VA-GOV: I am sick and tired of this shit.

A Washington, D.C.-based political action committee is pledging to reach out to 200,000 African-American voters in Virginia to promote Justin Fairfax, the candidate for lieutenant governor who was left off of some fliers printed by the campaign of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ralph Northam.

The Northam campaign printed some fliers that omitted reference to Fairfax, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, at the request of the Laborers’ International Union of North America. The union, a financial backer of Northam’s campaign, requested a flier without Fairfax on it because the group had not endorsed him, according to a spokesman.

Fairfax does not support two controversial natural gas pipelines that have the backing of the union.

The Fairfax-free flier looked similar to one that included him, Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring on it. When compared side by side, the discrepancy led to questions Tuesday about why Fairfax was removed.

Quentin James is the co-founder of the political action committee The Collective, which supports progressive black candidates nationally. He said the image of the fliers side-by-side is “striking” and kept him awake in the middle of the night when he saw it.



http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/pac-pledges-to-turn-out-black-vote-for-justin-fairfax/article_f7c5d84a-34fd-50fb-8958-357418824a50.html

Colorado GOP reduces Pence event tickets after struggle to 'fill the large room'

Because of a lack of demand, the Colorado Republican Party is offering a Groupon-like deal to see Vice President Mike Pence.

Pence is the headliner for a party fundraiser Oct. 26 at the Denver Marriott Tech Center, where the lowest-priced tickets originally cost $275.

The party announced the event weeks earlier but struggled to sell the tickets available. So now it’s lowering the cheapest ticket to $150, a 45 percent discount. A couple can attend with a two-for-one deal at the original $275 price.

Colorado Republican Party Chairman Jeff Hays tried to put his best spin on the news, writing in an email Wednesday: “Due to popular demand, we have made more tickets available at a new lower price.” But the same invite later says space is limited.

Daniel Cole, the party’s spokesman, clarified: “We are hearing from a lot of people that they very much want to see the vice president but the tickets were too expensive.”

He added: “We couldn’t fill the large room at that ticket level.”


http://www.denverpost.com/2017/10/18/mike-pence-fundraiser-ticket-sales/

SCHOOL NAMED AFTER CONFEDERATE LEADER WILL BE RENAMED FOR BARACK OBAMA

A Mississippi elementary school will change its name to honor former President Barack Obama instead of its original namesake, Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

The decision to rename Davis IB Elementary School in Jackson, Mississippi, was announced Tuesday night—the result of a months-long effort by parents to rid the school of its Confederate reference in favor of honoring the 44th president of the United States.

Janelle Jefferson, president of the school's PTA, said the new name will be more fitting for a school with a student population that is 98 percent black.

"Jefferson Davis, although infamous in his own right, would probably not be too happy about a diverse school promoting the education of the very individuals he fought to keep enslaved being named after him," Jefferson said in a statement, according to The Clarion Ledger, a local paper.



http://www.newsweek.com/barack-obama-confederate-school-jefferson-davis-removed-mississippi-687661?utm_campaign=NewsweekTwitter&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social

Signaling Frustration, Senior House Republican Plans to Quit Early

In a sign of mounting frustration among Republicans in Washington, Representative Pat Tiberi of Ohio, a senior lawmaker with close ties to his party’s leaders, is expected to resign and take up an executive post with a business group in his home state, according to three Republicans briefed on his plans.

An abrupt departure by Mr. Tiberi, who is an influential member of the House Ways and Means Committee, would signal a deepening level of discontent among mainstream Republicans in Congress. Despite holding Congress and the White House, Republicans have so far failed to achieve longstanding policy goals like overhauling the tax code and repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Mr. Tiberi, 54, could announce his plan to leave Congress as soon as this week, Republican officials said, though it is unclear when he intends to vacate his seat. Two Republicans who were briefed on Mr. Tiberi’s decision said he had indicated that he plans to join the Ohio Business Roundtable, a business consortium that announced this summer that it was searching for a new president.

Mr. Tiberi did not respond to a phone call or a text message seeking comment on Wednesday night. But some of Mr. Tiberi’s colleagues said that the grind of their jobs had gotten no better since Donald J. Trump’s election last year, giving Republicans full control of Washington.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/18/us/politics/tiberi-republican-resign-ohio.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytpolitics&smtyp=cur

VA-GOV: Trump operative quits Gillespie campaign for Va. governor, sources say

RICHMOND — The man who rallied Southwest Virginia to vote for Donald Trump last year quit Republican Ed Gillespie’s gubernatorial campaign this week, offended by a personal snub and exasperated by the campaign’s highly cautious stance toward the president, according to three Republicans familiar with his decision.

Jack Morgan’s departure follows a half-empty Gillespie rally headlined by Vice President Pence on Saturday in Southwest Virginia, a coal country region that voted overwhelmingly for Trump in November.

Gillespie hired Morgan, a colorful evangelical preacher and former 9th Congressional District GOP chairman, as his ambassador to Trump country after nearly losing the June primary to a rival who had run in the president’s bombastic, populist image.

But Gillespie’s campaign did not let Morgan help plan or speak at the rally — over the objections of another GOP candidate who employs Morgan, state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, who is running for lieutenant governor and wanted him to introduce her.

Morgan’s wife was so offended that she refused to drive John Whitbeck, chair of the Republican Party of Virginia, to the airport for his return trip, according to the three Republicans familiar with the matter. And in an area of the state that Gillespie needs to turn out in force to overcome Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) on Nov. 7, activists took to social media to vent their outrage.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/trump-strategist-quits-gillespie-campaign-for-va-governor-sources-say/2017/10/18/02cb5a5e-b409-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98_story.html?utm_term=.9f7040040629

UT-04: Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams jumps into U.S. House race against Rep. Mia Love

Ben McAdams, the Democratic mayor of Salt Lake County, announced he is running for Utah’s 4th Congressional District, teeing up a 2018 challenge against two-term Republican Rep. Mia Love.

McAdams, a former state senator who was re-elected to his second term as mayor of the state’s largest county in 2016, is known as one of the state’s most politically popular and ambitious Democrats. His name for years has been included in possible candidate lists for U.S. Senate and for governor.

He told The Salt Lake Tribune on Wednesday he’d zeroed in on the House seat because Congress and the federal government have created roadblocks to solving issues Utahns face.

“I would hope that our representatives in Washington rolled up their sleeves and knew what was going on and knew what our challenges were and how they could help to solve our challenges,” he said. “Instead it feels like they’re just enamored with the national spotlight and partisan games that both parties seem to play.”

http://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2017/10/19/salt-lake-county-mayor-ben-mcadams-jumps-into-us-house-race-against-rep-mia-love/

NV judge is telling felons their voting rights will be restored so they can vote for Trump

Sarah Huckabee Sanders Outed As White House Official Spreading Smear About Obama

It is being reported, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is one of the officials who is spreading the false smear that Obama didn’t call Gen. John Kelly after his son died in Afghanistan.

Steven Perlberg of Buzzfeed News tweeted:

https://twitter.com/perlberg/status/920322337500729344

Trump is using the Press Secretary and others to spread false stories about Obama to distract from the fact that Trump was playing golf as the bodies of four Green Berets who were ambushed in Niger arrived back in the United States.

The problem with this story is that Gen. Kelly and his family sat with then First Lady Michelle Obama at a White House breakfast for Gold Star families in 2011. Gen. Kelly got something better than a phone call, which is something that Trump didn’t do for the Green Berets. Kelly was seated at the First Lady’s table in the White House. I would say that is some substantial respect for the Kelly family’s loss.

Donald Trump didn’t pick up the phone and call the families. He didn’t meet the bodies of the fallen as they arrived at Dover AFB, which is something that both the administrations of Barack Obama and George W. Bush did. The Trump administration didn’t publicly mention the ambush in Niger until 11 days after the attack.


http://www.politicususa.com/2017/10/17/sarah-huckabee-sanders-outed-white-house-official-spreading-smears-obama.html

Democrats Retain Purple State Senate Seat in Massachusetts.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Democrat Paul Feeney has won the special election to fill the state Senate seat left vacant by the resignation of former state Sen. James Timilty.

Feeney beat Republican Jacob Ventura and independent Joe Shortsleeve on Tuesday in the Bristol and Norfolk state Senate district.

The district is made up of portions of the city of Attleboro and the towns of Mansfield, Norton, Rehoboth and Seekonk in Bristol County — and the towns of Foxborough, Medfield, Sharon and Walpole in Norfolk County.

Timilty resigned from the seat earlier this year to become the Norfolk County treasurer.



https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/democrat-paul-feeney-wins-state-senate-special-election/

Marvel Studios' Black Panther - Official Trailer (VIDEO)