California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer defeated challenger Carly Fiorina by a ten-point margin on Tuesday, winning a total of 3.8 million votes, more than the combined vote total of ten Tea Party senate candidates.
The Tea Party Senate candidates made big news, but they ran mostly in small states. Also, several lost.
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE.
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Our election analysis the morning after: HAROLD MEYERSON of the Washington Post looks at the Democrats’ loss of working-class whites in key midwestern states; JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation says first-term presidents often suffer mid-term setbacks–the question is what Obama will learn from this one; and ARI BERMAN, author of Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party, says it’s time to revive the 2008 grassroots Obama movement. His essay “Boot the Blue Dogs” appeared on the New York Times op-ed page.
California’s initiative to legalize marijuana failed to win a majority at the polls Tuesday. Prop 19, which received 3.3 million votes but lost 54 percent to 46 percent, would have would have legalized possession and cultivation of marijuana and authorized cities and counties to regulate and tax commercial marijuana production and sales.
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE
When the votes are counted on Tuesday night in California, Democrats will easily sweep the top contests. Senator Barbara Boxer is likely to defeat challenger Carly Fiorina, 51-46 per cent (Nate Silver’s projection at 538.com), and last week’s California Field poll shows Democrat Jerry Brown ahead of Republican Meg Whitman in the gubernatorial race by 10 points.
Why are the Republicans doing so badly in California, when they are anticipating sweeping victories so many other places?
. . . Continued at TheNation.com HERE.
As Californians prepare to vote Tuesday on a statewide initiative to legalize marijuana, The Jewish Journal, Los Angeles’s Jewish weekly, features a cover story on whether legal pot is good for the Jews.
The answer, in brief: the rabbis are ambivalent.
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE
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Six days out from the midterm elections, the punditocracy predicts massive losses for Democrats in the House. California, however, remains the exception – Republican candidates Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina seem to face certain defeat. What explains California’s exceptionalism? We’ll ask HAROLD MEYERSON — he writes columns for the op-ed pages of the Washington Post and the L.A. Times — and JOHN NICHOLS — he’s Washington Correspondent for The Nation and writes “The Beat” blog at TheNation.com.
Also: TOM HAYDEN on the new WikiLeaks: the largest classified military leak in history –400,000 pages that document the brutal war and occupation in Iraq. Tom of course is a leading voice for ending the wars in Iraq and Aftghanistan, after 40 years of activism, politics, and writing.
for the record: my show today at KPFK is pre-empted for special fund drive programming. Please pledge — call 818-985-5735, or online at kpfk.org.
As WikiLeaks prepares to release 400,000 Iraq war documents, a former FBI agent argues that WikiLeaks could have prevented 9-11, if the website had been around in 2001. . . . Continued at TheNation.com HERE.
Sarah Palin is coming to California this weekend, but the state’s top Republican candidates, Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, don’t want to bee sen with her.
. . . The reason can be found in the new polls: most Californians don’t like Sarah Palin. According to last week’s Field Poll, 69 percent of the state’s independent voters say they have an “unfavorable” impression of the former Alaska governor. . . . Continued at TheNation.com HERE.
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Campaign update: Michelle Obama campaigned in Milwaukee today for endangered progressive Senator Russ Feingold — and our JOHN NICHOLS was there. He says she was terrific. John is Washington Correspondent for The Nation and writes “The Beat” blog at TheNation.com.
And 84-year-old ELMORE LEONARD has just published his 48th novel: Djibouti. We’ll ask him about his famous “rules for writing” (originally broadcast 2/28/2004)
Also: How to Win Elections: JAMIE COURT explains how to win grassroots campaigns, pass ballot box laws, and get the change we voted for. Court, a longtime organizer of ballot campaigns and other initiatives, is the author of The Progressive’s Guide to Raising Hell. WATCH Jamie’s 30-second video now running in Times Square on the Jumbotron HERE.
“Start Making Sense” is The Nation magazine’s weekly podcast, hosted by Jon Wiener. It’s political talk without the boring parts.
New episodes posted every Wednesday morning. More info at https://www.thenation.com/content/start-making-sense/.
