Strictly a coincidence, but Tuesday afternoon we happened to mention that when Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio progressive, was in the House, he was serving alongside Republican Rob Portman and conservaDem Ted Strickland.
Would you trust an organization asking you for contributions if you knew they had endorsed Joe Lieberman and Blanche Lincoln? Council for a Livable World has been around for a long time and they've done some very good work, but they've also asked their followers to contribute to those two and to reactionaries like John Sparkman of Alabama, a racist and a signatory to the Southern Manifesto in opposition to the 1954 U.S.
Every endorsement for Trump is a loss for Tailgunner Ted CruzThursday night we looked at how racist Republicans in Congress could help legitimize Trump by echoing his Know-Nothing immigration platform, generally ugly positions they have been espousing for years anyway.
Even Bill can't perform miracles when the candidate is completely implausibleAuthor Steven King is such an iconic figure in Maine that I have to think his fulsome endorsement of Shenna Bellows for Senate helped— at the very least— to draw much-needed attention to her race.
With Steve Israel's policy of never targeting GOP leaders, policy makers and committee chairman keeping the DCCC out of the MN-02 race that pits progressive Mike Obermueller against reactionary incumbent John Kline-- chair of the powerful and destructive House Committee of Education and the Workforce-- Blue America was over the moon that Bill Maher has stepped into the breach.
The big endorsement news in L.A. yesterday was when Mayor Eric Garcetti-- or as many people around here refer to him, future POTUS Eric Garcetti-- backed Ted Lieu for Congress in the CA-33 seat Henry Waxman is giving up. "Tuesday's election is extremely important for the future of our region," said Mayor Garcetti.
Not everybody studies the records of politicians asking for their votes. I do. But for many people, at least some of the time, it's pretty much essential to consider what a trusted organization recommends. When I see the DCCC has jumped in strong for a candidate, it always makes me reticent and makes me wonder what's wrong with the candidate. Are they weak on core progressive values? Are they prone to taking orders from the top? Are they prone towards corruption?
The L.A. Times is a Republican-owned newspaper and-- in a heavily Democratic city-- they tend to bend editorially towards as conservative a direction as they can get away with.
You've probably noticed that I've been sympathetic-- even inspired-- by Marianne Williamson's congressional race in the very upscale L.A. Westside district, CA-33, that includes, iconic "Hollywood" communities like Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Malibu, Venice, Bel Air, Brentwood, Manhattan Beach, Marina dell Rey, Westwood, Rancho Palos Verdes, even a little bit of West Hollywood itself. A lifelong progressive Democrat, she's running as an Independent-- the same way that Bernie Sanders has always chosen to run as an Independent, not as a Democrat.
