12 votes

This Week in Election Night, 2020 (Week 10)

welcome to week ten. this week sees a lot of smaller candidates making news and getting their own little sections and pieces. the opinion section is once again short, and [LONGFORM] gains some representation for the second week in a row.

the usual note: common sense should be able to generally dictate what does and does not get posted in this thread. if it's big news or feels like big news, probably make it its own post instead of lobbing it in here. like the other weekly threads, this one is going to try to focus on things that are still discussion worthy, but wouldn't necessarily make good/unique/non-repetitive discussion starters as their own posts.

Week 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6Week 7Week 8Week 9


News

General Stuff

  • Biden, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Michael Bennet, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Rep. Tim Ryan, Gov. Steve Bullock, and Mayor Wayne Messam: did not comment
  • Sanders: supports regulation of platforms
  • Harris: would hold social media companies accountable for the “hate” spreading across their platforms; believes companies have a “responsibility to help lead the fight” against the “threat to our democracy.”
  • Buttigieg: in favor of applying the same strategies used to combat “foreign radicalism” to address domestic white nationalism
  • Booker: "part of the problem with dealing with these issues is getting the social media platforms to even acknowledge that they have a problem on their hands"; however, did not clarify if he’d specifically support regulating social media companies to curb white nationalism
  • Williamson: “The companies should shut down hate speech that incites violence. I support regulation of the platforms so they are not used to perpetrate violence on blacks, Jews, the media, or others”
  • Moulton: “Social media companies must take the lead in developing the rules and processes necessary to combat white nationalism online”
  • Inslee: “I applaud Facebook for its recent decision to ban praise and support for white nationalist ideals, but this is a beginning to a solution and not an end.”
  • Castro: “[Banning white nationalist content] is a start, but they're playing catchup and need to do better at extinguishing hate speech quickly.”
  • Yang: appreciates Facebook’s move after the Christchurch shooting but that the social platforms are not in the best position to figure out what changes are needed to curb white nationalist violence.
  • from Buzzfeed News: Almost All The 2020 Presidential Candidates Say They Want To Make Roe V. Wade Law. it may seem unsurprising, but pretty much every democrat--even the 1% randos like wayne messiam, marianne williamson, andrew yang, seth moulton, eric swalwell, and others--supports roe v wade explicitly, according to buzzfeed. the two people who did not respond to their requests for comment are bill de blasio and tulsi gabbard.

Joe Biden

  • from POLITICO: Biden nets fundraising windfall in 2-day Florida swing. biden began the week by casually raising 2.2 million in a swing around florida. this is one of a series of several fundraisers since biden announced; according to POLITICO biden raised $700,000 earlier this month in Hollywood, and $700,000 of the $6.3 million biden raised in the first 24 hours of launching his campaign came from an event.

  • from Slate: The Premise of Joe Biden’s Campaign Is That Every Left-Wing Criticism of the Democratic Party Since 2008 Has Been Wrong. slate's article takes the stance that joe biden is essentially bucking the democratic orthodoxy since obama's first win in trying to work as a bipartisan candidate, appealing to white-working-class voters, and by continuing to use big donors over grassroots organization. so far, it's working pretty well--but see also that NPR article above which notes much of this so far is seemingly driven by name recognition.

Beto O'Rourke

  • from POLITICO: Slumping O'Rourke looks to regain mojo at prime-time town hall. beto o'rourke has slumped pretty badly in the past few weeks, and this has led him to take on something he said he wouldn't really do: cable television. this townhall was o'rourke's first big media appearance, amazingly enough, and it's a part of his changing strategy toward the media as he seeks to figure out how to actually become relevant again in the primary.

  • from FiveThirtyEight: Beto O’Rourke Ignored Cable News — And It Ignored Him. unfortunately, o'rourke's reboot has come to largely coincide with a few new candidates. consistently behind the major frontrunners of the campaign already in terms of cable news mentions, o'rourke got pushed behind new york dipshit bill de blasio for the week of may 12, which is laughable. this will probably not help him any.

  • from POLITICO: O’Rourke feels 'really good' about 2020 campaign. o'rourke is still optimistic, though, about his chances. he rejects the media's narrative that his bubble has basically burst and that his fleeting Candidate of the Month moment has passed.

Elizabeth Warren

  • from the Atlantic: Elizabeth Warren Takes a Different Strategy to Court the Black Vote. warren's approach to the black vote is getting some attention from the media this week. education policy and other policies related to racial discrimination are the crux of warren's approach here so far, with a particular emphasis in this case on things like funding for HBCUs (which have been pushing for such for awhile now). for the most part, this has been received quite well by the black community--it is up in the air though whether or not warren's policies could pass congress though, which is... bad, to say the least, about a lot of education reform.

  • from the Guardian: 'Let's figure this out': Elizabeth Warren's calls to supporters delight the internet. warren's also been calling up supporters randomly, which has caused quite a bit of internet attention. to my knowledge she's the only person to really make this a part of her campaign so far, and while this has been done in the past by candidates, it hasn't really been done to the extent warren's been doing it recently (she's been doing it since she announced her campaign!)

  • from Vox: What’s behind Elizabeth Warren’s comeback in the polls. warren has seen a slow, but steady uptick in her polling for about the past month, amounting to a movement of about 3 points. that's not much, of course, but it's allowed her to solidify her position as the 3rd place candidate in the primary on average. she also is one of the net most liked people in the primary and it seems like she only has an ability to go up.

  • from the Center for Public Integrity: Elizabeth Warren decries big money in politics. Her campaign treasurer embodies it.. it's not all good for warren, though. her campaign treasurer, Paul Egerman, is tied to a number of positions on campaign finance that stand in apparent contradiction to how warren is angling herself. this is obviously not a deal breaker for the overwhelming majority of people, but it is a mild annoyance that probably could have been avoided.

Kirsten Gillibrand

Focusing on various aspects of childcare up to kindergarten, Gillibrand said her plan "levels the playing field starting at birth" for children and parents.
The plan also aims to fight pregnancy complications and maternal mortality by "providing states and hospitals with access to new resources to develop and implement standardized best practices." Gillibrand also proposed solutions modeled after a 2017 bill introduced by former North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, which called for funding to study maternal and obstetric health records in rural regions of the country.
The "Family Bill of Rights" would implement equal adoption rights meant to prevent discrimination against prospective parents belonging to any religion, socioeconomic class, or gender. To make adoption more affordable, the plan offers a refundable tax credit for families that have adopted.

Cory Booker

  • from Vox: Cory Booker wants banks to stop charging so many overdraft fees. in between campaigning, cory booker is taking on overdraft fees, trying to get a bill passed which would: "bar banks from imposing overdraft fees on debit card or ATM transactions. It would also curb the number of overdraft fees that could be levied on check-based transactions and prohibit banks from reordering the sequence of user activity." i imagine if this does not get passed, he will probably start campaigning on it (provided he isn't already).

  • from POLITICO: Booker builds out campaign team. booker's campaign team is being built up this week. among other things, his team is taking on a number of clinton campaign staffers, EMILY's List folks, and a few staffers from 2018 gubernatorial and senate campaigns.

John Hickenlooper

  • from CBS News: John Hickenlooper releases plan to reduce gun violence. john hickenlooper released a plan on gun violence, which to my knowledge makes him the third or fourth candidate to do so. compare cory booker's plan to combat gun violence; the two are relatively similar, but also have quite a few differences.

  • from NPR: Former Colorado Governor And 2020 Candidate Urges Distance From 'Socialism'. hickenlooper has also clearly sorted himself to the right side of the pack already, mostly through his emphasis on bipartisanship and distancing himself from the left-wing shift of the party. hickenlooper was known for being fairly moderate as colorado's governor, it should be noted, so this is not out of character for him.

Everybody Else

“I had a very real, personal experience where I had to fight to keep my case — and my argument was, ‘I was elected to exercise my discretion, and no one’s going to take my case from me,’” Harris said in the MSNBC interview. “It was that personal experience that informed my principle, which is that these cases shouldn’t be taken from the person who was elected to exercise their discretion.”
But Harris said it’s now clear to her that there needs to be an independent entity brought in to probe the recurring shootings and brutality by police officers from the beginning.

  • from the Guardian: 2020 candidate John Delaney pitches vastly unusual climate change plan. john delaney, the first candidate to announce for the 2020 presidential primary all the way back in 2017, has an unorthodox climate change plan. in essence according to the Guardian, his idea is "to capture carbon dioxide pollution heating the planet and transport it in pipelines criss-crossing US" which is... novel? i guess? this is of course not going to happen. delaney is a <1% poller and he has no profile at all, but add it to the list of ideas.

  • from NPR: Julián Castro Wants To Redefine Which Immigrants Have 'Merit'. julian castro has mostly been focusing on immigration issues, which shows in his interview here with NPR. this is unsurprising for fairly obvious reasons--castro being the hispanic candidate that he is and mostly drawing his support mostly from hispanics.

  • from Buzzfeed News: [LONGFORM] Democrats Like The Idea Of A Gay President. But They Are Quietly Worried About Mayor Pete. pete buttigieg has been cruising fairly nicely since he entered the race, but behind the scenes it's unclear even among the democratic caucus whether or not he'd ever be able to get over the hump in the primary, much less the general. as this longform piece notes:

Nearly 30% of Democratic voters believe it is “always wrong” for “same-sex adults to have sexual relations,” a 2018 poll found. In a poll just last month, 86% of Democrats and left-leaning independents said they are “open” to electing a gay male president — but a majority said they didn’t think the country was ready.
That’s a stark contrast to 2007, when most voters said they thought the country was ready for a black president, and in 2015, when most voters said the country was “ready” for a woman.

it's also pretty likely that things would get wacky in the general, given that buttigieg is already drawing small, anti-gay protests.


Opinions & Other


anyways, feel free to as always contribute other interesting articles you stumble across, or comment on some of the ones up there.

14 comments

  1. [3]
    spit-evil-olive-tips
    Link
    I saw some interesting speculation about Congressman Justin Amash (R-Michigan) running for President on the Libertarian Party ticket. The electoral implications of this get interesting, since...

    I saw some interesting speculation about Congressman Justin Amash (R-Michigan) running for President on the Libertarian Party ticket.

    The electoral implications of this get interesting, since Michigan has the potential to be such a battleground state in the electoral college, and Amash could easily get enough votes there to act as a spoiler.

    2 votes
    1. [2]
      alyaza
      Link Parent
      i'm skeptical he would be any more than gary johnson was (johnson got 3% of the vote in michigan). for the most part libertarian voters and republican voters are two separate constituencies and...

      i'm skeptical he would be any more than gary johnson was (johnson got 3% of the vote in michigan). for the most part libertarian voters and republican voters are two separate constituencies and the two aren't necessarily mutually willing to vote for each other even though their beliefs overlap, in the same way that people who vote green aren't mutually willing to vote democratic and vice versa.

      1. spit-evil-olive-tips
        Link Parent
        Amash is a native of Michigan; Gary Johnson is from NM. Based on the "home state candidate" factor I'd expect Amash to do as well or better, all else being equal. And I think you could argue...

        Amash is a native of Michigan; Gary Johnson is from NM. Based on the "home state candidate" factor I'd expect Amash to do as well or better, all else being equal.

        And I think you could argue Johnson did indeed act as a spoiler in MI. Trump won the state by only 10k votes; Johnson got 170k, Jill Stein 50k, and even the "US Taxpayer's Party" got 16k.

        The main difference I see is that Johnson in 2016 likely pulled votes away from both Trump and Clinton, whereas Amash in 2020 would be more likely to siphon off Trump votes because of Amash's Tea Party background.

        1 vote
  2. alyaza
    Link
    warren is getting some more attention for the "i've got a plan for that" thing she coined: She's got a plan for that. Warren tries to break out with flurry of policy proposals.. i think NBC's late...

    warren is getting some more attention for the "i've got a plan for that" thing she coined: She's got a plan for that. Warren tries to break out with flurry of policy proposals.. i think NBC's late on the gun here, though, since this is pretty similar to that TIME article but shorter.

    the Atlantic meanwhile is raking one of her proposals (which michael bennet is also proposing): The Most Unrealistic Proposal in the Democratic Presidential Primary: Michael Bennet and Elizabeth Warren want members of Congress to ban themselves from ever lobbying after they leave office. Here’s why it’ll never happen..

    2 votes
  3. alyaza
    Link
    other pieces which missed the cutoff but which are probably worth reading: If 2020 Democrats are going to be serious about climate, they need to cut out Congress Bernie’s Millions: No, Bernie is...
    1 vote
  4. [2]
    alyaza
    Link
    the DNC has released their qualifying guidelines for the third debate which will be in september of 2019: this basically kills the 1%er logjam, which at times has been up to 17 candidates deep in...

    the DNC has released their qualifying guidelines for the third debate which will be in september of 2019:

    Now candidates need to hit both thresholds, which have doubled:

    • 2% in 4 major polls
    • 130,000 unique donors, including 400 from 20 states.

    this basically kills the 1%er logjam, which at times has been up to 17 candidates deep in certain polls. i suspect this is their effort to kill off a few candidates before we get to iowa, because otherwise it'll be a nightmare with the 15% vote threshold needed to acquire delegates (which itself only permits 6 candidates to get delegates assuming they evenly split 16.7% or so of the vote and nobody else gets votes)

    1 vote
    1. alyaza
      Link Parent
      some more details on how the debate sets will work out:

      some more details on how the debate sets will work out:

      • 9pm-11pm
      • Candidates start on-stage
      • 5 segments, 4 breaks (1:35-3min breaks)
      • Closing statements
      • 1 min answers
      • 30 second follow-ups
      • 10 podiums
      • Pens and pads provided. Can't bring notes written in advance
      • Timing lights
      • Water provided
      • Bathrooms accessible during longer breaks (3 of those)
      • Stay at podium
      • Reactions to other candidates at moderators discretion
  5. synergy-unsterile
    Link
    Wapo published a longform article about Cory Booker's time at Oxford and his relationship with Smuley Boteach (an ultra-orthodox rabbi): Cory Booker and the Orthodox rabbi were like brothers. Now...

    Wapo published a longform article about Cory Booker's time at Oxford and his relationship with Smuley Boteach (an ultra-orthodox rabbi): Cory Booker and the Orthodox rabbi were like brothers. Now they don’t speak.

    It speaks to Judaism's influence on Booker and how unlikely the friendship was due to tense relations between Jews and Blacks in New Jersey.

    1 vote
  6. [3]
    spit-evil-olive-tips
    Link
    Meta-idea: instead of counting up by week from when these posts started, maybe it'd be more meaningful to count down weeks until election day?

    Meta-idea: instead of counting up by week from when these posts started, maybe it'd be more meaningful to count down weeks until election day?

    1. [2]
      alyaza
      Link Parent
      this far out, there's really not much of a point. we're still literally a year and a half out from election night, 2020. maybe when we get closer i'll add a metric like that.

      this far out, there's really not much of a point. we're still literally a year and a half out from election night, 2020. maybe when we get closer i'll add a metric like that.

      1 vote
      1. alyaza
        Link Parent
        as an aside, i'll probably start this when we have 52 weeks to election night.

        as an aside, i'll probably start this when we have 52 weeks to election night.

        1 vote
  7. [2]
    moriarty
    Link
    I wonder what you make of Echelon's recent polls pitting all the candidates against Biden. The way I'm reading this tells me that Warren and Sanders voters are really the same people and they...

    I wonder what you make of Echelon's recent polls pitting all the candidates against Biden. The way I'm reading this tells me that Warren and Sanders voters are really the same people and they don't get any support from those who'd vote for other candidates. It is a really strong indication that Biden has the in the bag, sadly.

    1. alyaza
      Link Parent
      i don't really put stock in them, honestly. it's way too early, most people aren't really tuned in, their methodology is by definition reductivist, and in any case they're not rated by 538.

      i don't really put stock in them, honestly. it's way too early, most people aren't really tuned in, their methodology is by definition reductivist, and in any case they're not rated by 538.

  8. alyaza
    Link
    kamala harris had her stage briefly hijacked by what appears to be an animal rights activist yesterday, which was pretty wacky. that's san fran for you when all the democrats are in town for a...

    kamala harris had her stage briefly hijacked by what appears to be an animal rights activist yesterday, which was pretty wacky. that's san fran for you when all the democrats are in town for a convention that overlaps with animal rights protests, i guess.