The Fight for West Virginia: Revival, Recovery, and Richard Ojeda

It’s November 2018, and the United States lurches towards a critical mid-term election with democracy at a crossroads.

In West Virginia, State Senator Richard Ojeda, a former Major in the U.S. Army, runs for Congress as a Democrat in a deeply Republican district. Can he flip a red seat blue?

Can laid-off coal miners learn computer coding and find employment in the new digital economy?

And can a group of young woman band together after opioid addiction to successfully restart their lives?

This is The Fight for West Virginia.

Happyish Days Are Here Again

Here's how the top scorers in the California Republican delegation on the question "How often a member votes in line with Trump's position" fared in the election:

David Valadao (CA-21), with Trump 98.1%: Still counting, currently less than 2000 votes ahead of Democrat TJ Cox
Stephen Knight (CA-25), 98.1%: Gone - Democrat Katie Hill
Mimi Walters (CA-45) 98.1%: Gone - Democrat Katie Porter
Jeff Denham (CA-10) 98.1%: Gone - Democrat Josh Harder
Ken Calvert (CA-42) 98.1%: Reelected
Paul Cook (CA-8) 98.1%: Reelected against a GOP opponent
Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) 98.1%: Reelected
Doug LaMalfa (CA-1), 98.1%: Reelected
Devin Nunes (CA-22) 98%: Reelected
Ed Royce (CA-39) 96.2%: Quit; replaced by Democrat Gil Cisneros
Darrell Issa (CA-49) 96.2%: Quit; replaced by Democrat Mike Levin
Dana Rohrabacker (CA-48) 92.5%: Gone - Democrat Harley Rouda
Tom McClintock (CA-4) 88.7%: Reelected

Wouldn't be so bad, except most of these GOPers are embarrassments to humanity let alone the good name of California.

Grab this.

 

Hey, San Diego, what up?:

"In California, Republican Duncan Hunter -- the second congressman to endorse Trump for president –-- claims in television ads and speeches that his Democratic challenger, Ammar Campa-Najjar, is named after Yasser Arafat, and is supported by the Muslim Brotherhood in an attempt by ‘Islamists’ ‘to infiltrate Congress’. Campa-Najjar is of Mexican and Palestinian descent and is a practicing Christian. (Hunter has been indicted and is awaiting trial for spending at least $250,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses, including trips to Italy and Hawaii, his family’s dental work, his children’s tuition, movie tickets, video games, groceries, international travel for nearly a dozen relatives, and a $600 plane ticket for the family’s pet rabbit. He also purchased golf equipment for himself which he declared on finance forms was for wounded veterans. He first tried to blame his wife for these expenses, but after an outcry took responsibility. He is currently leading in the polls.) " -- Eliot Weinberger, London Review of Books

The rest of the story:

Ten Typical Days in Trump’s America by Eliot Weinberger, London Review of Books

Vote!

The Brett Kavanaugh thing isn't going away. A majority of Americans wants the investigation to continue, despite his confirmation. A lot is going to depend on the outcome of the November election. The Democrats may gain the House, but control of the Senate is crucial, too. Consider this: in 2013, the six senior Republican members of the Judiciary Committee all voted against the reauthorisation of the Clinton-era Violence against Women Act. It ultimately passed the Senate 78-22, but the upper body has continued its rightward drift since then. Who wins matters. Vote.

When you hear the word "reform"...

...reach for your gun.

The most pointed irony of the DCCC/DNC interventions in California, specifically, is that here the party leadership is being hoist on its

Drew Shebeman—Tribune Media

own petard. They colluded in a "reform" effort led by then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to lock insurgents and independents out of general elections by limiting the final contestants to the top two vote getters in open primaries, assuming they would be the establishment picks from each party. Now the party bosses are forced to intervene to protect their pre-washed, pre-shrunk, pre-approved, corporate-friendly choices from an army of progressive challengers and angry Democratic voters.

"The approach is laced with peril for a party divided over matters of ideology and political strategy, and increasingly dominated by activists who tend to resent what they see as meddling from Washington. A Democratic effort to undercut a liberal insurgent in a Houston-area congressional primary in March stirred an outcry on the left and may have inadvertently helped drive support to that candidate, Laura Moser, who qualified for the runoff election next month."

The same thing is happening across CA where the party establishment's chronic distrust of voters is leading them to make the same mistakes that have cost them countless seats in local, state and congressional races (not to mention Al Gore, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton) since the 1990s.

The rest of the story:
✓ Fearing Chaos, National Democrats Plunge Into Midterm Primary Fights by Alexander Burns (New York Times).
✓ Democrats consider attacking their own California candidates to win back Congress by Emily Cadei (Sacramento Bee).

Reading list:
✓ Unintended consequences of California’s open primary by Martin Wiskol (Orange County Register).
✓ California GOP should embrace open primary system: Orange County Register editorial 2017/10/22.
✓ The political parties would like voters to kill California's top-two primary system in 2018 by John Myers (Los Angeles Times).
✓ The defining characteristic of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for too many years has been its well-honed ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory: Texas Progressive Laura Moser Is Beating Democratic Insiders by John Nichols (The Nation).
✓ While this article is mostly true, it would be fairer to say that, after 30 years of Democratic missteps, the chickens came home to roost during Obama's stay in office: The Democratic Party Got Crushed During The Obama Presidency. Here's Why by Mara Kiasson (NPR).
✓ Instead of campaigning on issues that reform-minded voters care about, the DCCC is going after a GOP “culture of corruption.” Once again, elect us because we're not them. It worked then. But not since. Will it work now?: Democrats Look To Their Successful 2006 Messaging In Bid To Retake The House by Amanda Terkel (Huffington Post).

Extra credit:
✓ Maybe they can hire the lawyers who won the Citizens United case: DNC Lawyers Argue ‘Primary Rigging’ Is Protected by 1st Amendment (Liberty Headlines).

On Hanging Together

Some claim I'm a pessimist.

Not true.

I'm an optimist.

Things always turn out worse than I predict.

This is a post from 2015, titled "Block the Kochs":

When Dylan sang "Your old road is rapidly agin'/Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand/For the times they are a-changin'," he was sending out a warning to the establishment of the day, the old order, the holders of the reins of authority, the guardians of business-as-usual.

And the times changed all right, just not the way he predicted. Now, it is we the people who need to heed the warning. The counter-revolution is nearly over. The oligarchs' final victory is around the next turn of the road. Despite the valiant resistance of individuals all over the planet, there are still too few willing to lend a hand. Difficult as it will be, we have to find the way to collective action.

"We must all hang together," Franklin said, "or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

2015 seems like a long time ago.

Must read: The Left ascendant

"With his primary election victory last week, Illinois Congressman Dan Lipinski -- a Blue Dog and cultural conservative -- won the first major 2018 battle between the Democratic Party's establishment and progressive wings. But don't be confused about what it means. The war is already over, and the establishment lost.

"Even though only two states have actually voted so far this primary election season -- Texas, a red-state redoubt, and Illinois, a blue-state stronghold -- the battle for supremacy this primary season is all but complete. In state after state, the left is proving to be the animating force in Democratic primaries, producing a surge of candidates who are forcefully driving the party toward a more liberal orientation on nearly every issue.

"These candidates are running on an agenda that moves the party beyond its recent comfort zone and toward single-payer health care, stricter gun control, a $15 minimum wage, more expansive LGBT rights and greater protections for immigrants. In the surest sign of the reoriented issue landscape, they're joined by some of the most prominent prospects in the 2020 Democratic presidential field -- Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris among them -- who are embracing the same agenda."

The rest of the story:
Forget about Conor Lamb and Dan Lipinski. The progressive wing has already beaten the establishment in 2018: How the Bernie Wing Won the Democratic Primaries by Charlie Mahtesuian (Politico).

Issues matter

It was a good night,...

...but let's not lose sight of the road ahead. To come out on top in 2018, the Democrats must still agree on a raison d'être more compelling than "Stronger Together" and "A Better Deal," suffer expensive, divisive primaries that may or may not settle their differences or produce electable candidates, be outspent by $ millions, and for many House and local legislative races overcome a decade of GOP gerrymandering. Voters can be unhappy with Trump and still not see the Democrats as the antidote.

Orange is the new Blue

Will Dana Rohrabacher surf to another term in Orange County's 48th congressional district (Seal Beach to Laguna Nigel)? He won handily last time with a little over 58%, but Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump in CA-48 by 1.7%. This time the libertarian Republican has several well-funded challengers. If one of the Democrats is in the election-day runoff, “Putin's favorite congressman” as he's known (google it) could be in is last race.

Why the Democrats won't win back Congress in 2018 -- #67233

"John , we’ve never been this mad -- and we're asking you to sign your name and condemn Trump for pardoning Joe Arpaio." -- Email solicitation from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

Really?

They've never been this mad?

Not at the Long War? Not at the massacre of the middle class? Not at institutionalized racism? Not at the collapsing infrastructure? Not at the privatizing of the public schools? Not at Wall Street predators? Not at the destruction of the labor movement? Not at two minority presidents out of three? Not at the growing ranks of the poor? Not at pharmaceutical price-gouging? Not at mass incarceration?...

From the Money-Talks-Bullshit-Walks Desk:

“No district is off the table." -- Rep. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, the House Democratic campaign chairman.

Except, so far, for Kansas and Montana. In other words, except for two out of three.

Fight!

Republican Tommy Pope is favored over Democrat Archie Parnell in SC's 5th District next month. That contest is unlikely to see the same magnitude of investment from national parties and superpacs currently flooding the special elections in Georgia and Montana. Apparently, it will be more like the Kansas race that was narrowly lost because of the national Democrats' disinterest.

So much for the "50 States" strategy.

If the Democrats are serious about winning in 2018 and 2020, they will need to treat every contest seriously, not least because a losing race can lay the foundation for a win later and can influence outcomes in neighboring districts and in contests further up the political food chain, such as governor and senator. The Working Families Party, Greens, independents, et al might want to look at whether the Democrats' strategy of giving up various congressional districts and senate seats without a fight is an opportunity.

Don't mourn. Organize!

An ActBlue fundraising page for former Democratic congressional staffer Jon Ossoff’s special election bid to replace GOP Rep. Tom Price passed $420,000 this morning.

The Democrats need to contest every seat that comes up, even if there is little chance of winning this time, to build support for 2018 and 2020. And not with Blue Dogs.

Fight for every seat on the progressive platform that polls show most Americans overwhelmingly support.

Jon Ossoff for Congress.
Jon Ossoff's ActBlue page.