You can take a look if you want:
"Demographics offer no sure things for either party; Strategists weigh changing country as 2016 looms" by Bill Barrow, Associated Press December 26, 2014
ATLANTA — Republicans crowed in 2004 that freshly reelected President George W. Bush had established a ‘‘permanent governing majority’’ for the GOP. Eight years later, Democrats were touting the enduring power of the ‘‘Obama coalition’’ to keep their party in the White House.
But Democrats couldn’t sustain that coalition for this year’s midterm elections, leading to Republican gains in Congress, governorships, and state legislatures nationwide.
‘‘The notion of demographics as destiny is overblown,’’ said Republican pollster and media strategist Wes Anderson. ‘‘Just like [Bush aide Karl] Rove was wrong with that ‘permanent majority’ talk, Democrats have to remember that the pendulum is always swinging.’’
Now the question is whether the path to 270 electoral votes is so fixed that one side is sure to win in 2016.
Will Obama’s unpopularity carry over into the next race for the White House? Or will an increasingly diverse electorate pick a Democrat for a third consecutive presidential election for the first time since Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman won five straight elections from 1932 to 1948?
Despite Democrats’ midterm shellacking and talk of a ‘‘depressed’’ liberal base, many in the party still like their starting position for 2016.
Ruy Teixeira, a Democratic demographer, points to a group of states worth 242 electoral votes that the Democratic presidential nominee has won in every election since 1992. Hold them all, and the party is just 28 votes shy of the majority needed to win the White House next time.
Obama twice compiled at least 332 electoral votes by adding wins in most every competitive state. He posted double-digit wins among women, huge margins among voters younger than 30, and historically high marks among black and Latino voters.
As nonwhite voters continue to grow as a share of the electorate, a Democratic nominee who roughly holds Obama’s 2012 level of support across all demographic groups would win the national popular vote by about 6 percentage points and coast in the Electoral College, Teixeira estimates.
‘‘Could a Republican win? Sure,’’ Teixeira said. ‘‘But they have to have a lot of different things happen.’’
What if the GOP is able to continue its gains among nonwhite voters? Obama, after all, lost ground in 2012 among most demographic measures, compared to his 2008 performance. Those slides helped make him the first president since World War II to win reelection with a lower popular vote total than he got in his initial victory.
A GOP nominee such as the Spanish-speaking Jeb Bush, a proponent of comprehensive immigration reform, has the potential to capture significantly more than the 27 percent of the Latino vote that Mitt Romney claimed in 2012.
Meanwhile, Republicans hope African-Americans make up a smaller share of the electorate with Obama no longer atop the ballot.
‘‘We’re not talking about winning those groups, but these elections are fought on the margins, so improvements here and there can make a difference,’’ Anderson said.
Republicans acknowledge that demographic shifts make it more difficult than in years past for the GOP nominee to depend on white voters, who cast 87 percent of presidential ballots in 1992 and just 72 percent in 2012.
At the same time, Democrats have watched white voters, particularly those without a college degree, move away from the party during Obama’s presidency — and not just in the conservative South. Obama lost this group by about 26 points in 2012, according to exit polls and other analyses. By this November, his Gallup approval rating among the group stood at 27 percent.
Extending that trend into 2016 could push Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, and New Hampshire into the GOP column. White voters also could tip Florida, Virginia, and Colorado, although nonwhite voters in those states hold more influence than in the Midwest and northeast. Those seven states, plus all won by Romney in 2012, would give the GOP a winning total of 295 electoral votes.
It should be noted that path to 270 requires any potential GOP president to win Florida, with its 29 electoral votes. And while it’s mathematically possible for a Republican to win without Ohio’s 18 electoral votes, no GOP nominee has ever done so, and Republican strategists widely acknowledge the state as essential.
Of course, further analysis of the raw numbers alone ignores the potential of the candidates themselves to shape the election — not to mention dramatic changes in the economy, national security events or other developments that fall outside the control of any candidate.
‘‘Presidential elections don’t take place in a vacuum,’’ Anderson said. ‘‘It’s an adversarial system in which their side has a face and our side has a face, and everything flows from that.’’
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Your vetted and pre-selected corporate candidates to be presented for your ratification:
"Clinton faces headwinds from liberals as Warren rises" by Jessica Meyers, Globe Staff December 21, 2014
WASHINGTON — It has been a tough year for the Hillary Rodham Clinton juggernaut.
Her record as secretary of state was undercut by the rise of the Islamic State and a breakdown in relations with Russia. Her much-awaited book didn’t sell many copies. Her face graced the cover of this year’s worst-selling issue of People magazine.
Then, during the last few weeks, a different juggernaut erupted.
**********
Clinton still appears likely to clinch a nomination, particularly if Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren keeps her pledge not to run. But the difficulties of 2014 are casting her race in a different light, raising questions about liberal dissatisfaction with her record and whether a leftward shift would hurt her in a general election.
“There are a lot of unchecked boxes with Hillary Clinton when it comes to economic populism and corporate accountability,” said Adam Green, cofounder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal group. “There are definitely red flags.”
He cited pricey speaking fees that Clinton received at two events for Goldman Sachs, a Wall Street investment bank, and questions about her position on numerous policies that affect the middle class, such as a long-shot hope to expand Social Security benefits....
At the very least, these liberal groups hope to use her momentum to push Clinton in a direction more aligned with a populist agenda....
In a sign of increased agitation with the Warren dynamic, a Clinton adviser recently met with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said cofounder Green, confirming a report first aired by MSNBC. He declined to provide details.
Democracy for America helps showcase the divide among activists. While the liberal group is pushing for Warren, founder Howard Dean favors Clinton.
Related: The Iranian Fringe (and Friends)
Isn't that part of the Warren Wing?
“I am convinced if you put the facts in front of Hillary Clinton, she would see the facts, she would understand the issue, and she would do the right thing,” said Dean, a former Vermont governor and past chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Many Democrats still flock to Clinton. More than 80 percent said they would support her in a presidential bid, according to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. But 71 percent of all voters surveyed said they want the next president to take a different approach to the White House.
Warren’s recent successes have propelled her popularity among liberals. She nearly derailed a big spending bill over a provision that she said would water down financial regulations. She has also taken on the White House by opposing Obama’s nominee for a Treasury undersecretary, Antonio Weiss, largely due to his Wall Street ties.
Supporters shrug at Warren’s insistence that she is not running in 2016 and note that she puts her dismissals in present tense. She has pledged to complete her term, which ends in January 2019. Clinton has signaled she will run but has not given a final decision.
Clinton has stayed silent on Warren’s latest maneuvers. But supporters are setting her up as a liberal figure in her own right.
“There’s such an impressive record in Hillary’s life and across the span of her career supporting and promoting opportunities for middle-class families, for women, and children,” said Tracy Sefl, a senior adviser for Ready for Hillary, a political action committee that is not affiliated with Clinton but has raised more than $12 million to encourage a presidential bid.
Nick Merrill, a spokesman for Clinton, said the two women have long fought for the same ideals....
Clinton channeled the Massachusetts senator in October, when she spoke at a Boston event aimed at saving Martha Coakley’s faltering Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign.
“Don’t let anyone tell you that, you know, it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs,” she said, echoing a theme often sounded by Warren. Republicans denounced her remarks as liberal pandering, and she backed away from them days later saying she had “shorthanded” her comments.
But some of the enthusiasm Clinton generated when she first ran for president in 2008 has waned.
A speech she gave at Georgetown University this month filled a little more than half the auditorium.
Her autobiography, a 656-page tome titled “Hard Choices,” has yet to sell enough copies to meet a reported $14 million advance.
And people still wince at Clinton’s comment last June that she and her husband left the White House “dead broke.”
Some supporters fear this erosion of Clinton’s image, especially when encouraged by members of her own party, will hurt Democratic chances of winning the White House....
Then dump her -- for the good of the party and nation.
The pair aren’t exactly chummy.
Warren called out Clinton in her book, “The Two-Income Trap,” for approving bankruptcy legislation as a New York senator that Warren believed would harm working families.
But Warren has said she backs a Clinton run. And Clinton has sought to make friends. “I love watching Elizabeth give it to those who deserve to get it,” she said at the Coakley event.
Liberals are banking on the Warren focus to pay off even if she doesn’t run.
Clinton “isn’t a turn-off as much as an insurance policy,” said Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic political analyst in Boston....
The lesser of two evils.... still leaves you with evil.
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"With 2016 decision ahead, Hillary Clinton turns to liberal base" by Anne Gearan, Washington Post December 26, 2014
WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton is working hard to shore up support among liberals in hopes of tamping down a serious challenge from the left in the battle for the 2016 Democratic nomination.
I'm tired of the show fooley, sorry.
Clinton has aligned herself firmly with President Obama since the November midterms on a range of liberal-friendly issues, including immigration, climate change, and opening diplomatic relations with Cuba.
In an impassioned human rights speech this month, she also condemned the CIA’s use of harsh interrogation tactics and decried cases of apparent police brutality against minorities.
That means she is an awful hypocrite and opportunist because torture occurred on her watch, she had to have known, and after the NYPD murders she is culpable for pulling the trigger.
I mean, really, any US official commenting on human rights is ludicrous at this point.
I can. I never did a thing to anybody and opposed it the whole way.
The recent statements suggest a concerted effort by Clinton to appeal to the Democratic Party’s most activist, liberal voters, who have often eyed her with suspicion and who would be crucial to her securing the party’s nomination.
Sick of being used, kids?
But the positions also tie her ever more tightly to a president who remains broadly unpopular, and could provide new lines of attack for the many Republicans jostling to oppose her if she runs.
Clinton has said she is considering a second run for president and would probably reach her decision after Jan. 1. An announcement looks likely in the spring.
There are several potential Democratic candidates who could appeal to portions of the party’s liberal base, including former senator Jim Webb of Virginia, Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland, and Senator Bernard Sanders, a Vermont independent. Many progressives also are urging a bid by Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, whose populist anti-Wall Street message draws large crowds.
She's already a lame duck.
In the meantime, Clinton has been quietly meeting with potential campaign advisers and consulting a variety of people, from business leaders to sitting Democratic political figures, about issues she might address in a campaign.
She also has been making a point of addressing topical matters at speaking events and other appearances. The former secretary of state’s office has released statements in her name in support of Obama’s announcement of executive action on immigration and on the planned normalization of relations with Cuba.
Yeah, about those Cubans; did you know there were more boat people from other nations that are turned back?
Her appeals to liberals were on clear display last week at a gala award ceremony in New York named for Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his idealistic run for the White House.
That was when the war lobby completely took over.
Clinton said she is proud to have been part of an administration that ended extrajudicial transfers and abusive treatment of terrorism detainees. The practices were the subject of an exhaustive Senate report this month that concluded that the CIA had engaged in torture and that the methods were ineffective in gaining useful intelligence.
The well-dressed crowd in a Manhattan hotel ballroom on Dec. 16 applauded loudly at that statement and thrilled to her broader theme of righting social wrongs.
‘‘What would Robert Kennedy say about the fact that still, today, more than 16 million children live in poverty in the richest nation on earth?’’ Clinton asked.
‘‘What would he say about the fact that such a large portion of economic gains have gone to such a small portion of our population,’’ she continued, also asking about the persistent wealth gap among blacks and Hispanics and the unequal treatment of black men in the criminal justice system.
Where have you been all this time, girl, and why did it gets worse the 20+ years since you and your husband got involved in national politics?
‘‘What would Robert Kennedy say to the thousands of Americans marching in our streets demanding justice for all? To the young people with their eyes open and their hands up?’’
He would have been out there with them, actually -- back when protests were pure and not propaganda campaigns driven by intelligence agencies and their ma$$ media mouthpieces.
The remarks were more in keeping with Clinton’s early career as a lawyer and human rights champion than her later work as a politically moderate senator, failed presidential candidate, or diplomat.
They also appear designed to address a populist hunger among many Democrats for a candidate attuned to economic inequality and the concerns of working people, including many who would prefer a run by Warren.
On the environment, many activists are annoyed by Clinton’s refusal to take a stand on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which requires approval from the State Department, which she used to lead. She sidestepped that issue again at another New York gala this month but gave an enthusiastic endorsement of Obama’s recent actions on climate change.
Related: The Key(stone) to Landrieu's Loss
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Also see:
Democrats await word, new approach from Clinton
In N.H., Clinton supporters were active in ’14 races, too
Is New Hampshire (Jeb) Bush Country?
Speak of the devil:
"Jeb Bush quits hospital chain before possible White House run" by Jason Millman, Washington Post December 27, 2014
WASHINGTON — The for-profit hospital chain Tenet Healthcare has announced that Jeb Bush will be stepping down from its board of directors by the end of the year, as he explores a run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
Bush has served on the board of Tenet since 2007. But there’s one obvious reason that keeping it on his resume might not look good politically: Tenet has benefited greatly from the Affordable Care Act, which much of the Republican base is still committed to repealing.
See: Obummercare Will Make You $ick This Year
Yeah, that would make him look real bad come spring 2016!
Bush has been a vocal opponent of the health care measure, calling it ‘‘flawed to its core.’’
Oh, look, another $elf-$erving liar from the Bush clan.
The job Bush is giving up has been lucrative. He earned $128,500 in cash plus $170,000 in stock last year for a total of $298,500 according to Tenet’s 2013 proxy statement. And he sat on the board during a particularly profitable time.
Tenet is the country’s third-largest publicly traded hospital chain, with 80 hospitals across 14 states and more than 200 outpatient centers in 16 states. The Dallas-based chain immediately reported reaping the benefits of coverage expansion since the federal health care program took effect at the start of this year.
Tenet’s share of uninsured patients and charity-care patients has dropped significantly, while the share of Medicaid patients have increased. In just the second quarter this year, Tenet saw unpaid care drop $78 million.
This swing has been more pronounced in Massachusetts and the four other states where Tenet operates hospitals that have opted to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act: Arizona, California, Illinois, and Michigan.
Tenet is also seeing more patients come in with private coverage from the federal health care exchanges, according to the company’s third quarter results issued last month.
Tenet reported third quarter revenue was up 6 percent compared with the previous year to $4.18 billion, with the company attributing 40 percent of the gain to the health care law.
Bush is also stepping aside from other business commitments. A spokesman said last week that the potential presidential contender will leave his advisory role with British bank Barclays by year’s end, Associated Press reported.
According to corporate filings, Bush still sits on the boards of three other companies — Rayonier Inc., Empower Software Solutions, and CorMatrix Cardiovascular Inc. — and is chairman and manager of Britton Hill Holdings, a Florida-based private equity and business advisory group.
In a separate campaign development, Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, said in an interview with the AP that he will decide by March whether to launch a 2016 presidential campaign and whether he would seek the Democratic nomination.
Either way, Sanders said, he would not run just to nudge the debate to the left. ‘‘I don’t want to do it unless I can do it well,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t want to do it unless we can win.’’
Sanders said he is weighing whether to run as an independent, as he has done in Vermont, or as a Democrat. He has been critical of both major parties over the years, though he has aligned with liberal Democrats on many issues.
Sanders, a socialist, said he grew up in a ‘‘solidly lower middle class’’ family in Brooklyn. After his graduation from the University of Chicago, he came to Vermont in the 1960s as part of the counterculture, back-to-the-land movement that turned the state from solid Yankee Republican into one of the bluest in the country.
Sanders has been mayor of Burlington and an eight-term US representative, and is now in his second term in the Senate. He would be 75 in 2016, but says his health is good.
In an AP interview, Sanders said the issues about which he has been railing all these years are only becoming more dire. The wealth gap has grown, and the middle class, he says, is ‘‘collapsing.’’
He has plans that he says will restore the economy and especially the middle class, most of it dependent on higher taxes on the rich and businesses.
He will get about 1% of the vote then.
Among the proposals: A $1 trillion infrastructure building program that would ‘‘create 13 million decent-paying jobs,’’ more worker-friendly international trade deals and legislation to strengthen unions, and transforming the US energy system ‘‘away from fossil fuels and into energy efficiency and sustainable energy.’’
Related: Sanders For Prezident
I don't think so, although having a Jew is the next best thing next to the personification of a corporation that is Romney -- if you want to drop the mask and be the government you truly are.
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Related: Jeb Bush resigns from all boards, with eye toward possible presidential run
Also see:
Jeb Bush candidacy spells a contentious GOP race
Jeb Bush’s politics of joy
Do I look like I'm enjoying them?
It's obvious that a Bush-Clinton matchup would continue the cover-up regarding all the evil deeds of AmeriKan leadership over the last quarter-century and beyond. That's why we are going to see Clinton-Bush in 2016. All those secrets need to be covered up.... for the health of the old man:
George H.W. Bush hospitalized after shortness of breath
Ex-president George H.W. Bush remains hospitalized
"Former President George H.W. Bush spent a fourth night in a Houston hospital where he is being treated after experiencing shortness of breath last week. Family spokesman Jim McGrath said the 90-year-old Bush ‘‘remains in high spirits and continues to make progress.’’ No other details were disclosed. Bush was taken to Houston’s Methodist Hospital on Tuesday as a precaution. He spent nearly two months there two years ago for treatment of a bronchitis-related cough and other issues (AP)."
I don't want him to die because then there will be media ceremony and state services along with the proclamation of him as some sort of bipartisan saint from times past.
George H.W. Bush released from hospital
Good.
Anyone else out there as a candidate, anyone at all?
While down in Texas:
LBJ Overshadows MLK
It's an exclusive club that is more of a fraternity than all the imagery and illusion while being sold political discord.
"President Obama believes the United States is less racially divided than it was when he took office, despite recent protests over police treatment of black people. In a recent interview, Obama said mistrust between police and minorities isn’t new. He said it is being talked about more because the proliferation of smartphones allows more interactions to be recorded. The president said he thinks the issue of race has surfaced in a healthy way. Obama spoke to NPR News before leaving for his winter vacation in Hawaii. He said it is understandable that many people feel race relations have worsened, pointing to extensive media coverage of protests in Ferguson, Mo., and in New York. But he said minorities who have dealt with discrimination all their lives know things have improved."
Related: Money, or Mob: Al Sharpton and The Art of the Shakedown
Also see:
The New Civil Rights Movement
Restraint cited in Ohio woman’s death
Where were they then?
Police from across nation mourn N.Y. officer
Another Silent Protest of Mayor de Blasio as Officer Liu Is Laid to Rest
Mass. officers pay respects at NYPD funeral
Pay 'em for Al, too.
"Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Eric Frein’s defense attorney called no witnesses and offered no evidence. Frein, whose hands and feet were shackled, was quiet and still through the morning session in a cavernous courtroom packed with media and other spectators. At one point, he wrote a note and whispered into his attorney’s ear. Authorities say Frein confessed to what he described as an assassination designed to ‘‘wake people up’’ and result in a change in government."
What a stinky, smelly psyop script!
Related: Death penalty sought in L.A. airport killing
Another hoax passed off as real.
What, no murder charge?
House arrest ordered for teen in shooting threat
All meant to drum up memories of Sandy Hook in your head.
Related: The Pakistan School Shooting Psyop
I questioned it at the time.
Police say couple died after home invasion
I thought they were armed in West Virginia.
Boston police arrest boy, 14, on firearm charges
Accused shooter in Dorchester murder pleads not guilty
Better than even chance it's not him.
Drop in New York police arrests continues for a second week
Ferguson grand juror sues to be allowed to talk about case
As you can see, I'm done talking about it.
Going from bad to worse as far as I can tell.
"Alternatives for Obama library offer test of ideals" by Josh Lederman, Associated Press January 02, 2015
HONOLULU — President Obama has preached economic opportunity and equal access to education as cornerstones of the legacy he wants to leave. But in the contest to host his presidential library this week, the Obama foundation let it be known that it was displeased with Chicago’s proposals — still, the blunt warning through the media appeared designed mainly to light a fire under the University of Chicago to fill holes in its proposal.
At the University of Illinois Chicago, student trustee Danielle Leibowitz said, ‘‘If he wants to be consistent with the message he’s given throughout his presidency, it really only makes sense to give it to us. To suddenly hand over your legacy to a private institution seems rather hypocritical.’’
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I've tuned him out, and there are some things even I do not wish to discuss.
