4676

I recall when I was an Arizona resident I was frequently called for contributions by stealth Democrats. I had been a big donor for Obama and on the state finance committee for him, so after that every local Democrat wanted my money too. More often than not, I’d look into the candidate and discover that none of his/her campaign literature or web site even mentioned the Democratic Party, and position statements on Democratic issues were vague or missing or even openly contradicted by the candidate’s own positions. You would learn that so-and-so was the candidate of family values and a proud gun owner and committed to small government and common-sense solutions for Arizona. What you would not learn — or at least not learn easily — is that candidate was a Democrat, or how candidate felt about the ACA or abortion rights, etc.

4677

Speaking of Stealth Democrats, when you’re running for Congress in a Trump +50 district (no really), and you’re an admitted former Trump voter who flipped over the ACA repeal and Tax Reform bills, this is what your ad looks like.

He’s got a shot to win. Upshot/Siena poll earlier in the month showed him running behind but with lots of undecided and Ojeda with some name recognition issues.

Let that sink in though. Dude is running to flip a district that went Trump +50 two years ago. In West Virginia.

4678

Thanks for pointing him out. These are the kind of candidates that should work anywhere, but seem like a special fit for places like WV.

4679

I love how he talks so fast with that accent and that haircut and that twitchy blink! What a character.

“The beans and the bullets.” LOL

4680

No more dark-money PAC ads for these two, they’ve been set out to sea on an ice floe:

Coffman is the Colorado 6 (he’s toast)
Bishop is the Michigan 8th (he’s in trouble)

4681

I grew up in the 6th when a wackjob named Tom Tancredo held the district. It was later redistricted to include the far more liberal Aurora Colorado.

Still, Mike Coffman has been a legit moderate and always seemed to come out ahead in that seat. In fact, compared to most of the cretins the GOP has around these days, Coffman has handled the Trump presidency pretty well.

I’ve seen the polling in that district and frankly, based upon his ability to hold it time and again and how he has held up to Trump, I expected him to survive. But if the money is cutting bait on him… geez

4682

I guess what’s been holding them back is not being quite shitty and cruel enough.

4683

I’m looking at how low “Republican Party Favorability” was in 2010 and 2014 and wondering if that poll is worth the time they took to set it up.

4684

It may just represent driving out more of the non-true-believers, but I’m not fussed to read it.

4685

Yeah, it may not be a great predictor of…well, anything. Nevertheless, throw it on the pile. Let it be a reminder not to get too sunny about November.

4686

It’s because Republicans view their own party more favorably than they did before, so in a way yes. But it’s indicative that Republicans and their voters are in thrall of trump and Fox, not that the (few, relatively) suddenly have a favorable view.

4687
4688

The Dems are targeting semi-likely voters right now as a big part of their canvassing, trying to get folks who don’t normally vote in the midterms to vote. Good strategy- they target Dems and independents who voted in Dem primary in 2016.

4689

I haven’t seen an ad here that actually has a democrat calling himself a democrat. The guy running against Nunes has never mentioned that in his ads, even though everybody knows that is what he is. Even people running for state legislature seats are not identifying themselves. And this is in California, where most people are democrat.

Granted that Nunes is actually in a mostly GOP district.

4690

Is the race against Nunes at all competitive? I’d love to see that guy get the boot.

4691

Some outlier polls had his opponent within the margin of error, but the last one I saw had Nunes up double digits.

4692

Yep, Nunes looks like he’ll survive.

4693

He has a legit opponent this time, but I think the district is just too much a GOP district. His is one of the few in California designed for a GOP win. And to be honest, until the last couple years he was a pretty good congressman. For some reason when Trump came along he totally drank the kool aid.

4694

A Devil’s Triangle with Butina and a suspiciously large wire transfer from a Russian oligarch probably changed his thinking.

4695

Nunes has always been a hyper partisan. He was always entirely devoted to the GOP.

What we’ve seen is that as the GOP declined into a moral cesspool, that devotion has been the tool of a progressively greater evil. He never questioned that faith, even as the object of that faith mutated in front of him.

At this point, he’s trapped in a situation where he has done what are almost certainly unethical, if not outright illegal, things in support of the modern GOP, because that is what the party demanded once it went down the Trump road.

There’s no way back for him now, even if he wanted one. He’s permanently bound to Trump’s fate.