This race is getting too damned close.

[Stinky The Clown]

A President Trump is not impossible.

The media propping him up and down on HRC.

Yeah, I know. 538 has 70% odds on Clinton. But it was much higher a while ago. The trends are not trending our way.

Spare me the thanks for my concern. Take whatever energy you wish to expend toward me and do something - anything - to help her win.

[onehandle]

1. A candidate reversing such a long trend is unprecedented in modern times.

Trump winning would be a political miracle.

[Skittles]

3. isn't that what was said about him becoming the repuke nominee?

[onehandle]

6. A lot of longshots have become a nominee.

Not so much consistently behind nominees becoming President.

Hillary has been ahead in the average of polls for literally years.

[Egnever]

8. Only by people who weren't paying attention to the republican party

[cwydro]

24. Excellent point.

I never thought the Shrub could get elected again either.

It's scary.

[edhopper]

2. I don't disagree

But Hillary has a far greater organization, Trumps is pathetic, more money and some incredible surrogates.

The debates should serve her well.

But unfortunately she has to run with themedia doing Trumps bidding.

[phylny]

5. The debates are so important, I agree.

Listen, Hillary was never going to get the hard-core Trumpkins, but I believe the important independent "non-crazy" voters will like what they see in her.

[edhopper]

16. she has to keep

the 60% that dislike Trump.

[Calista241]

31. And they have to show up and vote, which is the real question.

Barack Obama was the most dynamic Presidential candidate ever. Hillary Clinton doesn't have his charisma or appeal. I think this race is a lot closer than anyone wants, because people aren't going to show up in the numbers Obama generated.

[Wednesdays]

4. I'll do exactly what you're doing.

Or do you have further suggestions?

[Kilgore]

7. And this why its so damn close

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/why-democrats-in-western-pennsylvania-are-voting-trump/499577/

As a party, how did we allow this to happen?? These are "life long democrats" walking away from our party.

[Egnever]

11. Well if your job is more important than the planet you weren't much of a Dem to begin with.

If you can ignore all the repugnant shit going on in the Republican party because you work for a company that pollutes the planet and is on it's way out. Well I can't say I have a lot of faith in your judgement to begin with.

What the people in that article are doing is choosing to screw their long term prospects for a short term gain. Not surprising but very short sighted.

What would you suggest the democrats do? Forget climate change because some folks are going to lose their job?

Sadly there are plenty of people out there who are susceptible to that kind of short term stupidity.

[Kilgore]

14. Its not the what, but the how

I dont disagree with your premise, but i dont see why there is not a middle ground or some way to soften the transition. If there was some leadership by our party in this respect, we would not loose these voters.

Instead we get articles, in the Atlantic no less, that put a thumb in our eye.

[Egnever]

15. we have known about climate change for how many years now?

20? 30?

I am not sure how much softer you can make the transition. The writing has been on the wall for a long time now and we are moving way too slowly as it is.

These people will keep their job only to reach retirement and wonder why social security and medicare are no longer around.

I get that it is hard to lose your profession but the world is always in flux. Throwing away everything you "believe" in over a job seems very dumb to me.

[Kilgore]

18. Meaningless

It is unreasonable for a coal miner to be aware of these issues 30 years ago.

It is reasonable for leadership to set up a transition well in advance and have not gotten into a situation like this.

[Egnever]

20. We are way past that now.

I agree much more could be done to provide for these folks but then...Republicans...

You don't honestly believe Republicans would allow funding for programs to help these people do you?

The reality is Republicans are more than happy to rape the planet for personal gain and it certainly does not stop at the planet they will do the same to all workers given the chance. The evidence of this is undeniable.

Then of course one has to believe the premise that Dems have done nothing to try to ease the transition. Of course that is not true.

The plan, called POWER Plus and is part of the President’s proposed Fiscal Year 2016 Budget, provides more than $55 million in funding for job training, job creation, economic diversification, and other economic efforts in communities that have experienced layoffs due to the declining coal industry. According to the White House, that funding is “unprecedented” and will go toward improving the economic security of coal miners and their families, who have “helped keep the lights on in this nation for generations.”
Those investments include $20 million in funding for coal miners or coal plant workers who have lost their jobs in recent years. The money will go toward job transitioning services and programs for those who have lost their jobs in the coal industry. Another $25 million will go toward the Appalachian Regional Commission, which works to improve economic opportunities in Appalachia.
“Our point here is that while policymakers can disagree about the reasons why the coal industry is struggling, all Americans should be able to agree that these workers and communities, who are in some of the most economically distressed parts of the country, deserve help from the federal government,” Jason Walsh, a senior White House policy adviser told the Charleston Gazette.

Obamas budget in 2015

Republican reaction as one would expect..

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) called Obama's proposal "his most irresponsible budget yet," arguing that "American families looking for jobs and opportunity will find only more government in this plan."[1] The Speaker also that said that "this budget is a clear sign this president has given up on any efforts to address our serious fiscal challenges that are undermining the future of our kids and grandkids."[4]

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee said that "it's disappointing that the president produced a campaign document instead of putting forth a serious budget blueprint that makes the tough choices necessary to get our fiscal house in order."[1]

You can find that repeatable time after time.

The Senate on Wednesday passed legislation to authorize federal job training programs.

Passage of the legislation on a 95-3 vote marks a rare bipartisan area of agreement amid the Senate's election-year stalemate.

Congress last authorized the workforce law in 1998, and it expired in 2003.
"In these 16 years, there have been several attempts to reauthorize this legislation, and they have all fallen short," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said.

Reid said he hoped passage of the bill would help thaw the Senate's legislative logjam over the past several months.

"They say in basketball, if you’re not doing well, you have a lot of off days, that the best way for a shooter to get his rhythm back is to sink a couple of baskets," Reid said. "So I hope this theory proves true here in the Senate. It’s time we sank a couple of baskets. It’s time we start working together to get things done."

The legislation was negotiated by Sens. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), as well as their counterparts in the House.

And the republican input?

The Senate considered two Republican amendments, bringing the total number of roll calls on GOP amendments to 11 in this Congress.

Sen. Jeff Flake's (R-Ariz.) amendment, rejected 33-63, would make it optional to appoint and certify new local job training boards.

Additionally, Sen. Mike Lee's (R-Utah) amendment would require reviews of job training every four years. Funding for the programs would be reduced if they do not submit the reports. It was also rejected by a vote of 40-58.

That's right two amendments to try to undercut it. Nah the idea Republicans are trying to protect the coal workers is rubbish as is the idea Dems have not been trying to soften the blow.

[backscatter712]

43. Coal miners have been aware of the issue for 10-15 years...

It's not like people haven't been seriously discussing climate change since the 90's...

It's not people haven't known that coal's been a dirty, disgusting, polluting way to make energy since the 18th century...

It's not like coal miners haven't been dealing with issues like black lung, or are unaware that coal causes health problems.

If you're still in the coal industry, don't come crying to me when the industry dies out from under you. The buggy whip manufacturers are still pissed off about them horseless carriages...

[Egnever]

17. Something else to consider.

in 2012 the county in the article went for Romney 56% I don't think the prospects there were high to begin with.

this portion of the article is a fabrication.

"President Barack Obama and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton have had a “tremendously devastating” impact on voters in a county that has been reliably Democratic in the past."

ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Pennsylvania,_2008

That county turned red in 2008 and was 50- 50 the election before that it has been moving towards red for quite a while. Likely because of the policies towards coal mining in the dem party, There is nothing that can be done about that as coal is the worst of all fuels.

Coal is the worst offender, a dirty, carbon-intensive fuel source that pollutes the air, fouls our environment, and single-handedly produces more than a quarter of U.S. global warming emissions. More on coal and other fossil fuels.

No way to sugar coat that and denying it is folly.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Pennsylvania,_2008

[Kilgore]

19. This is a great example of..

The party moving away from its traditional base.

And I dont beleive the "devastating" comment is particularly wrong either. If the party had worked on this issue beginning, say in the Clinton 90's, it would not be devastating today.

[Egnever]

21. But they have been working on it.

I have examples in a post above.

[elleng]

40. It's a difficult quandary,

and we haven't seen 'answers' from Democratic candidates (but for one.)

Environment
https://martinomalley.com/climate/iowa/
https://martinomalley.com/climate/
https://martinomalley.com/climate/agenda/

[Lurker Deluxe]

23. So ....

What is it that you do that is not "polluting the planet"?

You work in health care?

Are you raping the consumer with overpriced drugs that may be obsolete in twenty years? Maybe you work for a health care provider who will be put out of business when single payer finally happens? Or do you just work at the local pharmacy who will be put out of business by online drug houses?

Maybe you used to work in the auto industry?

Well fuck you, right ... just because all those jobs are no longer union and pay shit wages ... should have seen it coming. Dumbass.

Or maybe you work in finance and those jobs will be in Dubia in a decade.

Your job is all that is important, to you. It is what pays your bills and allows you to raise your family. But fuck you, your just to self important to realize how what ever it is you do for a living is destroying the planet ... you fucking dumbass.

What job does not exploit something? We can not all be climatologist and fly to UN meetings all year long, burning more fossil fuels than most families will consume in a lifetime.

So ... what is it that you do that benefits the world so much more than those who made the industrial revolution possible?

[Egnever]

25. Hahah

Funny so now all jobs have the same impact coal does?

And no not fuck you. The dems have proposed multiple plans to provide job transition funds. Many of which have been shot down by...Guess who!

The world changes industries rise and fall. You don't keep industries around once they stop making sense just because people have jobs doing it. If you did buggy whips would be booming.

Coal is the worst offender, a dirty, carbon-intensive fuel source that pollutes the air, fouls our environment, and single-handedly produces more than a quarter of U.S. global warming emissions.

Jobs are no longer union? Your damn right you were a dumb ass for not joining and alowing them to be weakened by guess who! Republican governors. Hell yea you are a dumbass.

Still Democrats try to help those folks out.

Show me a single Republican bill that does so. Oh i am sure you can find a whole lot of them that "protect" them by loosening restrictions and allowing pollutants and lax worker safety. That is the only way you will find Republicans "helping" them. Fuck the water and air we need jobs and everyone pulute so it's no big deal.

[Kilgore]

26. Nice sterile argument

But to bring it back home, that poor guy who voted Dem his entire life as did his parents, is now walking away from the party and we are loosing votes. His industry did not die in his eyes, it was legislated away by the Dems presently in power. Thats what needs to be addressed with him. Rehashing Repub/Dem battles does nothing or will bring his vote back to us.

Its bad leadership in my eyes. Or maybe a concious decision to move away from these voters in order to gain others? No way to tell. But we will see if it works on November 8.

I have a bad feeling about this............

[Egnever]

29. So what?

174k jobs in the coal industry vs 650k in the renewables industry and growing.

What would be good leadership in your eyes? Continued destruction of the planet to protect 174k jobs? That would be irresponsible leadership at best.

Good leadership is recognizing destructive industries and looking for alternatives. That is exactly what the Dems are doing and yes they are trying to provide funds to help the workers displaced in the coal industry at the same time while being blocked at every step by the party these ignorant people are going to join.

Much like veterans that vote republican because they love the troops yet vote against benefits over and over.

It is ignorance nothing more and you can claim it is mean to call them ignorant but there is no other way to describe their self destructive tendencies.

[former9thward]

35. I wish those 174k jobs vanished tomorrow.

And then you would be complaining you could not post because there would be no electricity.

[Egnever]

39. My electricity does not rely on coal much.

I live near the hoover damn. More solar is going up out here all the time.

[LanternWaste]

58. Cool prophecy, little guy!

Cool prophecy, little guy! It's jolly good fun to wish for the loss of jobs to spite one individual. However, at it's merely another inconsequential wish, reality certainly allows it all the credibility and relevance any other faith-based bit of magic thinking contains.

[Lurker Deluxe]

27. Not what we are talking about

Is it?

We are talking about life long reliable democrat voters who are turning against us.

Why?

Why do these people despise "white collar" people so much and why are they turning against the democrat party?

Did these blue collar mine workers destroy the union so someone could make 20 million this year because they only made 15 million last year?

Did these blue collar workers renig on pensions that they worked for so someone could make a few more millions next year, or drive their stock price up so other people could make a few more millions?

The money for these people has always been there, they earned it ... they died for it. It has been stolen from them, and it was not stolen by their coworkers now was it?

These people are turning against all politicians, and turning against all powers that be because they have been getting fucked for decades. People act surprised by this, what do you think is happening? How long do you think people are going to continue to be robbed by those in power before they turn on them?

You can spout all the "it's the republicans" BS you want, the fact is the system is failing anyone who is not in money. And it damn sure is not getting better.

Coal is the latest ... but for some reason it is only coal in America that is destroying the world, as those who run the coal industry are still making billions of dollars every year while those in coal country are losing every thing they have ever worked for.

But yea .. fuck them, cause they are disposable because coal is evil ... unless you are making billions as the moneyed people who control it. And it is not just republicans who are fucking the blue collar people that actually produce the shit that makes your lights turn on.

But just keep on telling them they are stupid and self centered ... maybe they will see it the way you do and come back to the democrat party, if they do not starve to death.

[Egnever]

28. The only one saying fuck them is you

The dems sure aren't despite the laughable article you posted.

Did these blue collar mine workers destroy the union so someone could make 20 million this year because they only made 15 million last year?

You bet your sweet ass they did.

The unions were never given anything they had to fight for it. Somewhere along the way they got comfortable and stopped fighting. The unions used to break bones now they donate to political parties.

Workers in general have never been given anything it has been hard won and easily lost throughout human history.

Coal is the latest because it is the most destructive on the planet by far. And you can pretend all those poor workers are just getting screwed if you like but that ignores all the lucky workers getting jobs in renewables,

174,000 blue-collar, full-time, permanent jobs related to coal in the U.S,

According to IRENA, renewable energy supported 650,000 jobs in the U.S. in 2013


And that number is growing.

So yea if you are sticking around trying to hold onto a job in a dying industry, one that has been dying for decades and does more damage to the planet than any other source. You are not the brightest bulb. All 174k of them could vote republican and we would barely even notice.

I will side with the rest of the planet that benefits from the elimination of those jobs all day long over their dumbfuck desire to hold on to a poisonous industry. I will continue to vote for the party that works to try to retrain them for jobs in a sector that is growing like gangbusters instead. I damn sure won't switch my vote to the party that works at every turn to take everything they have and leave them in a pile of toxic sludge.

I am pretty sure the net effect of the 650k with jobs in the renewables sector will more than offset the 174k that can't be bothered to look past their paycheck.

Yup we might lose the toxic sludge paycheck vote but we will gain the others and we will do a little to protect everyone else on the planet from their dying industries continued destruction.

They are certainly free to threaten us with their switching to the republican party but I for one am certainly not going to pretend it is either noble or bright or even a great loss.

If all you do is look at the number of people that will lose their job it might look pretty ugly but when you compare it to the numbers of jobs in the exploding renewables sector saying anything more than fuck them with a little compassion thrown in to try to get them trained for something else is the right call.

[Lurker Deluxe]

33. Where are all these jobs?

Why is unemployment skyrocketing in the areas being decimated by the loss of the coal industry?

Certainly if all these great jobs were in the same place then all the of these people who lost their coal gig would just take those jobs, right?

Employment should be 0% and the wages for all these jobs should be exploding, right?

Or should these people just be able to relocate their families to where ever these great jobs are, hell it it easy to just pick up and move. Right, is not that what republicans say about those living in Detroit .. just move. Pack up your stuff in your new car, sell your house and cash out the half million in equity, and move to wherever these jobs are. Except you can not sell your house for more than 5K 'cause who the hell is moving to coal country? And all these jobs you are talking about do not exist in the real world, and they pay shit.

After all, once a windmill is built how many jobs does it support?

Where are they? I know a bunch of people here in Houston that have lost their oil field job that paid 150K/year who would love to know where all these kick ass high paying jobs are. Perhaps a link to them?

I sure do not see them ... hell, I am in the oil patch, I'd love to switch to a high paying green job. Except they do not exist.

[Egnever]

38. So now we have to keep jobs going cause people shouldn't have to move?

So by your reasoning we should not have built the highways because it decimated Cairo Illinois....

Cairo was a major trade hub before the highways it sat on the intersection of two major rivers. The railways and the highways decimated the town because we didn't need to use the rivers as a means to transport goods any more.

some pics







and one back in it's heyday



It was a huge bustling metropolis back in the day. Now it is a ghost town. The same will happen to the coal towns. You can try and deny it will or stamp your feet and pretend it won't but that is the end result sure as the sun rises.

The folks in that article would be doing themselves a favor to stop blaming democrats for the end of coal and prepare for the eventuality that is coming. That would be the smart (not easy) thing to do. They can certainly ignore that programs are available to get retraining or that democrats are trying to put more online. But it wont affect the reality one bit. Sooner rather than later the town they are in now is going to look like Cairo.

I don't dispute that it is hard for them nor do I find their anger and frustration surprising. Still the world moves on. There are still people living in Cairo but it isn't the jobs that are keeping them there.

As far as good paying jobs in renewables here's 270 in Texas listed


http://www.indeed.com/q-renewable-energy-$80,000-l-Texas-jobs.html

The smart thing at this point if you are in the fracking business. Would be to start looking for some of the training programs that are being offered. When you start to lose Oklahoma you should be seeing red flags.

What are all those people making 150k doing in Houston?

I am not in the industry but salary.com says supervisors don't make that on average.

http://swz.salary.com/SalaryWizard/Oil-and-Gas-Field-Supervisor-Salary-Details.aspx?&hdcbxbonuse=on

And this site makes that 150k number even more suspicious.

http://www.tigergeneral.com/average-roughneck-oil-field-salaries/

I am sure as it is your field you are much better informed on salaries than I am but I find it difficult to believe most people in the business are making anything near that working a 40 hour week.

[Lurker Deluxe]

42. A lot different

It is hard to compare the shift in jobs during the major expansion in the US to now.

Back when the interstate was being built there was more work than there was workforce (60 million people were killed world wide in WWII), it is one of the reasons why immigration was so high, there was work everywhere. For a couple of decades after WWII the US was the only standing manufacturing base in the world, we were building shit for the entire world and our economy exploded because of that.

Today, there are very few opportunities like that left, that is just a fact. We have outsourced damn near all of our manufacturing to "low cost" countries so corporations can make their CEOs and other executives filthy rich.

This is not news, it is what it is.

Your link for those jobs does not work.

I am in the end game of my time in the field, I am just getting to old to travel like I used to and truthfully the work is simply to stressful for someone approaching 50. I have made my money there and spent wisely and built a decent savings, I know those that come behind me will not have the same opportunities I did. I have spent months in Panama, Mexico, and Dominican Republic training people to do what I do. The corporation is not doing that for any other reason than human resource cost, flights are cheap ... benefits and labor are not when the employee is US/EU based. I started training for HVAC the beginning of the year because I can see it coming and I know the time of US based offshore mechanical support is ending.

I do know many people who will be caught in the end game though.

The people I know in the industry that have lost their jobs are like myself, specialized in certain trades. Myself, I am an in place (InSitu) machinist/millwright and I travel around the world fixing big broken shit. Engines, turbines, propulsion drive units, and other things that simply can not be removed from where ever they are and have to be fixed in place. My supervisor does not make the kind of money I do, he used to, but he no longer travels and does not work near the hours I do. No one .... no one, in field service works 40 hours a week. If you are not working 1000+ hours of overtime a year you are underutilized and there is a reason for that, either to old (my problem even though I managed 1600 hours/OT last year), lack the experience to be able to perform the task, or simply are not willing to put the time in.

Most people in the industry I am in have a tie to the oil patch, but the fact is that there is always something broken somewhere in the world and there are people who have to go fix it. If you are one of those people and the company you work for is diversified you will always have work and if you wanted to (and are capable) you can work 2000+ hours/OT and make 200K with little problem. If the company you work for is tied directly to drilling in the Gulf, you are most likely unemployed or about to be.

You are correct, most people do not make that kind of money. It takes years of skill building, training, and experience to get to that level. I have been a carpenter, welder, fitter, and a machinist ... before I began to offshore. When I started traveling I was a 100ker within two years and that was 16 years ago, of coarse my wages grew from there with experience.

It is a tough gig, but the money is there ... for a few more years anyways.

[Kilgore]

47. Bravo!!

Well said!!

[Proud Liberal Dem]

55. "Democrat Party"?

haven't you been lurking around here enough that that is usually considered a tip-off that that's what Republicans usually call us and that it is considered offensive?

[Lurker Deluxe]

59. I guess not

But hey ... if that is what you have to add, ok.

I sincerely apologize for calling the Democratic party the Democrat party in a discussion where the meaning was clearly evident. I hope you can recover from this offense and have a productive day without further incident. If you feel you are in jeopardy of being offended again by an honest slip of the tongue please retreat to your safe space and either place me on ignore or stop reading when you see I am in a discussion to spare yourself further incident.

Thanks, and again I am sorry that I offended you.

Please find it in your heart to forgive me.

Or was that an accusation?

In which case I am offe ... nah, I got my big boy pants on, I am ok.

[TDale313]

30. What a surprise.

Resident TPP cheerleader accuses Americans concerned about decent paying jobs and standards of living for the American working and middle class of being selfish.

Thanks for reminding me you should have been on my ignore list ages ago.

[Egnever]

32. Hahah

Yea that's what I said.

By all means if that is the height of your thought process please ignore away. I doubt I will miss a thing.

[CBGLuthier]

52. no true scotsman.

[MFM008]

36. Stupid bastards

We came from Pittsburgh coal country.
Stupid ass morons. No wonder my dad left his family in PA and refused to live there amongst them when he retired.
We live in Washington State.

[uponit7771]

9. Isn't she tracking higher than Obama around the same time in 2012? tia

[canetoad]

10. Apart from the pneumonia

Which could have happened to anyone, there are absolutely no more surprises due from Hillary. She's been vetted, examined, scrutinized, prodded and poked far more than anyone in memory.

The examination of Trump on the other hand, is just beginning. WaPo is pretty relentless in reporting his crap. The Trump foundation is being looked into. The Florida donation thing seems to have legs. You never know, the taxes may appear (or be leaked). Still plenty more to come out about him.

Also, not everyone lives on the internet and news sites the way you and I probably do. We are overloaded with Trump and his shennanigans. Millions of ordinary, decent US citz have already made up their minds and will cast their votes accordingly. I'm confident Hillary will win easily. The alternative is too frightenining for not only the US but the whole world.

[bigtree]

12. there's a ceiling on people who would vote for today's republican party

Last edited Wed Sep 14, 2016, 11:13 AM - Edit history (1)

...an even lower one for Trump voters which hasn't broken anywhere near a majority.

Take a look at the polls showing 70% to 90% (edit black and Latino vote for Hillary. That's not reflected in polling samples which show a close race.

Take a look at where Obama was in his elections. Hillary is outpolling him by a pretty decent margin across the board at this point in the race.

[former9thward]

37. "take a look at the polls showing 70% to 90% for Hillary."

Please link to these mythical polls. Clinton is not even close to Obama at this stage.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

49. in 2012, Obama was up four points from Romney

on sept 14: http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2012-general-election-romney-vs-obama

in 2016, clinton is up 4 points

http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/national-polls/

[bigtree]

50. I posted last night when I was on the runh

...but I meant to say that the black and Latino vote was 70 to 90 and ended up leaving that out.

She's still ahead or matching Obama's support at this point.

[Warren DeMontague]

13. The media wants a horserace. And none of us should forget what they did in 2000.

They did everything they could to make Al Gore look annoying and pretentious, and they sold Dubya as a "compassionate conservative moderate".

[bettyellen]

34. Thank god they can't bolster Trump with that, or with intelligence...

What have they got to bolster him with that is not crashing down on him right now? He's not actually successful and he's been spewing bullshit. I'm at a loss how anyone could keep propping him up.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

56. This election seems to be getting treated a lot like 2000

Sane, stable, intelligent Democrat getting bashed endlessly while MSM props up and promotes brash, incurious, and disaster-waiting-to-happen Republican who happens to be "new" and "exciting" for the MSM to cover. I only hope that history doesn't COMPLETELY repeat itself.

[Warren DeMontague]

60. I think the big difference is the demographics of the country have changed.

Thank God.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

62. True

and, yes, quite a relief. And Republicans have, if anything, gone backwards in terms of their "outreach" (which was never good to begin with) to women, minorities, etc. In fact, Trump and his supporters are pretty much anti-everybody not white, straight, rich, etc.

[bigwillq]

22. I expected it to get close

When there's only 2 viable options, it's bound to happen. Most votes will be split between D and R. When that happens, it's usually relatively close.
I think Clinton wins. I hope she does. Trump is awful.

[ucrdem]

41. Objects on your screen are not as close as they appear.

The Clintons have had this sewn up since the first Hillary-Bernie debate last October, and we might be in for a landslide of historic proportions, which the pundits will hasten to explain is some unflattering way. But nothing is certain and complacency is dangerous so K' n' R.

[sofa king]

44. Nothing is fucked, dude....

This is 1996 all over again. We have a hateful Republican candidate in an improving economic climate for which Republicans can take no credit whatsoever. The insiders have known it was over since the end of July--if the Dems can secure turnout, which we absolutely can and they all know that, too.

Make no mistake, this is a total fucking disaster for television news media. They are going to lose their entire audience to the NFL if they can't find some way to make this Bataan Death March of an election interesting. They even found a way to bring the NFL into the election, since they can't compete.

I only need to give one example to show everyone how full of shit the news is. Last night, NBC's national, prime-time news said the race was tightening, citing a SurveyMonkey online poll as their evidence. Seriously.

But come October, you'll see the polling agencies tighten up in one hell of a hurry and "walk back" the polls to an eight to ten point lead for Mrs. Clinton, lest they risk being "Galluped." Seen any Gallup Presidential polls this year? Nope, because they tried to push the election Romney's way in 2012 and now they've had to step out of the business of Presidential polling completely.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/gallup-poll-2016-pollsters-214493

Come mid-November, we're going to have to endure a completely predictable epilogue of apologetic revision pieces where editors and journalists and the goofballs on television try to salvage their reputations by saying, "we knew it all along but we couldn't say so for, you know, fairness to the people who sign our paychecks."

Fuck them. We've got this. We know we can't rest on our laurels and unlike the deplorables, we see the impending kristallnacht if we fail. We're going to put those fuckers to bed and wait for them to die off while we dust off the pacification of Germany plans to de-program all the young Nazis Trump has created.

We will succeed because we've seen all of this bullshit before.

[LWolf]

45. It's always been close. nt

[raccoon]

46. “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”

~ H.L. Mencken

[ileus]

48. We win 48 states............no matter what.

Once she crushes him in the debates it's all over.

[Rocknrule]

61. The debates will be an absolute curb stomp in her favor

A knowledgeable, professional woman with decades of experience vs. the 70 year old political virgin. I genuinely expect Trump to either start crying or cuss Hillary out on camera. It'll be like the last 30 minutes of The Interview with James Franco and Kim Jong-un.

[Orrex]

53. I miss him already.

[JustAnotherGen]

54. GOTV

Vote. Get out the vote. Help get people to the polls.

We win on volume. When Democratics vote in large numbers - we win.



And I think there has been a slow burn going on within our side this time. My sweet pea hippie chick crone mom (she'll be 69 in November) - has flipped the *word we can't say at DU* switch and is telling me on a regular basis


"I hate his guts. I hate him. I hope he doesn't choke on his food."

These are not the things Mrs Choose Your Words and Kindness Counts says.


I think we are far more energized than we are given credit for. We have no choice - even if it comes from a space/place of hatred for the maggot.

[LanternWaste]

57. 220+ Electoral Votes firmly on Clinton's side with less than 50 more needed

220+ Electoral Votes firmly on Clinton's side with less than 50 more needed for a mathematical win. The lowest projections have her with 272- a win while the most liberal projections give her 350+.

Trends are by their very definition, transient.