Interesting data on how the write in votes tallied out in Alabama.
A reminder to speak out and stand up for what you believe.
California Creates Early Presidential Primary for 2020
And with this move, all eyes should focus squarely on Sen Harris of California as a serious candidate for president.
Tips for Surviving a Nuclear Blast
This doesn’t have anything to do with politics, but I remember talking about many of these options as part of getting my Emergency Preparedness merit badge in the Boy Scouts during the Cold War mindset of the 1980’s.
US Military Options in Korea Not Great
This gets reported on often but is worth re-examining–the US is not well positioned for either a pre-emptive strike on North Korea or a strong defensive move against North Korean aggression. Remember, the build up to the Iraq invasion took months–and that was on terrain much more favorable to US military strengths, against a clearly inferior military opponent that was not highly motivated and didn’t have WMD’s, and there wasn’t the possibility of a devastating penalty to a strong US ally in the region as a result of the action.
Russian influence on North Korea
This is an older article from CNN but worth reading for a better understanding of the geopolitical nature of the Korean peninsula right now. Russia is trying to be an ascendant power on the global stage and recapture the superpower status that the USSR enjoyed. If they are in agreement with China that the largest threat to stability in the region is President Trump, they will now be able to work together. Russia will gain influence over a former country that it had a dominant relationship with, and perhaps strengthen its hold on disputed Japanese islands it has claimed since the end of World War II (REMINDER: No peace treaty was ever signed between Japan and Russia resolving their conflict at the end of the World War II).
Do the Democrats have a chance in the Alabama Senate general election?
With all of the infighting on the Republican side, and the chance of a candidate going farther to the right than any recent nominee in the state, it’s a logical question to ask. Moreover, the Democrat’s nominee, Doug Jones, avoided a run off and can wait until the Moore and Strange have bloodied each other in their competitive run-off (that election is at the end of September).
One important tea leaf is what the participation was in each primary. It was a historically low turn out–the Alabama secretary of state reported participation Tuesday between 10 and 15% of the electorate. But if you look at the total votes cast by party, it’s clear the Dems have a big mountain to climb. The total votes cast for 8 Democrats vying for the nomination was (if I’m doing the math correctly) just shy of 160,000. That total is below what Republican Judge Moore received in the Republican primary (162,570). The total number of Republicans that voted was nearly 418,000–well over twice the participation on the Democrats side.
The other factor is that there is a large timeframe between the Republican run-off election (end of September) and the general election (mid-December), so there is plenty of time for a candidate to rehab himself and solidify his coalition on the Republican side.
But while I would say its highly, highly unlikely the Democrats pull off an upset, one thing learned from last year is never say never, and in the event something completely unlikely and unforeseen occurs, you want to be positioned to take advantage of that.
https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/alabama-senate-special-election-primary
Alabama Senate Primaries: Republican Run-Off
Judge Moore and Senator Strange will compete in a run off to determine the Republican nominee to fill the remainder of Jeff Session’s term. Sen. Strange starts off with a hill to climb, as he finished well behind Moore in the primary, even with the backing of President Trump and Sen. McConnell.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/16/alabama-senate-trump-mcconnell-strange-moore-241678
Why the Democrats Could Lose in 2018
To quote a line from The Right Stuff, “No bucks, no Buck Rogers.” Fundraising is a key component to being able to win in a campaign environment where there is no longer a cap on spending. The Republican National Committee has embraced going after small donors, while the Democratic National Committee has not, which is shocking when one considers the success that Obama and Sanders had with small donor fundraising.
The Electoral College Blog 