"…and ending massive tax breaks for millionaires that threaten the middle class.”
The Sanders’ message, strong as ever. National Dems losing their grip on power. Finally.
National Democrats supporting an R-turned-D (when it’s convenient) candidate over one who actually vocally espouses progressive ideals? They don’t want “red to blue” - they’re pushing “red to pink”, at best, and a “Republican versus Republican” general election at worst.
All politics is local. Forget the Sanders malarky. Brad Ashford was never a democrat. Yeah, he ran as a democrat and beat Lee Terry who could not give up his salary during a shut down. District was Gerrymandered and Ashford still won. Until then he was a Republican. His voting record was not liberal, or strong democrat. He lost to obnoxious Don Bacon.
Kara was a formidable candidate and someone who achieved success on her own merits. Brad came off uppity and Republican. It was a pleasant race. Brad is friendly and congeniel touting his work as a compromiser first in the state legislature. He seemed out of step in this race. Eastman did not align herslf with B. Sanders or as a progressive, sticking to the issues-health and women. A slight blue wave could take this seat. Local democtic party is working on rural NE where Trump tariffs and health insurance are causing pain.
Keeping my Kara Eastman sign up.
The message I take from this is that there are a good number of dems that don’t want (barely) left of center candidates. I’m in that camp. It sure didn’t work out well for Hillary. Nor did it work for Kerry.
I’d like to see candidates that aren’t afraid of proclaiming their liberalness. Explain why the rich are too rich. Proclaim that everyone is entitled to health insurance. Encourage the unions and show people how important they are and that they need to be strengthened. Protect social security for now and the future.
I wouldn’t count out any of the progressives running against the incumbent conservatives in Nebraska. Lots of people went to those town halls last summer and left feeling as though they weren’t listened to, and many are pissed off. I think Kara will do well, as will Jane Raybould against Deb Fischer.
“Former Rep. Brad Ashford (D-NE) trailed in the primary for his comeback bid to a more progressive challenger with vote precincts at least partially reporting Tuesday night, a potentially stunning disappointment to national Democrats that could be a blow to the party’s chances of winning the GOP-leaning seat.”
Could have been editorialized another way: a milquetoast former Republican running as a Dem lost this race tonight, saving Democrat’s chances of winning the race in the fall. Just sayin’.
Yeah, I’m not crazy about how the article here accepts the notion that Ashford winning the primary would make the Democrats more likely to win the general. Local voters obviously don’t think so.
Um, it’s a primary — let’s see how the, you know, actual election goes.
Voters are still volatile, I don’t think Ashford was the guaranteed viable candidate Democrats may think. He served before, he lost before (yes, by the slimmest of margins). While the Democratic Party can benefit in this environment with blue collar cred (Conner Lamb, Doug Jones, lookin’ at you. Randy Bryce, lookin’ towards you) my sense is that Ashford would have lost less narrowly this time. Bottom line is he represents the status quo. If anywhere in Nebraska is ripe for the new it’s Omaha and environs, and note that Trump is particularly weak in suburban areas that the GOP has counted on, and so far there is no real evidence that he has coat-tails at all. Me thinks the odds are as good with Eastman and maybe better.
The only disappointment here is that the national party continues to support the least Democratic candidate who represents the status quo over true progressives. People have shown they don’t want the status quo for obvious reasons, yet the national party supports the least progressive candidates 100% of the time in these primaries. The Dem party leaders seem to be as afraid of progressive change as the GOP. Even though progressive ideas poll well across the national stage, the Dem Party just can’t seem to get behind any of them. Their milquetoast strategy has worked out well so far hasn’t it.
Democrats could do so much better in rural districts nationwide if they thought to pay attention to it. On economic issues ranging from the cost of healthcare and trade wars, from alternative energy to immigrant labor, the Democratic party has the answers. The stumbling block is social issues and values voting – there doesn’t seem a way to convince them of the fact that Planned Parenthood, for example, prevents more abortions in a month than the entire “Pro Life” movement has, in total, since Roe v. Wade.
I don’t know how values can be raised by anyone claiming to be a Republican ever again considering the abomination they’re tolerating right now.
As disappointing as this is, I’ve also seen a disturbing number of grassroots people, both Sanders and Clinton voters but especially the former, rush to embrace Republicans who start to show a tiny bit of sanity like Richard Painter and even Steve Schmidt.
Politics is never local. That’s a myth… it’s always ideological. Always about who’s more passionate. The “all politics is local” meme is about as accurate as the “liberal media” meme. Not very accurate. If it was, the Republican rural base wouldn’t continually vote against its own interests.
jezus. will the Dem party EVER get over its love affair with moderate repug-democrats? Can’t they see teh People don’t like these guys? The People are Liberal and want health care and Social Security and criminal repugs in jail.
The Dem party is still run by wealthy “moderates”.
Only the media. The People are not rushing into the arms of hypocritical Repugs practicing in the McCain mode: saying the right thing and voting GOP all the way.
Not only the media, I’m talking about people I know personally.
Maybe if Democrats started supporting candidates who are actual Democrats instead of former Republicans pretending to be Democrats…You know, because it’s not 1992 anymore.
So, the REAL question is: will the Democratic party support the winner of the primary even if they are a progressive, or will they tacitly support the Republican in order to maintain the all-important status quo?
My bet is on them “throwing up their hands and walking off.”
What would be REALLY REALLY REALLY fun is if they did that and the progressive still won the election.