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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
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Not if you can elect the original instead. It is a fallacy you can observe again and again. The only thing which happens when parties try to win voters back from the far right parties by copying their playbook, is that they lose their moderate voters without really weakening those far right parties. Quite the opposite, but picking up their talking points they suggest to the voters that they have a point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf-p0FWDZ8U
This was Donelly's add...can you really blame Democrats for NOT coming out to vote for him? Especially after he voted the worst candidate ever into supreme court?
Donnelley did vote against Kavanaugh, although he publicly waffled back and forth on the issue. You're thinking of Manchin, who was re-elected without enough ease that his vote on Kavanaugh probably didn't matter one way or the other.
But yeah, Donnelley's attempts to court the Right is probably why the Dems lost Indiana, which should've been fairly easy for them to hold.
Edited by Gilphon on Nov 11th 2018 at 8:49:30 AM
Manchin’s re-election was closer than predicted, it’s not doing much for my faith in humanity that the only red state democrat to keep their seat without fuss (Montana was to close to call for the entire night) is the one voted for Kavanaugh.
Edited by Silasw on Nov 11th 2018 at 2:38:24 PM
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranYeah, but that's apparently those are kind of margins Jon Tester normally gets in Montana- and meanwhile, Heidi Heitkamp ran a distinctly flawed campaign in North Dakota, and Missouri was always gonna be a toss-up. Indiana and Florida were the only states that didn't behave as expected.
And really I think Indiana is the only state where you can confidently claim that the Kavanaugh vote mattered- Donnelley droving off the Left by trying to court the Right, and failed to court the Right because he ultimately voted against Kavanaugh. Is a plausible enough narrative.
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Thinking about it I’m wondering if Florida actully behaved predictably and we just got our predictions wrong.
I mean in the end Florida went all sorts of weird and is going to a recount, that’s pretty bloddy predictable at this point.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran![]()
I mean, half the state did spend a lot of effort trying to get Gillium and Nelson (returned in Nelson's case) in office. So, the entire state wasn't a disappointment...
In more comforting news, the state victories in New Mexico, Illinois, and Michigan mean all three states will be joining the US Climate Alliance, which is dedicated to reaching the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement after Trump took us out. That makes 20 members with almost half the US population.
Edit: Make that 21. Wisconsin is on board too.
Edited by Parable on Nov 11th 2018 at 9:13:05 AM
Managing to break even in the Senate would be amazing. It would eliminate the one place we took a hit in this election. Sure, we won't have the majority, but remember: Every seat we occupy is one fewer Republican we need to convince to defect on a given matter.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.It became increasingly unlikely that we would not win North Dakota as the weeks went on, I'm afraid - I had already written it off by Election Night. The other losses, however, were a bit more unexpected, if not entirely unforeseen - Florida's losses have been particularly disappointing, assuming the recount doesn't pan out in our favor.
Out of curiosity, how would you guys say that Heitkamp ran a disappointing campaign? And is there any word on when we'll get final results for the Arizona race?
Edited by KarkatTheDalek on Nov 11th 2018 at 1:01:14 PM
Oh God! Natural light!Kyrsten Sinema's lead is opening up. As of 8 PM Eastern, it was up to 32,000.
We probably won't know until Wednesday, but this sudden windfall of Democratic votes bodes well.
Edited by CrimsonZephyr on Nov 11th 2018 at 1:11:29 PM
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."![]()
What I was referring to, specifically, was this story
- Heitkamp ran an ad with names of sexual assault survivors, and then it came out that said sexual assault survivors hadn't given their permission for their names to appear in said ad.
Which is, of course, not a great look.

Honestly, if the candidates in the states which got lost had actually presented themselves as DEMOCRATS instead of pandering to the Republican base, the result might have looked very differently.