Election Deniers and Defenders Poised for Next Voting War Battle by Steven Rosenfeld
October 14, 2022
Introduction:
(Alternet) There is little doubt that pro-Trump Republicans are going to challenge voters and contest results that they do not like in 2022’s general election. And should they lose those challenges and contests, they are not likely to accept the results.
The warning signs are everywhere.
There are recruitment drives to challenge voters and voter registrations. There are instructions to disrupt the process and counting of votes. There are assertions not to trust any vote-counting computer. Some general election candidates are already claiming that the results will be rigged unless they win.
Election officials and their defenders are anticipating these actions. They have written and shared guides on how to deal with subversive poll workers and unruly party observers. Election officials have been urged to build relationships with the press before crises hit, and tell stories about “friends and neighbors” who run the process to build trust. They are being reminded to bolster cybersecurity, be calm and professional, and use posters and handouts that explain the process.
But as the November 8, 2022, Election Day nears, it appears that the people most likely to be attacking and defending the process are, in many respects, talking past each other. What the critics are seeking—a level of simplicity and transparency in the vote-counting protocols and rules—is not what is being teed up and offered to the public in defense of the voting to come.
Lincoln Project Endorses Val Demings in Ad Walloping Marco Rubio for Defending 'Criminal' Donald Trump by Brandon Gage
October 13 , 2022
Introduction:
(Alternet) The Lincoln Project released a new ad on Wednesday excoriating United States Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) over his support of former President Donald Trump.
Rubio, who lost the 2016 GOP presidential nomination to Trump, has morphed in the six years since from a fierce Trump critic into a reliable ally.
But the sixty-second ad notes that Rubio's loyalty to Trump runs deeper than partisan necessity. Rubio, it implies, abdicated his duty to the public – especially while Trump's numerous legal entanglements worsen:
Marco Rubio wants you to think crime is a top issue in this election. So why does he spend so much time defending Donald Trump, who is at the center of nineteen criminal and civil cases from tax fraud to stealing documents to trying to violently overthrow an election?
Rubio backs Trump, not law and order. He attacks the FBI and law enforcement. So much for 'backing the blue.'
Biden On the Campaign Trail by Hans Nichols
October 14, 2022
Introduction:
(Axios) In the final stretch before midterm elections, President Biden is flexing his executive authority, with targeted trips on Air Force One and White House decrees to boost key demographic groups.
The big picture: Since passing a pair of transformative bills this summer, Biden has been using executive actions to motivate slices of the Democratic coalition.
Driving the news: At a stop Friday in Irvine Calif., Biden will sign an executive order directing the Department of Health and Human Services to look at ways to lower prescription drug costs, according to a White House official.
• Then he'll fly to Portland, Oregon, where he'll accuse Republicans of planning to gut Medicare.
Between the lines: It's also a chance for him to recast yesterday's blistering September 8.2% inflation headline by highlighting what his Inflation Reduction Act will do to lower prescription drug costs.
Challenges to Voters Are Growing Before the Midterms – and Have a Long History as a Way of Keeping Down the Black Vote by Austin Sarat
October 12, 2022
Introduction:
(The Conversation) Voters who want to cast their ballot on Election Day this November may be in for an unpleasant surprise – the very real possibility that they will be unable to vote.
That’s because any registered voter can challenge the right of another voter, or group of voters, to cast a ballot by alleging that they are not qualified to do so.
Potential challenges range from the wrong address on a voter’s registration to not being old enough to vote to having been barred from voting as a felon. Once a challenge is made, election officials have to determine whether it is valid and whether a voter should be removed from the list of eligible voters.
State and local election officials have already had an unusually busy year dealing with voting challenges. In many places, they have been flooded with them.
The Associated Press reported on Sept. 17, 2022, that in one Iowa county, election officials who had received “three voter challenges over the previous 15 years” got 119 challenges over a two-day period.
The article goes on to note that one challenge in 2021 in Georgia would have affect the voting rights of 364,000 voters in that state. It also notes the history of this sort of thing with other examples, one of which goes back hundreds of years.
Three Billionaires are Spending a Fortune to re-Elect Ron Johnson in Wisconsin by Donald Shaw and David Moore
October 11, 2022
Introduction:
(More Perfect Union) Three billionaires who have benefited from tax cuts pushed through by Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson are funding a super PAC that is spending millions of dollars attacking the senator’s Democratic opponent.
The $22 million that Wisconsin Truth PAC has spent so far places it as the sixth highest-spending super PAC in the midterms cycle and the highest-spending single race-focused super PAC, according to OpenSecrets. The group was formed earlier this year by Republican consultants to back Johnson in the battleground race.
Building materials company CEO Diane Hendricks has contributed at least $6.5 million so far this year to the Wisconsin Truth PAC. Shipping and packaging supplies company CEO Richard Uihlein and his wife Elizabeth have given the PAC at least $3.5 million. Those figures are as of the most recent disclosures covering through the end of July, so it is possible they have donated more or that additional wealthy donors have contributed to the PAC since then.
Since May, Wisconsin Truth PAC has spent $12.8 million on running ads that oppose Democratic candidate Mandela Barnes, the lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, and $9.2 million on ads that support Johnson. In its anti-Barnes spots, the PAC paints Barnes as oblivious to the economic suffering of the middle class and claims that he supports increasing their taxes. The ads also claim that Barnes supports radical policies and tries to align him with the group of House progressives known as “The Squad.”
One thing to remember is that there will also be various ballot measures across the country. One of the more interesting is on the Portland, Maine ballot. I briefly lived in Portland after my retirement, so this is also of interest to me on that score as well.
Maine’s Biggest City to Vote on Clean Elections Measure by David Moore
September 9, 2022
Introduction:
(Sludge) With campaign spending on the rise in their city’s elections, voters in Portland, Maine will decide this November on a ballot question that aims to level the playing field for local office seekers.
The ballot question, called Clean Elections, would create a voluntary public campaign financing program for candidates running for municipal office in Portland—one similar to a well-established program offered to candidates for state office in Maine. If approved, the Clean Elections program would make Portland the first municipality in Maine to offer public funding for candidates. The measure would also ban all candidates from taking corporate contributions, prohibit entities under foreign influence from making expenditures related to ballot questions, and enhance transparency of campaign contribution information.
The Clean Elections initiative was approved to appear on the ballot on July 11 by the Portland Charter Commission, a body created in 2020 to review changes to the City Charter. The initiative then received the green light to appear on the ballot on Sept. 1 from the City Council.
The campaign backing the measure, Fair Elections Portland, says it “will put power back in the hands of the people” and empower elected officials to represent the people who elected them rather than special interests.
Though the U.S. Census estimated Portland’s population at a modest 67,000 as of 2020, city elections have become increasingly expensive. The most recent race for Portland mayor in 2019 saw record amounts of money, with candidates raising into the six figures and PACs jumping in to back their preferred candidates. Fair Elections Portland, which is leading the effort on the ballot question, compiled figures showing that overall spending in the 2019 race for mayor was more than double that of the city’s 2015 contest. Over the past decade, candidate fundraising totals have also grown sharply in elections for Portland at-large council seats, district council seats, and school board races, according to data from Fair Elections Portland.
Warnock Vs. Walker: Five Big Takeaways From Their Only Debate by Abby Vesoulis
October 15, 2022
Introduction:
(Mother Jones) On Friday night, incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Baptist pastor, and Republican challenger Herschel Walker, a former football star, convened for a debate in Savannah, Georgia to answer questions about the policy issues Americans routinely rank as most important: Things like Abortion. Healthcare. Crime.
Warnock’s assignment was to prove he should keep the job. Walker’s mandate was proving he was fit for it. Friday was the only chance they would get to make their respective cases on the same stage, their first and only face-to-face debate before the election. And with the polls showing a less than 4-point margin in a state where Warnock won his last election by just 2 percentage points, the stakes of the candidates’ answers to questions about these issues couldn’t have been higher.
Walker has been characterized as sounding incoherent at times. Just this week at a rally, he shared a strange story about a bull who abandoned three pregnant cows to visit cows on the other side of the fence. Apparently, Walker was trying to explain that the grass is not always greener on the other side, because the cows across the fence ended up being male bulls. But the metaphor unintentionally evoked the recent bombshell allegations against Walker—that the staunch anti-abortion advocate has been credibly accused of pressuring a woman to get an abortion and paying for it. He’s also been accused of being an absentee father, not unlike the bull who leapt the fence.
Walker’s showing on Friday included a few head-scratchers, but was overall less bizarre than even his supporters were anticipating. “Herschel did a good job of keeping expectations low,” Walker surrogate Ralph Reed told reporters after the debate. “People said he can’t string three sentences together, [and that] he doesn’t know the issues. But that’s not what you saw on the stage.”
Based on crowd reaction, Warnock also had a strong showing, replete with several jabs.
Kari Lake doesn't commit to accepting Arizona election result if she loses
Source: CNN
Arizona Republican Kari Lake would not commit Sunday to accepting the results of her upcoming election for governor if she loses.
“I’m going to win the election, and I will accept that result,” the GOP nominee told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” after being asked three times whether she would accept the election’s outcome. Lake dodged the question the first two times.
“If you lose, will you accept that?” Bash asked, to which Lake replied again: “I’m going to win the election, and I will accept that result.”
Lake, who has the backing of former President Donald Trump, has repeatedly promoted his false claims about the 2020 election. A former news anchor at a local Fox station in Phoenix, she has said that she would not have certified President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Arizona, repeatedly calling the election “stolen” and “corrupt.” She said Sunday that the “real issue” is that “the people don’t trust our elections.”
Biden's late push across West aims to deliver votes for Dems
Source: AP
By COLLEEN LONG
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — President Joe Biden strode into the telephone bank at a crowded union hall and eagerly began making calls and eating doughnuts — one frosted, one glazed — as he tries every page in the political playbook to deliver votes for Democrats.
“What a governor does matters,” Biden said in a pep talk to volunteers who were making Friday night calls for Oregon gubernatorial hopeful Tina Kotek and other candidates. “It matters! It matters, it matters, it matters!”
Before leaving Portland on Saturday, the president attended a union hall reception for Kotek as he tried to boost her chances in a three-way race that could cost Democrats a reliably blue governor’s seat. He also gave a speech at a community center, warning that his administration’s progress “goes away, gone” if Republicans take control of Congress in the midterm elections.
Portland was the final stop on a four-day swing through Oregon, California and Colorado that has encapsulated Biden’s strategy for turning out voters on Election Day, Nov. 8: flex the levers of government to help boost candidates, promote an agenda aimed at strengthening an uncertain economy and haul in campaign cash.
If They Retake Congress, GOP Plan to Make Trump Tax Cuts for Rich Permanent by Brett Wilkins
October 17, 2022
Introduction:
(Common Dreams) Republican Party leaders have designs to push for the extension of corporate tax cuts and permanently reduce the rate for the wealthiest Americans if they regain control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections, according to new reporting out Monday.
Derisively referred to as the "GOP tax scam" of 2017, the legislation signed by Trump was disingenuously touted by the former president as "a bill for the middle class," but in reality resulted in a massive windfall for large corporations and the wealthy.
While Trump said that "corporations are literally going wild" over the measure that saw most of the $1.5 trillion in tax cuts go to the wealthiest 1% of Americans and corporations, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the legislation would add $1.7 trillion to the national debt by 2027.
New reporting by The Washington Post on Monday details how Republicans believe, if they do retake the House and Senate, they can force through an extension of the Trump tax cuts for the rich by putting President Joe Biden in a political box ahead of the 2024 presidential campaign.
caltrek's comment: What is really pathetic about this situation is that relatively mainstream news sources are indicating that polls show that voters trust Republicans on economic issues more than they trust Democrats. That demonstrates the utter failure of such news organizations to explain the truth to the voters.
Perhaps main-stream news sources should look to the Philadelphia Inquirer for a clue as to how the mid-term election coverage should proceed.
Philadelphia Inquirer Indicates 'It Is Crucial for Pennsylvania Voters to Elect John Fetterman' by Jessica Corbett
October , 2022
Introduction:
(Common Dreams) The Philadelphia Inquirer's editorial board on Sunday not only endorsed Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman but also argued that his Republican opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz, is "wholly unprepared" for the role.
The newspaper—founded nearly two centuries ago—made the move less than a month before the midterm elections. Early voting in Pennsylvania is done by mail; voters can request a no-excuse mail-in ballot until 5:00 pm ET on November 1.
Fetterman and Oz's contest is one of a few closely watched races—along with those in Georgia, Nevada, and Wisconsin—that will determine whether Democrats lose their narrow control of the U.S. Senate for the next two years.
The Inquirer's board wrote Sunday that U.S. President Joe Biden's first two years "have been fruitful for Pennsylvania" but "there is still much more work to be done in Washington on issues that Pennsylvanians care about," and progress on priorities such as protecting abortion rights and restoring the enhanced child tax credit could stall in a split Senate.
"That is just one reason why it is crucial for Pennsylvania voters to elect John Fetterman to the U.S. Senate in November," the board said. "An experienced public servant, Fetterman has an abundance of the kind of values and priorities that are needed to move the nation forward."
Evan McMullin Collars Utah GOP Senator Mike Lee Over His role in Donald Trump's Failed Coup by Brandon Gage
October 18, 2022
Introduction:
(Alternet) Independent United States Senate candidate Evan McMullin of Utah tore into incumbent Republican Senator Mike Lee during a Monday night debate for having been a willing participant in the numerous foredoomed schemes that were concocted to overturn the 2020 election in favor of former President Donald Trump.
McMullin, an ex-Central Intelligence Agency officer whose campaign is centered on non-partisanship, looked into Lee's eyes and accused him of forsaking his oath of office and doing nothing to stop the violent mob that Trump sicked on the Capitol on January 6th, 2021:
I think about the men and women who I served with in the CIA, who left the warmth of their homes and the love of their families to risk their lives, not knowing if they would ever come home in order to stop terrorists who were intent on destroying freedom in America. I think about all these men and women, the fourteen generations of Americans who have sacrificed for this grand experiment in freedom. They trusted you. We trusted you. And with that trust and with your knowledge of the Constitution, Senator Lee, you sought to find a weakness in our system. You advised the White House. Find an alternative slate of electors for Trump to overturn the will of the people. That's what you said. You said that the president should listen to legal quack Sidney Powell. Please make time for her, let her in, you told the White House chief of staff. You told the president that you were working overtime – fourteen hours a day I think you said – to 'unravel this' for him, to keep a president who had been voted out of office, according to the will of the people in power, despite the will of the people. Senator Lee, it is a betrayal of the American republic. You were there to stand up for our Constitution. But when the barbarians were at the gate, you were happy to let them in.
The article goes on to include a denial by Senator Lee of the truth of McMullin’s allegations, along with evidence in support of those allegations.
