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Punkette's avatar

Good morning, Simon. Did you see this? Reported by Aaron Parnas today:

“Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she’s open to potentially becoming an independent and caucusing with Democrats, expressing a willingness to explore alternatives to the current political status quo.“

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patricia martin's avatar

just do it. what does being "open" to it even mean?

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JOHN BUCKHOLZ's avatar

It means that she wants policy concessions and/or assignment considerations. This negotiation is an effort to extract maximum value for Alaskans and/or for Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

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Punkette's avatar

Agree of course … but this is the first time I have heard Murkowski say she would caucus with the Democrats. This is a big move forward in my opinion.

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wendy moluf's avatar

She’s not really “open” because she supposedly thinks Democrats aren’t much better than Republicans, and “disagrees with their policies.” What a mealy-mouthed coward. I don’t have much respect for her or Collins, even though they vote against the Party sometimes - but only when it’s safe to do so.

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Pamela Frazier's avatar

So she needs to vote NO on Emil Bove! I hope anyone who has her as their senator calls her office today to tell her NO on Bove.

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Runfastandwin's avatar

I write my senators (Schiff and Padilla) every few weeks and encourage them to deny unanimous consent to proceed in the morning and hold press conferences on the steps of the Capitol in the afternoon. So far I have heard nothing. The senate is likely the worst institution in DC even worse than SCROTUS.

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JOHN BUCKHOLZ's avatar

I ranked Mamdani #3 (behind Myrie and Lander). I did not rank Cuomo. Cuomo is a bad person who oozes contempt for NYC. It was disappointing that people like Bill Clinton and Jim Clyburn supported a serial groper whose primary/only objective in politics has always been self aggrandizement.

I don't think Mamdani will be a great mayor. But if he's anything like my previous councilmember (I moved to a new district in 2021) Chi Osse, Zohran will be open-minded, eager to learn, and able to adapt his policy priorities and philosophies based on data and input. Long odds perhaps, but much better than the chance that a 67-year old unreconstructed thug like Andrew Cuomo could evolve. I do think that Mamdani will appoint sensible people and (unlike Adams and de Blasio) will be content to defer to expertise in areas where he is not an SME.

I hope the mainstream Dem party will learn from this election. People just aren't that excited to drink lukewarm tap water. And party leadership should stop insisting that tacking to the center-right is the only way to win elections.

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Cynthia Erb's avatar

I agree with your last paragraph especially. As someone watching the New York primary from afar, I just thought it was a mistake for some Democratic leaders to back Cuomo, who appeared to be such a problematic candidate. I think we’re in a moment when voters really want change, so I hope the party will at least embrace that.

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Jenny Ellsworth's avatar

I agree that voters want change, but what are the specifics of that change? How will we know when we have made enough of the right changes? The whole country has been getting more unabashedly ageist - I guess that is a call for change.

R’s seem to mostly want to reverse the Enlightenment.

But what change do Democrats want? President Biden was bringing lots of change, but he looked old and it was taking a long time, and the change was not exciting enough, so he didn’t get as much respect or credit as he should.

So I also hope the voters embrace this change, and don’t get bored or disillusioned when everything isn’t amazing in New York after two weeks.

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RP2112's avatar

Very well put.

Trump has brought lots of change-- mass deportations, illegal deportations, tariffs, walking away from NATO, pissing off Canada and Greeland for no reason, and placing absolutely no value on the truth. Is that good, just because it's change? People supposedly voted for Trump because they wanted change. Now that it's here, if we're to believe the polls, they don't like the change.

I'm glad everyone's excited and energized in NYC apparently. I'm just disappointed that it takes socialist and borderline anti-Israeli political leanings to do it.

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Michael G Baer's avatar

I'm also watching from afar, and so glad it wasn't Cuomo.

For me, the biggest takeaway is changing of the generational wheel and the political energy of young people and diverse communities engaging in the political process. to create this result.

His agenda is ambitious, particularly for the working class, and hopefully he will demonstrate the ability to bring coalitions together and make real change, without temendous blowback from the status quo. There will be missteps, but may that not derail the entire effort to create a more affordable and liveable city for all.

Best wishes to Zohran Mamdani in the general election and beyond.

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kitkatmia's avatar

personally, i have always believed that the strategic weakness in the dem party in elections is that they always want to play it safe and act like "repub lite" and that turns off dedicated life long dems and any chance to grow the party. because what they are saying is that we are almost like them. and who wants that? we have always needed a strong contrast. that's why we dont win elections. we are always cowering rather than being bold, authentic, direct, without the lobbyist speak. so good for nyc! and AOC and Bernie who endorsed him. the corporate dems backed the loser and groper and nepo baby. still havent gotten the message!

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Michael G Baer's avatar

it's been a long... A LONG TIME commin' ;>)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAoPaE8Vx70

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ArcticStones's avatar

Personally, I was hoping that Brad Lander would win – but it gradually became clear that that simply wasn’t going to happen.

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Cynthia Erb's avatar

I was so impressed with him.

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JOHN BUCKHOLZ's avatar

He is very genuine. I was impressed by the cross-endorsement. So much so that I almost overlooked the fact that he once nearly killed me by peeling out of the NYC Council lot at City Hall in his black Prius.

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janinsanfran's avatar

What you write fits with what I see -- from very far away. Unfortunately, being mayor of a blue city is one of the hardest jobs there is and not many can do it. From afar, Mamdani seems a hopeful choice, indicative of what people wish for and seldom get.

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CC Befana's avatar

John, I totally agree with your final paragraph. If the National Democratic Party will clearly see Tom Bonier's and Simon's data from the 2024 Presidential election, then speak with and seek to understand Mamdani's Primary 'landslide' win, Dems may have a chance to register, turn out more Dem voters on Election Day, and win elections.

That said, in every city and town, we need people with passion, with plans to make all lives better across the board, and $$$ to run their campaign.

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Anne Fitzpatrick's avatar

Thanks for this. I thought a lot of what this article said made a lot of sense.

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Kathleen Gaige's avatar

Emailed Senators Husted and Moreno (Ohio) re: the Medicaid and Tax provisions in the "big beautiful bill." My practice is to email once per week, and call once per week. I receive replies to emails; Husted's replies address the topic I addressed; Moreno's are the same form email "I love to hear from my constituents" with no content about his positions.

When I call I never reach human being, calls are never returned, so I leave voice mails on a different topic from what I email about.

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Anne Hoke's avatar

Thanks for your emails and phone calls. I call my senators Husted and Moreno every workday to ask them to vote against the reverse Robin Hood reconciliation bill and take back their constitutional tariff authority. Husted's office answers the phone about twice a week. Otherwise, I just leave a message. Ditto for Moreno. According to the Columbus Dispatch, they are both concerned about rural hospitals closing if the reconciliation bill passes. Keep the faith.

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Kathleen Gaige's avatar

Thank you Anne.

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Holley Atkinson's avatar

Good morning, very jazzed about Mamdani's primary win in NYC! I voted for Brad Lander #1 but put Mamdani #2 thanks to both cross-endorsement AND a huge thumbs up from my millennial child! And thousands of us were part of the #DontRankCuomo campaign :) IMHO Democrats should not and do not need to run to the center, which is polluted with horrendous GOP propaganda points and atrocious policies. We need to embrace unashamed PEOPLE FIRST policies and politics!

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Holley Atkinson's avatar

PS not finding the Paid Subscriber link in today's post - a couple of mentions but no actual link. 🙏

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Kent Boyer's avatar

Hi Holley - I think you can find it under the Events tab at the top of the page.

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Michael Salzillo's avatar

Yeah, I think we have to put NYC on our radar for November. No slam dunk, though I am admittedly impressed by the upset and the candidate who I never figured even in the final days would even be close to toppling the Cuomo dynasty. The general is going to be a big test for Mamdani.

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CH's avatar

The rise of younger and bolder candidates is critical if we are to move past the establishment Schumercrats and strive to build a revamped party. Continuing the failed tactics of the past few cycles leaves us vulnerable

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Wynne Kontos's avatar

I agree so much! We have to embrace change and new ideas and move away from this old guard.

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Barry's avatar

To me, the importance of the Mamdani win was the energy and excitement of young people. I believe if our party is to regain their trust it requires new thinking, approaches and leaders. It will be a messy and necessary fight within our party as the center/establishment tries to minimize his win and hold onto power. I also believe his win shows the power of AOC, who endorsed and campaigned for him. She is another leader the establishment is afraid of and tries to diminish. As a 67 year old boomer, our party needs rejuvenation. It requires our children to take the lead!!! His win is a powerful shot of adrenaline for a party desperately in need of it. LFG!

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Kathy Simon's avatar

I'm right with you, Barry! I'm a 63 year old boomer, and there has been so very little to offer our 20-somethings that is hopeful and bright. It's a powerful shot of adrenaline, indeed. I hope skeptics or people who think Dems should be milquetoast won't bring him down.

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wendy moluf's avatar

As a 73 yr. Old Boomer, I agree, Barry!

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Barbara Moschner's avatar

I called TX Senator Cornyn’s office and urged him to NOT approve Bove in the Judiciary Committee hearing today!

I then urged Cruz to vote NO on the Reconciliation Bill that will hurt many Texans.

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Catherine Giovannoni's avatar

Thanks, Simon! I'm looking forward to the interview. Congratulations to Deborah and the other Hopium members for their amazing work!!! I hope that, as follow up, they've arranged press releases and interviews with local independent media, as well as letters to the local papers.

As usual, I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen to ask them to get louder about opposing Trump's budget bill. I'm writing postcards to North Carolina voters.

I'm not a New Yorker, but my thought is that Dems have shown that we're willing to back younger Dems who have new ideas. The contest is now between a young, energetic Democrat with some innovative proposals and an old, corrupt Republican who is beholden to Trump. I was glad to see Ken Martin posting congratulations last night on social media.

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Deborah Potter's avatar

No arrangements for press releases. I drafted a Letter to the Abq Journal with edits from Randy, and might transmit it tomorrow.

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Laura Lowery's avatar

Congratulations to Zohran Mamdani! In my view, this shows people are ready for new and fresh leadership. It’s not necessarily about age as much as fresh ideas and something new.

Self-report: called my senators to voice my opposition to the budget reconciliation bill and asking them to vote no as it will harm their constituents here in South Carolina. I attended and volunteered at last night’s Close the Charleston Loophole town hall. It was very well attended. All our elected officials were in invited but only Democratic representatives came. Republican elected officials didn’t even respond to the invite with the exception of two who declined.

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Faith Wilson's avatar

I was posting this morning on Bluesky that Mamdani’s win could go one of two ways: he can be an inspiring progressive model for each state to adapt to their own regional characteristics, keeping in mind that not all areas of the country respond to an AOC or Sanders and should be given the freedom to run the Democratic candidates they think will work best for their regions. Or, the purity nitpicking machine will be set into motion if other Democratic candidates don’t tow their narrow ideological line, and the least little departure Mamdami makes will be labeled "corporate shill" and out comes throwing the baby out with the bathwater, voting third party, not voting, etc. I really hope that Mamdami can pull through and experience success and likewise that an emerging progressive development can not shoot itself in the foot yet again. And I say this as a leftist.

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Kindler's avatar

I very much agree with this take: “We should welcome this ‘messy’ period of experimentation, competition and debate as it is the only way we can effectively grow, evolve and improve.” I think too many Dems have either never known or forgotten that democracy is all about coalition-building, which requires working with people with whom you don’t agree 100% - whether that be centrist or conservative Never-Trumpers or progressives, yes, even including democratic socialists.

I encourage you to do an interview with Mamdani to help build those bridges - and BTW, let’s also explore ranked-choice voting as a very interesting experiment encouraging candidates to work across their divides rather than just fighting a zero-sum game.

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Anne Fitzpatrick's avatar

Oregon has some ranked choice voting and I'm a huge fan. I've read several articles that talk about it cutting down on partisanship. I'm not certain on this, but I think it could cut down on the cost of elections too. Depending on how the ranked choice voting is done, you could have just one election if a candidate gets 50% in the first round of voting (vs. a primary and general election).

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Thomas's avatar

Regarding the "Budget Bill," honorable mention should go out to the Parliamentarian of the U S Senate, Elizabeth MacDonough. One of the prime roles of the parliamentarian is to scrutinize a proposed bill to make sure everything in it is "kosher."

To this point, she has found at least 12 items that she has ruled "Not Legal to put in a budget bill," and has struck them out. Things that represent the Republicans screwing the American people.

Angie from Portland does a pretty good presentation of this.

https://youtu.be/_7mROLIDEVE?si=KK0Gvi6pYk34vy27

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Stu Weiss's avatar

I got addicted to Angie’s (Angela Baker) 10 minute YouTubes (search for Parkrose Permaculture), she articulates my views 99% of the time with righteous anger and positive actions in a very articulate authentic way. Check her out.

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Thomas's avatar

A great antidote to doom-scrolling. I love her passion!

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Michael G Baer's avatar

I have just discovered Anegela in the last couple months. She is one of the new influencer voices that give me hope for a more positive future. Very articulate, thoughtful and generally hopeful and most of the time I find her posts inspiring.

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SW's avatar

Thanks so much for this link!

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Elizabeth McIlvaine's avatar

I am thrilled that the Parliamentarian took out the sale of public lands from the bill!

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Thomas's avatar

She was doing her job. It did not belong in a budget bill. (Not to take away the slightest from her. She's great.)

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Anne Fitzpatrick's avatar

Loved the lack of sympathy for the 'scared' Republican legislators (in the YouTube video)!

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Peter V's avatar

Hi Simon. I think an important lesson from the Mandami win last night is that the Democratic Party needs to return to what national political parties have traditionally done in American history: take progressive/"radical" ideas and turn them into mainstream policies that help average Americans. For example, Populist/Progressive Era ideas that led to Social Security, Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, Regulation of Industry and Financial Markets etc. For the last 30+ years the Democratic Party has looked at Progressives as the problem and refused to try to mainstream their ideas regarding affordable rent/housing, education, health care (sorry Obamacare although much better than pre-Obamacare was and is not a sufficient response as people still pay outrageous deductibles and co-pays for care as I can personally attest to), the environment, etc. Mandami's campaign was all about this versus the national Democratic Party whio has not adequately addressed these issues in a consistent hard-edged way so that it has even led to people actually thinking (wrongly!) that the Republicans care more about the average American than the Democratic Party. What do you think?

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Claudia Miller's avatar

I am in agreement with you Peter. As an oldster here I feel we have to get back to our leftist Democratic roots. The party has moved too far right in the name of bi-partisanship. Having said that we do need to figure out how the Indie vote fits in with this. All one has to do is see the momentum and crowds Bernie, AOC, et al are getting. However, it will be interesting to see how his general campaign will pan out. The MAGA/GOP will label him as a socialist and pound at it relentlessly. He will need to overcome that. I am not surprised by his win; I have felt for a while now the progressive ideas are popular with many, including my granddaughters.

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ArcticStones's avatar

Amazing work by Deborah Potter! May her powerful and crystal-clear message go viral and be echoed by cities, communities and states all across our nation! Together, we are a chorus of powerful voices!

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SW's avatar

yes!!!

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Anna and Jim Hall's avatar

Yes! Way to go Deborah!!

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Deborah Potter's avatar

with credit to our Proud Patriots in AZ, Randy Gold and his friend Phin, who shared the first draft of their resolution that is being revised and resubmitted

Go Hopium!!!!!!!!

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