Tom SteyerYesterday, Greg Sargent reported on how climate change and the debate over the long-term fate of the planet might end up exerting a bit of influence over the political agenda in this election cycle.
Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)-- $1,837,210 in bribesYou may recall that about a month ago we were looking at the exertions ole Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)-- one of the less discreet bribe-takers on the House Financial Services Committee-- was making on behalf of his Wall Street financiers. He has nothing to worry about.
The corrupt Democratic establishment has been far more successful shutting down primaries than has the corrupt Republican establishment. Primaries are usually the only way it ever challenge entrenched incumbents in gerrymandered safe districts. All Americans actually owe the Tea Party a debt of gratitude for scaring the congressional Republicans and for cleaning out some trash, particularly Wall Street whore Eric Cantor.
The SisterGiant/Blue America Progressive Candidates Forum video above features interviews by Marianne Williamson with Alan Grayson (D-FL), DuWayne Gregory (D-NY) and Alex Law (D-NJ). DuWayne is already the official Democratic Party candidate running for the Long Island seat held by Republican neocon Peter King. Grayson and Law, however, are in important primaries against conservative Democrats. Both of them are on Bernie's team and both of them challenging establishment bosses' picks for the offices they seek.
Tim Canova, the intrepid Democrat challenging entrenched incumbent Debbie Wasserman Schultz in a deep blue district in South Florida, wrote that "primary challenges like mine are often the only effective way to force accountability on entrenched incumbents. Here at home, for instance, Florida’s 23rd Congressional District is seen as a safe Democratic seat.
Primary voter turnout in doubly-contested years (source; click to enlarge).
Tuesday morning as voters were headed to the polls before work-- across 14 states-- Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell felt they had to address the issue of the Ku Klux Klan because of the flirtation with the violent hate group by their party's front-runner. And Ben Sasse, the junior senator from Nebraska, a thoughtful guy and a bit of a maverick who won election as a Tea Party candidate, appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe.
Don't question the lizard. The lizard knows.by Gaius PubliusI'm keeping this short to put a very simple idea into your head. Because of the way the Democratic Party voting calendar is structured this year, Clinton's largest lead will occur on March 15. After that, most of Sanders' strongest states will vote.What this means is simple:
Tuesday night I went to sleep thinking that Wisconsin's most progressive state Senator, Chris Larson, made it into the run-off by coming in second in the race for Milwaukee County Executive (arguably, the second most important elected official in the state after governor). At 4am my phone rang and it was an excited NY-based operative telling me that with all the precincts counted, Larson had won a stunning victory over billionaire right-of-center incumbent-- he inherited the money-- Chris Abele.
