rural voters

The Chosen One by Nancy OhanianWhen I was growing up, California was a swing state (as was Utah). New York, Illinois and New Jersey leaned Democratic... but not dependably so. The two bluest states in the country were West Virginia and Arkansas, sensibly so since they were two of the poorest states. Things have changed, drastically.

Trump doesn't own a dog; he doesn't understand that relationship. In fact, he hates animals. And he laughs at farmers-- even if was, after all, rural counties that made him president.

A new poll done by Change Research-- a very good firm-- found that 60% of voters in rural counties in 9 states-- Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and West Virginia-- approve of the way Trump is doing his job.

2 politicians Ernst should never be near when a camera is around: white nationalists Trump and Steve KingMaybe she was making a play for a bipartisan conservative ticket with Biden-- or maybe she's crazy. But Iowa freshman Senator Joni Ernst (R) looks like she made a classic rookie error this week when she intimated that Social Security benefits had to be cut. First a little background on Iowa, a classic swing state.

Jason Butler is the newest candidate Blue America has endorsed. He's running for a North Carolina seat (NC-02) that is about half suburban and half rural. The incumbent, George Holding, is just a good-for-nothing corporate shill and Trump rubber-stamp and enabler.

I had dinner with a member of Pelosi's leadership team this week to talk about 2020 House candidates. Who was the first candidate the Member wanted to talk about? Audrey Denney. So I had a real shock ready. Chico, up in Butte County, isn't exactly a bustling metropolis. The population is about 94,776, not exactly the kind of place presidential candidates are flocking to. But it's the biggest city in CA-01, the predominantly rural northeast California congressional district where Denney is running to replace Trump enabler Doug LaMalfa.

Over the past two weeks I've talked to 7 new candidates running for Congress. One doesn't support Medicare-for-All, the Green New Deal, banning assault weapons or even raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and I told her she was calling the wrong organization and to try the DCCC or EMILY's List. The others are being vetted. The easiest candidate to endorse though was Jason Butler, running in North Carolina’s 2nd district.

Don't Be So Sure by Chip ProserIn the August IBD/TIPP poll of registered voters, which closed before the Trump supporter massacred 22 people in an El Paso Walmart and before China signaled they had stopped buying America agricultural products-- a signal that there is likely to be a depression in the farm belt

Heidi and TrumpanzeeOn a recent episode of the NY Times podcast, The Daily, Alex Burns interviewed former Senator Heidi Heitkamp. Whether you call what happened in 2018 a blue wave-- in which case you'd be wrong-- or an anti-red /anti-Trump wave-- in which case you'd be correct-- Heitkamp lost her seat while dozens of other Democrats were winning. Kevin Cramer beat her 179,720 (55.1%) to 144,376 (44.3%), although she outspent him massively.

Today, the New York Times reported that "the fall in longer-term bond yields has not been matched by a fall in shorter-term rates. For example, a 30-day Treasury bill is yielding 2.35 percent-- meaning you can earn more on your money tying it up for a month risk-free than you can tying it up for a full decade. This is not normal. It is called an inverted yield curve, and historically it has been viewed as a sign of a recession in the offing.