleas for help.

I went to college at Stony Brook University in Suffolk County. Before I started school there, Democrat Otis Pike was the congressman. And when I graduated in 1969 he was still Suffolk's representative in Congress, a job he kept for another decade. I was never a big fan. He was too conservative and way too militaristic-- and at the height of the Vietnam War. When he retired he was succeeded by a far right crackpot, William Carney, best known for having been the first member of the Conservative Party to serve in the House.

Bernie won the SNL debate but a few hours before the show aired, the Washington Post's Paul Kane asserted that "For almost four months, House Democrats have enjoyed something that once seemed unattainable: relative calm inside their caucus.

It's crucially important to get to know who a candidate is in order to be able to predict what kind of a member of Congress they are likely to be-- not just how they will vote-- but also how they will lead, how competent and effective they will be, etc. Recently, we asked incisive author, labor activist, author and former congressional candidate Jonathan Tasini to spend some time with Central Valley progressive Kim Williams. The resulting interview on the Working Life Podcast (above) offers one of the best opportunities to get to know Williams.

Early this month we met Lauren Ashcraft, the progressive alternative to Wall Street-friendly Upper East Side Democrat Carolyn Maloney.

The November Emerson poll was released yesterday. The polling shows Bernie and Status Quo Joe tied for first place in the Democratic Primary, with only Elizabeth Warren as another viable candidate.

Early this month, we took a look at the conservative establishment candidate, Shannon Hutcheson, who EMILY's List and the DCCC have recruited to prevent progressive Democrat, Mike Siegel, from beating Republican Michael McCaul in Texas' 10th district.

Chicago's top political reporter, Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times, just blew up Blue Dog Dan Lipinski's reelection campaign by exposing an internal campaign document about how to appeal to Republican voters.

CA-42 is one of the last remaining red districts in California. The district voted against Obama both times he ran and last year gave Trump a 53.4-41.4% win over Hillary. The district, entirely in western Riverside County has an R+9 PVI. The main population centers are Corona, Norco, Eastvale, Menifee and Murrieta. A weird crooked Republican, Ken Calvert, has been in office there since 1992.

After Trump's big loss in Louisiana Saturday, congressional Republicans worried about self-reservation are even more worried than they were last week when they could persuade themselves it was just losing Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin's terrible personality. Now it's a simple equation: