Obviously retaining the Senate is important, but I think winning Governors is even more important

[titaniumsalute]

Governors, in many cases, control the elections in states. 2016 will be another brutal Presidential election. Three swing states that have had immense election fraud and voter role tampering is PA, MI, and my home state of FL. It is looking promising to possibly have Democratic Govs in each of these three states this fall. That would make me feel MUCH more comfortable going into the 2016 elections.

If we can also score in the red states of GA, KS and AZ that would be a huge bonus. It looks like Ohio is a lost cause with Ed Fitzgerald.

[WI_DEM]

1. Polls indicate the democratic candidate is doing well in both PA & KS

Wisconsin is going to be close but among 'likely voters' the new Marquette poll which came out yesterday has Mary Burke up by 2 on Scott Walker--among all registered voters Walker is up by 3. This is going to be a GOTV election.

[riversedge]

5. ooopss... just saw this post. But I am so happy about Burke!

[WI_DEM]

2. Here are a couple of poll results from MI & PA--just out

Schauer Pulls Ahead in Michigan
A new EPIC-MRA poll in Michigan finds Mark Schauer (D) has edged ahead of Gov. Rick Snyder (R) among likely voters by two points, 45% to 43%.

Said pollster Bernie Porn: "I would have bet that Snyder would have a significant lead at Labor Day. The fact that Schauer is up by a couple of points against an incumbent ... probably spells that this is going to be a close race."



Wolf Headed for Landslide Win in Pennsylvania
A new Franklin & Marshall College poll in Pennsylvania finds Tom Wolf (D) with a 25-point lead over Gov. Tom Corbett (R) in the race for governor, 49% to 24%.

Said pollster Terry Madonna: "The big takeaway here is that the race has not changed because Corbett has not changed. His narrative remains the same, and that's the fundamental problem for his campaign."

Corbett would be the first Pennsylvania governor ever to be denied a second term.

[riversedge]

3. Well, WI_Dem--sure you know that Burke, Democrat is in a deadheat in WI...over Walker!!..

New poll yesterday. will find the link

[CincyDem]

4. Senate = Urgent, Governors' Mansions = Important

Typically, the power of governors in national politics is control of the house redistricting process every 10 years following the census. Governors elected in 2014 will have to be re-elected before having that influence based on the 202 count.

Senators can start f'king up this country 15 minutes after they're sworn in so keeping Mitch out of the majority leader position is job number 1,2, and 3.

I understand your point about voter fraud in 2016 but I think the far more important position to influence that issue is the Secretary of State who, in most states, is in charge of defining and enforcing election laws. Get a good SoS (like Ohio had in 2008 with Jennifer Brunner) and it makes the elections go much smoother. The current SoS (Jon Husted) is really a PoS.

[riversedge]

7. Do you know if SC justices need a simple

majority--to confirm in the Senate??? Probably coming up soon???

[jeff47]

14. Under current rules, they can be filibustered.

The "nuclear option" rule change stopped filibusters for district and appellate judges, but SCOTUS justices can still be filibustered.

However, changing the rules only requires a simple majority.

[riversedge]

16. Thanks. your comments ring

a bell now. I was thinking the SC was not included but was not sure.

[BlueCaliDem]

6. Not only governorships, but also legislatures.

Unfortunately, too many districts in some States are deeply gerrymandered. Ohio is an excellent case of Republican 2010 gerrymandering where in 2012, President Obama won the State by 2 points, but 12 members of the 16 U.S. House Reps are Republican. Those numbers don't jive in a fair redistricting - a Republican redistricting carefully engineered by Boehner and pushed through by a Republican legislature.

Winning legislatures is as crucial as winning governorships.

[riversedge]

9. Wisconsin was gerrymandered by Repugs also a few years ago!

[BlueCaliDem]

12. I didn't know that.

Thanks for posting!

Now we see the negative effects for not getting out the vote in 2010. You can be certain that come 2020, when they're allowed widespread redistricting again (although the highest court declared in 2006 that any State can begin redistricting at any time, as Tom Delay had done in an off-year in Texas) and now that the Voting Rights Act has been gutted, thanks to their pals on SCOTUS, Republicans are going to gerrymander the heck out of every State they hold power over.

They need to be stopped once and for all, or we'll never get a majority in the People's House again. Ever.

[riversedge]

17. lots has been written about this issue...including PR Watch

which I saved.

Hard to keep up with all the crap.....


http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/02/11968/wisconsins-shameful-gerrymander-2012

Posted by Brendan Fischer on February 04, 2013
Wisconsin's "Shameful" Gerrymander of 2012

The GOP's partisan redistricting process has come under renewed scrutiny in recent months, with gerrymandered maps helping Republicans hold Congress despite receiving fewer votes than Democrats, and state legislators discussing plans to rig the presidential election by awarding electoral votes according to those contorted boundaries. But out of all the states re-drawing Congressional boundaries along partisan lines after the 2010 elections, Wisconsin's gerrymandering may have been the most egregious.

As neuroscientist Sam Wang explained in Sunday's New York Times, "Democrats received 1.4 million more votes for the House of Representatives, yet Republicans won control of the House by a 234 to 201 margin. This is only the second such reversal since World War II."

Wisconsin was one of five states where the party that won more than half of the votes for Congress got fewer than half of the seats. Largely because of redistricting, Republicans in Wisconsin received just 49 percent of the 2.9 million votes cast in the state's congressional races, but won five out of eight seats, or 62.5 percent. And that redistricting process was carried out with a nearly unprecedented level of secrecy and obfuscation.


"An all but shameful attempt to hide the redistricting process from public scrutiny".....................

[BlueCaliDem]

22. Thank you for this, riversedge. Bookmarked your post and the link.

I just don't understand how Republicans can get away with this shamelessness and get rewarded with even more wins in government. It just baffles my rational mind.

[jeff47]

20. 2020 is a Presidential election year.

So it's going to have higher turnout than 2010. That's going to greatly help us.

The challenge will be having sufficient turnout to overcome enough of 2010's gerrymandering so that the 2020 legislatures aren't stacked by Republicans.

[BlueCaliDem]

21. With the VRA so effectively gutted of its true power, that's going to be a tall order.

Our hope lies within the Latino/Hispanic community to come out, en masse, in the coming elections and to vote Democratic Party. But with President Obama's fervor to be permanently labeled "Deporter in Chief", setting deportation records that are unrivaled, it could very well disgust and anger enough of them not to turn out and vote at all - or worse! Vote Republican as a protest vote.

[MineralMan]

8. Both are very important, but I think the Senate is crucial.

We can do both.

GOTV 2014!

[Liberal_Dog]

10. Also State Legislatures

Dems need to control redistricting as much as possible.

[jwirr]

11. This is one of those years that voting straight D is not a bad idea.

[JayhawkSD]

13. So was 2006, and look how that turned out.

We won both houses of Congress based on the promise that Dems were going to end the war in Iraq. Instead we got the Dems voting to support sending 70,000 additional troops to Iraq. We got Dems voting for the extension and enhancement of the Patriot Act. We got Dems voting to pass the Military Commissions Act. We got Dems voting to pass TARP.

There never is a "good year for voting straight D." Vote for the person based on the policies and principles which have been displayed in action by that person. Listen not to the hollow words which are "as sounding brass." No one runs for office without a history, so look at that history.

[jeff47]

15. The time to vote for the person is the primary.

Vote for the best person in the primary. Vote straight D in the general election.

The result is a ratcheting of the party to the left. It's exactly what the Republicans did to ratchet their party to the right.

No good candidate in the primary? Run.

[FSogol]

18. Let's do both. GOTV, DU.

[loyalsister]

19. If only we had a Democratic Senate in MO

there would be a better chance of getting a medicaid expansion bill for the Democratic Governor to sign.

If we had a fully Democratic general assembly, there is no doubt that they would have done it.

On the flip side, a Democratic GA could override A republican governor's veto. As this general assembly has done.

The structure of the legislative and executive branches in MO is pretty much exactly like that of the federal government. I've seen the GA tie the hands of governors as much as congress has tied Pres. Obama's

So, I think they are ALL important. We desperately need more Democrats in office at every level.