Posts Tagged ‘Debbie Stabenow’

2018 Election Day Post

Tuesday, November 6th, 2018

Happy election day, everyone!

  1. Go vote, if you haven’t already.
  2. A list of Williamson County voting locations can be found here.
  3. A PDF of Travis County voting locations is here.
  4. A list of my endorsements for Round Rock ISD and other down-ballot Williamson races can be found here.
  5. I will be live-blogging/live-tweeting the election results tonight around 7 PM.

Now some links:

  • “Early Voter Turnout Surges As Republicans Hold Lead In Battleground States.”
  • Last week: “Voters were told that DeSoto is a Democratic voting location only and if voting for any Republicans or write-ins they need to go north to Dallas.”
  • Borepatch covers the 2018 midterms as an exercise in game theory:

    The Middle Class has been playing cooperatively for decades, as the Progressives have been pushing and taking advantage of that cooperation. It’s worked very well for Progressives, and very badly for the Middle Class. As I said in that post (almost a year before the 2016 election) it led to the rise of Donald Trump.

    The last two years has been a series of Trump victories where he has shown the Middle Class that you can push back against the Progressives and win. I believe that this is a fundamental shift in American politics, as the “deplorables” have not only had enough, but have seen that they can win.

    Sure, the hard core Democrats hate Donald Trump with the fire of a thousand suns and will turn out heavily to vote against Republicans. But the rest of their party doesn’t seem to feel that way: Blue Collar/Union Democrats are making more money now, Blacks and Hispanics are making more money now, everyone has better employment prospects, Trump’s favorability numbers are up.

    There’s a split between the core of the party and the rest of the party.

    At the same time the Republican base has been energized and united – the Kavanaugh hearings in particular seem to have been a huge blunder for the Democrats. Sure, it energized the Democratic base, but it seems to have united the GOP base against them.

    And so we’re seeing big turnouts in early voting, and Republicans out voting Democrats pretty much everywhere. I don’t think that any of the election models predicted or planned for this, and so none of the polls or predictions carry any weight. Like I said, we’ll see tomorrow but I think it will be a glum evening for the Democrats.

    But I said earlier that this gives me hope for the Republic. The reason is that tit-for-tat results in a game theory stable outcome. If Republicans stick to push back, but also keep the Middle Class “we’re all in this together” spirit from the last few decades, game theory suggests that the Democrats may have to adjust to a less confrontational style of politics (if for nothing other than preventing the evaporation of the non-rabid part of their party). We’ll have to see how that plays out. As I said in my post 3 years ago:

    Tit For Tat is essentially a reputational game – get a bad reputation by screwing your opponent and you pay the price. The mathematics is unmistakeable on that.

    The Middle Class finally has an option to play against their opponent. An opponent who has a deservedly poor reputation.

    No wonder Trump’s support seems rock solid. The mathematics is unshakeable.

    If the Blue Wave disappears in the face of an enraged GOP base, then the Democrats will have to change their tactics – or keep losing elections.

  • “A reporter for a Michigan newspaper called Michigan Senate Republican candidate John James’s campaign looking for an interview and thought she hung up the phone before leaving a voicemail saying ‘fucking John James…that would suck.'” Note that polls show James within two points of Democratic incumbent Debbie Stabenow. (Update: The reporter has been fired. Good for the Huron Daily Tribune upholding basic journalistic standards. Meanwhile, racist Sarah Jeong is still employed by the New York Times…)
  • Heh:

  • GM is Using Your Money to Reward Politicians That Gave GM Your Money

    Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

    According to The Wall Street Journal

    The Detroit company gave $90,500 to candidates running in the current election cycle, Federal Election Commission records show…The beneficiaries include Midwestern lawmakers, mostly Democrats, who have traditionally supported the industry’s legislative agenda on Capitol Hill, including Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) and Rep. John Dingell (D., Mich.).”

    Don’t you feel honored that a company owned by the Federal government is using your bailout money to reward those that supported a bailout?

    According to WSJ, that list includes Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the House Republican Whip. Mr. Cantor should know better, and should make it a point to give the money back. ObamaMotors shouldn’t be trying to bribe our elected officials with our own money.

    (Hat tip Don Surber.)