Dear Readers,
The great chaos that is the 2016 election season keeps hurtling at us, and I’ll help you make sense of it all. Remember, all newsletters (and more) are available at www.electreport.blogspot.com
Days until General Election: 100
The DNC!
And this week, the Democrats countered with their own convention. Facing a 3-point Trump convention bump, Democrats had a reason to be slightly worried. They did have an advantage in that their entire party showed up (the same cannot be said for the Republicans), and objectively that entire party did a good job. It wasn’t a smooth ride - DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz agreed to resign, and was then heckled endlessly - but most people, Democrats and Republicans, agree that it helped unify the party and most speeches were great. Hillary’s own speech wasn’t amazing, but it did its job, and other speakers like Tim Kaine, the Obamas, Bill Clinton, and Cory Booker were very good. The nominating speech was, of course, delivered by Bernie Sanders.
Another important speech was Michael Bloomberg’s endorsement of Clinton, an important moment for swaying independents. The best received speech, however, was that of Khizr Khan, father of a Muslim soldier killed while serving in the military.
Hillary Endorsed by Houston Chronicle and Washington Post
In an unprecedented move, the Houston Chronicle, Texas’ biggest newspaper, endorsed Hillary Clinton. It’s a lot earlier than most newspapers would endorse, of course. Their reasoning for this was claiming Trump is a “danger to the republic”. The Washington Post similarly endorsed Clinton, writing a long essay of reasons why Trump shouldn’t be president. Read it here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/donald-trump-is-a-unique-threat-to-american-democracy/2016/07/22/a6d823cc-4f4f-11e6-aa14-e0c1087f7583_story.html?tid=a_inl
WikiLeaks Hacks DNC, Releases Emails
WikiLeaks’ hackers released thousands of DNC emails, a few of which insulted Bernie Sanders. Vox.com explains it:
“Most of the emails showed routine campaign planning among senior DNC officials. The emails show some evidence of unseemly behavior by Democratic Party officials and at least one case where DNC officials discussed trying to undermine the Sanders. That has reopened a long-running debate about whether the DNC — which is supposed to be neutral during a primary campaign — was too favorable toward Hillary Clinton.”
WikiLeaks has been explicitly pro-Trump so far this election, but I doubt these emails will affect much, seeing how little was even in them.
Some More Outrageous Stuff Trump Did
-Trump threatened to skip the debates later this season because the schedules were “unfair”. He claimed that a debate overlapping with an NFL game was reason enough for him to warrant not showing up.
-Trump’s response to Khizr Khan’s speech was to comment on how Khan’s mother was “not allowed” to speak. I don’t have to mention that this is despicable and racist, but I will anyway.
-Following the DNC hack, Trump “jokingly” told Russia to find Clinton’s emails. Considering that Trump has been endorsed by Putin, this was not met as a joke, and even if it was a joke, it is neither funny nor reassuring.
-Besides Putin, Kim Jong Un also endorsed Trump.
Senate Preview #3
CONNECTICUT:
70-year-old Michael Blumenthal is seeking re-election. His opponent is Dan Carter, a State Representative. The election should be very easy for Blumenthal to win.
Rating: Safe D
FLORIDA:
Finally, a fun race. This election was supposed to be a pure tossup when incumbent Marco Rubio announced that he wouldn’t be seeking re-election. However, Rubio recently announced that he is running, and thus will make the race easier for the Republicans to win. His opponent will be either Alan Grayson, U.S. Representative with many scandals, or Pat Murphy, a more mild-mannered Representative. The race currently leans toward Rubio, but depending on the nominee and the presidential race, that could change.
Rating: Lean R
GEORGIA:
Johnny Isakson should very easily win re-election in Georgia, no matter how close the presidential race is. The Democratic nominee, Jim Barksdale, has no political experience and Isakson is very popular.
Rating: Safe R
This Week In World Elections
Next week is the Sao Toméan presidential election’s second round and the Thai constitutional referendum. I’ll go more into detail on them next week (both are scheduled for August 7th).
Thanks for reading! As usual, comments are welcome!
No comments:
Post a Comment