campaign finance reform

Maybe I'm reading this wrong-- though I don't think so-- or maybe it just hasn't become a motivational priority yet for voters, but it looks like the zeitgeist is indicating that Americans are fed up-- angry even-- that super-rich donors are running American politics.

David Brock has been causing a stir recently because he runs a Clinton SuperPAC, Correct the Record, that tried to smear Bernie Sanders, linking him, ineffectively, to Hugo Chavez and U.K. progressive hero Jeremy Corbyn.

When Bernie announced his candidacy for president, know-it-all DC pundits all agreed he wasn't really serious and it was just a move by progressives to push Hillary Clinton toward crucial and popular progressive positions she would rather not fight with Republicans about. After all, Bernie exhibited none of the megalomania and fanatical House of Cards Frank Underwood drive to be president. And all he ever does is talk about goddam issues, issues, issues... he doesn't play the media games. Then something funny happened.

Kim Davis and Ro Khanna-- kind of "Democrats"Hopefully Steve Israel won't figure out that Kim Davis, the crackpot religionist fanatic clerk in Kentucky's Rowan County, is a Democrat.

Looks like we lost Oren Jacobson as a candidate against Lipinski, at least for the this cycle, but we've gained a sharp and dedicated new correspondent from Chicagoland. Last week he shared his reflections after Obama's speech in Charleston. This evening his topic is reflections on the Declaration of Indpendence as it has evolved and continues to evolve.

With Tammy Duckworth running for Mark Kirk's Senate seat, in the IL-08 district just northwest of Chicago (Schaumburg, Elgin, Carpentersville, Carol Stream, Hoffman Estates, Elk Grove Village, Bloomingdale)-- PVI D+8-- there's a rare opportunity to replace a careerist-centrist with a populist activist.

Well, the regular working families are the ones who take it in the neck, of course. Republicans grudgingly prepared to not shut down the government by bragging to their extremist fringe that they would still enforce plenty of pain on the poor people their party is perpetually at war with.

This week's guest on Bill Moyers shows were two academics-- Zephyr Teachout And Larry Lessig-- who "decided to practice what they preached. They left the classroom, confronted the reality of down-and-dirty politics, and tried to replace moneyed interests with the public interest." Teachout stunned Andrew Cuomo and his backers by winning over a third of the vote and 30 of New York's 62 counties. She won Ulster County with 70%, Schoharie County with 71.7%, Columbia County with 77.9% and Albany County, where they know Cuomo best, with 61.9%. Cuomo spent $60.62 per vote.

Dark money brought down dweeby centrist President Garrett Walker. Like so many post-Citizens United politicians, he was getting laundered political contributions from China. Uregulated capitalism, which isn't only prevalent in the U.S. but has replaced Communism as China's religion, is on the march-- and putting democracy in check is essential. Anyone who thinks this pillars of society can be trusted should take a look at this L.A.

This election cycle should serve as a case study in how not to run the DCCC. We've been referring to it as The Steve Israel Effect but, even if Israel is the worst practitioner ever, the DCCC's inability to do its job predated Israel for as long as anyone alive can remember.