Day: December 5, 2023

Who’s In, Who’s Out For #4

Keeping with the theme of the day of politics…..tomorrow night will be the 4th in the string of GOP debates and the field is narrowing almost weekly.

The field of candidates onstage for the fourth Republican presidential debate will be the smallest yet, the AP reports. Four hopefuls will participate in Wednesday night’s debate at the Moody Music Hall at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, according to the Republican National Committee. To qualify for the fourth debate, candidates needed at least 6% support in two national polls or 6% in one national poll as well as two polls from four of the early-voting states—Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. All the polls used for qualification must have been approved by the RNC. The White House hopefuls also needed at least 80,000 unique donors, with at least 200 of those coming from 20 states or territories, and they had to sign an RNC pledge promising to support the party’s eventual nominee.

Who’s in:

  • Ron DeSantis: Initially seen as the top rival for Donald Trump, DeSantis has been locked in a battle for a distant second place to the front-runner, as well as wading through challenges within his operation. Over the weekend, several staffers parted ways with the super PAC that has been sustaining much of DeSantis’ early-state efforts.
  • Nikki Haley: Benefiting from increased attention—as well as the campaign’s shift toward foreign policy after Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel—Haley is angling to keep that trend going with the fourth debate.
  • Vivek Ramaswamy: The political newcomer and youngest GOP hopeful has been a debate-stage target of attacks on his lack of experience. While the jabs have helped boost Ramaswamy’s campaign coffers and his name ID in the broad Republican field, he’s struggled to get much traction even as he’s filled his campaign calendar with scores of events, particularly across Iowa.
  • Chris Christie: The 2024 race’s most vocal critic of Trump, Christie has cast himself as the only Republican willing to take him on directly. Without Trump at the debates, Christie has been left without his intended target but has brought him up nonetheless.

Who’s out:

  • Donald Trump: The current GOP front-runner is skipping his fourth straight debate. Instead of going to Alabama—or holding his own counterprogramming event, as he has done for past debates—Trump is holding a closed-door campaign fundraiser in Florida.
  • Asa Hutchinson: The former two-term Arkansas governor participated in the first debate but has failed to qualify for subsequent ones.

Former candidates who’ve dropped out of the race since the last debate are Tim Scott and Doug Burgum.

Since I do enjoy American politics I will be watching and a detailed analysis will be posted on IST the following day.

Because of my diligence you may thank me for not having to watch the silliness.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

It’s Crying Time Again

It is closing in on the presidential election in 2024 and the economy seems to be the most important thing on the voters minds….regardless at the reports on just how fabulous the economy is performing.

The markets may be doing a swell job but that is not the economy that most Americans deal with daily….their economy is dealing with food prices, high and higher rent, healthcare that is out of sight, etc….not what the score is on Wall Street…their is a disconnect and no politician sees it or wants to deal with it.

I read that the Dems are beginning to worry….HA!

Joe Biden’s voters in 2020 were younger, made less money, and were as a group more racially diverse than those who voted for Donald Trump. That happens to be the US segment suffering the most from inflation and high interest rates right now, the New York Times reports. It’s a worrisome development for the president, backed up by a recent poll showing most Democrats in six battleground states who voted for Biden aren’t happy with the state of the economy. The New York Times/Siena College poll found that 62% of those Biden supporters rate the economy as fair or poor.

Although the economy’s condition often is considered critical to the incumbent party’s chances, analysts say the discontent doesn’t mean it’s curtains for Biden’s reelection chances. The president’s economic programs are popular among voters, and social issues such as access to abortion could help him overcome economic concerns. An analyst at the public opinion research firm HIT Strategies pointed out that the midterms last year revolved around abortion instead of the usual issue, the economy. “Republicans lost that because of Roe,” Joshua Doss said, per the Times. “So we’re definitely in uncharted territory.”

And it’s not that voters think Republicans are doing anything to improve the economy. Navigator Research, a progressive-leaning outfit, found that 70% of voters polled in battleground House districts said Republicans were paying more attention to other issues. That went for a majority of GOP voters, as well. Oscar Nuñez, 27, who works at a Las Vegas restaurant, voted for Biden but would prefer another option this time. He said he realizes the choice probably will be Biden and Trump again. Nuñez doesn’t consider the economy the biggest issue; he’s more concerned about immigrants’ rights and foreign policy and prefers Biden’s stances. “That’s why I was picking him over Trump in the first place,” he said.

Really?  They have ignored the plight of the average American to fund lame ass wars but now they are all worried.

Serves them right!

The Dems are worried…as they should be….

Over the weekend, Politico published the latest in a tidal wave of stories about President Biden’s dwindling prospects for re-election. Under the headline “The Polls Keep Getting Worse for Biden,” the article pointed out that Biden is trailing the presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump in a large majority of the latest polling.

The trend is dire, Politico reports. “The president’s standing in head-to-head matchups with Trump is falling: Among the latest surveys this month from 13 separate pollsters, Biden’s position is worse than their previous polls in all but two of them.” He continues to slip in key swing states.

The outlook is now grimmer than ever, but the big divide between Biden’s low popularity and public support for the Democratic Party overall was clear a year ago, despite the hype giving Biden credit for midterm election results in November 2022. Back then, the New York Times reported that one House Democrat offered a more candid assessment: “Biden’s numbers were ‘a huge drag’ on Democratic candidates, who won in spite of the president not thanks to him, the lawmaker said on the condition of anonymity to avoid antagonizing the White House.”

Conformist Democrats Have Been in Denial. Now They’re in a Panic.

The Dems have nothing to run on…..their legacy on the ‘real’ economy sucks….all they have is throwing much needed cash at countries that mean very little to Americans in the grand scheme of things.

There is more whole blocs of voters are disappointed in the Dems and are thinking of looking elsewhere.

The truth be told if Trump wins the 2024 vote it will NOT be the fault of anyone brave enough to vote for a third choice….no it will be the do-nothing Dems that elected Trump.

It is a little late to start worrying for the Dems are defeating themselves.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”