This issue includes everything over the last 7 days that is fit to print. Not really but it sounds good. The 2016 Election is going to dominate news cycles for the next 581 days. If that makes you want to take a nap there are links about Oregon and even a note for my readers.
There is no excuse for those who lie or are rude online. That being said, this is frustrating for anyone like me who might want to staff a high profile race but would also like to be able to make truthful comments on our political system or people we observe in it.
It's probably best for staffers to spend more time doing good work and less time writing about politics in order to improve their chances of getting ahead in the current political enviroment.1
I hope candidates will have the courage to stick to their guns and keep good staff despite issues like these. Eventually attacks on staffers will be commonplace and therefore lose all meaning. For now, they are a relevant to media and therefore must be dealt with by candidates.
I've always been terrible about following my advice.
Thanks to Stephen Hackett at 512 Pixels, I now have fantastic footnotes on my site. I will do my best not to over use them. There is such a thing as too many footnotes. They can distract from the actual content and thus should be used sparingly. 1
I would suggest that the number of footnotes that is appropriate is directly related to how long the article is that contains footnotes. More than one in short blog post starts to become overwhelming. Long blog posts could probably sustain 2-4. You need to have something the more in the style of an academic paper to go above 4.
This footnote is a terrible example of good use of footnotes. This footnote is longer than my post which means that it is way out of proportion to be useful. In this instance I'm being ironic.
That edge of fear is what keeps me on track. If I’m afraid, then chances are I’m publishing something worthwhile. If I’m working on a project and constantly asking myself if it’s even going to work, then it means I’m probably making something of value.
Shawn has been an inspiration to me as a writer. It's encouraging for me to see he's had this much success. He's done it by honestly trying to show up every single day. He is an encouragement for me to keep trying to do the same.
Poll: If the election for President were held today, who would win? Answer: Ted Cruz. He's the only one who filed his paperwork [insert laugh track]. In this issue 2016 continues to take shape, there's a different senator (also named Kruse) in the news, another big retirement, and (finally) a link not related to politics! Check it out.
I recently came across a newsletter service called Revue. It's a simple and easy way to make well designed email newsletters. It looked interesting so I gave it a try.
Personally I'm very happy with the results. I'm going to stick with it for a while and see how it goes. It's mostly focused on politics, but I may stray from the occasionally. The goal is to send a few interesting links every week and keep my commentary short and sweet. It's the shortest newsletter taking up space in your inbox. You can check out issue #1, issue #2, and subscribe if you enjoy it.
Bored of Ted Cruz? Tired of politicians acting like themselves? Too bad. You're about to get a Texas sized dose of Ted Cruz, and politicians continue to be themselves.
I previously wrote a newsletter called Weekly Political Links. It lasted 7 issues. This is a shorter, sweeter, and better designed adaption of that newsletter. This first issue is all about politics.
The following is a selection of quotes from the Democratic Victory Task Force's Preliminary Findings offered without comment.
It is clear that Americans overwhelmingly support the people and issues that the Democratic Party fights for every day. […] We have suffered devastating losses at all levels of government since 2008 including:
- 69 House Seats
- 13 Senate Seats
- 910 State Legislative Seats
- 30 State Legislative Chambers
- 11 Governorships
It's early in 2015 and already every Republican and their Republican brother is running for President. Except Mitt Romney. He's not running. Neither is his Republican brother.
The primary started when polls closed last November (if we're being honest, they started months ago it's just that we were distracted briefly by the midterms). Republicans will eventually need to pick their nominee. Here's what I think Republicans should consider when choosing a Presidential nominee.
During the process of strategizing how to get a Republican in the White House it has occurred to many that we must run a Republican woman for President. Here's the thing. The media and the Democrats never give us a free pass on our nominee. Ever. If we don't nominate a woman we won't be as pro-woman as the Democrats are with Hillary Clinton. If we do nominate a woman, we'll be copy catting the Ds. There's no way to win that argument. At least not with Democrats. At the end of the day we should pick who we think is the best candidate for America. We shouldn't try to pre-suppose the type of candidate we need and then just pick one that fits the mold.
The Democrats are running Hillary because she is their best option to win. Not because she is a woman. They will never say it on the campaign trail but that is the truth. If the Democrats thought Hillary Clinton would get creamed they wouldn't go ahead run her on principle. They would find someone else. We should run our best candidate. Not the candidate who fits an arbitrary profile.
Politics is not a science. It's an art. We're not nominating a gender, a race, or a religion for President. We're nominating a person. Let's pick the best one.
Are you looking for the perfect Conservative candidate for President? Stop. Just stop right now. You won't find them. Even Reagan wasn't perfect. Stop looking for a candidate that's perfect. Look for a candidate with principles that could win. For every potential candidate someone could in 30 seconds dig up a news article that makes them look like a liberal Democrat.
Here's reality. Some Republcians have supported immigration reform. Others common core. Some of them expanded Medicaid. Some wouldn't repeal Obamacare. Some aren't pro-life. Some of them have been funded by big money. No candidate is perfect. Find a principled candidate and support them in the primary and then support whoever isn't Hillary in the general.
When the primary dust clears and it's Hillary v. the Republican nominee, the only possible way we can get a halfway decent President is supporting the Republican. End of story. It is your right to write-in a candidate, not vote for President, or not vote at all. Just know that all of those alternatives are helping to elect Hillary Clinton. The only thing that helps elect a Republican is voting for a Republican.
I have already made up my mind about who I'm going to support for President. The Republican nominee.
Democrats controlled the White House and the Senate for the last 6 years. In the last election Republicans finally broke through and took control of the Senate. From everything I've read Harry Reid was not just partisan, but also barely allowed the Senate to function. He hardly considered bills of any kind from the Republican House and often wouldn’t allow votes on Republican amendments in the Senate.
It's not as if the Republican controlled Senate will allow Democrats to run the show, but I think they’ve shown at the very least they may allow the process (like Democrat amendments) to be considered even if they get voted down. Republicans can restore the process and allow Congress to work. I want the White House to work. I think a solid Republican nominee can give America a working White House.
Below is lowdown on what's going to be on my computer screen for Election Day.
AoSHQDD is new this cycle. They started out covering primary election night and now they're prepared for election night. It's a site that relies on volunteers doing the hard work reporting the results. They will have all the data the soonest it's possibly available. This is the place to go for the most up to date info on the most competitive US Senate, House and Governors races. It's the place to be election night. This is the online equivalent of the cool election night party.
If you're looking for something less grassrootsy and more big media Your options abound: Fox News, Politico, and NBC all have you covered.
OPB has a nicely formatted page for Oregon election results showing statewide, congressional, ballot measure, and legislative races. The legislative races have nice maps to boot. I've never seen it before so I don't know how well it will be updated on election night but it certainly looks prettier than anything we've had in Oregon for previous election nights.
The Oregon SOS is the traditional place to get election results. The SOS site is sometimes slow to report from some counties so you'll probably need to check on your county website for election results to get the most up to date local election data.
You know you're going to be refreshing these pages repeatedly until the election is over. On a Mac refresh is Cmd + R and on the PC sometimes its Control + R or F5.
“Time and again, people expect Mitch McConnell to get caught slipping. He doesn't. They turned this within hours. It busted her contrived and phony attempt to distance herself from her Tiger Beat Dream Date Barack Obama,” Republican strategist Rick Wilson told the Washington Examiner.
Say what you will about Mitch McConnell, there's some real political savvy in his campaign. Spread that around a bit and Republicans will control the the upper chamber of Congress.
Nate Silver and his crew at FiveThirtyEight are doing solid work. You should check out their interactive Senate forecast and then add it to your bookmarks so you can check it regularly. It's well designed and fun play with regardless of how you feel about its potential for accuracy.
One of the worst things about being a member of the party out of political power is that everyone is telling you how to regain political power. "Do nothing. Change Everything. Don't change this. Change that. Compromise your ideology here but not there. Don't compromise." The theories are unending and the directives are too conflicting and too numerous to count.
I am being a bit hypocritical complaining about all of this and then adding to the pile but I'm here to warn against a short sided approach.
Sidebar: When conservatives want to gain cred with the base they will cite Ronald Reagan. I am no exception (and my name is Reagan so I can do it with extra pizzaz).
Ronald Reagan's famous "A Time for Choosing" speech was given in 1964. A full 16 years before he would be elected President of the United States. Reagan understood that politics was a long game.
Don't just take Reagan's word for it. Take a look at the left. Liberals have been slowly advancing their agenda since at least the late 90s and started at the local government level, testing and perfecting their rhetoric and policy to make it palatable to the American public.
We have talent but Conservatives and Republicans are leaderless. We have been ever since 2008. Conservatives across the country are looking for a way back to power and they're looking in the wrong places. One of the biggest examples for me is Uber.
Some savvy operatives within the national Republican Party decided that car-sharers’ frustrations with politicians’ attempts to block Uber could make them more receptive to the GOP’s long, principled opposition to efficiency-sapping regulations, overweening regulators and general bureaucratic meddling.
Read the whole article on Forbes titled "'Uber Republicans': Can GOP Tap Into Millennials' Frustrations?”. The bottom line is that Republicans see a perfect opportunity to tap into support from young people by championing what they love about the free market while defending it from big government.
It's a good idea. Conservatives should go to bat for Uber, numerous companies like them, and the free market policies that make what they do possible. However, we cannot expect this to save the Republican party or Conservatism.
To fully understand my point I recommend listening to the center-right podcast Coffee & Markets. In the episode Millennials and Political Consumerism Andrew Quinn explains how Uber and political consumerism can't save the GOP.
Politics isn't a get rich quick scheme. Reagan knew that and we need to know it too. It's time to stop reading "10 Ways to Always Win at Politics". It's time to start the hard work of changing the game.
Apple's latest version of Mac OS X, Yosemite, has some major visual changes. OS X Daily has put together a gallery so us non-beta users can start to get a feel for the new design.