Jess King

Bernie's point this week, when he asked his supporters to back 3 candidates in Pennsylvania, was that "if we are going to defeat right-wing Republicans in 2018 and 2020, we need to win in states that Trump won, like Pennsylvania.

Republican strategists are counting on this to defeat DemocratsYesterday, a group of Jess King allies in Pennsylvania, People’s Action, sent out an e-mail reminding their supporters that "We live in a populist moment. More and more Americans understand that the economy has been rigged against them. They know that our politics has been corrupted by big money. Rural and small town America have taken some of the hardest hits.

Tuesday is primary day in Texas. The most closely followed races are in TX-07 (Houston), TX-32 (Dallas), TX-23 (Rio Grande Valley), and TX-21 (Austin-San Antonio), races that are considered flippable in November.

Back in early December we were warning Democratic candidates to start inoculating themselves immediately from the sure GOP attack that is coming-- "my opponent" is a Nancy Pelosi puppet." Remember when God tried to kill scores of Republicans on the train last week?

Frank Schaeffer is continuing his roadtrip, meeting progressive congressional candidate and filming them as introductions of the best candidates running. Last we caught up with him was in Lewiston, Maine where he spent a day Jared Golden, the progressive candidate running for the swing district that isn't the Portland coastal area. From there he headed off to Omaha where he met with Kara Eastman.

The Guaranteed Income (UBI) proposals floating around, courtesy of the Silicon Valley aristocracy, is a dangerous trap, fraught with right-wing austerity dangers. Progressives who have put any time into it are far more interested in the Job Guarantee models, as we discussed here on Tuesday.

A few days ago, we compared the endorsement questionnaires that Lancaster Stands Up sent out to the PA-16 candidates.

Most of the top pick-up congressional districts have half a dozen of so Democratic candidates vying for nominations this cycle. And often there are multiple viable candidates, racing good money and putting together competitive campaigns. So how do you know who to support?

It was actually silly for Trump to tweet yesterday that Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones is somehow a Pelosi/Schumer puppet. And, an hour later, he repeated the focus group-tested phrase. Puppet? Pelosi puppet? Jones is running for Senate and Schumer's name isn't toxic enough (yet) among the Fox/Hate Talk Radio masses to stand on its own.

PA-16 is another of those bizarrely gerrymandered congressional districts courtesy of a Republican legislature that shouldn't be in the majority. Pennsylvania is a 50/50 state, perhaps with a slight Democratic lean. The state's PVI is EVEN, although the districts were drawn to yield 13 Republican seats in Congress and just 5 Democrats instead of 9 from each party.