Please continue with the must-read commentaries. PN is worth every cent it takes to support it. When enough people decouple from MSM, I'll know we have begun the journey on the long road to a better future.
US politics is the smarmiest business out there. Exhibit 1? Vivek Ramaswampy. Here’s hoping he blew up his own campaign with that ad featuring Acton’s freak show bio mom.🤞🏼
Yeah Lisa but I reckon the politics of any Western democracy would score pretty high on the the Smarmo-Meter. Though Vivek's ad would probably blow it up!
I agree that US politics is a rough business and Democrats need to learn to fight. Though when dealing with Trump it seems that the Democrats have thrown a lot of punches but don’t seem to have learned how to effectively land them.
Perhaps the 4 Democratic Senate candidates mentioned, Ossoff (Georgia), El Sayed (Michigan), Jackson (Maine) and Nixon (Florida) are better at hitting home and if so all power to them. But at present only Ossoff seems to be doing well. He’s taken a state that Trump won narrowly and has a commanding 8.5% lead in the Real Clear Politics polling averages.
I wish El-Sayed well but in a state that Trump also won narrowly, he only leads by 2.0%. That’s not great in the current national environment (Democrats lead the generic ballot by 8.1). Troy Jackson is up against a candidate who has always over-performed but leading by 1.4% when the state actually voted Democrat in 2024 is no great shakes. Nixon is fighting in a state Trump won by 13% and is presently polling at 7% behind.
In contrast in Iowa, Alaska and Kansas (Trump won all by double digits) the Democrat candidates are ahead in Alaska and have the other two as toss up states with the Democrats under 2% behind.
Things will become clearer after the election and how well a Senate candidate went can then be compared to how the average Democrat performance in the House seats. But present indications point strongly to Democrats being better advised taking lessons from its candidates in Iowa, Kansas, Alaska (and indeed Texas) than the 3 candidates held up as examples here.
I think we can make this analysis after the votes are counted. Plus, it is really hard to compare say Iowa with Florida. Two completely different groups of Americans.
"Oh, please." I cannot emphasize enough how to condescending and completely superfluous words damage this otherwise important piece.
Never mind that Angie Nixon appears to be polling at near blow out numbers at -7. I'm in Florida and I desperately want her to win and I desperately want David Jolly (Democrat governor nominee here) to campaign more like her, but the fact that she appears headed to a just above easy win for a Senate candidate as awful as Ashley Moody undercuts this argument and is, again, not necessary.
Hopefully, as in the primary, Nixon wins despite sporadic and inadequate polls projecting otherwise and you can tell me you told me so. Honestly, I think Nixon is running a great campaign and I agree with the author's overall argument that Dems need to fight like Nixon and these others.
Florida is just very Florida and that makes any statewide race hard.
But the sneering condescension towards one Black woman who was channeling MLK in the face of horrific racist attacks on her and her family and the author's apparent wish casting towards another Black woman's electoral prospects is rant material. Rants are fine but this piece isn't meant to be a rant is it? Its meant to be an argument.
Same. Definitely the same. I actually reached out to several candidates and tried to tell them they needed to run more like her--and that's when she was supposedly losing badly to Vindman, LOL. I rather like her. But hers is actually an interesting case of how complex Florida is and how I think the further left of the Democratic Party is misreading a key segment of the public.
Florida is basically three states and what motivates voters in one place is unlikely to motivate them in the other two--unless it motivates them in the opposite direction. What plays well in Miami may be terrible in say, the area around Gainesville (Gainesville is liberal, the area around it is, um, not).
Specifically, I think the DSA types have misread their insistence on the use of the word "socialist." Millions of Floridians, especially concentrated in South Florida, experienced "socialism" at its very worst. The DSA will say it wasn't real socialism, and that can be debated, but it doesn't matter in the end. "Socialism" is a the boogie man for millions of Floridians and Ashley Moody's campaign ads are basically, "Angie Nixon...socialism, socialism, socialism." The ads lack substance, when they try to state something solid they are all but outright lies (Moody has an ad claiming Nixon wants non-citizens to vote, which is flat out bull crap).
Nixon is likely doing as well as she is because she's a fighter (and, frankly, she appears to be a very qualified candidate), but I fear she's going to lose because Moody is successfully using the very real fears of South Floridians about socialism (even if the fears are misplaced the voters are truly afraid of the word) to give Floridians another reason to vote against Nixon. The biggest obstacle she's facing is Florida is absolutely on the cusp of legalized Jim Crow 2.0--the racism here is real.
Now, Donalds is on track to become America's first Black governor, which counters my argument, but the reality is Jolly is a Republican turned Democrat running a bland middle of the road campaign. He's just not a great candidate. He's not terrible, but I fear he's not the right candidate for the moment. I think if he were as aggressive as Nixon (the point of this article is more Democrats should run like Nixon, and it is at its core, correct, IMHO) he'd win handily.
Great article. I still belong to and support the Democratic Party, but I believe the reason they poll so low is the perceived (or real) weakness in fighting back. I’m so glad to see these candidates — who are very smart — really standing their ground.
Please continue with the must-read commentaries. PN is worth every cent it takes to support it. When enough people decouple from MSM, I'll know we have begun the journey on the long road to a better future.
US politics is the smarmiest business out there. Exhibit 1? Vivek Ramaswampy. Here’s hoping he blew up his own campaign with that ad featuring Acton’s freak show bio mom.🤞🏼
Yeah Lisa but I reckon the politics of any Western democracy would score pretty high on the the Smarmo-Meter. Though Vivek's ad would probably blow it up!
Even Gov. Mike DeWine (R) says that ad should be pulled.
I agree that US politics is a rough business and Democrats need to learn to fight. Though when dealing with Trump it seems that the Democrats have thrown a lot of punches but don’t seem to have learned how to effectively land them.
Perhaps the 4 Democratic Senate candidates mentioned, Ossoff (Georgia), El Sayed (Michigan), Jackson (Maine) and Nixon (Florida) are better at hitting home and if so all power to them. But at present only Ossoff seems to be doing well. He’s taken a state that Trump won narrowly and has a commanding 8.5% lead in the Real Clear Politics polling averages.
I wish El-Sayed well but in a state that Trump also won narrowly, he only leads by 2.0%. That’s not great in the current national environment (Democrats lead the generic ballot by 8.1). Troy Jackson is up against a candidate who has always over-performed but leading by 1.4% when the state actually voted Democrat in 2024 is no great shakes. Nixon is fighting in a state Trump won by 13% and is presently polling at 7% behind.
In contrast in Iowa, Alaska and Kansas (Trump won all by double digits) the Democrat candidates are ahead in Alaska and have the other two as toss up states with the Democrats under 2% behind.
Things will become clearer after the election and how well a Senate candidate went can then be compared to how the average Democrat performance in the House seats. But present indications point strongly to Democrats being better advised taking lessons from its candidates in Iowa, Kansas, Alaska (and indeed Texas) than the 3 candidates held up as examples here.
I think we can make this analysis after the votes are counted. Plus, it is really hard to compare say Iowa with Florida. Two completely different groups of Americans.
"Oh, please." I cannot emphasize enough how to condescending and completely superfluous words damage this otherwise important piece.
Never mind that Angie Nixon appears to be polling at near blow out numbers at -7. I'm in Florida and I desperately want her to win and I desperately want David Jolly (Democrat governor nominee here) to campaign more like her, but the fact that she appears headed to a just above easy win for a Senate candidate as awful as Ashley Moody undercuts this argument and is, again, not necessary.
Hopefully, as in the primary, Nixon wins despite sporadic and inadequate polls projecting otherwise and you can tell me you told me so. Honestly, I think Nixon is running a great campaign and I agree with the author's overall argument that Dems need to fight like Nixon and these others.
Florida is just very Florida and that makes any statewide race hard.
But the sneering condescension towards one Black woman who was channeling MLK in the face of horrific racist attacks on her and her family and the author's apparent wish casting towards another Black woman's electoral prospects is rant material. Rants are fine but this piece isn't meant to be a rant is it? Its meant to be an argument.
All I can say Philip is if Angie Nixon wins in Florida I'll be surprised and grinning from ear to ear!
Same. Definitely the same. I actually reached out to several candidates and tried to tell them they needed to run more like her--and that's when she was supposedly losing badly to Vindman, LOL. I rather like her. But hers is actually an interesting case of how complex Florida is and how I think the further left of the Democratic Party is misreading a key segment of the public.
Florida is basically three states and what motivates voters in one place is unlikely to motivate them in the other two--unless it motivates them in the opposite direction. What plays well in Miami may be terrible in say, the area around Gainesville (Gainesville is liberal, the area around it is, um, not).
Specifically, I think the DSA types have misread their insistence on the use of the word "socialist." Millions of Floridians, especially concentrated in South Florida, experienced "socialism" at its very worst. The DSA will say it wasn't real socialism, and that can be debated, but it doesn't matter in the end. "Socialism" is a the boogie man for millions of Floridians and Ashley Moody's campaign ads are basically, "Angie Nixon...socialism, socialism, socialism." The ads lack substance, when they try to state something solid they are all but outright lies (Moody has an ad claiming Nixon wants non-citizens to vote, which is flat out bull crap).
Nixon is likely doing as well as she is because she's a fighter (and, frankly, she appears to be a very qualified candidate), but I fear she's going to lose because Moody is successfully using the very real fears of South Floridians about socialism (even if the fears are misplaced the voters are truly afraid of the word) to give Floridians another reason to vote against Nixon. The biggest obstacle she's facing is Florida is absolutely on the cusp of legalized Jim Crow 2.0--the racism here is real.
Now, Donalds is on track to become America's first Black governor, which counters my argument, but the reality is Jolly is a Republican turned Democrat running a bland middle of the road campaign. He's just not a great candidate. He's not terrible, but I fear he's not the right candidate for the moment. I think if he were as aggressive as Nixon (the point of this article is more Democrats should run like Nixon, and it is at its core, correct, IMHO) he'd win handily.
Hopefully, Nixon and Jolly both prove me wrong.
Great article. I still belong to and support the Democratic Party, but I believe the reason they poll so low is the perceived (or real) weakness in fighting back. I’m so glad to see these candidates — who are very smart — really standing their ground.