Kamala Harris Mirrors America, Election 2020 Will Make For Social Progress

We knew this day would come.  The announcement of the Democratic Party running mate to Joe Biden.  And when it arrived it sent a bolt of electrical energy around the nation.  Senator Kamala Harris is about to make history, and her powerful narrative is exactly what the Democratic Party has long been known for as it pushes social change.

Harris will be the first Black woman and the first person of Indian descent to be nominated for national office by a major party.  As the past months have clearly demonstrated there is a deep desire to push past the old ways of doing things, and confront what needs to change in the nation.  Rather than just talk about it, Biden has started to act.

I had hoped Susan Rice would be the nominee as her deep experience with international relations gravitated with me.  Alliances and arrangements with our global partners are not sexy topics to be sure, but they are vital ones.  However, I can see Rice as Secretary of State and that would also confirm the commitment Biden has about rebuilding from the damaging last four years.

I am pleased with the selection of Harris as it is smart politics. A Biden-Harris ticket gives the Democratic Party leverage with more moderate voters.  This nation yearns for normalcy, reasoned, and logical leadership.  When they see Harris they will grasp the credible qualities she brings her with, and at the same time see the change and bending of the curve this nation has long been working toward.

Competence and pragmatism are what the Biden-Harris ticket will provide for the nation.  And Republicans should not kid themselves into thinking that moderate and concerned members of their party were not waiting for yet another reason to vote against Trump.  Centrist Harris will be enticing them at every turn.

Democrats have long provided the vehicle for tolerance and acceptance with the pushing of the envelope so that our national leadership mirrors the way our citizenry looks at banks, malls, soccer leagues, and churches.  Just this past week I was looking at some books from when I was starting to learn to read.  The school books of Jane and Dick and Sally are all caucasian kids. Not a child of color was to be seen.  And we know that type of thinking and absurdity needs to end.

We need to see the full array of our nation reflected on every front page of our newspapers and on our nightly news.  Our top elected leaders should embrace the future and look like the nation they wish to lead.

Today Joe Biden took his first major step with the elevation of Kamala Harris as the vice-presidential nominee. In January she will make another record-setting moment when sworn into office.

This is how change comes about.  I am very pleased to be an American tonight.  I have not had this feeling for a very long time.

And so it goes.

Question For The Day Following Mid-Term Elections

How soon before the conservative base of the GOP start sniping at the establishment wing of the party and the leadership of McConnell who is one to strike bargains? Everything looks nice in the glow of election victories until the cooks gather in the kitchen……

For those who have followed politics for decades please note we have been here before and know that things always look far different months after the votes are counted. This will be worth watching.

If I can also pose a second question it would be what can the conservatives do to fix the demographic problem that plagues–and will only continually do so–their party when it comes to presidential elections.

Scott Walker Takes Huge Lead Over Mary Burke In Latest State Poll

There was always a gnawing fact that I kept asking my friends about.

When it comes to right-track/wrong-track questioning state voters place the state on the plus side.  So how then is it possible to think voters would throw the incumbent top elected official out of office?

We are getting close to the answer.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker leads Democratic challenger Mary Burke 50% to 43% among likely voters in a new survey by the Marquette University Law School.

That represents a change from other surveys in recent weeks — including Marquette’s previous poll two weeks ago — showing the race essentially tied.

Marquette surveyed 1,164 likely voters from last Thursday through Sunday. The poll has margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The race is much tighter among all registered voters — with Walker leading Burke 46% to 45%.

the shift toward Walker among the most likely voters in the poll reflects a spike in the share of Republicans who say they are certain to vote.

Will New England States (Like Maine) Again Have A Republican in Congress?

There are many reasons to be watching and waiting as the election returns are counted and reported next week.  One of the hopes for the GOP is that they can again have at least a couple Republican congresspeople from the New England states.

Not a single Republican represents a New England state in the House, contributing to the region’s reputation as a bastion of liberalism. But this year, independent analysts say, Republicans have a shot at picking up as many as six seats in Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire.

Maine’s second congressional district, which comprises a large swath of the central and northern part of the state, represents another opportunity for the GOP. The Cook Political Report recently moved the race from “leans Democratic’’ into the more competitive “tossup” category.

It is that race in Maine that I have been following and like so many other elections around the nation this one is a dead-heat.  This morning the latest numbers on the race were released and show every vote will count in this match-up between

Republican Bruce Poliquin has inched closer to Democrat Emily Cain in the race for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, according to a poll released Tuesday by a Portland firm.

A survey of 186 voters by Pan Atlantic SMS Group gave Cain, a state senator from Orono, 39 percent support to 38 percent for Poliquin, a former state treasurer from Oakland. 

Independent conservative Blaine Richardson of Belfast got 8 percent, with 16 percent undecided.

That sample size isn’t ideal, with an error margin of approximately 7 percent. But Poliquin has moved up since Pan Atlantic polled the race last month. Then, Cain led Poliquin with 36 percent of support to 32 percent for Poliquin. Richardson got 6 percent.

However, other results have put Poliquin slightly ahead in the race to replace U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, a Democrat running for governor.

As might be expected the national health care issue is playing out in this race and guess what the conservative Republican candidate is wishing to happen?

The context: The 2nd District has long had higher rates of people without health insurance than the rest of Maine. According to Census estimates for 2013, 85,000 people were uninsured there, about 8,000 more than in the 1st District.

Cain is a supporter of the health care law and, like many in her party, would support a single-payer, universal health care system.

“We have great models, whether it’s in veterans’ benefits in health care or in Medicare itself,” she said at a debate during the primary season. “We have models that show us when more people are covered, costs are lower.”

Poliquin has called for repeal of the health care law, but he has said he supports parts of it.

Say What?! Boston Globe Endorses Charlie Baker For Governor

Just another unpredictable event in the year of the suspenseful mid-term elections.

Effective activist government isn’t built on good intentions. To provide consistently good results, especially for the state’s most vulnerable and troubled residents, agencies need to focus on outcomes, learn from their errors, and preserve and replicate approaches that succeed. Baker, a former health care executive, has made a career of doing just that. During this campaign, he has focused principally on making state government work better. The emphasis is warranted. And in that spirit, the Globe endorses Charlie Baker for governor.

Supreme Court Ruling Will Last Through At Least November Election

Heart is beating fast in the body of this blogger tonight.

The order blocking enforcement of the law will clearly last throughout the time remaining for voting in Wisconsin.  It will remain until a petition for review is filed to test an order by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit allowing enforcement.  If that appeal is reviewed, Thursday’s order will continue in effect; it will be dissolved if review is denied, but that almost certainly would be after this year’s election is past.

Even Conservative Justices Admit Voter ID Law Too Close To Election To Implement

My fellow citizens this is great news tonight.  The Supreme Court on Thursday stopped officials in Wisconsin from requiring voters from needing to provide photo identification before casting their ballots in the coming election.

Even conservative justices had to admit the point many Democrats in this state were making.

Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., joined in dissent by Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, would have allowed the law to be enforced for fairly technical legal reasons, but they conceded that “there is a colorable basis for the Court’s decision due to the proximity of the upcoming general election.”

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Defeated In Primary

Never, EVER, say that politics is not exciting!

Wow, just wow!

The GOP has not been able to get their house in order regarding immigration and it will dog them until they are able to get it in the heads of the factions that reform is the only way forward.    The GOP can undo their own members in this fashion but they are not able to win the White House without reform of the issue.  This major loss tonight will now make immigration reform all but dead this session.

Democrats have better odds every day to win in 2016.