Insiders: Clinton would crush Trump in November

[workinclasszero]

Insiders: Clinton would crush Trump in November
In the swing states that matter most, GOP insiders worry about a down-ballot disaster.
By KATIE GLUECK 04/29/16 05:16 AM EDT

In the swing states that matter most in the presidential race, Donald Trump doesn’t have a prayer against Hillary Clinton in the general election.

That’s according to top operatives, strategists and activists in 10 battleground states who participated in this week’s POLITICO Caucus. Nearly 90 percent of them said Clinton would defeat Trump in their home states in a November match-up.

More than three-quarters of GOP insiders expect Clinton to best the Republican front-runner in a general-election contest in their respective states. Among Democrats, the belief is nearly universal: 99 percent of surveyed said will Clinton will beat Trump.

In three of the biggest swing states—Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida—Republicans were particularly downbeat about the prospect of a Trump-Clinton contest.

“There is positively no way for Trump to win in Pennsylvania,” said a Republican from that state.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-november-insiders-222598

[greymattermom]

1. I think Hillary would actually enjoy running against Trump

He has no knowledge of government or issues.
He can't stand women.
He's not used to insults or criticisms.
He's thin skinned. Hillary has heard it all.

[Duckhunter935]

2. Trump is not a joke like everyone thought

Democrats think this need to take him very seriously. A lot of people out there do not care about specifics. He is a TV star.

[Alfresco]

4. Yep, a very bad joke.

[brooklynite]

5. That's actually a reason I want Clinton...

...she takes politics and opponents seriously.

One of my big worries about Sanders is that he'll just keep giving his standard speech and assume that's enough.

[Duckhunter935]

6. As long as dems are elected down ticket

I do not trust her, as she will just evolve bback to the right. She has not earned my vote and I would never vote for him

[brooklynite]

8. Can you point to an instance when she pivoted right from her campaign position?

[Duckhunter935]

10. She will as soon as bernie is officially out for the general

I feel sorry for those that think all of her new found evolved positions that were becouse of him will stay. She already started that with guns in Pennsylvania.

[brooklynite]

13. So the answer is: no, you can't

[Armstead]

16. Can't answer that because she hasn't been elected

[brooklynite]

17. She was twice elected to the Senate...plenty of data to work with.

[Armstead]

15. Na, he doesn't take politics and governing seriously

A Legacy Of ‘Civic Engagement’
http://www.wbur.org/2016/03/18/bernie-sanders-burlington-vermont

Here, on the edge of downtown Burlington are the shores of Lake Champlain, with the mountains of upstate New York visible to the west. This is perhaps the most visible part of Sanders’ legacy in this city. Before he became mayor, much of this shoreline was an inaccessible industrial wasteland. Sanders pushed an effort to reclaim it and open it up to the public. And today, there are playgrounds, parks, a community boathouse and an eight-mile bike path along the shore.

Almost one year ago, Sanders chose this spot to announce his run for the presidency.

“As mayor I worked with the people of Burlington to help turn this waterfront into the beautiful, people-oriented public space it is today,” Sanders said to cheers. “We took that fight to the courts, to the legislature and to the people, and we won.”

That fight went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and established a major precedent that supported public ownership of the waterfront.

If the waterfront represents one part of Sanders’ view of what democracy should be about, the Champlain Housing Trust represents another.

“Bernie had invited us to Burlington because in his words, ‘I need a few new ideas for affordable housing,’ ” said John Davis, who worked as the city’s housing director for Sanders, who was among the first to champion community land trusts, which promoted homeownership for low-income residents in Burlington. Land trusts make it easier to own a home by allowing families to purchase just the house, while a nonprofit agency pays for the land.

“People focus on Bernie the socialist and they assume that his highest priority is going to be to expand the government sector, or to suppress the market sector. He did neither,” Davis said.

Instead, Davis says Sanders pushed to make the private sector more fair and government more efficient by investing in the nonprofit sector, like the Champlain Land Trust — which over the years has helped hundreds of low income families become homeowners and providing a model that cities and towns around the world have copied.

But Davis says the most significant part of Sanders’ legacy went beyond any one particular program or policy. McNeil, the ex-city attorney, agrees.

“If I were to characterize Bernie’s legacy, it would be more about civic engagement, frankly, in terms of just the way he involved people in government,” McNeil said.

http://portside.org/2015-06-05/bernies-burlington-what-kind-mayor-was-bernie-sanders

John Davis remembers a meeting in 1986 when Bernie Sanders, then the mayor of Burlington, Vermont, confronted the owners of the city's largest affordable-housing complex. The federal program that had subsidized the Northgate Apartments for 20 years had a loophole that allowed the landlords to convert the buildings into market rentals or luxury condos.

"Bernie pounded his fist on the conference table in his office and told the owners, 'Over my dead body are you going to displace 336 working families. You are not going to convert Northgate into luxury housing,'" recalled Davis, who was Sanders's key housing aide.

Under Sanders's leadership, the city adopted a number of laws to stifle the owners' plans. One ordinance required apartment owners to give residents two years' notice before a condo conversion. Others gave residents a preemptive right to buy the units and prohibited landlords from bulldozing buildings unless they replaced them with the same number of affordable units. These measures lowered the selling price of the property. Sanders then worked with the state government and Senator Patrick Leahy to get the $12 million needed to purchase and rehabilitate the buildings. The city allocated funds to help the tenants hire an organizer, form the Northgate Residents Association, and start the process of converting the complex to resident ownership. Today, Northgate Apartments is owned by the tenants and has long-term restrictions to keep the buildings affordable for working families.

The battle over Northgate Apartments illustrates Sanders's general approach to governing. In addressing this and many other issues, he encouraged grassroots organizing, adopted local laws to protect the vulnerable, challenged the city's business power brokers and worked collaboratively with other politicians to create a more livable city.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/bernies-burlington-what-k_b_7510704.html

After Sanders’s re-election victory in 1983, business groups concluded they could not defeat him and thus had to work with him. But many businesspeople also saw that Sanders shared their interest in “development” — what he saw as “good development” — while opposing projects that would hurt middle- and working-class neighborhoods or victimize low-wage workers.

“Bernie was never anti-growth, anti-development, or anti-business,” explained Monte. “He just wanted businesses to be responsible toward their employees and the community. He wanted local entrepreneurs to thrive. He wanted people to have good jobs that pay a living wage. If you could deal with that, you could deal with Bernie and Bernie would deal with you.”

The Sanders administration provided new firms with seed funding, offered technical assistance, helped businesses form trade associations (including the South End Arts and Business Association and the Vermont Convention Bureau), focused attention on helping women become entrepreneurs, funded training programs to give women access to nontraditional jobs, and lobbied the state government to promote business growth.

Most of Burlington’s business leaders initially distrusted Sanders. They didn’t know what a socialist would do once he held the reins of power. But even many of Sanders’s early opponents came to respect and even admire his willingness to listen to their views and his efforts to adopt progressive municipal policies.............

..........Pomerleau was then — and remains today, at 97 — one of Burlington’s richest residents. A longtime Republican, he made his money developing supermarkets, hotels, and shopping centers, and he owns much of Burlington’s commercial real estate. For decades, he has wielded considerable political influence, served as chair of the city’s police commission, and been its most generous philanthropist.

“When [Sanders] first ran for mayor, he was running against guys like me,” Pomerleau recalled in a recent interview.

Pomerleau, who voted against Sanders in 1981, knocked on his door the day after that election. “I said, ‘You’re the mayor, but it’s still my town,’” he recalled.

Pomerleau wasn’t happy when Sanders opposed his waterfront development plan, but he gradually got to know the mayor and came to admire his pragmatism, his bulldog tenacity to get things done, and his support for the local police. “Bernie and I worked very well together for the betterment of the town,” Pomerleau said. “We were the odd couple.”

Pomerleau voted for Sanders in his three successful bids for re-election. And Sanders frequently called Pomerleau to ask his advice. They stayed in close contact, even after Sanders was elected to Congress.....

[brooklynite]

18. I'm sure he was a very nice Mayor of a City with 42,000 people

Presidential politics are a little more complicated (maybe that's why he's not winning)

[Armstead]

22. Moving those goalposts, eh?

I was responding to your claim that he doesn't take governing seriiously, in contrast to Clinton.

The same character traits apply to a ceo of a large or small institution. Bernie could have spouted off socialist ideology, been a "purist" and gotten nothing done and gotten booted out of office after his first term. Instead he rolled up his sleeves, apponted great peopel, paid attention to the people, built coalitions and also worked successfully with opponents....AND GOT THINGS DONE AND GOT REELECTED BE EVER LARGER MARGINS THREE TIMES.

What has Clinton done? She's been one of those people who are great at getting jobs and moving up -- bit no so good at getting real things done in a fundamental way....She was an okay, not spectacular Senator, was a flashy but largely ineffective Sec. of State who made some real bungles. I will give her credit in that she learned how to parlay public office into a lucrative speaking career and cultivating support from Big Bidness.

[Vinca]

7. I wouldn't get cocky.

Trump is going to the left of Hillary on a number of things and, like Reagan, will probably have lots of Democrats vote for him.

[Duckhunter935]

11. Yep, thats what the republicans

thought, and now they have all lost to him

[TheCowsCameHome]

9. Done deal, eh?

Don't count on it.

[Yurovsky]

30. Bernie never even tried to land a punch during the primaries...

and the HRC crowd cried like he stole their lollipop.

Trump will have no such reservations about tearing into her record. And he vp an buy and sell her & her campaign ten times over.

She may still win, and if I had to bet I'd say she would (although Bernie would CRUSH Trump). But the overconfidence of the HRC fanboys/fangirls here on DU better not take hold within Team Clinton or they'll get beat by an asshole who SHOULD have no business even being the GOP nominee. But everyone who has doubted that SOB has been wrong.

Proceed with caution...

[Dawgs]

12. Are those the same insiders that said Trump would never be the candidate?

[Lochloosa]

14. May I throw a little water on this?

Ronald Reagan 1st Term

George W. Bush 1st and most notably 2nd Term

These two won....don't ever underestimate the stupidity of the American Electorate.

[brooklynite]

19. Minority voting wasn't as significant a factor...

[workinclasszero]

20. Ray-guns was an asshole but he was smart enough to never say crap like this about women

in public anyway...

Lets see Trump the chump defend this shit in debates with Hillary!!!!

Every woman in america will hate his guts and crawl over broken glass on their bellies to vote against him!

[Garrett78]

24. Reagan and Bush were governors of huge states.

Plus, Reagan had been involved in politics for decades prior to becoming POTUS. And he was in the military. Bush is, of course, the son of a former POTUS and was governor of Texas.

Not to mention that the Republican Party is much different today and US demographics are quite a bit different, as well.

I have no doubt that a disturbingly high number of people will vote for Trump (any number over 0 is disturbing), but I see Clinton winning in an electoral college landslide.

[Lochloosa]

25. Points taken. I'm just pointing out that I've been surprised before.

[Orsino]

21. I believe so. n/t

[Scurrilous]

23. He's a clown.

Hillary will destroy him.

[HooptieWagon]

26. Reagan wasn't supposed to stand a chance against Carter either.

Clinton supporters are dangerously underestimating Trump and the GOP, and their hubris will come back to bite them.

[doc03]

28. +1 I think Hillary will have an extremely hard time beating Trump.

If I was to bet I would put my money on Trump. Obama beat her last time and this time she was almost taken down by a little known Socialist. Absolutely none of these experts thought Trump would have a chance to get this far. I remember Lawrence O'Donnell saying trump will never ever run fro president, he was sure wrong. I know many Democrats that will vote for Trump and he will get lots of independents along with labor.

[Bobbie Jo]

27. Trump is a buffoon

a huckster, a carnival barker...

The minute people see these two side by side, or after the first debate when she makes a fool of him on national television, they will fall all over themselves to make damn sure he doesn't get anywhere NEAR the Oval Office.

[workinclasszero]

29. Trump is a clown for sure

Hillary will tear him to shreads on national tv and win in a landslide for sure!