Kara Eastman

I spend a lot of time on the phone with congressional candidates trying to figure out who to believe and who not to believe. How progressive are they? How courageous? How capable? It didn't take much of a discussion to figure out AOC was going to be a super-star if she ever beat Joe Crowley, which seemed impossible to everyone (but her and her posse). But she beat him-- and she's a superstar. Sometimes we get disappointed. I talked so much about how great Jared Golden (ME) would be... but did he ever turn out to be a dud! I got that all wrong.

Democratic Split by Nancy OhanianI find myself in discussions with Blue America candidates frequently about campaign strategy-- what to do-- spend their time dialing for dollars-- as the DCCC and EMILY's List demand-- or working to encourage turnout among voters by going out into the public and talking about policy.

One of the big surprises in recent years when I talk with new congressional candidates is the number who tell me that the reason they're running is climate change. The first one who ever told me that was when I spoke with a state Senator in California struggling with the idea of leaving his family behind in his beloved southern California to immerse himself in tawdry Washington by running for Congress.

Jamie Dimon is the CEO and chairman of JPMorgan Chase, America’s biggest bank. His net worth is over a billion dollars. Th U.S. Treasury gave JPMorgan $25 billion in taxpayer money to keep the bak afloat in 2008 after Dimon had gambled in speculative mortgages. Many in the Obama administration urged him to appoint Dimon Treasury Secretary but he picked Timothy Geithner instead.

All My Sons And Daughters by Alejandro CartaginaRachel Cohen and Ryan Grim have been keeping an eye on reactionary anti-democracy Blue Dog— and DCCC chair— Cheri Bustos. Bustos is working overtime to disadvantage the progressive movement… but not effective pushback from the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which didn’t even bother to run a candidate against her when she moved— successfully— to grab the DCCC chair.

Obama left Trump a powerful, healthy and expanding economy. In 2021 Trump— even without a recession— will be leaving Bernie or whoever wins the presidency, something very different. As it does every year, the CBO just released a report presenting its budget projections for the next 30 years reflecting current law.

I had such a nice response to the post Thursday night about how The Clash-- and specifically The Clampdown from London Calling influenced Beto's life that I decided to ask other political leaders if music was important to them or if they had any favorite artists or songs or albums. Beto still uses "The Clampdown" when he walks out on the stage at his events and... well, just watch this.

A few weeks ago, I had dinner with an old friend, an author who had recently interviewed David Koch for a book he's working on. He told me the Koch brothers planned to support Democrats as well as Republicans this cycle. We went back and forth about that and then let it drift. Then, on Friday the news started filtering out that the Kochs are indeed looking to gain influence inside the Democratic Party, the way they have inside the Republican Party.The Kochs are willing to finance Democrats "in step with Koch policies?" Don't be deceived by the Koch affinity for DREAMers.

I've got some bad pot holes on the way from my house to the main road. I take a detour every time I drive to or from home to anywhere. It's annoying, not horrible, just annoying. But no one can brag to me how they fixed it unless it's fixed. It's not about statistics or bombast; it's about being able to take the direct route from my house to the test of the world.

As we mentioned Friday, when Pelosi appendage Ben Ray Luján noticed this his Senate primary opponent, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, is already campaigning on the Green New Deal, AND that his state party had unanimously endorsed the Green New Deal, he crapped his pants and then scurried over to AOC's office to ask to be a co-sponsor of her G