endorsements

House of Cards by Nancy OhanianWhen I worked at Warner Bros, we would spend immense energy on rolling out new releases, especially for superstar artists like Madonna, Prince, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, Depeche Mode, Green Day...

The Des Moines Register and Elizabeth Warren agree that J.D. should be the next congressman from IA-04-- while the DCCC snoozesThere was a big stir Saturday night when an early version of the Des Moines Register hit the internet.

Click on the image to be able to read itThe Progressive Punch Top Ten. Ro Khanna is #1. It's based on votes, just votes. Ro's a friend of mine and early Tuesday I started getting e-mails and tweets aimed at me for supporting him-- not from Republicans but from progressives. Uggghhh, what now?

Last cycle I begged the Congressional Progressive Caucus to not throw south Texas progressive Sonny Palacios under the bus by endorsing hard-core conservative crook Vicente Gonzalez.

At the beginning of the video Bernie made when he endorsed Randy Bryce for Congress-- the only congressional endorsement he's done this year-- he whispered to Randy, sotto voce, "Listen to me, don't always listen to the consultants." And I don't know many people who have enough strength of character and personal integrity to listen less to "the consultants" than the two of them: Bernie and Randy, two guys with a mission and who know what they're doing. They take advice and weigh it... and do what they know is the right thing to do. And look at that endorsement.

Endorsements for candidates by other politicians don't generally mean much. They can even backfire... look what Trump's endorsements did for North Carolina Congresswoman Renee Ellmers. An incumbent, she lost her House seat. And look what happened when Trump endorsed-- multiple times-- Luther Strange. Though he spent millions of dollars more than crackpot pedophile Roy Moore, Trump's endorsement didn't do bupkis for Strange. And his endorsement for Ed Gillespie in Virginia actually caused Gillespie to sink in the polls.

The excitement around Randy Bryce's candidacy for the southeast Wisconsin congressional seat Paul Ryan has held since 1998-- without even one DCCC challenge, odd for a swing district Obama won in-- is palpable, growing and national. And in Wisconsin...

This morning weather is conducive to voting... just about everywhere except Ohio. And there was a big earthquake in Fracklahoma that may keep people in Pawnee and Payne counties, near Tulsa, from voting. (In 2012 Romney won both-- Pawnee with 70% and Payne with 64%-- but Trump will win Fracklahoma by a wide margin. It's his kind of state.)If you're a regular reader of this blog-- or even an occasional reader-- you know this is Bernie Sanders territory.

The case for HillaryThe 3 biggest newspapers in South Carolina, The Post and Courier, The State and the Greenville News are all reliably Republican in a reliably red state. In 1964 South Carolina was one of only 6 states to vote for Barry Goldwater when he was crushed by Lyndon Johnson, 43,127,041 to 27,175,754 in the popular vote and 486-52 in the electoral college.

It's been a downbeat election cycle and the NY Times' down-ballot endorsements yesterday reflect it. The highlight was an endorsement of Zephyr Teachout-- kind of a no-brainer compared to John Faso, a crooked lobbyist propped up by modern-day robber baron hedge fund managers Paul Singer and Robert Mercer. "Ms.