Is Georgia on your mind?

[southernhybrid]

I just subscribed to the AJC for six months, so I look for information regarding the upcoming run off elections. I will try to share anything interesting that I find.


https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/stacey-abrams-group-finances-grassroots-efforts-to-win-senate-runoffs/QMFV4NKV6VHHFMQVBTSKQSS2NA/

The voting rights group founded by Stacey Abrams is pumping $2.7 million to boost the work of a network of grassroots organizations ahead of the Jan. 5 runoffs – not to finance more TV ads but to strengthen their get-out-the-vote apparatus.


Fair Fight announced Saturday it was contributing to 13 groups to “build the infrastructure to ensure voters are empowered and informed” said Fair Fight senior adviser Lauren Groh Wargo.

If anybody can get out the vote, it's Stacey.

Abrams helped raise more than $10 million to boost Senate Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in the opening days of the runoff, and a gusher of money is being spent on the push to oust or defend U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.

I've seen posters on the NYTimes and WaPo websites say they will or have been sending money to Warnock and Ossoff, but imo, it's more helpful to support Fair Fight. If you can't get out the vote, giving money to candidates isn't going to help.

Already we are being constantly blasted with ads from all 4 candidates, but Warnock and Ossoff seem to have the most frequent ads. I've even seen some on CNBC, which was surprising to me. Right now, I'm watching an add for Ossoff, which is blasting Purdue for things he said about the virus. This was immediately followed by an ad by Warnock. These were on MSNBC, which seems like preaching to the choir. But, hey. If they have the money.....Still, I doubt that these ads are what matters as much as efforts to get out the vote.

My hope is that Stacey will once again be successful in getting out the vote, but in the past, Democrats haven't been reliable voters in run off elections so she certainly has her work cut out for her.

 

[southernhybrid]

https://www.ajc.com/politics/breaking-loeffler-self-isolating-after-positive-then-inconclusive-coronavirus-tests/HXXONSSQ7RAODKO2OPSYFHHMSY/

U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s campaign said Saturday she is self-isolating after she tested positive for the coronavirus and later received an inconclusive result.


It’s not yet known how the diagnosis will affect her campaign schedule ahead of a nationally-watched Jan. 5 runoff, one of two Georgia races that will determine control of the U.S. Senate.

Nor is it immediately clear whether Vice President Mike Pence or U.S. Sen. David Perdue, whom she campaigned with on Friday, would have to quarantine. The three appeared together, without wearing masks, at two outdoor rallies in north Georgia.

Perhaps this will keep her off the campaign trail for a couple of weeks.

I also heard a commentator claim that about 100,000 Republicans in Georgia voted for Biden instead of Trump. Considering that there were a couple of Republicans for Biden signs in my neighborhood, this might be true. The concern is that these same voters won't vote for the two Democrats in the Senate runoff. That is probably likely. Some Republicans have found Trump repulsive but they are still sticking with other Republican candidates.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I just subscribed to the AJC for six months, so I look for information regarding the upcoming run off elections. I will try to share anything interesting that I find.


https://www.ajc.com/politics/politi...in-senate-runoffs/QMFV4NKV6VHHFMQVBTSKQSS2NA/

The voting rights group founded by Stacey Abrams is pumping $2.7 million to boost the work of a network of grassroots organizations ahead of the Jan. 5 runoffs – not to finance more TV ads but to strengthen their get-out-the-vote apparatus.


Fair Fight announced Saturday it was contributing to 13 groups to “build the infrastructure to ensure voters are empowered and informed” said Fair Fight senior adviser Lauren Groh Wargo.

If anybody can get out the vote, it's Stacey.

Boots, she understands boots. That got Biden Georgia (well that and a Libertarian who finally impacted an election!).

I've seen posters on the NYTimes and WaPo websites say they will or have been sending money to Warnock and Ossoff, but imo, it's more helpful to support Fair Fight. If you can't get out the vote, giving money to candidates isn't going to help.

Yeah, she gets what is require to turnout votes.

 

[Elixir]

Perhaps this will keep her off the campaign trail for a couple of weeks.

It might be a fake, to keep her from having to answer for her abhorrent behavior.

 

[TomC]

Yeah, she gets what is require to turnout votes.

You and lots of other people obviously have a high opinion of Stacey Abrams. Does she have an opinion on popular election of the POTUS?
Tom

 

[Elixir]

Yeah, she gets what is require to turnout votes.

You and lots of other people obviously have a high opinion of Stacey Abrams. Does she have an opinion on popular election of the POTUS?
Tom

Google is your friend:

Abrams, Feb. 17: [The Electoral College] is a classist, racist system whose time has passed and we need to get rid of it.

Joy Behar: But it’s going to be very hard to do, especially with Republicans in power.

Abrams: And I want to be clear, I’ve been opposed to the Electoral College for a very long time. I introduced legislation when I was in the state legislature. I co-sponsored it with a Republican to eliminate the Electoral College and to do the national popular vote. Because I don’t care if it’s a Democrat or a Republican, I’m an American and my voice should count and my vote should count and I don’t need anyone to intercede.

Behar: It requires an amendment though, it’s a big deal.

Abrams: It does. It does. Although the National Popular Vote movement, what that would do is get each state to agree to just cast their electors based on the national vote, so we can basically jerry-rig the system and go around the Constitution. I would prefer we actually fix it at the source but, you know, I don’t have that kind of time.

 

[TomC]

Behar: It requires an amendment though, it’s a big deal.

Abrams: It does. It does.

OK.
Abrams isn't very well informed.

Good to know.
Tom

 

[Elixir]

Behar: It requires an amendment though, it’s a big deal.

Abrams: It does. It does.

OK.
Abrams isn't very well informed.

Good to know.
Tom

Oh really? What do you know about it that she doesn't?

It does. It does.

You are the one who appears uninformed, Tom.

 

[Derec]

so we can basically jerry-rig the system and go around the Constitution.

Is Stacey an antigermanite?

 

[Elixir]

so we can basically jerry-rig the system and go around the Constitution.

Is Stacey an antigermanite?

What did you expect her to say - "nigger-rig"?

 

[TomC]

Behar: It requires an amendment though, it’s a big deal.

Abrams: It does. It does.

OK.
Abrams isn't very well informed.

Good to know.
Tom

Oh really? What do you know about it that she doesn't?

It does. It does.

You are the one who appears uninformed, Tom.

That the USA doesn't need a Constitutional Amendment to give the electorate the ability to vote for President.

She doesn't seem to know that. I quoted her.
From a blurb that you posted.
Tom

 

[Jarhyn]

I am fully for a campaign to say "Don't vote in the runoff! tRump isn't even allowed to get his name on it! It's a sham!" And see how that fares. Apparently some right wing group has already tried similar, to boycott the election so, high hopes?

 

[Copernicus]

https://www.ajc.com/politics/breaking-loeffler-self-isolating-after-positive-then-inconclusive-coronavirus-tests/HXXONSSQ7RAODKO2OPSYFHHMSY/

U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s campaign said Saturday she is self-isolating after she tested positive for the coronavirus and later received an inconclusive result.


It’s not yet known how the diagnosis will affect her campaign schedule ahead of a nationally-watched Jan. 5 runoff, one of two Georgia races that will determine control of the U.S. Senate.

Nor is it immediately clear whether Vice President Mike Pence or U.S. Sen. David Perdue, whom she campaigned with on Friday, would have to quarantine. The three appeared together, without wearing masks, at two outdoor rallies in north Georgia.

Perhaps this will keep her off the campaign trail for a couple of weeks.

I also heard a commentator claim that about 100,000 Republicans in Georgia voted for Biden instead of Trump. Considering that there were a couple of Republicans for Biden signs in my neighborhood, this might be true. The concern is that these same voters won't vote for the two Democrats in the Senate runoff. That is probably likely. Some Republicans have found Trump repulsive but they are still sticking with other Republican candidates.

This is what makes me pessimistic about the runoff. Biden won the popular vote by the slimmest of margins, so Ossoff and Warnock need all the votes they can possibly get. Even that may not be enough, given that Biden did not really "win" Georgia. Trump lost it. Georgia is a purple state right now, not a blue state, and the election machinery is still firmly in the hands of Republicans. Most Republicans want to keep control of the Senate, so Georgia Republicans will be highly motivated to vote. Many Democrats are not as excited about who controls the Senate, and both Republicans are incumbents. Of the two, I suspect that Loeffler is the more vulnerable Republican, but she is still a Republican. And Republicans only need one of those two to win in order to keep Mitch McConnell in a position to block any meaningful legislative progress.

 

[Elixir]

Oh really? What do you know about it that she doesn't?

That the USA doesn't need a Constitutional Amendment to give the electorate the ability to vote for President.
She doesn't seem to know that. I quoted her.

Fer crissakes...

Here's Stacey again:

"Although the National Popular Vote movement, what that would do is get each state to agree to just cast their electors based on the national vote, so we can basically jerry-rig the system and go around the Constitution. I would prefer we actually fix it at the source but, you know, I don’t have that kind of time."


Tell me again what you know that she doesn't?
(Hint: she probably knows a lot of things. I quote her saying everything she knows here, but those blue words are links to pages where more of her quotes reside.)
At least I answered your original question.

ABOLISHING the electoral college would require an amendment.

 

[Copernicus]

Although I like the NPV movement, it may not actually work without Congressional approval. The Constitution forbids states to enter into a "compact" on their own, and any attempt to use these state laws to force a popular election of a president would almost certainly be challenged on that basis. And I think that the Republican-heavy Supreme Court would block it, unless the outcome would produce a Republican president.

 

[southernhybrid]

https://www.ajc.com/politics/breaking-loeffler-self-isolating-after-positive-then-inconclusive-coronavirus-tests/HXXONSSQ7RAODKO2OPSYFHHMSY/

U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s campaign said Saturday she is self-isolating after she tested positive for the coronavirus and later received an inconclusive result.


It’s not yet known how the diagnosis will affect her campaign schedule ahead of a nationally-watched Jan. 5 runoff, one of two Georgia races that will determine control of the U.S. Senate.

Nor is it immediately clear whether Vice President Mike Pence or U.S. Sen. David Perdue, whom she campaigned with on Friday, would have to quarantine. The three appeared together, without wearing masks, at two outdoor rallies in north Georgia.

Perhaps this will keep her off the campaign trail for a couple of weeks.



I also heard a commentator claim that about 100,000 Republicans in Georgia voted for Biden instead of Trump. Considering that there were a couple of Republicans for Biden signs in my neighborhood, this might be true. The concern is that these same voters won't vote for the two Democrats in the Senate runoff. That is probably likely. Some Republicans have found Trump repulsive but they are still sticking with other Republican candidates.

This is what makes me pessimistic about the runoff. Biden won the popular vote by the slimmest of margins, so Ossoff and Warnock need all the votes they can possibly get. Even that may not be enough, given that Biden did not really "win" Georgia. Trump lost it. Georgia is a purple state right now, not a blue state, and the election machinery is still firmly in the hands of Republicans. Most Republicans want to keep control of the Senate, so Georgia Republicans will be highly motivated to vote. Many Democrats are not as excited about who controls the Senate, and both Republicans are incumbents. Of the two, I suspect that Loeffler is the more vulnerable Republican, but she is still a Republican. And Republicans only need one of those two to win in order to keep Mitch McConnell in a position to block any meaningful legislative progress.

I am not at all optimistic about the runoff election either, mostly because Democrats in Georgia have never been reliable voters in runoff elections. In fact, I've known some Democrats who only vote in the presidential elections. This past election was an exception as hundreds of thousands of new voters made it to the polls.

The two Republican candidates are corrupt. I will try and find some articles later today that shows some of the sleazy things that have done in regards to their stock sales.

And, to be honest, none of these four candidates are very appealing imo. Perhaps the thought of Georgia having its first Black senator will motivate a huge number of newer Black voters to vote in the runoff election. Plus, there are many Trump voters in Georgia who only seem interested in Trump. His loss might make them feel apathetic about the runoff election. There are a lot of possibilities, but I do agree that there isn't much reason to be optimistic about a Democratic win in the runoff election.

 

[southernhybrid]

https://www.ajc.com/politics/election/reports-say-perdue-sought-to-boost-campaign-donors-and-company-in-which-he-purchased-stock/DOTVHMOQVNGYNLSGJ7XRCV4SW4/

Sen. David Perdue faced fresh questions this week about whether he used his position in Washington to try to secure lucrative tax breaks for pro sports owners and to boost a defense contractor in which he had purchased stock.


The revelations came in separate reports by national media outlets and renewed focus on questions that have followed the Georgia Republican this election year. Perdue’s campaign said he’s done nothing wrong.

ProPublica, a non-profit news outlet, on Friday reported that Perdue has collected more than $425,000 in campaign contributions from pro sports owners and their families, including from fellow Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, according to campaign finance records. Loeffler is a co-owner of the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA.

On Wednesday, a report in The Daily Beast detailed Perdue’s role on a powerful Senate subcommittee that has oversight of the U.S. Navy. It detailed his influence in the military budgeting process that benefited a submarine contractor in which Perdue had invested.

In the weeks before he became chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower in January 2019, Perdue started purchasing stock totaling up to $190,000 in BWX Technologies, a Virginia-based firm with millions in contracts to develop high-tech components for the Navy’s nuclear submarines.

To me, it appears as if Purdue is in politics to enrich himself as well as for the power. I doubt his will matter to Republicans in Georgia, as most of them simply vote for the person with the R after their name. Plus, I am voting for the Dems in hopes of keeping the Republicans from controlling the Senate. I imagine that Republicans who don't like Purdue will vote for him to keep the Democrats from controlling the Senate, since a 50/50 Senate leaves the tie breaking vote to the VP.

 

[James Brown]

In a Government class I took decades ago, it was explained to me that the reason we have the Electoral College is to help create various degrees of distance from "the mob" and the branches of government. Thus:

The common voter is one step removed from Congress, two steps removed from the Executive branch (via the Electoral college) and three steps removed from the Judicial branch (nominated and ratified by the other two branches) I forget the rationale behind this setup, but it made a queer sort of sense to me at the time.

Thus, we should be on an intimate, even first-name basis with our Representative, whereas in my circle of friends people are hard pressed to even name our Rep. It's all about Trump or Biden, and that's all that they'll think of until 2024.

If we "fix" this by directly voting for the President, will we want to directly elect Supreme Court justices too? Why not?



Also, I keep thinking about these two blog posts written by an American historian.

The Founding Fathers Did Not Trust You: The Electoral College (Part 1)


The Founding Fathers Did Not Trust You: The Electoral College (Part 2)

Even if you could figure out a good way for the Many to pick the One on their own, the Founding Fathers simply did not believe that the Many could be trusted with such a decision without oversight. The Founders firmly believed that the Common Man (and now Woman) would be easily led astray by silver-tongued demagogues and fear mongers pandering to the worst instincts of the insensate rabble, rousing the mob to dangerous and violent excesses which, left unchecked, would destroy the republic. There is no “vox populi, vox dei” in republicanism. The people are fickle, subject to irrational passions and inexplicable enthusiasms, and easily herded by those who would prey on their anxieties and appeal to their base nature.

If you doubt that, please cast your mind back over the 2016 presidential campaign and then try to tell me the Founders were wrong.


Go ahead. I dare you.

 

[southernhybrid]

https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/ethics-complaints-target-loeffler-after-she-solicited-donations-in-us-capitol/YV6NF3ILHBG7VIAEYRAUANZSQU/

U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler is facing a pair of ethics complaints after she solicited campaign contributions for her runoff campaign during an on-camera interview at the U.S. Capitol.


The Democratic Party of Georgia and the American Democracy Legal Fund both filed complaints with the Senate ethics committee focused on her Wednesday interview with Fox News, when she told the audience to visit her campaign website to “chip in $5 or $10 to get involved, volunteer.”

State Democrats also asked the Justice Department to investigate, accusing her of “using her power as an elected official to support her own campaign” in violation of rules that prohibit members of Congress from soliciting contributions in federal buildings.

I doubt this will go anywhere, considering who is running the Justice Department. She's also made some questionable stock transactions. When I have time, I will find the articles that explain that.

Warnock is being demonized by the Republicans, including ads that show him preaching, comparing him to Rev. Wright, and some similar Black pastors. He's being called a radical who will damage families etc. I have no idea what that's supposed to be about. Are they worried that he will vote for bills that improve the safety net or social programs to help the lower/socioeconomic classes? WTF!

 

[Angry Floof]

Trump and his merry band of dumbasses want another recount in GA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAwTznTXi08