Think all politics are local? The California recall says most politics are now national.
It may be time to revisit the old axiom from Tip ONeill, the former Democratic House speaker from Massachusetts, who famously said that all politics are local. These days, as the California recall election showed, most politics are national.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) easily avoided being recalled this past week by employing a strategy to nationalize the race, drawing energy by bashing the Republican-led states of Texas and Florida for their handling of the coronavirus pandemic, linking the GOPs leading candidate to former president Donald Trump and in the process waking up what had been a slumbering Democratic base. In a state as blue as California, thats all it took for Newsom to prevail.
In mid-August, Newsom was practically pleading for help from national Democrats: from President Biden and Vice President Harris to other well-known politicians. He saw conservative media tuned in to the recall election but not liberal media. He saw Republicans paying attention but not Democrats. He wanted help from national Democrats as a way to draw national attention and in the process sharpen partisan lines. Thanks to cable TV and social media, national figures can now rally the base more effectively than in-state politicians, who arent as well-known.
Newsom sought to polarize the race around vaccine and mask mandates. As the school year was opening, he aggressively pushed vaccine-or-testing requirements for teachers and school staffs just at a moment when polls showed the pro-recall (anti-Newsom) forces far more alert and energized than Newsom supporters. Whether coincidence or smart politics, it worked, aided immensely by the fact that the leading Republican, conservative radio talk-show host Larry Elder, became a near-perfect foil as a Trump clone for his views on everything from vaccines and masks mandates to abortion and climate change.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/think-all-politics-are-local-the-california-recall-says-most-politics-are-now-national/ar-AAOAkHO
jimfields33
(15,454 posts)California is a deep blue state. All state wide leaders are democratic politicians. Repugs only hold 7 out of 55 house seats. The state has a supermajority in the state congress. No way was the governor getting fired.
The Magistrate
(95,237 posts)We have to start playing by the real rules.
Every Republican is Taylor Green and Boebert and Mike Lindell, and fucking Donald Trump. That's who you're voting for, if you don't vote for the Democrat.
MurrayDelph
(5,279 posts)with the Senate ejections in Georgia.