During the campaign Trump fared poorly when he tried interfering with Republican primaries. His crackpot candidates all lost. He endorsed and cut radio spots for Renee Ellmers (R-NC), the first woman in Congress to endorse him. Despite his help-- possibly because of it-- she barely managed to come in second in her three-way primary.
Remember the bright red "Keep Calm It Won't Be Trump" memes floating around the internet as recently as two weeks ago? No more. Geoff Garin, head of Hart Research polled 160 political insiders about who they expected to see win the Republican nomination. Way back in October, 8% had chosen Herr Trumpf. Now 59% say the GOP nominee will be Herr.
According to the new Morning Consult polling data released yesterday on the popularity of the 50 states' governors, Ohio Republican John Kasich is doing pretty well. Back in Ohio, he has a 59% approval rating and just a 29% disapproval rating. His popularity back home, though, isn't translating in the Republican presidential primary, where he is barely a factor.
Politicians are widely seen as legitimate-- even healthy-- targets of skepticism, derision and raucous humor. Rachel Maddow's opening piece on one of her MSNBC shows this week-- a look at Jeb Bush's tech campaign-- was nothing short of hilarious. I have two broken ribs and I was in pain from laughing so hard while I watched it.
Monday there was a big buzz over Alex Isenstadt's Obama Republicans? post in Politico. The premise is that the new Congress will include 26 Members from districts that Obama won in 2012 and another 47 from districts Obama nearly won, many of which are absolutely Hillary Clinton territory.
Without Steve Israel's incompetence, Glenn Grothman wouldn't be on his way to becoming a Member of CongressThere are some close House races that may not be decided until 3 weeks from today. But the vast majority of the 435 elections have already been decided. Because of gerrymandering, some districts are so red or so blue that the incumbents don’t have electoral opponents.
This morning Alex Isenstadt did a provocatively titled article for Politico, The Worst Campaigns of 2014. How hard is it to point to Eric Canter's loss and laugh your ass off now? Or Pat Roberts'? Or Chris McDaniels'?
Poor Sean Eldridge is getting blamed for Steve Israel's "Mystery Meat Strategy." He and his husband, Chris Hughes, have contributed so much money to Steve Israel's corrupt enterprise that, surely, he deserves better.
