Kevin McCarthy is the Republican House Leader. But can he lead? A poll the other day from Morning Consult/Politico showed that 31% of Americans don't know who McCarthy even is; never heard of him. His twitter following (278K) is tiny compared to other national leaders-- Pelosi (2.52 million), Schumer (1.98 million), AOC (4.18 million), even the reviled McTurtle (875K)...
Not sure what it refers to, but it looks goodThe NY Times/Siena poll showed good news for one of the Blue America candidates. They had Katie Porter with a substantial lead over Trump rubber stamp Mimi Walters, 48% to 43%. Unfortunately, the Times/Siena poll is the least credible polling operation I've seen since Rasumussen and their data is virtually worthless. Still...
Two of the most important Senate races this cycle pit women against each other. One of the Senate's most progressive Democrats, a courageous reformer with a fantastic voting record that spans a career as a state legislator, a congresswoman and more recently as a senator, Tammy Baldwin, is up against a conservative Republican, Leah Vukmir, in Wisconsin.
About half a year ago, many Americans-- including many Wisconsinites-- met Kevin Nicholson for the first time. He popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, to try to grab the GOP nomination to run against Senator Tammy Baldwin.
So far, the senators who have signed on as cosponsors to Bernie's Medicare-For-All bill are Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Tom Udall (D-NM), Pat Leahy (D-VT), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Al Franken (D-MN) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)-- 15, so, with Bernie, that's 16 out of the 48 Democrats in the Senate. Bernie will make his formal announcement at 2pm (ET)-- in one hour.
The circus has come to townDo you find it at all hard to figure out which outrageous Trump endeavor is supposed to get everyone's focus off some other, earlier Trump hour show? You know what I mean? Was the TrumpCare debacle supposed to get out minds off Putin-Gate? Or is Putin-Gate supposed to get us to stop paying attention to the establishment of a kakistocracy? Or is the kakistocracy just a distraction from the kleptocracy?
A few weeks ago, PPP polled Milwaukee County voters. Keep in mind that Wisconsin went very narrowly for Trump in November (after their primary choices-- Bernie for normal people and Cruz for Republicans-- were eliminated. Bernie beat Hillary in the Wisconsin primary 567,936 (56.6%) to 432,767 (43.1%) and Cruz beat Trump 531,129 (48.2%) to 386,370 (35.1%). In November Trump won Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes 1,409,467 (47.9%) to 1,382,210 (46.9%)-- on percentage point.
Although most Democrats in the House voted against Bush's catastrophic attack against Iraq-- 126 plus Independent Bernie Sanders voted NO, while 82 (39%) voted YES-- the Senate was much more war-minded. 58% of the Democratic senators (29 out of 50) voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution along with all the Republicans but one (Lincoln Chafee).
Senate votes are a tricky thing. They don't always mean what they look like they mean-- and, at times, they are meant to be deceptive for the casual viewer. The final vote on the CRomnibus-- which funds the government and regulates derivatives trading for the Wall Street banks and allows millionaires to take further control of the political parties (and, among other things, further reduces Pell Grants)-- shows it was agreed to 56-40.
