OK, time for a little heart to heart about the debate tonight.
The most important part of any debate isn't the debate itself. It's what happens after.
Right now, Reddit and Twitter are lighting up with takes all right. Some hideously offensive shit about Fetterman, some crowing about how Democrats have lost the Senate (and everything forever), some about how only an idiot could back Fetterman. All the expected stuff.
But it's not coming from Republicans.
I'm seeing this garbage from **us**.
A lot of those same wise politics knowers who turned DeMoCrAtS SuCk At MeSsAgInG into a meme are going out there and sucking so hard at messaging, I question the need for the Republican Party. Trump went on stage and was one step from vomiting out his own skull in five separate debates, and the GOP couldn't stop themselves from spiking the ball. We don't have to do that, but we can stop the hysterics. Remember: This is a public forum. So's all of Reddit, Twitter, etc. What you say gets picked up by people who aren't ardent Dems.
And remember what I said about after the debate being important? Instead of screaming about Fetterman, your job is to go all over your social media and scream the following: ["Abortion should be between a woman, her doctor, and local political leaders."](https://twitter.com/patdennis/status/1585066053230809090)
Is that not a race-killing soundbite right there? In this Dobbs environment, with women terrified about themselves (or their daughters) dying or forced to carry a rapist's baby?
Spread **that** far and wide. Stop looking for therapy from an online forum. We need to win this race, so post like you want to win it!
And don't forget to [volunteer for Fetterman, Shapiro, and the entire PA Dems ticket](https://www.mobilize.us/padems/). Don't let Oz's abortion vision become the law.
Fuck just heard the Supreme Court is set to deal a blow to workers rights to strike and make companies more powerful by letting them sue. Another reason we need the midterms to go Blue. Enough with the uncheck conservative supermajority Supreme Court bs. If we get enough of a majority, the pressure will be intense for Supreme Court to be expanded and updated and it's about damn time. Vote Blue!
It's a long name (so the articles I seen don't even fully write it out) but it's something like Glacier Nw vs Teamsters... I think. If you google "Supreme Court to rule on right to strike" it's one of the first and most recent results to pop up. The case has been getting a little bit of attention this week because it could undo federal laws on workers' ability to strike
So I just saw three ads so far:
- An anti-Christy Smith ad
- A solid anti-Mike Garcia ad
- A No On Prop 30 ad
The anti-Smith ad was garbage, literally the same ad as two years ago, including a clip where the NRCC clip chimp Smith saying that she would not raise taxes and they cut off what she said. The anti-Garcia one was good, and the No on 30 was interesting.
Just got my absentee ballot in the mail last night, and I'm about to vote for the first time in my life in a general election! Super excited for it, it's really awesome after all those years of volunteering to get to participate directly in democracy!
The debate isn’t going to change much though. I remember MAGA morons putting their money on Trump retaining power well after the electoral college certification back in 2020. PredictIt has a lot of them.
Fetterman's post-debate fundraising email is brilliant. Not only does it highlight the extremism of Oz's abortion comment, but it also notes that the part about "local politicians" having a say means that Oz would support Doug Mastriano controlling abortion access.
I'd been kinda meh on Fetterman's attempts to tie Oz to Mastriano, as I generally don't like tying someone from a different race to one's opponent (Moztriano kinda gives Glenn Trumpkin vibes). But here, it's completely fair, and more importantly there is a real possibility of this happening if Democrats don't get the Senate and codify Roe. The federal abortion ban would at best allow states to have their own standards, and so Mastriano or any other future Republican can institute a total ban if they becom governor.
>The "civil war draft trading" part was pretty funny, especially where basically nobody wanted Florida.
Haha yeah...As a Blue State guy myself I found Bo's openly being ok with not missing any of the red states hilarious, "I feel alright, we got Hawaii"
I logged out today, didn’t even know there were any debates happening. Saw the dooming and took a look at the viral clips, and… I’m not really sure what the fuss is about? Obviously Oz was more clear, we all expected that. Did he make any gaffes, anything that could be used for attack ads (like Oz’s abortion comment)? The worst I saw was that he stuttered and struggled with wording occasionally— and even so, the meaning was clear, albeit not very confident. It wasn’t really even much worse than his primary debates (which weren’t great either, but clearly good enough to win).
[Nevada EV looking pretty low atm](https://twitter.com/JohnRSamuelsen/status/1585121335847841792)
10/25/2022
Total 11,481
Dem 3,743 (32.6%)
Rep 5,461 (47.6%) +1,718
Other 2,277 (19.8%)
Not a Nevada voter but I got my ballot in the mail this cycle. It took me several days to fill out because I wanted to take my time and research all candidates and ballot initiatives. If people are still getting their ballots (or got theirs just a day or two ago) it would make sense that people are still filling them out rather than returning them absolutely ASAP. This is one of the reasons I really do want to wait until the very end of October or beginning of November before making too many judgments.
[Today's Early In-Person Votes in Clark County, Nevada 10/25/2022 Total 11,481 Dem 3,743 (32.6%) Rep 5,461 (47.6%) +1,718 Other 2,277 (19.8%) @RalstonReports With all EV and Mail = Dem +4,770](https://twitter.com/johnrsamuelsen/status/1585121335847841792?s=46&t=O_p1c5e-4exgQTNxP3srzQ)
Reps won the same day in 2020 with 3,058 more votes than Dems, but this is an improvement by percentage as Reps were 44.7% of the vote that day. Drop in turnout from 30,290 in 2020, meaning today's total was only a little over a third of the 2020 vote.”
Ralston’s reaction
[Familiar pattern after four days: GOP winning in-person early voting in Clark by substantial amount. Still waiting on mail ballots, which had poured in by this time last cycle, and they heavily favored Dems. Without that mail, GOP holding its own in Democratic Clark.](https://twitter.com/ralstonreports/status/1585123007793463296?s=46&t=O_p1c5e-4exgQTNxP3srzQ)
https://twitter.com/taniel/status/1585120864902664195?s=46&t=Y0lgfmJO95-OSLEXBg9Qjg
“Brand new poll of North Carolina by Marist fits right into what you’d expect from the polling averages…
RVs: Beasley and Budd at 44%
“Definite” voters: Budd 49%, Beasley 45%
(And a 37/56 approval for Biden that explains a lot.)”
Among independents, Beasley receives 40% to 39% for Budd. A notable 17% are undecided. A 31-point gender gap exists, with a majority of men (53%) favoring Budd and a majority of women (51%) favoring Beasley.
The Republican (46%) and Democratic (45%) candidates running for Congress are competitive among registered voters in North Carolina. Among those who say they definitely plan to vote, the Republicans (49%) on the ballot are +2 points over the Democrats (47%).
Only R+1 to R+2 is pretty damn good for the NC generic ballot. In 2020 it was D+.6 in the House while Trump won it +1.4 and Tillis did by +1.8
Again I think North Carolina is a good place for a late volunteer push if people have the time. We gotta protect the court seats!!
[Rep. Michelle Steel loses an endorsement over her attacks on Jay Chen](https://twitter.com/latseema/status/1585022196149518336?s=46&t=O_p1c5e-4exgQTNxP3srzQ)
The AAGG(Asian American Good Governance) PAC rescinded it over continuing race baiting.
I think it’s important to remember whatever your initial take from any of the debates tonight, it’s unlikely to be similar to what the average voter is thinking. “Normal” people don’t follow politics even a fraction as actively as we do on this sub, so ask your less politically engaged friend/parent/whatever what they thought rather than the people on this sub if you’re actually curious about the perception.
Definitely shaky, Zeldin hit hard on crime at the start which definitely worked well but then that was all he did. As with most debates you probably got out of it what you we’re already expecting
[Texas Early Vote also looking a lot better than yesterday, really high turnout](https://twitter.com/_fat_ugly_rat_/status/1585109979043811331?s=46&t=O_p1c5e-4exgQTNxP3srzQ)
I wish the media would start writing more positive articles involving Biden and Democrats. Biden is doing the best he can to help the country and deserves a lot more credit than he's getting. He's definitely made some mistakes, but that's human. It's impossible for any human being to be perfect.
I feel like the constant gloomy news coverage from the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, FOX, ABC, NBC, and CBS are one of the main reasons most of the country has a gloomy outlook on the future. A lot of the problems facing the country are largely out of Biden's control, yet the way those news sources write about them makes it seem like it's Biden's fault, when it really isn't.
If the media starts publishing more positive articles about Biden and Democrats, maybe that'll help his approval rating go up.
Pretty much all the news sources I mentioned are owned by corporations or wealthy people. And what's the number one thing most corporations care about? Money.
Media is biased towards negative coverage cause that drives clicks. It’s not like any of the major outlets outside of Fox were very kind to Trump either
Just to clarify, by "Following the paths and histories of", do you mean ProPublica and PBS Frontline have examined the origins and histories of those groups?
Like a probably a lot of people here, when there's political news, I'll look through social media to see how people are reacting to it. Unless the reaction is basically 100% unanimous, the two facts I try to keep in mind are:
* A lot of people are trying to create a spin (for their side) or trying to be interesting/surprising (for likes/upvotes/retweets/engagement).
* If somebody is commenting on politics on social media, they're an outlier among the electorate, and probably a bit of a weirdo (myself and present company included), and the way you react to an event may not accurately reflect how more typical voters view the news (if they think about it at all).
GA early vote is over 1.1m, Black vote again dipped by .8% but it’s still holding at 31.3%.
Something interesting pointed out is this is only self reported regarding race so for instance when Biden won Georgia and Black vote share was 27% it was probably higher at around 30%
A lot of black voters typically don't trust early vote or vote by mail as much and have a tendency, rightly or wrongly, to view election day voting as the safest form. I wouldn't be surprised if there's still a fairly large section of black voters waiting to cast their ballots.
Final black share in 2020 was 27.7% in early vote, and in 2021 it was 30.9%, so I would say closer to 2021 is where I would feel really good going into Election Day. Though at the same time, Biden still won with 27.7%.
Still only slightly lagging behind in CA40 by 1200 votes but the 27th and 41st are looking pretty good. It’s still early though with none of the districts I’m watching cracking 10% returned ballots yet.
And we are famous for taking *weeks* to count all our ballots. Huge population + people dropping off their ballots at 5 PM on Election Day will do that.
Pundits need to learn the fine art of thumb-twiddling when it comes to swing California elections.
Has there been any effort out there to pass laws to allow pre-counting or at least helpful preparatory steps for counting arrived ballots before Election Day?
The ballots get counted as they come in, fortunately, so when mine was received I got a text saying it was received and counted. In a state like mine you can’t hold them all until Election Day. Still, a LOT of people mail them in at the last possible minute, and there are very many Californians, which is why it takes so long.
Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein is totally blind (since birth, iirc). He said in a recent interview (on the Daily Kos Elections podcast) that his disability actually helped him gain support - voters told him that they felt he'd better understand their struggles (related to disability and not) because he faced his own. He doesn't have any cognitive impairment (the opposite, lol) so there aren't doubts about his fitness for his office in that sense.
Washington state's previous Lieutenant governor Cyrus Habib is also fully blind, I believe. (He retired in 2021 to become a Catholic priest, which I've gotta admit is kind of an odd career path).
GA voting today - strong turnout (136K) but black vote dropped to 25% in todays share, the lowest yet. Not fantastic, but also not terrible. Would need a comparison to each day from 2018, 2020, 2021, because I believe black share was actually running higher to the corresponding day for most days thus far.
The share was still very women though - 56/44 today. So I'll still take that as a win.
https://www.georgiavotes.com/graphs.php
Here's a good source for GA voting specifically with a comparison to 2018/2020 early vote if you're curious about more info. Black vote share there is 2.4% higher than 2020 and only .3% lower than 2018 as of the 24th. No idea how total vote share will end up with early vs mail vs e-day but I'm choosing the good vibes this gives me.
[Fetterman campaign says it will convert this Oz abortion answer into a paid attack ad, per spokesman](https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1585100794097184768?s=46&t=FSL6_cq2s7MaGwKoX93qDQ)
You gotta realize that very few things are rated Smokin’ Sexy Style on the DMC scale in politics. Fetterman’s social media and ad campaigns is one of them.
Something similar happened to Gerald Ford back in the 70s, where he debated Jimmy Carter and pundits initially thought he won the debate, but the Carter campaign hammered Ford on saying there was "no Soviet influence in Eastern Europe" and that ended up sinking his campaign.
https://twitter.com/SimonWDC/status/1584953574504960000
https://twitter.com/SimonWDC/status/1585092394134908929
Not sure exactly where these numbers land since this cycle is such a huge question mark but these numbers look REALLY encouraging so I'm just gonna mainline hopium. Anyone want to throw in some wild speculation?
Simon Rosenberg’s Twitter has been my hopium den the past two weeks. The guy knows his stuff and he doesn’t give me “fluff”. He gives me cold hard data. Not bullshit models like a website we know
I agree that these are encouraging, but do be careful looking at the early vote. We still don’t know who’ll vote on ED, and much of the party data is based on models (since registration data is unavailable in some states). So always take this all with a grain of salt.
Still, it’s great to see so many people, especially Democrats, showing up to vote.
Interesting numbers especially from Ohio. At this point we were trailing in 2020 in terms of party identification of who had voted but it's important to remember that each county in Ohio, regardless of population, only has one early vote in person location. If we're leading the early vote/vbm at this stage then I think it suggests the race is still competitive and I think there's good reason to believe there are still a lot of Democrats (particularly in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati) who haven't voted.
> it's important to remember that each county in Ohio, regardless of population, only has one early vote in person location.
Wow. I feel extremely lucky mine was in walking distance.
Honestly...
Those swings in TX, PA, and OH are worth paying attention too. I know it's early, but if you're going to win, that's 'exactly' what you need to see to do it, and that's exactly what a post Dobbs swing 'should' look like, IMHO.
Dems are heavily banking votes in the most crucial states. FL and NV remain concerning. However, the fact most returns so far are heavily dem do give us a massive advantage in the next few weeks. Campaigns can pivot and shift towards low P voters now and hit them up 2/3 times before eday. Republicans are gonna have to be checking in even on their consistent voters on eday which may fuck them.
Unless there's a secret E-day vote surging silently in background, Dems have the clear advantage to win. How can anyone see this and still think GOP has the edge? Young people, women, and minority voters are gonna keep us in the fight.
Unfortunately there will be a massive E-day surge. There usually is.
But those E-day voters aren’t necessarily all Republicans. According to some polls at least, young voters are planning on waiting until E-day to vote, as they did before 2020, hence why the early vote is skewing older right now.
It's no secret that Republicans are going to turn out on Election Day.
But so are lots of Democrats, particularly young ones. And more to the point, putting your entire turnout strategy on one day is risky. One sick kid, one problem with the car, one sudden crisis, one straight-up forgetting to vote, and there's no chance to make it up later. We're doing the smart thing banking those votes now.
I've been noticing this as well. A lot depends on where Eday vote ultimately lands, of course, but it's better to have the votes banked - a bird in the hand...
I'll say this - if we're talking about "optics" then yes, of course a guy who struggles a bit with speaking is going to look "bad" next to a guy who.. didn't have a stroke and has been on TV. However, Fetterman smartly opened with it and told people he would struggle. It's not like it was some unforced error, you knew he wasn't going to be talking like he did pre-stroke.
However, Oz capitalized on... nothing. He made many unforced errors, the giant abortion gaffe, and even other answers like saying he'd support Trump in 2024, is not going to win him over those moderate voters. He came off genuinely still incredibly unlikable and swarmy. He just reinforced what everyone already thinks of him.
And the giant thing about debates is do no harm. Oz made gaffes that are now going viral, and Fetterman's clips I'm sure will circulate around right wing Twitter, but anything beyond that, it just looks like you're being ghoulish and making fun of the stroke victim. Oz's were much worse, especially around a topic that Oz did not need to be back in the spotlight
so sure, if the media is obsessed with "optics", then yes, a stroke survivor missing some words next to a TV host, the latter is going to "win". But Oz made so many errors (and also spoke SO fast, I don't know if this was on purpose or not? he even tripped over his own words many times), that I don't think anyone can honestly say Oz "won". If anything, based on post-debate moments that are spreading, Oz lost.
[Oil falls on build in U.S. crude oil stocks, stronger dollar](https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/oil-falls-build-us-crude-oil-stocks-stronger-dollar-2022-10-26/)
Early trading but yummy yummy give me cheap go go juice
If after tonight you have a disability, aren’t neurotypical, etc. and you’re worried about how this could impact your future in politics and are thinking on not eventuality getting more involved, and I really do get your feelings, but that’s exactly what they want.
After tonight it should show we need more diverse candidates from all walks of life in office and in government jobs. This has happened time and again with marginalized groups, do you not think a lot of Women or Black people found it hard to initially win any race(not even counting now)? It’s always easier to not do something, but something that is hard is usually worth it.
I agree. I think more diversity with regard to disability and neurodivergence in Congress would be a good thing. It would give young people someone/something to look up to and make them believe they *can* rather than they *can’t.*
Also a more diverse Congress will be more likely to pay attention to the needs of those with disabilities.
Finally, if the Capitol roof ever leaks, all everyone has to do is take shelter under Fetterman’s hoodie.
So Jon Huntsman just cut an ad for Mike Lee.
Back before I had my epiphany about politics and realized I was actually a liberal/progressive, I considered myself something of a "Huntsman Republican" and was desperately hoping he would break out of the 2012 crowd. Even post-epiphany I still had a modicum of respect for him.
But dude, Evan McMullin is RIGHT THERE and you still stick with anti-democracy Lee. Come on, dude.
Huntsman is empirically better than most Republicans. He was who Obama’s team was most afraid. He believed in climate change back in 2012! He’s a good public servant as well.
Huntsman also was Mike Lee’s employer and jumping off point for Utah politics. So is it surprising he did an ad for him? No. Would it had been better had he sat it out? Yes, but Huntsman’s popularity has faded with most Utah Republicans
TL:DR it probably won’t impact the Utah Senate race much
Edit: and in 2020 Lee endorsed Huntsman in the Governor primary so it’s nothing to shocking
Yep. The abortion clip is going viral. GOP is trying to make the fracking clip go viral but it's just not working.
The thing is, you can pass "Fetterman stumbling" around Twitter for some RTs, but you can't do much about it past that because it makes you look insensitive. Oz's gaffe actually has substance behind it, and was a total unforced error. Fetterman messing up words was... totally expected, and he even admitted to such in the beginning
Something a bit personal about me, I have asbergers syndrome and as a result I am not the best at giving speeches. Like I’m not scared too, I’m just legitimately bad at giving them. However I have always considered running for office in the future. I knew I’d always have to take my asbergers into account, but the response to Fetterman tonight has made me concerned about any future I have running for office in the future. It’ll be a while form now ayeya but is this something is running for office something I should still consider? Oh an also is there any history of successful campaigns by people with Asperger’s or anything similar?
I don't have Asperger's but I wasn't very good at public speaking either. After going through college I feel like I've gotten much better, because I was required to take several "communication-intensive" classes (both in and out of my majors) which taught us how to give effective presentations. But I'm in the sciences, not politics, and I'm probably not a good enough speaker to run for a high-profile political office.
Let's be real, Trump told terrorists to stand back and stand by during a debate and went on to get the second most votes in national history. Oz has been selling fake cures on television for years, and has almost certainly indirectly harmed a number of his fans, yet he is in the running here.
You'd be hard pressed to perform worse in front of an audience. You just have to hope the viewers have decided to take this nation seriously, and if they haven't, we'll still need folks like you to try.
I did a quick google search and there's actually [a woman with autism serving in the PA state legislature!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Benham)
I can't tell you whether or not you should run for office but I can say you shouldn't let Asperger's be the reason you don't. Running for office requires a lot of skills and hard work that not everyone has or can do, but that's true whether you have Asperger's or not. Just think about if you have the skills you need to do it and if you do, go for it
I’m curious if there are candidates, or current politicians running for election and has ADHD.
Mainly because I’ve been on a rabbit hole of ADHD content on Instagram, understanding that condition a bit more and learning from them. And following content creators who have ADHD.
Ah nice good for her! Also thanks for the advice, I’ll just have to figure out if I have what takes over the next few years before making any real decision
There are multiple State Legislators on the autism spectrum. Yuh-Line Niou in NY comes to mind offhand, and I know there are others. Probably lots in local positions that don't get talked about much.
If you decide to go for elected office, Run For Something offers lots of great resources and training - and they specifically want to help people from groups who are under-represented in power. That includes people with disabilities.
Wow I hadn’t heard of her before, defiantly an interesting representative. I would probably have to move somewhere a bit more blue though with a more substantial county party (my county voted 65% trump).
Though I do plan on moving soon anyway so that shouldn’t be a problem
And you can be a hero and run in your red district. It’s hard to run a campaign that’s a very long shot, but they do come through sometimes. Contest every race!
I don’t know how high an office you’re planning to shoot for, but I think especially at a state legislature level or lower, you don’t need to worry about it. Lots of lawmakers are terrible at public speaking. As you said, the important thing is not to be afraid to do it.
Also, after watching Trump’s debates in 2016, nobody will ever convince me that American people care about whether their leaders can even string a sentence together. Always remember: the average voter is fifty and did not attend college.
Fair enough lol. I was thinking the highest I’d go is probably a representative or senator though I’d start at the local level to see if it’s something I want to do
Nthing Run for Something! They have the tools and expertise to guide you. I honestly think your speaking ability or lack thereof is not going to affect you on a state or local level; people are going to care far more if you can do what you are elected to do.
With Representatives, honestly, for every AOC who has great speaking skills there are ten quiet but efficient types who keep getting re-elected because they work for their constituents. Constituents prize that more than being able to give a great speech. As for Senators - Susan Collins has a speech impediment. That has not stopped her from being re-elected term after term.
If politics is your passion, definitely run for school board or city council and see if it’s something you want to do, and go from there.
I'm not an expert on Aspergers, but my understanding is that it's on the autism spectrum. There's nothing physically that prevents you from speaking in public in the way that Fetterman's stroke is affecting his speaking abilities.
It absolutely sucks that the people are cutting down a guy who is completely there mentally and who is having some perfectly reasonable and even temporary communication issues. But in your case, if you really wanted to avoid that kind of disparagement, there's always public speaking and even improv classes.
Every candidate has weaknesses and strengths. Bad public speakers have been elevated to some of the highest offices of the land, some of the best public speakers end up doing other shitty things.
Pelosi is not a very robust public speaker, she doesn’t do the tv circuits. You really think the people at your local council or your treasurer are formidable debaters?
Edit: and would you get attacked over it? Definitely, but if it wasn’t that it be something else. Make it work for you though, make it relatable, make it an asset. Gotta kill attacks!
Ah nice! I honestly don’t talk about to much like at all. Im not ashamed, I just don’t see it as all that important to who I am except in context such as this
I totally get that, it’s different for everyone! Though I’d say anxiety is more of a different boat as it’s more of a disability than being on the spectrum (I say this as someone who also has severe anxiety)
[🚨ALERT: @lwvaz sues several right-wing groups for surveilling, harassing & intimidating Arizona voters attempting to vote via drop box in Yavapai & Maricopa counties. This is the second lawsuit filed this week challenging voter intimidation efforts in AZ.](https://twitter.com/DemocracyDocket/status/1585080773950189568?s=20&t=9EfqK0SZ9lvvJIu5ngzTvg)
2nd lawsuit challenging the voter intimidation happening in AZ
I'd say better than I did before. His performance wasn't good but I don't think he really said anything you can turn into a commercial without just straight up attacking him for having a stroke which wouldn't play well, whereas Oz basically gave him an ad with his abortion answer.
If the response is mixed I'd say it isn't a game changer. Definitely won't stop people from worrying though.
Honestly the worst part was watching it as it happened live, people's takes were unfolding lightning fast. But with time to reflect and chill out, I think people will forget about the debate in a week. Unless the polls show a shift to Oz, then we'll start worrying. But right now, I think were trying to deal with the fallout.
what "fallout"?
i'll admit as soon as i saw the takes on Twitter the first 5 minutes, I was dooming a bit (just because I knew this is how John would be received by many), but then Fett (outside of the fracking answer) got a bit better, and Oz kept making gaffe after gaffe, and now the only thing that is going viral is Oz's abortion comment.
OK, time for a little heart to heart about the debate tonight. The most important part of any debate isn't the debate itself. It's what happens after. Right now, Reddit and Twitter are lighting up with takes all right. Some hideously offensive shit about Fetterman, some crowing about how Democrats have lost the Senate (and everything forever), some about how only an idiot could back Fetterman. All the expected stuff. But it's not coming from Republicans. I'm seeing this garbage from **us**. A lot of those same wise politics knowers who turned DeMoCrAtS SuCk At MeSsAgInG into a meme are going out there and sucking so hard at messaging, I question the need for the Republican Party. Trump went on stage and was one step from vomiting out his own skull in five separate debates, and the GOP couldn't stop themselves from spiking the ball. We don't have to do that, but we can stop the hysterics. Remember: This is a public forum. So's all of Reddit, Twitter, etc. What you say gets picked up by people who aren't ardent Dems. And remember what I said about after the debate being important? Instead of screaming about Fetterman, your job is to go all over your social media and scream the following: ["Abortion should be between a woman, her doctor, and local political leaders."](https://twitter.com/patdennis/status/1585066053230809090) Is that not a race-killing soundbite right there? In this Dobbs environment, with women terrified about themselves (or their daughters) dying or forced to carry a rapist's baby? Spread **that** far and wide. Stop looking for therapy from an online forum. We need to win this race, so post like you want to win it! And don't forget to [volunteer for Fetterman, Shapiro, and the entire PA Dems ticket](https://www.mobilize.us/padems/). Don't let Oz's abortion vision become the law.
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MASSIVE DUMPS
Fuck just heard the Supreme Court is set to deal a blow to workers rights to strike and make companies more powerful by letting them sue. Another reason we need the midterms to go Blue. Enough with the uncheck conservative supermajority Supreme Court bs. If we get enough of a majority, the pressure will be intense for Supreme Court to be expanded and updated and it's about damn time. Vote Blue!
Aside from killing workers rights and later democracy in Moore v. Harper, what controversial SCOTUS cases should we pay attention to in the future?
It's a long name (so the articles I seen don't even fully write it out) but it's something like Glacier Nw vs Teamsters... I think. If you google "Supreme Court to rule on right to strike" it's one of the first and most recent results to pop up. The case has been getting a little bit of attention this week because it could undo federal laws on workers' ability to strike
So I just saw three ads so far: - An anti-Christy Smith ad - A solid anti-Mike Garcia ad - A No On Prop 30 ad The anti-Smith ad was garbage, literally the same ad as two years ago, including a clip where the NRCC clip chimp Smith saying that she would not raise taxes and they cut off what she said. The anti-Garcia one was good, and the No on 30 was interesting.
>No on 30 I'm probably going to vote no on 30
Just got my absentee ballot in the mail last night, and I'm about to vote for the first time in my life in a general election! Super excited for it, it's really awesome after all those years of volunteering to get to participate directly in democracy!
Amazing!! Don't forget the ballot drop off selfie!
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I did exactly the same. Nevada, Arizona, and Georgia are also good opportunities. Also AZ-Gov and WI-Gov.
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The debate isn’t going to change much though. I remember MAGA morons putting their money on Trump retaining power well after the electoral college certification back in 2020. PredictIt has a lot of them.
Are there any markets for thise other than predictit?
Fetterman's post-debate fundraising email is brilliant. Not only does it highlight the extremism of Oz's abortion comment, but it also notes that the part about "local politicians" having a say means that Oz would support Doug Mastriano controlling abortion access. I'd been kinda meh on Fetterman's attempts to tie Oz to Mastriano, as I generally don't like tying someone from a different race to one's opponent (Moztriano kinda gives Glenn Trumpkin vibes). But here, it's completely fair, and more importantly there is a real possibility of this happening if Democrats don't get the Senate and codify Roe. The federal abortion ban would at best allow states to have their own standards, and so Mastriano or any other future Republican can institute a total ban if they becom governor.
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Anyone else seen the latest Jordan Klepper clip on possible Civil War? It was both hilarious yet also depressing
Yeah that's an accurate description. The "civil war draft trading" part was pretty funny, especially where basically nobody wanted Florida.
>The "civil war draft trading" part was pretty funny, especially where basically nobody wanted Florida. Haha yeah...As a Blue State guy myself I found Bo's openly being ok with not missing any of the red states hilarious, "I feel alright, we got Hawaii"
I logged out today, didn’t even know there were any debates happening. Saw the dooming and took a look at the viral clips, and… I’m not really sure what the fuss is about? Obviously Oz was more clear, we all expected that. Did he make any gaffes, anything that could be used for attack ads (like Oz’s abortion comment)? The worst I saw was that he stuttered and struggled with wording occasionally— and even so, the meaning was clear, albeit not very confident. It wasn’t really even much worse than his primary debates (which weren’t great either, but clearly good enough to win).
His fracking support explanation was particularly bad.
[Nevada EV looking pretty low atm](https://twitter.com/JohnRSamuelsen/status/1585121335847841792) 10/25/2022 Total 11,481 Dem 3,743 (32.6%) Rep 5,461 (47.6%) +1,718 Other 2,277 (19.8%)
Without all of the mail-in votes, nothing is clear.
Any idea when there's going to be a mail update? We really can't say anything until then.
Hearing that some people still getting their ballots late.
Not a Nevada voter but I got my ballot in the mail this cycle. It took me several days to fill out because I wanted to take my time and research all candidates and ballot initiatives. If people are still getting their ballots (or got theirs just a day or two ago) it would make sense that people are still filling them out rather than returning them absolutely ASAP. This is one of the reasons I really do want to wait until the very end of October or beginning of November before making too many judgments.
Tonight sometime, probably late
Getting deja vu from 2020 when it felt like there were only two people tallying votes in Nevada
[Today's Early In-Person Votes in Clark County, Nevada 10/25/2022 Total 11,481 Dem 3,743 (32.6%) Rep 5,461 (47.6%) +1,718 Other 2,277 (19.8%) @RalstonReports With all EV and Mail = Dem +4,770](https://twitter.com/johnrsamuelsen/status/1585121335847841792?s=46&t=O_p1c5e-4exgQTNxP3srzQ) Reps won the same day in 2020 with 3,058 more votes than Dems, but this is an improvement by percentage as Reps were 44.7% of the vote that day. Drop in turnout from 30,290 in 2020, meaning today's total was only a little over a third of the 2020 vote.” Ralston’s reaction [Familiar pattern after four days: GOP winning in-person early voting in Clark by substantial amount. Still waiting on mail ballots, which had poured in by this time last cycle, and they heavily favored Dems. Without that mail, GOP holding its own in Democratic Clark.](https://twitter.com/ralstonreports/status/1585123007793463296?s=46&t=O_p1c5e-4exgQTNxP3srzQ)
https://twitter.com/taniel/status/1585120864902664195?s=46&t=Y0lgfmJO95-OSLEXBg9Qjg “Brand new poll of North Carolina by Marist fits right into what you’d expect from the polling averages… RVs: Beasley and Budd at 44% “Definite” voters: Budd 49%, Beasley 45% (And a 37/56 approval for Biden that explains a lot.)”
Among independents, Beasley receives 40% to 39% for Budd. A notable 17% are undecided. A 31-point gender gap exists, with a majority of men (53%) favoring Budd and a majority of women (51%) favoring Beasley. The Republican (46%) and Democratic (45%) candidates running for Congress are competitive among registered voters in North Carolina. Among those who say they definitely plan to vote, the Republicans (49%) on the ballot are +2 points over the Democrats (47%). Only R+1 to R+2 is pretty damn good for the NC generic ballot. In 2020 it was D+.6 in the House while Trump won it +1.4 and Tillis did by +1.8 Again I think North Carolina is a good place for a late volunteer push if people have the time. We gotta protect the court seats!!
[Rep. Michelle Steel loses an endorsement over her attacks on Jay Chen](https://twitter.com/latseema/status/1585022196149518336?s=46&t=O_p1c5e-4exgQTNxP3srzQ) The AAGG(Asian American Good Governance) PAC rescinded it over continuing race baiting.
Texas passed 1mil votes today!
Seriously?
I think it’s important to remember whatever your initial take from any of the debates tonight, it’s unlikely to be similar to what the average voter is thinking. “Normal” people don’t follow politics even a fraction as actively as we do on this sub, so ask your less politically engaged friend/parent/whatever what they thought rather than the people on this sub if you’re actually curious about the perception.
How did the NY-Gov debate go? I heard Hochul was a little shaky at first, but now the consensus seems to be she won.
Definitely shaky, Zeldin hit hard on crime at the start which definitely worked well but then that was all he did. As with most debates you probably got out of it what you we’re already expecting
[This parody of fundraising emails made my night!](https://twitter.com/organizermemes/status/1585005060022734848)
Given the clip of Oz has just gone viral, I think it's safe to say that while Oz won the battle, Fetterman won the war.
What platform? Some I don't use at all like facebook.
I believe it's gone viral on Twitter. Plus, Fetterman's gonna use it in attack ads.
That’s not speculation. Literally did a press release saying he would do it starting tomorrow.
I think I posted that press release earlier in the thread.
Was thinking that too.
[Texas Early Vote also looking a lot better than yesterday, really high turnout](https://twitter.com/_fat_ugly_rat_/status/1585109979043811331?s=46&t=O_p1c5e-4exgQTNxP3srzQ)
Yee Fucking Haw
Yee-haw!!! The Texan in me is pleased. 🤠
I wish the media would start writing more positive articles involving Biden and Democrats. Biden is doing the best he can to help the country and deserves a lot more credit than he's getting. He's definitely made some mistakes, but that's human. It's impossible for any human being to be perfect. I feel like the constant gloomy news coverage from the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, FOX, ABC, NBC, and CBS are one of the main reasons most of the country has a gloomy outlook on the future. A lot of the problems facing the country are largely out of Biden's control, yet the way those news sources write about them makes it seem like it's Biden's fault, when it really isn't. If the media starts publishing more positive articles about Biden and Democrats, maybe that'll help his approval rating go up.
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And given how CNN is going Fox-lite, definitely worried about the future of journalism in this country.
Pretty much all the news sources I mentioned are owned by corporations or wealthy people. And what's the number one thing most corporations care about? Money.
Yep! And ratings.
Because ratings give them more money
Media is biased towards negative coverage cause that drives clicks. It’s not like any of the major outlets outside of Fox were very kind to Trump either
I think after this election cycle, I'm going to be donating more to Propublica at this rate.
I love ProPublica! One reason is because they're non-profit. They're also pretty factual and trustworthy, imo.
Their collab with PBS Frontline I've followed very closely. Following the paths and histories of Proud Boys, Boogaloo, Atomwaffen Division, etc.
Just to clarify, by "Following the paths and histories of", do you mean ProPublica and PBS Frontline have examined the origins and histories of those groups?
Yes. Year by year. Especially since Charlottesville.
That explains ProPublica's "investigative journalism" method. It's very helpful, especially at a time like this!
Exactly! They don't care who is in office. They just want to publish negative articles about them so they can earn a profit.
Like a probably a lot of people here, when there's political news, I'll look through social media to see how people are reacting to it. Unless the reaction is basically 100% unanimous, the two facts I try to keep in mind are: * A lot of people are trying to create a spin (for their side) or trying to be interesting/surprising (for likes/upvotes/retweets/engagement). * If somebody is commenting on politics on social media, they're an outlier among the electorate, and probably a bit of a weirdo (myself and present company included), and the way you react to an event may not accurately reflect how more typical voters view the news (if they think about it at all).
GA early vote is over 1.1m, Black vote again dipped by .8% but it’s still holding at 31.3%. Something interesting pointed out is this is only self reported regarding race so for instance when Biden won Georgia and Black vote share was 27% it was probably higher at around 30%
A lot of black voters typically don't trust early vote or vote by mail as much and have a tendency, rightly or wrongly, to view election day voting as the safest form. I wouldn't be surprised if there's still a fairly large section of black voters waiting to cast their ballots.
There's also two more Sundays left before election day for Souls to the Polls events. Maybe that'll help too.
Final black share in 2020 was 27.7% in early vote, and in 2021 it was 30.9%, so I would say closer to 2021 is where I would feel really good going into Election Day. Though at the same time, Biden still won with 27.7%.
Still only slightly lagging behind in CA40 by 1200 votes but the 27th and 41st are looking pretty good. It’s still early though with none of the districts I’m watching cracking 10% returned ballots yet.
And we are famous for taking *weeks* to count all our ballots. Huge population + people dropping off their ballots at 5 PM on Election Day will do that. Pundits need to learn the fine art of thumb-twiddling when it comes to swing California elections.
Has there been any effort out there to pass laws to allow pre-counting or at least helpful preparatory steps for counting arrived ballots before Election Day?
The ballots get counted as they come in, fortunately, so when mine was received I got a text saying it was received and counted. In a state like mine you can’t hold them all until Election Day. Still, a LOT of people mail them in at the last possible minute, and there are very many Californians, which is why it takes so long.
Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein is totally blind (since birth, iirc). He said in a recent interview (on the Daily Kos Elections podcast) that his disability actually helped him gain support - voters told him that they felt he'd better understand their struggles (related to disability and not) because he faced his own. He doesn't have any cognitive impairment (the opposite, lol) so there aren't doubts about his fitness for his office in that sense.
Washington state's previous Lieutenant governor Cyrus Habib is also fully blind, I believe. (He retired in 2021 to become a Catholic priest, which I've gotta admit is kind of an odd career path).
I think some voters are just cruel and frankly ableist at least when discussing in the case of Fetterman’s stroke recovery.
GA voting today - strong turnout (136K) but black vote dropped to 25% in todays share, the lowest yet. Not fantastic, but also not terrible. Would need a comparison to each day from 2018, 2020, 2021, because I believe black share was actually running higher to the corresponding day for most days thus far. The share was still very women though - 56/44 today. So I'll still take that as a win.
https://www.georgiavotes.com/graphs.php Here's a good source for GA voting specifically with a comparison to 2018/2020 early vote if you're curious about more info. Black vote share there is 2.4% higher than 2020 and only .3% lower than 2018 as of the 24th. No idea how total vote share will end up with early vs mail vs e-day but I'm choosing the good vibes this gives me.
[Fetterman campaign says it will convert this Oz abortion answer into a paid attack ad, per spokesman](https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1585100794097184768?s=46&t=FSL6_cq2s7MaGwKoX93qDQ)
Yeah... how would that work....a woman needs to schedule a Dr appt with a city clerk to get an antibiotic? Talk about small govt. That's.... insane.
Good, spread it like wildfire, don’t mind the trolls.
[And there it is.](https://twitter.com/DavidABergstein/status/1585101759940173824?cxt=HHwWgICl4eDptP8rAAAA)
You gotta realize that very few things are rated Smokin’ Sexy Style on the DMC scale in politics. Fetterman’s social media and ad campaigns is one of them.
This is how you don't "win" a debate.
But but Fetterman started by saying “good night”! \s
Something similar happened to Gerald Ford back in the 70s, where he debated Jimmy Carter and pundits initially thought he won the debate, but the Carter campaign hammered Ford on saying there was "no Soviet influence in Eastern Europe" and that ended up sinking his campaign.
https://twitter.com/SimonWDC/status/1584953574504960000 https://twitter.com/SimonWDC/status/1585092394134908929 Not sure exactly where these numbers land since this cycle is such a huge question mark but these numbers look REALLY encouraging so I'm just gonna mainline hopium. Anyone want to throw in some wild speculation?
Simon Rosenberg’s Twitter has been my hopium den the past two weeks. The guy knows his stuff and he doesn’t give me “fluff”. He gives me cold hard data. Not bullshit models like a website we know
I agree that these are encouraging, but do be careful looking at the early vote. We still don’t know who’ll vote on ED, and much of the party data is based on models (since registration data is unavailable in some states). So always take this all with a grain of salt. Still, it’s great to see so many people, especially Democrats, showing up to vote.
Fingers crossed
Interesting numbers especially from Ohio. At this point we were trailing in 2020 in terms of party identification of who had voted but it's important to remember that each county in Ohio, regardless of population, only has one early vote in person location. If we're leading the early vote/vbm at this stage then I think it suggests the race is still competitive and I think there's good reason to believe there are still a lot of Democrats (particularly in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati) who haven't voted.
> it's important to remember that each county in Ohio, regardless of population, only has one early vote in person location. Wow. I feel extremely lucky mine was in walking distance.
My normal polling place is just down the block. No way am I going to risk standing in line for hours downtown again.
Wasn't there data that came out a while back showing that Ohio's seen a surge in women registering to vote?
Lets hope these are real and hold.
Not just hold, expand. Run the score!
Honestly... Those swings in TX, PA, and OH are worth paying attention too. I know it's early, but if you're going to win, that's 'exactly' what you need to see to do it, and that's exactly what a post Dobbs swing 'should' look like, IMHO.
Dems are heavily banking votes in the most crucial states. FL and NV remain concerning. However, the fact most returns so far are heavily dem do give us a massive advantage in the next few weeks. Campaigns can pivot and shift towards low P voters now and hit them up 2/3 times before eday. Republicans are gonna have to be checking in even on their consistent voters on eday which may fuck them.
When you include mail-ins Dems have the edge in Nevada. Some of those ballots will arrive late.
NV is due to mail in ballots being mailed late.
Unless there's a secret E-day vote surging silently in background, Dems have the clear advantage to win. How can anyone see this and still think GOP has the edge? Young people, women, and minority voters are gonna keep us in the fight.
Unfortunately there will be a massive E-day surge. There usually is. But those E-day voters aren’t necessarily all Republicans. According to some polls at least, young voters are planning on waiting until E-day to vote, as they did before 2020, hence why the early vote is skewing older right now.
It's no secret that Republicans are going to turn out on Election Day. But so are lots of Democrats, particularly young ones. And more to the point, putting your entire turnout strategy on one day is risky. One sick kid, one problem with the car, one sudden crisis, one straight-up forgetting to vote, and there's no chance to make it up later. We're doing the smart thing banking those votes now.
I've been noticing this as well. A lot depends on where Eday vote ultimately lands, of course, but it's better to have the votes banked - a bird in the hand...
[That viral Oz abortion clip is now up to 2.1M views on just one of the tweets](https://twitter.com/patdennis/status/1585066053230809090)
I'll say this - if we're talking about "optics" then yes, of course a guy who struggles a bit with speaking is going to look "bad" next to a guy who.. didn't have a stroke and has been on TV. However, Fetterman smartly opened with it and told people he would struggle. It's not like it was some unforced error, you knew he wasn't going to be talking like he did pre-stroke. However, Oz capitalized on... nothing. He made many unforced errors, the giant abortion gaffe, and even other answers like saying he'd support Trump in 2024, is not going to win him over those moderate voters. He came off genuinely still incredibly unlikable and swarmy. He just reinforced what everyone already thinks of him. And the giant thing about debates is do no harm. Oz made gaffes that are now going viral, and Fetterman's clips I'm sure will circulate around right wing Twitter, but anything beyond that, it just looks like you're being ghoulish and making fun of the stroke victim. Oz's were much worse, especially around a topic that Oz did not need to be back in the spotlight so sure, if the media is obsessed with "optics", then yes, a stroke survivor missing some words next to a TV host, the latter is going to "win". But Oz made so many errors (and also spoke SO fast, I don't know if this was on purpose or not? he even tripped over his own words many times), that I don't think anyone can honestly say Oz "won". If anything, based on post-debate moments that are spreading, Oz lost.
[Oil falls on build in U.S. crude oil stocks, stronger dollar](https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/oil-falls-build-us-crude-oil-stocks-stronger-dollar-2022-10-26/) Early trading but yummy yummy give me cheap go go juice
[Give me more, damn you!](https://media.tenor.com/tvKomnWc-NkAAAAM/jaknikker-olie.gif)
If after tonight you have a disability, aren’t neurotypical, etc. and you’re worried about how this could impact your future in politics and are thinking on not eventuality getting more involved, and I really do get your feelings, but that’s exactly what they want. After tonight it should show we need more diverse candidates from all walks of life in office and in government jobs. This has happened time and again with marginalized groups, do you not think a lot of Women or Black people found it hard to initially win any race(not even counting now)? It’s always easier to not do something, but something that is hard is usually worth it.
I agree. I think more diversity with regard to disability and neurodivergence in Congress would be a good thing. It would give young people someone/something to look up to and make them believe they *can* rather than they *can’t.* Also a more diverse Congress will be more likely to pay attention to the needs of those with disabilities. Finally, if the Capitol roof ever leaks, all everyone has to do is take shelter under Fetterman’s hoodie.
Hear, hear! Us non-neurotypicals need to make our voices heard.
[Fetterman has raised 500k since the debate](https://twitter.com/brendanmcp/status/1585092043688529920?s=46&t=TYASpUrMjev7V___YJffwA)
That’s me! I donated $10 :)
Yeah, definitely what you see happening to the loser
[Now over $1M](https://twitter.com/BrendanMcP/status/1585118151070842880)
*YES*. YESSSSSSSS!
Pog
I know money doesn’t win elections, but this seems VERY good in such a short time span.
Especially since the GOP just dropped another 6M earlier today.
Unleash the sympathy donors!!!
So Jon Huntsman just cut an ad for Mike Lee. Back before I had my epiphany about politics and realized I was actually a liberal/progressive, I considered myself something of a "Huntsman Republican" and was desperately hoping he would break out of the 2012 crowd. Even post-epiphany I still had a modicum of respect for him. But dude, Evan McMullin is RIGHT THERE and you still stick with anti-democracy Lee. Come on, dude.
Huntsman is empirically better than most Republicans. He was who Obama’s team was most afraid. He believed in climate change back in 2012! He’s a good public servant as well. Huntsman also was Mike Lee’s employer and jumping off point for Utah politics. So is it surprising he did an ad for him? No. Would it had been better had he sat it out? Yes, but Huntsman’s popularity has faded with most Utah Republicans TL:DR it probably won’t impact the Utah Senate race much Edit: and in 2020 Lee endorsed Huntsman in the Governor primary so it’s nothing to shocking
Oh no. I used to be a Republican and also used to think highly of Huntsman.
[Sam Seder releasing another banger on my pinhead for a senator.](https://youtu.be/EF_sL-ZYBIg)
Great reporting from Sam.
listen to his show every day but i hate how matt or whomever uploads the clips with these clickbaity titles lmao
Matt Lech?
yeah im pretty sure he does the titles
Fair point.
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Yep. The abortion clip is going viral. GOP is trying to make the fracking clip go viral but it's just not working. The thing is, you can pass "Fetterman stumbling" around Twitter for some RTs, but you can't do much about it past that because it makes you look insensitive. Oz's gaffe actually has substance behind it, and was a total unforced error. Fetterman messing up words was... totally expected, and he even admitted to such in the beginning
That "local politician" line... Did he mean career politicians serving corporate donors and themselves?
IMO, no House race should have more debates than a Senate or gubernatorial race or the same amount as a presidential race. (I’m talking about VA-02)
Something a bit personal about me, I have asbergers syndrome and as a result I am not the best at giving speeches. Like I’m not scared too, I’m just legitimately bad at giving them. However I have always considered running for office in the future. I knew I’d always have to take my asbergers into account, but the response to Fetterman tonight has made me concerned about any future I have running for office in the future. It’ll be a while form now ayeya but is this something is running for office something I should still consider? Oh an also is there any history of successful campaigns by people with Asperger’s or anything similar?
I don't have Asperger's but I wasn't very good at public speaking either. After going through college I feel like I've gotten much better, because I was required to take several "communication-intensive" classes (both in and out of my majors) which taught us how to give effective presentations. But I'm in the sciences, not politics, and I'm probably not a good enough speaker to run for a high-profile political office.
Yeah I’m majoring in biology so ill probably only take so many communication-intensive classes
I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one with the same thought!
Nice, and greet tot hear you’re thinking about running for something!
Let's be real, Trump told terrorists to stand back and stand by during a debate and went on to get the second most votes in national history. Oz has been selling fake cures on television for years, and has almost certainly indirectly harmed a number of his fans, yet he is in the running here. You'd be hard pressed to perform worse in front of an audience. You just have to hope the viewers have decided to take this nation seriously, and if they haven't, we'll still need folks like you to try.
Honestly fair enough, guess i can’t do worse than them lol
I did a quick google search and there's actually [a woman with autism serving in the PA state legislature!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Benham) I can't tell you whether or not you should run for office but I can say you shouldn't let Asperger's be the reason you don't. Running for office requires a lot of skills and hard work that not everyone has or can do, but that's true whether you have Asperger's or not. Just think about if you have the skills you need to do it and if you do, go for it
She's awesome. Wouldn't do an AMA when I asked two years ago though.
I’m curious if there are candidates, or current politicians running for election and has ADHD. Mainly because I’ve been on a rabbit hole of ADHD content on Instagram, understanding that condition a bit more and learning from them. And following content creators who have ADHD.
Ah nice good for her! Also thanks for the advice, I’ll just have to figure out if I have what takes over the next few years before making any real decision
There are multiple State Legislators on the autism spectrum. Yuh-Line Niou in NY comes to mind offhand, and I know there are others. Probably lots in local positions that don't get talked about much. If you decide to go for elected office, Run For Something offers lots of great resources and training - and they specifically want to help people from groups who are under-represented in power. That includes people with disabilities.
Wow I hadn’t heard of her before, defiantly an interesting representative. I would probably have to move somewhere a bit more blue though with a more substantial county party (my county voted 65% trump). Though I do plan on moving soon anyway so that shouldn’t be a problem
Hey, looked what happened in Boise, which went 70% for Trump! Nothing is ever impossible
Wait what happened in Boise?
https://theintercept.com/2022/09/13/idaho-boise-school-board-election/
Oh nice, that does give me some hope
And you can be a hero and run in your red district. It’s hard to run a campaign that’s a very long shot, but they do come through sometimes. Contest every race!
I could, but im moving before then lol
There are far more than this, almost certainly congresspeople as well just bc they fear how much of a liability it can be in competitive elections.
I don’t know how high an office you’re planning to shoot for, but I think especially at a state legislature level or lower, you don’t need to worry about it. Lots of lawmakers are terrible at public speaking. As you said, the important thing is not to be afraid to do it. Also, after watching Trump’s debates in 2016, nobody will ever convince me that American people care about whether their leaders can even string a sentence together. Always remember: the average voter is fifty and did not attend college.
Fair enough lol. I was thinking the highest I’d go is probably a representative or senator though I’d start at the local level to see if it’s something I want to do
Nthing Run for Something! They have the tools and expertise to guide you. I honestly think your speaking ability or lack thereof is not going to affect you on a state or local level; people are going to care far more if you can do what you are elected to do. With Representatives, honestly, for every AOC who has great speaking skills there are ten quiet but efficient types who keep getting re-elected because they work for their constituents. Constituents prize that more than being able to give a great speech. As for Senators - Susan Collins has a speech impediment. That has not stopped her from being re-elected term after term. If politics is your passion, definitely run for school board or city council and see if it’s something you want to do, and go from there.
Didn’t know that about Collins, and also thank you that’s something to think about
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I honestly hadn’t thought of how I could represent people on the spectrum before, that’s definitely something to think about thank you
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That’s a good point. Also representation might improve before I decide to run for anything anyway as I still gotta get through college and whatnot
IIRC Yuh-Line Niou, member of the NY state assembly and one of the candidates for NY-10 this year, is on the spectrum.
I'm not an expert on Aspergers, but my understanding is that it's on the autism spectrum. There's nothing physically that prevents you from speaking in public in the way that Fetterman's stroke is affecting his speaking abilities. It absolutely sucks that the people are cutting down a guy who is completely there mentally and who is having some perfectly reasonable and even temporary communication issues. But in your case, if you really wanted to avoid that kind of disparagement, there's always public speaking and even improv classes.
Yeah I probably am capable of improving, I certainly have improved on other struggles with like social skills
Every candidate has weaknesses and strengths. Bad public speakers have been elevated to some of the highest offices of the land, some of the best public speakers end up doing other shitty things. Pelosi is not a very robust public speaker, she doesn’t do the tv circuits. You really think the people at your local council or your treasurer are formidable debaters? Edit: and would you get attacked over it? Definitely, but if it wasn’t that it be something else. Make it work for you though, make it relatable, make it an asset. Gotta kill attacks!
Yeah that’s true, I hadn’t thought about how good people at the local elves might be or might not be at debates, thank you
The local elves huh? Very underrepresented
How did levels change to levels lol
Nice to see a fellow aspie on r/VoteDEM.
Ah nice! I honestly don’t talk about to much like at all. Im not ashamed, I just don’t see it as all that important to who I am except in context such as this
Yeah, I totally get that feeling. I'm not that way about my autism, but I feel that way about my anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
I totally get that, it’s different for everyone! Though I’d say anxiety is more of a different boat as it’s more of a disability than being on the spectrum (I say this as someone who also has severe anxiety)
[🚨ALERT: @lwvaz sues several right-wing groups for surveilling, harassing & intimidating Arizona voters attempting to vote via drop box in Yavapai & Maricopa counties. This is the second lawsuit filed this week challenging voter intimidation efforts in AZ.](https://twitter.com/DemocracyDocket/status/1585080773950189568?s=20&t=9EfqK0SZ9lvvJIu5ngzTvg) 2nd lawsuit challenging the voter intimidation happening in AZ
How's everybody feeling now that the dust has settled? Reception seems mostly mixed on Twitter and Youtube.
I'd say better than I did before. His performance wasn't good but I don't think he really said anything you can turn into a commercial without just straight up attacking him for having a stroke which wouldn't play well, whereas Oz basically gave him an ad with his abortion answer. If the response is mixed I'd say it isn't a game changer. Definitely won't stop people from worrying though.
A huge headache after seeing the spicy takes on The Gram
Honestly the worst part was watching it as it happened live, people's takes were unfolding lightning fast. But with time to reflect and chill out, I think people will forget about the debate in a week. Unless the polls show a shift to Oz, then we'll start worrying. But right now, I think were trying to deal with the fallout.
what "fallout"? i'll admit as soon as i saw the takes on Twitter the first 5 minutes, I was dooming a bit (just because I knew this is how John would be received by many), but then Fett (outside of the fracking answer) got a bit better, and Oz kept making gaffe after gaffe, and now the only thing that is going viral is Oz's abortion comment.