2018 Midterm Thread

[Sithborg]

I would watch the GOP efforts for disenfranchisement to increase. Anyone honest has to see the cracks forming for a GOP majority. While Trumps election shows the Dem's weak areas, I think this election has shown that wall firming up again. And frankly, with the attacks on gerrymandering that is increasing in momentum, the GOP is in serious trouble.

It is looking like Sinema is taking the lead in AZ. So, Trump's "grand victory" of picking up 5 seats in the senate is down to 1-2.

And if one wants to get crazy, possible no change. Which is kind of crazy going into the year.

 

[CaptainWagner]

Seeing Dan Crenshaw tonight on SNL was refreshing. I'll be honest, I was far too quick to judge him based on the Right Wing reactions to Davidson's joke last week and his loose connection to a racist Facebook page that several other prominent Republicans were tied to. But since learning more about him, he seems like a really good guy, and his appearance on the show seems to affirm that on a national level. It's nice to see up and coming Republicans who can pick up the pieces and steer their party back to a sane place once the Trump era is done.

 

[Sithborg]

Assuming that Trump just goes away quietly.

The Tea Party still exists. And good luck getting the white supremacists to go back being quiet.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

New York Times - Opinion | America Needs a Bigger House

We’re nearly two decades into the 21st century, so why is America still operating with a House of Representatives built for the start of the 20th?

The House’s current size — 435 representatives — was set in 1911, when there were fewer than one-third as many people living in the United States as there are now. At the time, each member of Congress represented an average of about 200,000 people. In 2018, that number is almost 750,000.

This would shock the Constitution’s framers, who set a baseline of 30,000 constituents per representative and intended for the House to grow along with the population. The possibility that it might not — that Congress would fail to add new seats and that district populations would expand out of control — led James Madison to propose what would have been the original First Amendment: a formula explicitly tying the size of the House to the total number of Americans.

The amendment failed, but Congress still expanded the House throughout the first half of the nation’s existence. The House of Representatives had 65 members when it was first seated in 1789, and it grew in every decade but one until 1920, when it became frozen in time.

Despite massive increases in U.S. population, the House of Representatives has been stuck at 435 members for like a hundred years.

 

[Sithborg]

Yup. That is what the current issue with the House. And really, with the electoral college in general.

 

[Marvolo]

New York Times - Opinion | America Needs a Bigger House



Despite massive increases in U.S. population, the House of Representatives has been stuck at 435 members for like a hundred years.

Why doesnt it grow after every census? Do a census every 10 years and add members accordingly during the elections that follow the census.

We cant have 30,000 constituents per representative tho. At our current population that'd be over 10,892 congressmen. If yall think we cant get **** done now imagine trying to wrangle a Congress that size.

 

[Sithborg]

So, apparently the one county that hasn't reported mail in ballots in GA are apparently being returned to the senders. The preprinted address was not a valid address.

Kemp is stealing an election.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Tone-deaf: Her Democratic opponent in the election last Tuesday and in the upcoming run-off is Mike Espy, a black Democrat.

Think Progress - Noted [Republican] white supremacist Steve King lies about calling immigrants ‘dirt,’ but it was recorded (liberal blog)

Unfortunately King won reelection in Iowa because of course he did.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

KSBW - 'It's impossible' to finish recount by deadline, Palm Beach county election supervisor says

The election overseer for a critical county in Florida confirmed to CNN on Sunday what observers in both parties had begun to predict: There is no way Palm Beach County's machine recount will be finished by the Thursday deadline.

"It's impossible," Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher said in response to CNN asking if officials would be able to finish the full recount on time.

The prediction came as a rare point of agreement between Democrats and Republicans in the state, who have engaged in a tense fight since Tuesday's election brought tight margins in statewide races.

Palm Beach County GOP Chairman Michael Barnett told CNN that the county's inability to meet the deadline would be "good news for Republicans because our candidates are ahead.

"If they're not able to meet the deadline, the secretary of state of Florida may go ahead and certify the elections for our candidates," Barnett said. "In that case, you can bet your butt there will be lawsuits filed everywhere."

Barnett was critical of the infrastructure, saying: "It's an outdated process. The machinery is old. They don't have enough updated machinery to go through all the ballots to run one election, let alone all three statewide races."

 

[AvengerPA]

New York Times - Opinion | America Needs a Bigger House



Despite massive increases in U.S. population, the House of Representatives has been stuck at 435 members for like a hundred years.

Is the House chamber big enough for more Representatives?

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

AZcentral - Kyrsten Sinema widens lead again over Martha McSally in pivotal day for Arizona's U.S. Senate race

 

[mclay18]

Amazing how Arizona's close election tallies are going smoothly, while Florida's 2018 recount is bringing out a three-ring circus.

 

[DJ Kornphlake]

Well it's Florida, so yeah.

 

[Sithborg]

Yeah, for some odd reasons, the Republicans in power felt no real reason to completely improve the system.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

 

[mclay18]

Yeah, for some odd reasons, the Republicans in power felt no real reason to completely improve the system.

One former co-worker is calling for the lady in charge of the Broward County elections office to be fired. It's not her fault Rick Scott underfunded the elections office and didn't bother updating the archaic voting machines.

 

[Sithborg]

And in the continuing topic of "Its only okay if you are a Republican"

Bay County allowed voters to cast ballots online despite law, Gov. Scott's orders

Also, the box of mail in ballots found in the mail center that had to be evacuated because that was where the pipe bombs were coming through raises all sorts of red flags for the conspiracy minded.

 

[Man in the Suit]

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Not as many senate seats as Trump was bragging about.

 

[Sithborg]

Down 2. Now, to see if Scott can force another Gore v Bush. And if advocating going to a lynching will help or hurt the MS run off.

 

[mclay18]

Trump is going to have a glorious meltdown if Scott and Desantis lose FL to Nelson and Gillum in the recounts.

 

[CaptainWagner]

This is what makes the crying "Fraud" so absurd. Broward clearly messed up big time with their ballots. But in a way that FAVORED the GOP!

 

[THORin]

You don't know how happy this makes me. Hearing this on the news last night was like music to my ears.

 

[Raiden]

Trump is going to have a glorious meltdown if Scott and Desantis lose FL to Nelson and Gillum in the recounts.

This is on my grown up Christmas list.

 

[THORin]

This is on my grown up Christmas list.

I'm asking Santa for a Beto O'Rourke 2020 Presidential campaign.