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Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Your Vote Counts: Countdown to the Midterms

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Are you ready? …

Update: 8 days until November 4, 2014



It is time to step away from the polling and get to the polls.

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Voter Turnout in Four Charts

A recent Pew study finds that non-voters are far more likely to oppose repealing Obamacare and support government “doing more things.” While likely voters were split between Obama and Romney, each with 47 percent of the vote, non-voters supported Obama by a whopping 35 points (59 percent to 24 percent). […]

All of this suggests that more turnout, particularly among low-income voters, would shift our political system to the left. The Median Voter Theorem postulates that democratic systems will produce policy outcomes that align with the preferences of the median voter suggests that turnout gaps as a source of policy bias toward more affluent households. Because non-voters are more economically liberal than voters, the median voter is more conservative than the electorate at large. If more low-income people voted, politicians would become more economically liberal to court the new voters. […]

Politicians respond to voters, not non-voters.

Don’t leave your lives in the hands of those who, quite literally, do not give a darn about your life. Your vote will not only elect people who believe in the value of government but it will put pressure on those politicians who think they can get away with ignoring you. Turn out and tell them NO.

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The Great Kansas Tea Party Disaster

Extremist Republicans turned their government into a lab experiment of tax cuts and privatization. And now they may be losing control of one of the reddest states in the nation

“Tea Party Disaster” – my new favorite phrase. May the receding tide from the 2010 wave wash away the GOP governors who put their national party above their constituents needs.

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More …

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This issue will not go away simply because Republicans are “tired of hearing about it”.


#RaiseTheWage

Raising the minimum wage nationwide will increase earnings for millions of workers, and boost the bottom lines of businesses across the country. While Republicans in Congress continue to block the President’s proposal, a number of state legislatures and governors, mayors and city councils, and business owners have answered the President’s call and raised wages for their residents and employees. Read a report on the progress that’s been made so far across the country.

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The Disgust Election

Timothy Egan on Citizens United:

   Justice Anthony Kennedy doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy I’d want to share a beer and a brat with, or be stuck next to on a long flight. But I would like for the most influential swing voter on the Supreme Court to step away from his legal aerie, and wade through some of the muck that he and four fellow justices have given us with the 2014 campaign.

   How did we lose our democracy? Slowly at first, and then all at once. This fall, voters are more disgusted, more bored and more cynical about the midterm elections than at any time in at least two decades.

Don’t let a clueless out-of-touch rich white guy decide this election. Don’t get disgusted, get angry and vote in people who can change the rules in favor of democracy.

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POLLS: Sam Wang’s analysis shows that a swing in the polls of as little as 0.4% would create a 50/50 tie in the Senate. That means that EVERY VOTE COUNTS and we should not concentrate on the polls but on the votes.

11 days until November 4, 2014

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Editor’s Note: Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 9 Comments

9 comments

  2. princesspat

    The Eastside’s 45th District: Where your vote really matters this fall

    No one in Olympia gets to be truly non-partisan – the R or D next to your name matters. Your legislator will be pushed or pulled by his or her party. The question is, Will incumbent Hill be part of a solution if the GOP has Senate control? Will he be able to broker solutions and bust the log jam? Or will a Democratic Senate with Isenhower, working with a Democratic House and governor, be more likely to achieve solutions? With issues like the expensive court-ordered McClearly mandate to fund education and the stalled transportation plan in the balance – critical to projects like 520 – voters of the 45th will have a real voice in what happens. I envy the influence they’ll have this election.

    I hope voters will remember Rodney Tom and the GOP-dominated coalition fiasco in he last Senate…..

    … His coalition failed to produce a solution to state funding for education; the result is a contempt citation from the state Supreme Curt. It also failed to produce a state transportation plan, and the coalition’s Republicans scotched votes on many other issues. Tom’s attempt to move politics to the middle ran afoul of strong conservative ideologues and partisan rules that generally prevented bipartisan solutions.

     

  3. princesspat

    At KeyArena, they’re coming by the hundreds for free health care

    Piamela Seyum, 29, of Seattle, is No. 450 of those who wait patiently through the early hours of Thursday at Seattle Center’s Northwest Rooms.

    When free medical care is advertised for everything from a root canal to on-site prescription eyeglasses to mammograms, lines form.

    She’s taking advantage of a four-day eventadvertised as the state’s largest free health-services event. Some 4,000 people are expected through Sunday.

    This country has started to provide better medical, vision and dental care to all of us, but we have a long way to go.

    Keeping Dems in control of the state and national legislative process is critical for so many reasons, but especially for healthcare.

  4. bfitzinAR

    for every Dem I could find on the ballot 🙂

    Now all I can do is light candles and pray.  (Yes, I’m contributing to bunches of folks and I’ll be staffing Dem HQ on Saturday.)

  5. JanF

    Yahoo News

    Both parties have been seeking star power to invigorate get out the vote efforts in an election where victory will likely depend on who gets more supporters to the polls. First lady Michelle Obama has made two appearances for Burke, and President Barack Obama will campaign with her in Milwaukee on Tuesday. Meanwhile, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is expected to make a second visit to the state to back Walker.

    “I can’t imagine anybody whose mind is not made up,” said Beth Kutka, 61, of Eagle, who came with several friends to see Clinton. “But I think it is the turnout that is important … hopefully rallies such as this will support, will encourage people to vote.” […]

    [Marta] Meyers said she thought get out the vote efforts were important because, while she votes regularly, others don’t.

    “I tell everyone I see, ‘get out and vote,’” she said. “They need to understand how important it is.”

    Exactly.

    p.s. Republicans might want to think about the optics of Governor Bully (R-NJ) visiting to pump up Walker. From Bill Clinton:

    Clinton says the job of the governor is to create jobs and get people trained to do them. He says the best way to do that is by bringing diverse groups of people together to work toward a common goal.

    Clinton says that when voters look at Walker’s record, they will see that he divided people and that the state lagged behind the nation in recovering from the recession.

    Christie’s state is also lagging and he is a poster child for divisiveness. It will be a good reminder to those who might think of sitting this one out. We should irritate Gov. Christie by continuing to talk about the minimum wage: and electing someone who supports it.  

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