Want Kentucky to be a Repug Hellhole Like North Carolina? Don't Vote in November
Think Alison Lundergan Grimes is a liberal-hating DINO? Fine, so do I. But I'm going to climb into a Level-5 Hazmat suit anyway and vote for her and every other Democratic candidate in November if only for this reason:
If Kentucky Democrats don't vote, the repugs will take over the state House, and after Jamie Comer becomes Governor next year, the Bluegrass State will be the next feudal Koch-ocracy to strip income and rights away from everyone not already rich.
Jack Brammer at the Herald:
Two national groups dedicated to electing Republican state legislators have their sights set on the Kentucky House.And it's not just state legislators that matter.
The GOP has a great shot to take control of the Kentucky House for the first time since 1921, officials with the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee and the Republican State Leadership Committee said Thursday in a telephone conference call from their national meeting in Colorado.
Pennsylvania House Speaker Sam Smith said Kentucky is one of the "Sweet 16" targets the RLCC has identified as opportunities to flip legislative control. Republicans now control 60 of 99 legislative chambers in the country.
Matt Walter, president of the Republican State Leadership Committee, declined to say how much money the groups plan to pour into Kentucky this fall or what big-name national Republicans may be in the state for fundraisers.
He did say Kentucky "will be on the receiving end of revenue."
The RLCC has spent more than $1 million on legislative races in Kentucky since 2008. It spent more than $400,000 in Kentucky during the 2010 election cycle and more than $355,000 in 2012. The group spent more than $200,000 in Kentucky last year and expects to top its previous spending record this year.
In California the Democratic Party took control of the statehouse with 2/3 supermajorities in the Assembly and Senate in 2012, as well as every state constitutional office. In one fell swoop, years of poor economic and budget news turned almost instantly rosy as Democrats came together to pass competent budgets and fund needed priorities. By discarding Republican obstruction Democrats were able to turn California from a national laughingstock into a nearly overnight success story.As the late Molly Ivins of blessed memory often wrote: Vote! It will clear up your complexion, help you lose weight, and improve your sex life.
Meanwhile, Colorado’s success in marijuana legalization is serving as a model for states across the nation to question their own laws on the topic.
As long as current Congressional district boundaries remain in place, the House is going to be a difficult place to get anything done. The Senate may well bounce back and forth between the 2014 and 2016 elections, possibly even 2018 as well. Legislative gridlock seems a near certainty until at least 2020 if not 2022 when the new census establishes new partisan district lines.
Democrats and their donors would be well advised to shift a substantial amount of their focus to winning statehouse battles, helping people in the states where it’s possible to help, and proving the worth of progressive policies to serve as an example for voters in the battlegrounds.
Posts
1 comment:
Are you Kidding me? Yes, every thing you said was true, but I hope you aren't THAT provincial. Is there one single issue more important, or which will be harder to reverse if we lose, than the make-up of SCOTUS? Anything else we can get back after 2016 -- when I expect we will be riding a tidal wave -- especially if we turn away from the Nominee Presumptive. But if we get a vacancy in the Court and we have lost the Senate, we'll either be stuck with an 8-person Court for up to two years, or be stuck with a 'centrist' -- meaning someone between Grimes and Mitch -- with a lifetime appointment.
True, things are looking much better than they did a few months ago, We should, of we make a strong enough campaign, be sure to keep the Senate. Ernst and Land aren't quite Crazy Chrissie and the Obtuse Angle, but they are close, and Cory Gardner's campaign is doing some wonderful examples of foot-shooting. Dr. Wehby is no Dr. Welby, and the Mississippi Mess might even give us an off-the-wall gain there, especially if McDaniel either gets the victory or gets on the ballot.
Other shaky incumbents look like they can hold on -- and if we'd only start making use of the issues we have they'd be looking even better. But we need every vote we can get, including Grimes' because we have no assurance that some of our candidates won't do their own fumbling and foot-shooting. We have to go with Grimes too. Sure, they aren't the Senators we'd like -- though some might be beter than we expect -- but in every case, the opponents are much worse, and SCOTUS looms as the ultimate issue.
And getting voters out for Grimes, for our Congressional candidates, that will be as good a way of saving the Leges as anything else -- since it was because we slept through 2010 that we lost so many of them.
Only can we PLEASE realize that what were once 'wedge issues' against us have become -- or rather could become, if we dared use them -- wedge issues against our opponents, even in Kentucky. SSM, marijuana legalization, even Obamacare all can win us more votes than they will lose us.
Post a Comment