Here is the compromise on Pelosi:

As some have said, and as I believe she may have even hinted at:

They agree to this: She comes back for an interim year to re-adjust the House back to Dems with her experience. In a year, they have another vote and get someone new. Those who need to can vote "present".

Situation solved.


Pelosi should be honored for her service and we all honor her, but she has already done many years in leadership. I think she has generally done a good job, and of course none of this has anything to do with age or gender. I feel the same way about the entire old guard. It is time for change and some new blood. A new and DIVERSE cadre of leadership. That is healthy. But some experience is needed to get things off the ground. Get it started, and have another vote in a year.

Situation solved.

The incredible shrinking party of Donny Rotten.

Yup, as another poster has said so well, the R's are between a rock and a crazy place.

They have allowed Donny Rotten to eat their party. Now they sit in his bowels, unwilling to upset him lest they get shit out in their primaries, but they ARE shit in their general elections. And it will only get worse.

In this midterm, with bad results for R's still coming in, the FORMER Republican Party, now Donny Rotten's Cult, have been taken to the woodshed and SPANKED by a powerful coalition of WOMEN in a big way, men, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, young people, college grads, urban and suburbanites, and Independents. They are sick to death of Donny Rotten and his R enablers and their rotten policies of ripping away healthcare, ripping away education, endless tax cuts for billionaires, no infrastructure, etc. and, of course, Donney Rotten's endless SHIT TRAIN of abject INSANITY. That have HAD IT!

So, no more R House members in New England. Bye bye. Only one lonely R House member in NJ. FORMERLY HEAVILY REPUBLICAN Orange County, CA is now very BLUE. R's getting washed away by the blue wave in NV and AZ. 336 new Dem state legislators, 7 new Dem governors, and countless new Dems in local offices all over the place. Blue wave in WI, PA, and MI which so narrowly gave Trump his 80,000 votes to win the electoral college in '16. And since Donny Rotten is only going to get crazier, he can probably say goodbye to them in 2020.

Yup. This is what happens when you allow your party to go BatShit Crazy and glue itself to a whack job like Donny Rotten. Now the R's are screwed, blued, and tattooed. If they go against him they're fucked in their primaries. If they don't, they're fucked in their general elections. And the powerful new blue coalition above will hate Donny Rotten, and his cult, even more.

In the meantime, we need to unite firmly around the bread and butter issues that Americans want addressed and advance legislation to make those things happen if we can: healthcare, jobs, infrastructure, campaign finance reform, etc. Between Donny Rotten's insanity and our focus on the bread and butter issues, we are well positioned for 2020.

RANKED CHOICE VOTING made sure that the REAL winner for Congress came out on top in Maine.

Maine just made history by usuing Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) for federal level general election races. RCV is simply an Instant Runoff Voting system, similar in nature to traditional runoff systems but just done through one efficient ballot eliminating the need to hold a much more costly second election weeks or months later.

In this system where there are more than two candidates, you simply rank them in order of preference. If someone gets a majority, it's over. If not, the instant runoff kicks in. The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and the second choices of those who voted for that candidate are re-distributed to the remaining candidates. The votes are re-tabulated. If there is then a majority winner, it is over. If not, the process continues in this manner until there is a majority winner.

Jared Golden, our Dem candidate for US House of Reps, just won yesterday with this process because there were four candidates and the votes got split. So the instant runoff was used. He was about 2000 votes behind the R, Bruce Poliquin, after the first round of tabulation, but with the instant runoff emerged ahead by about 3000 votes. It was all very close, but he won because we now have this instant runoff system.

We fought HARD to get RCV through many obstacles and legal challenges and TWO successful referendums, but got it DONE, and most people are saying it is easy and they like it and in fact want to expand it.

RCV is used in other countries and a number of other places around this country at the local level.

If you have questions about it, please let me know. As said, Maine is the first state to use it for elections at such a high level.

GOLDEN WINS BECAUSE OF THOSE OF US WHO FOUGHT FOR RANKED CHOICE VOTING!!!

Great that Golden was a very good candidate, ran a tough campaign, and kudio to all who voted for him as a first or second choice. And thanks to all who have supported Ranked Choice Voting.

But a very special thanks must go to those of us who fought like HELL for RCV against HUGE obstacles including from some Democrats (though the majority supported it, as did some rank and file Republicans).

We, the advocates (myself VERY included), stood in the freezing cold and snow to get it on the ballot not just once but TWICE after the legislature (with help even from a small number of Democrats) tried to effectively kill RCV last year.

We said HELL NO! and prevailed!

Are the naysayers who like this outcome NOW glad that we have RCV? Will they help fight to EXPAND IT to the state level races with a change in the state constitution?

OMG! Watch this and you'll understand how Sherrod Brown won BIG in Ohio. Watch it all. :-)

Tweety says we need to get the "Working Class" people back, saying we have been elitist. Hold on!

(SEE THIS: https://www.msnbc.com/hardball and find the

I grew up in smalltown America. My mom was a nurse and dad was a plumber. Relatives and people I grew up around were commercial fishermen, carpenters, road construction people, small business owners, firemen and cops, custodians, electricians, etc. so I know a thing or two about this.

I will agree that there have been some mistakes in MESSAGING to working class people, but there sure as all shit have not been many mistakes on policy.
What we have to learn is how to talk to working people again and present what we are doing effectively. And we need look no further than people like Sherrod Brown, Connor Lamb, and PLENTY of others.

While many of them have voted for R's, the R's have ripped at their healthcare, threatened their social security, given huge tax cuts to the rich, and attacked their public schools. We have fought to expand healthcare, protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, worker's rights, education and training, etc.

Where we lose working class people is in not coming out and clearly and strongly saying, "We exist to fight for workers!" plain and simple. And then clearly and convincingly and STRONGLY say how we fight for their healthcare, jobs, education, etc.

We need to talk plain and strong, not like rambling professors.

And there is one major cultural issue we need to get straight. For working class and rural people, guns are NOT about violence. They are about MEAT IN THE FREEZER and they NEED THAT! Hunting rifles in rural America are not the same as handguns on the streets of violent inner city areas.

In the election last week, our candidates ran and won on healthcare, jobs, roads and bridges, education, etc. Some working class people did vote for us, but we do still have work to do with them. And we do it by running people who fit the districts, like Connor Lamb.

Yes, there are some working class people who we may not be able to reach because they're stuck on diversity hangups. But we can get more of them back, and not by changing our policies but by learning how to TALK to them again, tout our beliefs and what we are fighting for, and by LISTENING to them too.


So Tweety, guess what, we are NOT "elitist" and WE are the ones who have been fighting for working class people, not the god damned RePUKES!

Enough with the Beto for Prez stuff. He is NOT running. Has said so. And he shouldn't.

He has said NO. So it all needs to end. He isn't running and has said so.

He should run against Cornyn in 2 years. Enough already.

Sherrod Brown would be a GREAT prez candidate. Midwesterner who could win OH for us.

Brown has the ingredients. We need to be very careful about another east or west coast person. Need someone from the heartland. Brown is great. Blue collar folks we need love him, and so everyone.

Steve Bulloch of Montana is also giving it huge consideration.

These are both very impressive people.

I like them all, but if we want to win then we need to win EVERYWHERE. I would not want another coastal liberal. Let's get someone from middle America. Our national success, as we saw in this election, runs through the midwest.

Impeachment without a chance to win it is a fool's errand and BAD idea, period.

Tons of hearings, tons of money spent, tons of time wasted, all eyes off the ball over the issues we really need to focus on like HEALTHCARE, JOBS, etc., and Trump wins in the end in the GOP Senate would be a GALACTIC BLUNDER.

If there was VERY strong evidence of criminal wrongdoing while in office that is one thing. Absent that, impeachment is a fool's errand that would backfire on us bigtime, and a deaf, dumb, and blind person can see it.

Let the nutcase be the nutcase that he is. The crazier he is, the more suburban swing voters vote with us and HATE Trump. Give the idiot enough rope and he hangs himself.

Look what happened in WI. They tried to recall Walker. They lost and then lost again. It only helped Walker.

Look at Clinton. It made the GOP look bad, and people were feeling sorry for Clinton. You never, ever go into a prosecution that you can't win.

You don't pick fights you can't win because you always LOSE in more ways than one. Dumb idea.

The people want us focusing on THEIR agenda: Healthcare, jobs, education, etc. Win the narrative there. Force the issue there. That's how we bring down Donny Rotten and his Senate in 2020.

New Dem Governor-Elect of MI: I WON BY STAYING FOCUSED ON THE KITCHEN TABLE ISSUES.

My new Dem Governor-Elect, Janet Mills, is saying the same things and her priorities on day one are implementing the Medicare Expansion referendum passed in 2017 and taking on the opioid crisis. And then onto jobs, energy, roads and bridges, etc.

THIS IS HOW WE WIN AND IT IS HOW WE HOLD POWER. Not getting bogged down in controversial SHIT. Stay close to the people. Do what they hired us to do on the kitchen table issues that matter to THEIR lives.

SEE HERE: https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/incoming-michigan-gov-looks-to-infrastructure-issues-1365126723994