Young Voters

The Tea Party Attack On Chris Christie: Wonderful News For Democrats!

The right wing Tea Party attacks on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, making clear that his victory means nothing for the Presidential campaign of 2016, is great news for Democrats, as it indicates that the Republican Party is insuring its own defeat by attacking moderate conservatives such as Chris Christie, along with Jeb Bush and Jon Huntsman.

We have seen Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, and James Inhofe taking negative stands on Christie’s victory, and if any of the first five are the GOP nominee in 2016, it will make for an easy landslide victory for Hillary Clinton, or any other Democratic nominee for the White House!

And the bitter attacks of right wing Talk Show hosts Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and others only adds to the destruction of the GOP brand!

If the GOP cannot appeal to African Americans, Hispanics, women, gays and lesbians, young voters, and labor, it has absolutely no possibility of regaining the White House or control of the Senate anytime soon, and the House of Representatives is also put into play.

The rhetoric will fly fast and furious as the GOP self destructs before our eyes, and it will be a display that makes the 2012 Republican brand look more rational by comparison, although it most certainly was not that at all!

Republicans Need To Face Facts: Old White And Religious Males In South, Great Plains, and Mountain West Are A Dying Breed!

The Republican Party seems to be unable to understand that their future is gloomy until they abandon the idea of old white and religious males in the South And Great Plains and Mountain West being enough to win elections.

This country wants total separation of church and state.

This country wants women, African Americans, Latinos, and Gays and Lesbians to be treated with dignity.

The young are voting in greater numbers, and they are voting Democratic, as they do not want the agenda of limited government, states rights, and religion in government that the Republicans are constantly trying to force on them.

The Civil War has been over for 150 years, and states rights will not be the dominant viewpoint of future generations.

Small national government disappeared in the time of the Great Depression 80 years ago, and it is NOT coming back.

This nation is becoming one of fewer whites, and more diversity, and nothing is going to stop that trend.

And women are liberated, and will NOT allow any man to dictate what they can and cannot do with their bodies and their futures.

Until and when the GOP understands these realties, they will be a losing party, and the benefits for the Democratic Party will grow by leaps and bounds!

Virginia Gubernatorial Race Going Democratic: Great Sign For 2014 And Beyond!

The lead of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe, a close friend and fund raiser for the Clintons, over Republican Attorney General and gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli in Virginia, is a great sign for the future of the Democratic Party.

Cuccinelli is a truly nightmare nominee, with his extremist right wing views, and his decision to invite Ted Cruz and Rand Paul into the state to campaign for him, signs of true desperation on his part, and a sign of why the GOP is losing its hold in Virginia.

Cuccinelli’s Lieutenant Governor nominee, preacher E W Jackson, is even more of a right wing lunatic than Cuccinelli, and it is clear that young people, minorities, college educated people, women, and those who believe in socially moderate views are not willing to tolerate such narrow minded and bigoted nominees as Cuccinelli and Jackson.

It has often been said that how Virginia goes in the odd year elections affects Congressional elections the next year, and that has often rang true.

So the Virginia election results, now seen as a massive victory for the Democrats, is a good sign that the state is turning more blue, particularly because of northern Virginia federal government workers, but also because the Republican Party has been unduly influenced by its Tea Party lunatics in that state, as well as nationally, and has led to the highest rate of disapproval for the GOP nationally in its entire history, 63 percent!

The Destruction Of The Middle Class And The Working Poor By The Republican Party

Republicans and conservatives do not want to admit it, but since the age of Ronald Reagan, they have effectively decimated the middle class, and heaped scorn on the poor.

This is reprehensible, particularly when they profess belief in God and call themselves “good Christians” as they work to slash food stamps for single mothers, children, the disabled and the working poor; oppose any rise in the minimum wage; support exporting of jobs to third world nations by greedy corporations; undermine respect for women and their basic human rights; and promote nativism and hate for ethnic minorities, as they try to survive in a nation rapidly becoming less white and Protestant by the day!

As it is, they are still able to convince struggling whites in the South and the hinterland to vote their fears, and blame all their troubles on the poor and the minorities, and progressive initiatives to help the working poor and the middle class.

But in the long run, this is a losing strategy, as now the GOP, allowing the KNOW NOTHING Tea Party Movement to have growing influence, are totally alienating the young, women, minorities, labor, gays, and educated people who care about their fellow man and woman.

So the Republican Party is rapidly becoming a dinosaur, and Ted Cruz and his buddies in the libertarian movement and the Tea Party crowd are destroying any hope of a future for the party of Lincoln, TR, and Eisenhower. They are rapidly becoming part of the dustbin of history!

Who Was The “Racial” Candidate? Obama Or Romney?

Conservative pundits and many whites who voted for Mitt Romney last Tuesday, in fear of the “black Socialist from Kenya”, love to say that Barack Obama is the “racial” candidate, elected because of those “damned” minorities, and that is the only reason, they say, that he won a second term.

That is a MASSIVE LIE, as actually Mitt Romney was, CLEARLY, the “racial candidate”!

“How can you say that?” is the retort.

Well, here are the FACTS, not myths!

Whites were about 72 percent of the voters, and Romney received about 88 percent of his votes from whites!

Barack Obama received 39 percent of the white votes, including from working class voters in the Midwest, who appreciated his saving the auto industry, which meant their jobs. They did not care that he was black, while many Republican voters were openly racist!

Now, the facts are that, of course, Obama could not have won without black, Hispanic-Latino, and Asian American voters! So what, as ideally, any candidate should win from a diverse coalition of voters?

So Obama won 93 percent of the black vote; 71 percent of the Hispanic-Latino vote; 73 percent of the Asian American vote; 60 percent of voters 18-29; 52 percent of voters 30-44; and 55 percent of the female vote; 56 percent of single men; 67 percent of single women; and 50 percent of college graduates. This is a diverse coalition, which is to be saluted!

But also realize that without the 39 percent white vote, Obama would not have won, as two thirds of 72 (the total white percentage of the national vote), is about 28 percent, and Obama won with 51 percent of the total vote, which means the “minorities” were about 23 percent, and whites 28 percent of that 51 percent.

So white support gave Obama his victory!

The Long Range Direction Of American Presidential Politics: Democratic Party Ascendancy!

When one examines the move of the Republican Party toward the far Right, under the control of extremist elements, and only attracting white males in large numbers, whether wealthy or working class, a strange alliance to say the least, one realizes that the future direction of the nation, particularly on the Presidential level, is toward Democratic Party ascendancy in future Presidential elections.

Barack Obama is well on his way to a second term, as explained by the Electoral College math, and will win somewhere between 288 at the least, and 398 at the most, in electoral votes. He will win between 23 and 32 states, plus the District of Columbia.

With the Hispanic and Latino population growing by leaps and bounds, and continuing in that trend over the next decade, five states that conceivably could go to Obama in 2012, but probably won’t, will become more likely “blue” by 2016 and 2020—Indiana, Missouri, Montana, Arizona and Georgia.

But even those states that have a high unemployment rate now, which means they might go to Mitt Romney—Florida, North Carolina, Colorado and Nevada—will most likely go Democratic in the future, due to their growing Hispanic and Latino population.

The four states that have lower than average unemployment rates and are seen as likely to go to President Obama—New Hampshire, Virginia, Ohio, and Iowa—are also likely to go Democratic in future Presidential campaigns, with the higher Hispanic and Latino population there too!

So even if Obama cannot win the maximum of 32 states, future Democratic nominees for President have a good chance of winning that number of states, and therefore win overwhelmingly in the Electoral College!

And added to this is the state of Texas, which by 2020, if not 2016, could revert back to the Democratic Party because of the rapidly growing Hispanic and Latino population, making for a maximum potential of 33 states, plus the District of Columbia, and a potential grand total of 436 electoral votes out of 538, leaving only 102 electoral votes for the Republicans from 17 states—South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and Alaska!

Of course, the person who is the nominee, and the events at the time, will decide if the Democrats really can win all but 17 states, and all but 102 electoral votes,so nothing is guaranteed.

But if the Republican Party continues to alienate the Hispanic and Latino population, plus African Americans, women, young people who are socially liberal, senior citizens who are fearful of the GOP plans on Social Security and Medicare, environmentalists, labor supporters, gays and lesbians, and those against foreign interventions on a regular basis, then indeed the Democrats could become a majority in Presidential races, and have a greater chance of controlling Congress and many state legislatures in future decades!

Medicare Will Decide The Election: IF Obama Wins Florida AND New Hampshire Of “Battleground” States, He Wins The Presidency!

Chuck Todd of NBC’s Meet The Press just demonstrated how close Barack Obama is to a victory for the White House.

Showing an electoral vote map with 237 electoral votes in Obama’s camp and 191 in Mitt Romney’s camp, Todd demonstrates that there are NINE true “battleground” or “swing” states, and if Obama wins Florida and New Hampshire, he has the second term he wants in the White House! And the issue of Medicare, brought to central focus by Paul Ryan and his budget plans on that program, will be the center of the victory of Obama for the Presidency!

Even if Romney wins the other seven contestable states—Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado, and Nevada—he would lose the Electoral College 270-268, due to Florida’s 29 electoral votes and New Hampshire’s 4 electoral votes!

But, to assume that Obama would really lose all seven of those states is also delusional, as it is certain that he will win some, and probably, most of them!

This author has been saying this for a long time, and has found some readers of this blog, conservative and Republican friends and associates, and people on Fox News Channel and talk radio, act as if only the public opinion polls, which often show a close race in many states and nationally, should be paid attention to, but that is NOT the case!

The election is decided by the Electoral College, NOT the popular vote nationally,and do not forget that George W. Bush LOST the popular vote in 2000, but was declared the winner of the Electoral College! The same happened to Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford Hayes, and John Quincy Adams in the past!

But to conclude that, somehow, Barack Obama will lose the national popular vote, with the Republican alienation of Hispanics-Latinos, African Americans, women, young voters, the middle class, senior citizens, gays and lesbians, the poor, labor, educators, consumer advocates, environmentalists, and secular voters—in each case, the majority, not all of any group, of course—indicates that those believing what they do are indeed delusional, and cannot be helped by ordinary medical intervention!

The Voter ID Laws: Based On Lies And A Denial Of The Voting Rights Act Of 1965!

Many states, all controlled by Republican Governors and legislatures, are systematically violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in an attempt to fix the Presidential Election of 2012 in favor of GOP candidate Mitt Romney!

After having manipulated the results in the Presidential Election of 2000, with the help of the partisan Republican Supreme Court, now strict photo ID laws are being imposed to cripple the ability of the elderly, the poor, the young, and minorities to vote, knowing full well that these groups would be likely to vote Democratic for Barack Obama!

Claiming that there has been voter fraud in the past, when there are almost no such examples, now the state of Pennsylvania has openly admitted there is NO evidence of such fraud, but still they want to disenfranchise people, a violation of the civil rights laws, and a disgrace to the idea of democracy!

So the Republican Party is saying that the only way they can win is by denying people the right to vote, and also spending inordinate amounts of money to “buy” the election!

What a disgrace for a political party to be stifling the will of the people!

Barack Obama And Gay Marriage: Politics Or Principle?

The American public seems to be very skeptical of the motivations of President Barack Obama, when he declared support of gay marriage a week ago.

A new public opinion poll indicates that 67 percent of those polled think the declaration was based on politics, compared to 24 percent who think it was based on principle.

There is no question that the declaration of support for gay marriage has created a new dynamic, which could affect the fall election for President.

Not only devoutly religious Catholics and evangelical Christians are vehemently against what Obama has declared, but also the African American community is split, as many blacks who are devoutly religious join white religious voters in opposition.

Also, older voters over 50, and many Hispanics and Latinos who are religious, are also not happy over what Obama has declared.

At the same time, younger voters under 35, single women under 50, college educated voters, a majority in the larger urban states (such as California, New York and Illinois), and obviously, gay voters, are supportive.

The danger to Obama is that his opportunity to win the Southern states he won in 2008 (Virginia, North Carolina, Florida) is now more in play, at least in theory. Also believed to be in play are Indiana and Nevada and Colorado, other “swing” states that Obama won in 2008.

At the same time, Ohio and Iowa are thought to be still in Obama’s camp, due to the economic improvement in those states, along with other Midwestern states, including Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. Pennsylvania still seems safe for Obama, while New Hampshire might be in play.

Let us assume all of the above as stated is fact. How would that affect the electoral map?

Obama starts out with what seems to be 227 electoral votes that are certain, including:

Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, California, Hawaii–18 states and DC.

If one adds Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Iowa, it adds 44 electoral votes, making for a total of 271 electoral votes, one more than needed to win the Presidency! That would mean 21 states and DC went for the President.

Now, let’s be frank! Can one really conceive that Obama will lose all of the following: Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, New Hampshire, Indiana, Colorado, Nevada–a total of 87 electoral votes?

And beyond all this, remember the factor of LIKEABILITY! Romney is not well liked, and people do not feel that he is someone to trust to be out there for average Americans, that he does not and cannot understand the daily struggle of a majority of Americans who are not rich, and never will be rich!

Barack Obama has 60 percent of the nation liking him, as compared to Romney’s 31 percent.

Barack Obama is overwhelmingly favored by Hispanics and Latinos, single women, a majority of those under 35, organized labor, environmentalists, the college educated, and African Americans.

And now the Americans Elect group, which hoped to get a centrist, independent candidate on the ballot online, has come to the realization that there is no one strong or well known enough to be considered as its candidate, and the organization has folded.

So Barack Obama still has a massive edge, even with the issue of gay marriage possibly muddying the waters somewhat!

Gay Marriage And The Split Of Age Groups: The Future Is Bright!

An interesting statistic about gay marriage and different age groups presents itself, based on research, and is a sign that gay marriage will have a rosy future over time.

If one polls people who are senior citizens, over 65, one finds that gay marriage is opposed in every state of the Union.

But when one looks at voters under the age of 30, only 12 states would ban gay marriage!

So as time passes, and the older generation leaves us, gay marriage will become much more accepted, and one day, about 30 years from now, many will wonder what the big commotion was about, and there will be embarrassment that there was such a fight over human rights!

But then, it is embarrassing to look back at the 1950s and 1960s, and the incessant struggle over civil rights for African Americans in the South!

Interestingly, it is in the South that we have the most vehement opposition to gay marriage and gay rights, so what does that tell us?

As time passes, nothing changes in much of the “Old South”, the rural South, whether it is Democratic, as it was in the past, or Republican today!