Kara Eastman

This morning we took a look at the lay of the land nationally (and in two bellweather Midwestern states, Minnesota and Iowa). Unless they're the kind of worthless polls the NY Times is doing now, I prefer district polling to get a better idea of what's going to happen in November.

Trump says his healthcare "plan"--he has no plan, just more gas-lighting-- is to give Americans "really great stuff" for really low prices. What he says and what Republicans have done and continue to do is exactly the opposite. This morning I was going back and forth with Alan Grayson on the best way forward for the American healthcare system.

Paul Ryan's Adelson-funded SuperPAC is running the dirtiest and most personal smear campaign in history. The goal is to disgust independent voters and turn them off from voting. Meanwhile, Democrats are trying to stick to issues but are being distracted defending against Ryan's attempt to smear them. Ryan is pounding Randy Bryce especially hard in his own district (which he's retiring from). He knows the key to election is independent voters, who are leaning strongly away from the GOP.

Mutiny by Nancy OhanianEarly in the cycle, I noticed that a reasonable theme to cover would be Trump as an albatross whose reverse coattails would pull down Republican candidates across the country-- particularly in districts with large numbers of independent covers. I asked Nancy Ohanian, the best of the political artists, what she thought about it.

Digby, John and I have been doing the Blue America PAC for over a decade now. We love helping facilitate fundraising for progressive candidates, especially for the ones the Democratic Party establishment refuses to get behind-- both during the primaries and, especially, after the primaries.

Lately the Republican Party has been slamming Democratic candidates for having been in bands in high school and college. Let's face it, the arts have never been a conservative thing.

Last month Paul Ryan's corporately funded, sleazy SuperPAC ran thousands of dollars of really nasty radio ads beating up on progressive Democrat Kara Eastman for having been in a punk band, Pieces of Fuck, when she was in college. Ryan's PAC is desperate to save the Omaha congressional seat-- which is quickly slipping from their grasp-- for failed Trump rubber-step Don Bacon.

Every poll I've seen and every focus group I've watched has shown that healthcare and the economy-- as in a more equitable one-- are the top two issues Americans will have in mind when they step into the voting booths in November.

While the DCCC (+ EMILY's List and the Republican billionaires funding No Labels) are busy making sure conservative, status quo Democrats prevail in primaries, stalwart progressives are offering hope to voters by offering new programs that will never be passed, largely because even with a big Democratic majority in the House, too many of them will always oppose anything they sense is "too progressive." Take, for example, Elizabeth Warren's just-introduced Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act.

Early in the cycle, the DCCC identified NE-02, basically the Omama Metro, including all of Douglas County and some rural areas in Sarpy County, as "must win" district. Obama won it in 2008, Romney won it in 2012 and Hillary beat Trump 48.2% to 46.0% in 2016. It's a very swingy district with a miscalculated R+4 PVI (should be R+2).