U.S. Senate See Full Big Line

(D) J. Hickenlooper*

(R) Somebody

80%

20%

Governor See Full Big Line
(D) Phil Weiser (D) Joe Neguse (D) Michael Bennet
50% 50% 50%
Att. General See Full Big Line

(D) M. Dougherty

(D) Jena Griswold

(D) Brian Mason

60%↑

30%↑

20%↓

Sec. of State See Full Big Line
(D) A. Gonzalez

(D) George Stern

(R) Sheri Davis

50%↑

40%

30%

State Treasurer See Full Big Line

(D) Brianna Titone

(R) Kevin Grantham

(D) Jerry DiTullio

60%↑

30%

20%↓

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Hurd*

(D) Somebody

80%

40%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert*

(D) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Crank*

(D) Somebody

80%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) B. Pettersen*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(R) Gabe Evans*

(D) Manny Rutinel

(D) Yadira Caraveo

45%↓

40%↑

30%

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
December 30, 2020 07:21 AM UTC

Wednesday Open Thread

  • 29 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it.”

–Edith Sitwell

Tweet
Share

Comments

29 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

  2. "If you want to find the truth in life, don't pass music by……"

    Line from "Monterey," released Dec. 30, 1967, 53 years ago today, by Eric Burdon & The Animals. 

  3. FOXNews is now acknowledging that it’s previous reporting and on-air discussions regarding a brother of Brad Raffensperger were apparently in error . . .

    . . . turns out now that it was actually Raffensperger’s other brother, Hugo Raffensperger, who is to blame.

    1. It looks like we've unearthed an estranged brother named Newt. 

      Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said Wednesday that he would “beg” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to have a clean vote on $2,000 stimulus checks, warning that the GOP will lose its majority in the Senate if additional funds are not approved.

      Speaking Wednesday on Fox News, Gingrich said the $2,000 payment must be brought up as a stand-alone vote ahead of the Jan. 5 runoff elections in Georgia that will determine the balance of power in the upper chamber.

       

      1. Ttumpy calling for Kemp to resign: 

        As runoff nears, Trump complicates GOP case by demanding that Kemp resign

        President Donald Trump demanded that Gov. Brian Kemp resign because he refused his demand to illegally overturn election results, his harshest rebuke yet of his fellow Republican days before crucial Georgia runoff votes for control of the U.S. Senate.

        The president’s attack on Kemp, calling him an “obstructionist who refuses to admit that we won Georgia,” further inflames an internal Republican battle between Trump’s loyalists and state GOP leaders who refute his false claims of widespread voter fraud.

    1. I was thinking the side-show would be more like goldfish swallowing, using live ammo instead of live animals.

      Sword swallowing sounds more challenging — and doesn't it go along with the usual display of fire-breathing politicians?

  6. Genuine question for all of you: what are your thoughts on Section 230? Repeal? Reform? I've paid almost no attention to the issue assuming this is a sword that cuts both ways.  Would repeal have any effect on blogs like this one? 

      1. Interesting blog w/lots of material for a deep dive on 230. It all seems to be (well but densely) written by the same person …. or have I just not seen enough on the topic at this site? 

        The Oracle vs. FaceBook vs. Google aspects that I read about are interesting and I read again about how it seems that Oracle/Ellison was the last one to ping dump about this before the demand that has come about now to stop the whole GD world unless dump gets what he wants on 230.

    2. As I read it, Section 230 preserves the right to free speech as distinguished from hate speech: it’s fine to hate “the libs” or to blame a politician for ________, but not ok to say that politician should be beat up, killed, raped, etc, or to publish addresses and family info in order to intimidate them. Existing law defines and criminalizes hate speech, but is rarely enforced. 

      Social media sites should be free to do the former, ( free speech) but could be liable if they do the latter.( hate speech)  I think that’s why $rump wants to repeal 230; so many of his supporters are internet criminals. If they were moderated or censored, they could sue the website if 230 is reformed. The author of the blog makes the point that it could open the floodgates for frivolous lawsuits and chill legitimate free speech. 

  7. Apparently being able to practice your hobby of building massive bombs in your junker RV without fear of undue police interference, or Presidential condemnation, is one of those white-privilege benefits real Americans get to enjoy in real America???

    . . . freedom of religion, or something, I spose’?

    2. Hard to guess … We NOW know the Nashville police didn't investigate and arrest a white dude with an RV.  But we have no idea if an ex-girlfriend complained about something similar for someone with a different amount of melanin.   It could be racism … or it could be disinterested policing across the board. 

      I'm uncertain which option bothers me more.

      1. It’s unfortunately not that difficult to imagine at least even odds that if this guy had been black, or Muslim, or hispanic, or . . . and living in some non-predominantly white neighborhood . . . that in addition to sending an entire SWAT team to arrest the guy we might also now be reading how they also battered down the neighbor’s door and shot at some woman in her bed bed there, and perhaps also cuffed and detained two adolescent kids across the street who were seen suspiciously carrying cell phones or sodas??

        Our privilege is usually not about being permitted to be a criminal, it’s about not having to worry that in any encounter we’re likely gonna’ be presumed to be a criminal . . .

    1. Stories abound

       * KANSAS https://apnews.com/article/pandemics-public-health-health-kansas-coronavirus-pandemic-ec8d53af6c56207b608c6ea28374eb50   ” In the nine months since the state had its first documented COVID-19 case, 27 county health officials have left their jobs. Some retired, but others resigned or were fired, the Kansas News Service reported. “

       * MONTANA  https://www.mtpr.org/post/worker-exodus-could-leave-lasting-impacts-public-health-services  “According to the one count from the Montana state health department, about 9 leaders of city and county public health departments have quit their jobs since the start of the pandemic. Todd Harwell with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services says even more workers within those departments have left their jobs, too.”

       * WISCONSIN  https://www.postcrescent.com/in-depth/news/2020/12/10/wisconsin-health-officers-quit-during-covid-19-pandemic-amid-pushback/6428607002/  “Lawther is one of 13 Wisconsin health officials to leave the job during the pandemic, some of whom report being battered by threats and accusations from people in their communities as well as being undermined by state and local leaders. “

       * OVERALL (as of Dec 15, 2020) https://khn.org/news/article/pandemic-backlash-jeopardizes-public-health-powers-leaders/  “At least 181 state and local public health leaders in 38 states have resigned, retired or been fired since April 1, according to an ongoing investigation by The Associated Press and KHN. According to experts, this is the largest exodus of public health leaders in American history. An untold number of lower-level staffers has also left.”  Kaiser Health News (KHN) 

      2. Expanding definition of “hate crimes” to cover threats to government and public health workers should be added to the Biden administration’s to-do list. The person vaccinating folks should not have to fear for her/his life. Because of the Q and other conspiracies, armed nuts are ginned up to see public health workers as a threat.

        I saw a man screaming at a clerk about how he’d never be vaccinated and how many AR 15s he had. Love to hear where Negev stands on this- when he trains someone to carry concealed, is he telling them to prepare to take down an LPN who is “armed” with a syringe of vaccine ?
         

        It’s all part of taking threats from white extremists seriously instead of blowing them off. These are terrorists, and should be treated as such. 

  11. WOTD from Bruce Gyory at the Bulwark: "How Biden Won: Six Hard Truths"

    This is one of the first articles I've seen to take a deep dive into the demographics of "cross-tabs" of the 2020 election. They note that the exit polling was particularly difficult this year. 

    In other words, the notion that Trump’s base was more passionate about supporting him than was Biden’s is not reflected in the data. Instead the real enthusiasm gap was that 15 percent more of the electorate strongly disapproved of Trump than was passionately in his corner: The 46 percent of the voters who really and truly disliked Trump put Biden on a glide path to victory that MAGA nation, constituting only 31 percent of the electorate, could not overcome.

    Another interesting observation:

    (Another big reason the public pollsters once again had to scrape egg off their faces: They badly misread how senior voters would land—thinking Biden was leading by 8 to 10 percent among voters 65 and older, when Trump won them by 3 to 5 percent. “This is a deeper kind” of polling error than those of four years ago, writes Nate Cohn. “It suggests a fundamental mismeasurement of the attitudes of a large demographic group.”)

    In retrospect, this presidential race was a negative referendum on Trump and his presidency. The Democratic party was not able to erase many voters’ perception that the Democrats would swing too far left (influenced by the Trumpist rants that the Democrats would pursue “socialism” and the defunding of police, despite the fact that neither Biden nor more than a half-dozen or so Democratic candidates for Congress were advocating anything close to that as a platform)

    And Finally, speaking to R&R's position:

    The Edison survey found that 24 percent of the voters self-described as liberal (favoring Biden by 89-10), 38 percent moderate (going for Biden by 64-34), and 38 percent conservative (favoring Trump 85-14). Despite recent polls suggesting the liberal share of the electorate was rising above 25 percent while the conservative share was drifting down from the 40 percent level (which held steady from 1966-2006) toward 35 percent, in fact the conservative share held at 38 percent. And remember that not all of the self-described “liberals” are pure progressives; many are traditional liberals—so among that 24 percent of liberals, the pure progressives are but a fraction of that in a general election.

    Which means that to win not only the presidency but also to gain congressional majorities, Democrats will need moderate and non-Trumpist Republican votes to succeed, outside the large urban centers.

    The AP VoteCast data reveals the equation that won the presidency for Biden’s Democrats with partisan parity in place and with conservatives enjoying a solid edge over liberals: Democrats broke for Biden by 95-4 while Republicans went for Trump by 91-8. The narrow band of independents (5 percent of the electorate) broke for Biden by 52-37. In the Edison data, which used a broader, more traditional definition of independents, they broke for Biden by a margin of 13 percent (54-41).

     

    1. I have one problem with the article in that it doesn't address the fact that turnout was extremely high. This is the point of contention between the persuasion vs negative partisanship perspectives. Clearly, turnout was extremely high, and that would have lead me to expect a blowout for Biden. 

      Who could imagine that with 74 million votes Trump didn't win, or conversely that Biden and the Democrats didn't run away with things given a turnout of 81 Million votes.

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Gabe Evans
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

53 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!

Colorado Pols