Michael Bennet

We wrote a post on Saturday-- published Sunday-- Are Democrats Going To Finally Get Behind Public Education For Real-- And Leave Charter Schools To The Republicans? that needs some updating. The education forum in Pittsburgh that the Democratic presidential candidates took part in has led to a valuable evaluation published by ElectraBlog.

Nancy Pelosi, who has great taxpayer-funded health insurance and has a net worth of $120 million, doesn't understand what Medicare does for people; why should she? Since I started getting it, I've been shocked when I talk with members of Congress who are absolutely clueless about the massive-- and massively important-- program they fund. It's time for Pelosi to move along. Didn't she promise to give up the speaker's gavel?

From 1905, when it was first introduced, to 1965 when a Democratic landslide the year before than finally allowed it to pass, Medicare had been opposed by conservatives-- of both parties. In its last few years before passage, Wilbur Mills (D-AR), the completely conservative Democrat sexual predator and alcoholic who chaired the then all-powerful House Ways and Means Committee prevented Medicare from being voted on.

Democratic Hopefuls by Nancy OhanianThere are now 21 Democrats running for the party nomination. Other than Biden, the front runners are all either progressives or running as progressives. But what about on the right of the party? Biden owns this lane... but he doesn't he really have it to himself.

Chuck Schumer, your next Democratic Senate Minority Leader (source)by Gaius PubliusI want to offer a quick Senate scorecard for the upcoming election, not just races to watch and their current status, but the effect of the races on the "final score" — control of the Senate until the wipeout in 2018 puts the Republicans firmly in control.To do this, I w

Will Trump's racist approach inadvertently save Michael Bennet's Senate seat?The Republican Party brand is now so damaged among key electoral groups-- you can start with rapidly growing/rapidly registering-to-vote Hispanic-Americans and high-propensity Asian-American voters-- that not only is it likely that whoever emerges as the party's nominee will be unable to cobble together a winning coalition in 2016 but it's likely that more and more Senate seats will fall outside

Each of these Democrats need to be turned into lobbyists at the earliest opportunity. For three of them, that's January 2017 (click to enlarge and share).

Rick and RoundsThe Rapid City Journal is arguably the most conservative newspaper in South Dakota. And they are certainly more conservative than the Beltway operative who seems hellbent on handing control of the Senate over to the Republicans, DSCC executive director Guy Cecil.

The Republican civil war is pretty front and center and getting quite a lot of media attention. There is also something of a Democratic civil war brewing, a more ideological/less careerist based one. You may have seen sparks of it last week when the Wall Street owned ConservaDem group, Third Way, went on the attack against Elizabeth Warren and the progressive populism she espouses. Third Way, the Blue Dogs and the New Dems are the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

I wish I could remember where I read it-- because it was so funny-- but I did come across an assertion that Mitch McConnell doesn't want to be Senate Majority Leader if he has to preside over a bunch of Know Nothing sociopaths that include Steve Stockman (R-TX), Joe Carr (TN), Milton Wol