Mark Gamba

I talk to candidates all day, 7 days a week. I'm so sick of hearing from "progressives" who back Medicare-for-All but are afraid to say the words... or of Democrats who believe in the Green New Deal as much as I do but have been counseled to not use the term or to speak out about it too much.

The Republican wing of the Democratic PartyA reminder: As soon as Blue Dog/New Dem Cheri Bustos grabbed the DCCC chair for herself, she instituted an aggressive new policy aimed at progressives challenging Blue Dogs and New Dems (like herself). She officially declared that any campaign consultants, vendors, polling firms, strategists or operatives who worked for a campaign running against an incumbent would be blacklisted by the DCCC.

The Trump Snowball Effect by Nancy OhanianThe new Gallup poll-- which was in the field before the gravity of the Ukraine scandal and impeachment hit the mass media-- is pretty devastating for Trump. It isn't just his job approval that is underwater either. Don't get me wrong. His job approval is in the toilet-- just 40% of adults approve.

UPDATE: There are now 211 members of Congress in favor of opening an official impeachment inquiry-- meaning all they need is 7 more, something they will have before the end of the day.On Tuesday morning-- apparently with an OK from Pelosi-- John Lewis, who is considered by many the "conscience of Congress," spoke on the House floor, reversing his public impeachment position. "We cannot delay. We must not wait. Now is the time to act. I have been patient while we tried every other path and used every other tool.

Climate Change Denier by Nancy OhanianHeads of state have flooded into New York this week for the United Nations General Assembly meetings. One topic of supreme concern is Climate Change-- supreme concern more to some leaders, though, than to others.

Pelosi's long-awaited drug-pricing plan was finally made public yesterday. Key non-policy top-lines:

Maggie Toulouse Oliver is New Mexico's Secretary of State and currently the progressive candidate for the U.S. Senate seat Tom Udall is retiring from. This morning she told me, in a statement, that "As a single mom who is still paying off student loans-- and has taken on additional loans to pay for my oldest son's college education-- I know how much this innovative plan will help New Mexicans. Gov.

Auschwitz Revisited by Nancy Ohanian"Trump," wrote Philip Bump in his Washington Post column yesterday, "appears to simply be making the figure up." What figure? Does it matter? Trump makes everything up.

In my long life, I've seen starving people in India and in Afghanistan... but not too many other places come to mind. Except America. In the richest country in the history of earth there are people-- primarily very old people-- who go without food. It's not just Trump's fault. It's part of standard conservative dogma. It's not that Jesus taught but it's the the way it's supposed to be according to conservatives, including conservative religionists.

People think of Oregon as a bright blue state and, for the most part, it is. The last time a Republican presidential candidate won a statewide election there was in 1984, when Reagan beat Walter Mondale 56-44%. Last year all Trump could manage was 39%. (Earlier Bernie beat Hillary in the primaries 56% to 42%.) But of the state's 36 counties, Trump won 28-- and not just backward rural counties with tiny populations.