Tom Winter

Almost nothing passes unanimously in the House. I was surprised that H.R.

Winter (left) and Carlucci (right-wing... very)How about we start with the good news first for a change? A few weeks ago Montana state Rep Tom Winter penned a guest post and shot an iPhone video for this blog.

The Chosen One by Nancy OhanianWhen I was growing up, California was a swing state (as was Utah). New York, Illinois and New Jersey leaned Democratic... but not dependably so. The two bluest states in the country were West Virginia and Arkansas, sensibly so since they were two of the poorest states. Things have changed, drastically.

I don't understand why Buzzflash was sending out fundraising e-mails for itself in the midst of the end of the quarter federal elections deadline, but aside from that, one of their e-mails was very worthwhile reading.

Montana state Rep. Tom Winter entered politics in the aftermath of the 2016 election. He told me that his motivation was "equal parts frustration with where we were and optimism about where we could go." When we spoke he wanted to make certain that everyone understand that "contrary to popular opinion, we are not a 'red state.' We elected President Trump and Democratic Governor Steve Bullock at the same time.

Mark Amodei (R-NV) desperately wants to change the backdropLately, Eli Stokols has been doing some excellent reporting for the virtually moribund L.A. Times. I hope it's enough to save the paper from oblivion. It looks like nothing will save the GOP from oblivion, though-- at least not in the short term.