No, I don’t know how Keyser Söze did, but there were few surprises in tonight’s results. Let’s review:
- Henry McMaster. This should have been the least-surprising result of all. McMaster is the incumbent after all, installed by his party’s president, who owed him big-time. Any suspense there was in this race was provided by the fact that practically every principled Republican you ever heard of — from libertarian Tom Davis to business leader Mikee Johnson, from my own well-respected representative Micah Caskey to every other Republican who had run in the primary had backed his completely unknown opponent. Which tells you a great deal about the GOP nominee. He’ll be going up against James Smith, who won his own party’s nomination in a landslide on his first try. Interesting, isn’t it, to contemplate that this matchup is the doing of Donald Trump, Henry’s only well-known Republican fan?
- Alan Wilson. Despite the Pascoe probe — which was also a factor for McMaster — Alan easily blew by his opponent Todd Atwater. Another one that would have been predictable a year ago, but in the last few months it was a little hard to tell.
- Paula Rawl Calhoon won the GOP nod to replace Atwater. She advertised on this blog (as did Micah Caskey), so of course she won. Smart lady. When are all those other candidates out there going to wise up (the poor saps)?
- Sean Carrigan leading. This contest to see which Democrat will go up against Joe Wilson in the fall is the only one I got to vote in today, and I voted for Carrigan. But it’s still fairly close. With 77 percent reporting, he has a lead. (Update: The trend held. Carrigan won.)
- Lee Bright trailing. Here’s hoping the trend continues, and this is indeed the end of Lee Bright’s political career. But he still has a chance, so he’s still a threat. (Update: The trend held. Bright lost.)
- Joe McEachern trailing. Badly. But still undecided. Not sure what was going on in this incumbent’s 77th House district, but with 50 percent counted he’s significantly behind. (Update: The trend held. McEachern lost.)
That’s what I’ve got for now. Thoughts?
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Greenville and Lexington are not reporting any results yet. Don’t know if either are enough to skew anything, but I suspect Greenville has alot of Warren votes.
This is the weakest nominee for Governor since David “100 Yard Dash” Beasley was rumored to have been caught In flagrante delicto with an aide in 1998.
I won’t vote for McMaster and will give Smith plenty of time to win my vote. He’s got to do better than Sheheen though.
In other news, the 4th ranking Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Joe Crowley of NYC, lost to a 28 year old Hispanic woman who had the strong support of Bernie Sanders. That was probably the upset of the night. Crowley’s exit leaves no one in the Democrats leadership under the age of 70. If Democrats can’t see what a problem that is for them in 2020, they’re in serious trouble. Nancy Pelosi cannot lead the Democrats to victory.
Yep, they need new leaders. I wonder whether they’ll figure that out…
“He’ll be going up against James Smith, who won his own party’s nomination in a landslide on his first try.”
That’ll happen when everyone else is unknown and unqualified. James Smith is the only name people have heard of because of his years in the House and buddy of Rick Quinn.
Yep, James has had a friendly working relationship with Rick, just as he works constructively with people of all political persuasions and is civil with everybody.
His opponent, by contrast, has been doing everything Richard Quinn tells him to do for many years (until a few months ago).
I think that’s a comparison James is happy to have people make…
So it’s politics as usual for South Carolina, you have the incompetent incumbent and the best excuse for a candidate the opposition can put up.
You’re right, if you leave out “excuse for a.” James is indeed the best candidate available to either party in South Carolina. And he’ll make an excellent governor.
Of course, everything has to break for him. That’s always the case for a Democrat statewide. It was 20 years ago when Jim Hodges won, and it is now.
I was discussing this with Republican operative Wesley Donehue this morning…
I said that he has been ignoring the African American voters weeks ago. I think the assumption is they will go for the Democrat no matter what. Smith could have chosen a black running mate but I would bet there is fear it would cost him the crossover votes he will need.
If Smith does lose, I expect the next Democratic candidate will be black. It’s time.
I’ve been out there, and I assure you he hasn’t been neglecting any portion of the Democratic constituency…
I’ve watched his Twitter feed and his website. What have you seen that focuses on the black voters.
Well, as a matter of fact I just ran into him and Mandy at the Community Relations Council luncheon today. I’ll post something about that event later. I need to do a better job, as a board member, of promoting the doings of the CRC. Anyway, that’s one of many things that might not be on your radar screen.
So what did he do BEFORE today? What messages did he send specifically to the black community that will get them to come out to the polls in the high numbers he will need?
Well, I’m not sure what to tell you, Doug. I think his whole agenda should be appealing to black as well as white voters. For instance, the thing I hear him mention the most, expanding healthcare coverage. Is that the sort of thing you’re talking about?
Or is there some sort of secret-handshake message you think he needs to be sending JUST to black voters and not to white ones? It wouldn’t be fair to hold out for that. Far as I can see, he tells everybody the same things.
And I can’t speak to everything he’s doing out on the stump, because I’m not out there. I saw him and Mandy at the thing today because I was there as a board member.
I DID go to that one event in Lancaster where James announced Mandy would be his running mate (see above and below). I don’t think anybody could fairly accuse them of leaving black people out that (unless you want to complain, as Phil and Marguerite tried without success to do, that he flipped off black people by not naming someone other than Mandy to be his running mate).
I’m just not sure what it is you think he should be doing that he’s not doing.
Think about this, Doug: As you and I were talking about earlier with regard to Joe McEachern… You and I are not necessarily going to be out there at the venues where significant numbers of black voters congregate. So really neither of us is the greatest judge of how hard James and Mandy are campaigning for that or any other particular set of voters…
I firmly believe there are issues that are of direct concern to the black community that may not be the same as the white community in SC. Disproportionate incarceration rates, bias in the police forces, and just day-to-day racism that (shockingly!) still exists in SC. Smith talks a lot about veterans and women’s issues. All I am saying is that he doesn’t appear to be making a broad appeal to roughly half the population of the state to address the issues they might like to see a new Governor tackle. They go beyond the general issues… and I’ll keep saying it – he MUST energize the black voters to win in SC. I think it is a strategic decision to not do so because his campaign staff think it will cost him crossover votes. They are weighing the likelihood of the black vote they feel they are guaranteed over the necessity of getting a lot more white people to switch parties.
Well, I agree with you, as I said to Wesley earlier: He DOES have to inspire black voters to get out and support him.
That’s one of two big things he has to do. The other is to win over independents and a few of the persuadable Republicans who are less than enchanted with Henry (and I know some who are REALLY disenchanted — not that they’ll necessarily come out and say so publicly).
The trick, the really tricky trick, is doing those two things at the same time. But he has to. No doubt about it.
Winning as a Democrat in SC is like picking up a 7-10 split in bowling. It CAN be done, but it’s far from easy…
You sure are in the running for head cheerleader for Smith, has he promised you a job in his cabinet if he were to win?
You say that like you’re just noticing my support for James, like you’ve discovered something that was secret.
I’ve made NO bones about it. Since he first announced last fall, it’s been plain to me that he was the candidate for governor who needed to be elected, and I’ve been saying that over and over.
Did you miss when I put his and Micah’s signs out in my yard — something I’d never before done in my life? I said then that I’m not going to sit on the sidelines, that these are the two people I most want to see elected this year.
Micah’s home safe now, as he — like James — won his primary in a landslide. And he has no opposition in the fall.
Speaking of Micah — who supported John Warren — you might want to check out some of his tweets from today about Henry:
So in other words, if there’s anybody out there who doubts that I’m in James’ corner in this race, allow me to set you straight…
I don’t know why, but this Tweet of Micah’s didn’t show up. It was before the other one, I think:
Huh, I thought that was Doug and Bud’s big criticism – that they’ve never heard of him, so what has he been doing for 22 years. I think the answer is getting things done without drama.
“Getting things done”
The bar is very, very, very low for a Democratic Senator to claim he gets things done. Here’s what his campaign website says:
“In the SC General Assembly, James has been a tireless advocate for a variety of issues. He has championed issues facing our veterans and active military. He has been a vocal leader for public education and governmental and ethics reform; fought for increased jobs and economic development across the state; provided protections for the environment, healthcare and the arts – all to make South Carolina the best it can be and a great place to live and raise a family. ”
Okay, there’s the summary for 22 years. Now, let’s see the details of the specific bills he claims primary responsibility for over the 22 years… particularly those that increased jobs and economic development. Being a co-signer on a bill isn’t much of a getting things done accomplishment. I want to see evidence of all the times he has LED the effort… and what the biggest accomplishment he has in overcoming Republican resistance — because that will be his primary job for the next four years if he wins.
My primary complaint with Smith so far is that he is running the same campaign that Sheheen ran. I suppose he thinks this is the year that a large group of Republicans will switch or stay home. He has yet to do anything to distinguish himself as a better choice for SC — all we can say is that McMaster will be worse.
Smith should have dropped out and ran for Courson’s Senate seat. Otherwise I expect him to be Rep. Smith for quite some time.
No, James is leaving the House. It’s going to be Rep. Seth Rose representing that district in the future…
I hope you saved the receipt for that crystal ball…
I’m not sure what you mean. I generally avoid predictions, so… what are you talking about?
You mean Seth? I don’t need a crystal ball for that. He’s running for the seat, and he’s the only person who filed for it… I suppose there could always be a write-in between now and then, but it would be tough to beat Seth…
So when Smith doesn’t get to be Governor, he’ll be out of politics?
If that were to happen, he would be….
I think I mentioned that as soon as Courson resigned… that Smith was likely walking around kicking the dog knowing he had a sure thing instead of a longshot.
I think you’d miss your guess there. James is totally focused on the governor’s office…
ANYONE that has followed the news in the last 5 years knows Smith would eventually run for Governor.
I’ve never seen any hint that he wanted to be a Senator.
“I’ve never seen any hint that he wanted to be a Senator.”
Well that’s good because it doesn’t look like it’ll ever happen now. Hope he has a backup plan in place after he loses the election. I’m no Foghorn Leghorn fan, but I don’t even see this election being close… I say McMaster beats him by 20 points.
McMaster? The guy who pretty much anybody who was anybody in his party opposed, backing an unknown against him in the runoff?
The guy whose veto was overridden yesterday by the Republican-dominated Legislature, 110-1 in the House, 39-0 in the Senate?
I assure you, that guy isn’t beating anybody by 20 points.
As one Republican confided to me not-for-attribution recently, he doesn’t feel he can back James openly, but “Let’s just all be glad the November ballot is secret…”
I’ve had several conversations like that with very serious Republicans. Part of it is a reaction against the Quinndom, part of it is just lack of respect for Henry personally. And again and again, they talk about their respect for James Smith…
It’s going to be close, and it’s going to be very interesting…
I say McMaster beats him by 20 points.
It’s going to be close, and it’s going to be very interesting…
Let’s chill a minute ok. We really don’t know anything much until the first polls come out. This is a Republican state and Trump is reasonably popular. Smith is a nice guy and seems reasonably competent. But he is sooooooo dull. Realclear has 4 ratings – Safe, Likely, Leans and Toss-up. Right now McMaster is rated Safe. That’s based entirely on the Republican nature of SC. It could get close but it seems like Smith is running a campaign to make it a close loss. Hopefully we’ll get some polling soon.
“McMaster? The guy who pretty much anybody who was anybody in his party opposed, backing an unknown against him in the runoff?”
Are you talking about the same McMaster who has beat everyone out in the primary election?
Nobody is suprised that the veto was overwhelmingly overturned, he only did it because he said he would if he didn’t get 18%, he was handed 15% and so he veto’d it knowing it’s be easily overturned. Are you new to how this whole political game works?
People also said that Trump would be backing out any day now and that he didn’t stand a chance.
We’re looking at a Trump vs. Hillary scenario at a state level.
Wow. Where do you get this stuff? Let’s just deal with ONE of your statements: “Are you talking about the same McMaster who has beat everyone out in the primary election?”
Seriously? That impressed you? You think it was an ACCOMPLISHMENT for the INCUMBENT to win his own party’s primary — not doing it outright, of course, but having to go through a runoff (which, you will notice, his opponent did NOT have to do)?
What just happened was a classic illustration of political weakness. He’s a pretty sad figure.
Two days after this monumental victory in which he managed, finally, to get past a NOBODY in a runoff, this man was utterly repudiated by the Legislature controlled by his own party — 110-1 in the House, 39-0 in the Senate.
THAT guy?
Amazing…
“Seriously? That impressed you?”
Says the guy who’s bragging about Smith’s triumphant win in the Democratic primary.
“this man was utterly repudiated by the Legislature controlled by his own party — 110-1 in the House, 39-0 in the Senate.”
You do realize he only veto’d it to stick to his word that he would veto any bill that didn’t reduce the amount by 18%. Like I said earlier, is this poltiical gaming new to you? Did you think he thought there was any chance of the House agreeing with his veto? Look at what they do to his line item veto of the budget, it’ll be like every other governor… they’ll overturn 95% of the items he vetos… just like they did with Haley and every other governor regardless of party affiliation.
I realize that, if you only pay attention to the last decade or so, you can conclude that overriding the vetoes of a governor of one’s own party is normal. But before Sanford, it was not. Haley continued that trend — she, too, had trouble getting along with lawmakers of her own party (although I think she got better toward the end).
But before Sanford it was NOT normal.
And everyone thought that things would return to normal with Henry. Legislators didn’t see him as being as socially dysfunctional as Sanford and Haley. They reckoned without his remarkable political cowardice. By the time of his roads bill veto last year — which was pure posturing (as Tom Davis, who supported the veto, noted, he didn’t even TRY to get lawmakers to sustain his veto), they knew better…
“Okay, there’s the summary for 22 years. Now, let’s see the details of the specific bills he claims primary responsibility for over the 22 years… particularly those that increased jobs and economic development.”
I’ve just spent some time on the SC legislature website doing research for you. Except for his first session and the one when he was in Afghanistan, he has sponsored around 25-35 bills each session and around 5-6 of them have passed each session – which appears to be more than most legislators. It was a ton of information, and I was just skimming, but the recurring themes of bills that passed appear to be veterans and military issues, education issues, children’s issues, and numerous other random things than didn’t recur.
His most high profile bill that passed I’m guessing is First Steps. (yea, I know you love that)
Maybe tomorrow I will try to tally specifics for you.
Anybody that is interested can investigate themselves here:
http://www.scstatehouse.gov/sponsorsearch.php
You would think his campaign would have that information available if his accomplishments were so outstanding.
You really shouldn’t have provided that link to me. It just exposes how much wasted effort legislators go through. Is there ANY reason we need to elect people to pass bills like this:
” A HOUSE RESOLUTION TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR JEAN-YIH (PETER) CHIOU, DIRECTOR OF THE TAIPEI ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL OFFICE IN ATLANTA, FOR HIS SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARD CREATING A CLOSER RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TAIWAN AND THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.”
” A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR THE TRADITION OF HARBISON INSTITUTE AND HARBISON JUNIOR COLLEGE IN PROVIDING OPEN-DOOR ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION FOR DIVERSE STUDENTS FROM ALL BACKGROUNDS AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CIRCUMSTANCES AND TO DECLARE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2017, AS “HARBISON HISTORY DAY” IN SOUTH CAROLINA.”
Stop wasting tax payer dollars on this b.s. I’m not even cherry picking these… the vast majority of the bills he is primary sponsor on were trivial or a waste of time.
Please tell me you aren’t including items like this as an example of the great work Smith has done? This one was in the process for more than a year!!! I don’t know how else to describe it except asinine.
H*4005 (Rat #0145, Act #0140 of 2018) General Bill, By J.E. Smith and Clary
Summary: SC Native Plant Week
AN ACT TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 53-3-215 SO AS TO DECLARE THE THIRD WEEK IN OCTOBER OF EACH YEAR AS “SOUTH CAROLINA NATIVE PLANT WEEK” AND ENCOURAGE ALL SOUTH CAROLINIANS TO RECOGNIZE THE ESSENTIAL VALUE AND IMPORTANCE OF THE NATIVE PLANTS OF SOUTH CAROLINA TO OUR STATE’S HISTORY, ECONOMIC LANDSCAPE, AND ENVIRONMENT. – ratified title
View full text View Vote History
03/15/17 House Introduced and read first time (House Journal-page 10)
03/15/17 House Referred to Committee on Invitations and Memorial Resolutions (House Journal-page 10)
03/30/17 House Committee report: Favorable Invitations and Memorial Resolutions (House Journal-page 81)
04/05/17 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Clary
04/06/17 House Read second time (House Journal-page 21)
04/06/17 House Roll call Yeas-73 Nays-26 (House Journal-page 21)
04/18/17 House Read third time and sent to Senate (House Journal-page 16)
04/18/17 Senate Introduced and read first time (Senate Journal-page 8)
04/18/17 Senate Referred to Committee on General (Senate Journal-page 8)
02/14/18 Senate Committee report: Favorable General (Senate Journal-page 9)
02/20/18 Senate Read second time (Senate Journal-page 20)
02/20/18 Senate Roll call Ayes-42 Nays-0 (Senate Journal-page 20)
02/21/18 Senate Read third time and enrolled (Senate Journal-page 10)
03/07/18 Ratified R 145
03/12/18 Signed By Governor
03/14/18 Effective date 03/12/18
03/20/18 Act No. 140
Well honestly I wasn’t even counting the resolutions. I agree they are pretty much meaningless fodder. I was just looking at the stats for bills proposed and bills passed at this point. Mostly because it was just such an overwhelming lot of information to pour through and I started too late at night.
I was struck by the thought, though, that it seems similar to what my husband says about baseball – “it’s a game of failure”. He says this when I say something like – “.300 is a good batting average? – that’s only 30%.” The ratio of bills passed to bills proposed seems equally pathetic.
My guess is that bill you cited made it through precisely because it’s kind of meaningless – who’s gonna bother to oppose it – and it took nearly a year because that appears to just be the pace of things. That might be kind of fast for a no-brainer bill. So I don’t know how many of his bills are like that or are more meaningful. I do want to look more in depth. I don’t know why legal language feels like it needs to put everything into one sentence with a billion clauses – I was too tired to wade through waiting for the predicate to figure out what half the bills might actually be about.
I probably shouldn’t even mention this to you because I’m sure you’ll find it ridiculous, but the most intriguing one I saw was something about transporting turtles in a single vehicle across state lines. I am generally supportive of helping wildlife, so I’d like to know more (I’m assuming that this was to be helpful to turtles, but who knows??), but I suspect you may think it is frivolous.
I also think it would be interesting to know the substance of the bills that were attempted and couldn’t get through.
It seems like your complaints as I understand them may be more about the system and not necessarily the man. (I mean that meaningless resolutions and a very slow moving process are just part of it). What if it turns out that for a sluggish and cumbersome system, he manages to get more accomplished than most. Wouldn’t that be a plus?
And I’m not saying that’s the case – just that I think it might be. I’m still looking into it.
“Wouldn’t that be a plus?”
In a word, no. Being efficient at wasting time and resources isn’t an admirable attribute. Just don’t do it. Don’t vote for the frivolous resolutions. Call out the colleagues who waste public tax dollars on the practice. You want to recognize someone? Put it on your website and send out an email — or use your campaign funds to send out a postcard.
There are so many issues in this state that deserve more attention that spending a moment on these”feel-good, let’s pump up some of my constituents so they vote for me” exercises are a slap in the face of every taxpayer.
““Wouldn’t that be a plus?”
In a word, no. Being efficient at wasting time and resources isn’t an admirable attribute. Just don’t do it. Don’t vote for the frivolous resolutions. Call out the colleagues who waste public tax dollars on the practice.”
You are conflating things. I’m saying he may be more efficient at getting substantive bills passed than most legislators. I’m not even counting the silly resolutions in my tallys. I’m about half through and I don’t see a whole lot of native plant week type legislation so far. I also don’t see the silly resolutions as being that big a deal – they don’t hurt anything and I don’t see it as a huge waste of resources. They are a good will gesture that don’t take long and don’t cost much except for possibly the paper they are printed on.
This is the system we’ve got. The governor is not going to change that – at least not quickly. Please tell me why having someone who is skilled at working efficiently in the system we’ve got is not a plus. Whichever governor we get is not going to wave a magic wand and have a different system available. We need someone skilled with this system.
” Please tell me why having someone who is skilled at working efficiently in the system we’ve got is not a plus.”
Because if the system is broken and you are part of it but not capable of leading an effort to change it, you probably aren’t capable of leading the state in my view.
They have a job to do and these activities are the equivalent of hanging around the water cooler shooting the breeze for 30 minutes every day.
Brad likes to say that he wants experienced politicians. Those are the ones who created this system. I want fewer politicians who screw around on trivial things. Do it on your own time and your own dime.
Let’s look at the 2017-2018 session where James Smith was the primary sponsor on bills. Here’s his stats:
BILLS 4 out o4 29 passed
JOINT RESOLUTIONS 0 out of 1 passed
CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS 10 out of 12 passed
RESOLUTIONS 11 out of 11 passed
So he submitted 24 resolutions.. Let’s call those “feel good filler” that don’t establish any record of leadership.
That leaves 29 bills that he submitted as the primary sponsor. The four that passed dealt with:
1. Sports agents use of social media. Passed almost unanimously
2. A bill regarding penalties for impersonating an attorney. Passed almost unanimously.
3. A bill dealing with DSS and parents with disabilities. Too much mumbo jumbo to figure out how important it was but it passed unanimously.
4. The SC Plant Week designation bill. That was his toughest challenge with a 76-20 vote for it in the house.
So that represents his examples of legislative leadership and working across the aisle in an entire year. Ok, call me unimpressed.
So for the rest of the bills that didn’t get approved, do we give A for effort bonus points?
I’m just trying to find evidence that he has been a LEADER in the SC House over 22 years. If you tel me “it’s the system” then my response will be “leaders aren’t trapped in systems”.
Doug, you are always, always, ALWAYS going to be unimpressed by what a Democratic member is able to accomplish in the S.C. House, a body in which ALL significant decisions have been made in GOP caucus meetings since 1995.
So you should realize that going in. I certainly do. Whatever James has accomplished in a given year or over 22 years — no matter how skillfully he has worked with members of both parties to line up support for good legislation and opposition for bad legislation (the true measure of a lawmaker — to judge him by his own bills is patently absurd) — I would be DEEPLY shocked if you were impressed.
No, Doug. James has not led a successful revolution to overthrow our system of government and make it into something more pleasing to you. So you might as well not spend your time looking to see whether he has accomplished that, the minimal requirement needed for your approval. I can save you that trouble.
If he had accomplished the kinds of things that impress you, you wouldn’t have to look for it; he would already be famous for it.
All he is is a very good lawmaker with his head on straight who has worked and debated and voted time and again for the betterment of our state, to the satisfaction of his constituents and the admiration and respect of his colleagues of both parties (in contrast to his opponent, who has earned the contempt of members of both parties). Which is something that will never impress you…
2015-2016 looked about the same. 7 for 31 on bills passed. A couple that are probably important to veterans, another again related to parents with children with disabilities… a bunch of resolutions like this important one:
” A HOUSE RESOLUTION TO CONGRATULATE KATHLEEN MAE WADE OF COLUMBIA, DATABASE SPECIALIST FOR HAND MIDDLE SCHOOL, ON THE OCCASION OF HER RETIREMENT AND TO EXTEND BEST WISHES FOR MUCH HAPPINESS AND FULFILLMENT IN THE YEARS TO COME.”
Why? Why her? Why not every retiree? I just don’t get it. Send her a nice card instead.
What I see over the past four years is that the bills he got passed fall into the “no brainer” category with little opposition. Where’s the tough battles he won in the House?
Uh-huh. To which I say….
“” Please tell me why having someone who is skilled at working efficiently in the system we’ve got is not a plus.”
Because if the system is broken and you are part of it but not capable of leading an effort to change it, you probably aren’t capable of leading the state in my view.”
So that’s the only option – “the system is broken and you are part of it” ?
It couldn’t be say, “the system is broken but I will do as much good as I can with the parts I can make work and I will patch what holes I can reach as I go”.
It couldn’t be that having worked in a broken system for 22 years might give a person a better idea what the issues are that need to be fixed?
It couldn’t be that he has been proposing fixes and making what incremental changes for the better that he can for 22 years, but you just aren’t aware.
So he finally got the impersonating attorneys one passed – He started proposing it in 2007. Must not have been a no brainer bill – must have taken some work. He seems pretty persistent to me.
I’ve been working my way forward looking at his legislation since 1996; I’m on the 13-14 session now. It’s taken awhile because he proposes lots of bills.
You aren’t impressed with getting 4 sponsored bills passed in a year. Have you sampled the other legislators to see what is the norm – do you have an example of a “leader” so that you can show us what he/she got done in comparison?
I’m really not sure a person exists in the real world who could be all the things that would satisfy you and interact with real world systems the way you seem to think is possible.
Go back to his website and read the text where he claims to have done so much. That’s what I am doing. Holding him accountable for his words by looking for evidence of actions that suggest those words are true. Saying you did something and actually doing it is what separates politicians from leaders.
“Oh, it’s TOO HARD with all those super intelligent Republicans in control! I TRIED!!!” If you tried, let’s at least hear about the efforts. Let’s hear about the ONE TIME you stood up to the Republcian leadership in public and said “No more”.
It’s a simple equation in my book: what did you say you would do compared to what you did. Congratulating a 8 year old girls basketball team on their 7-8 season doesn’t fall into the hero category in my book.
You can lead or you can talk about leading when you get your chance.
His words:
“tireless advocate”
“championed issues”
“vocal leader”
“fought for increased jobs and economic development”
Prove it, Mr. Smith.
As you can see this morning, all the trends held. McMaster, Wilson, Calhoon and Carrigan won. Bright and McEachern lost….
Doug, since you’re in that district, do you have any idea why voters turned against longtime incumbent McEachern?
Obviously something was going on there. He had several opponents even before getting into the runoff and losing it. I seem to remember hearing some buzz about it, but I’m forgetting the details…
Sorry, not in the loop on him. Never heard a word good or bad.
No place to put this but I figured Doug would love this story:
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/394388-biden-leads-2020-dem-field-in-new-poll
Biden, Hillary, Bernie, and Warren. Trump may as well resign now.
As President Jeb Bush what early favorite status means
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/jeb-bush-has-become-the-gop-front-runner-for-2016–so-now-what/2015/01/31/0105ca68-a96e-11e4-a06b-9df2002b86a0_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.86a8381195d0
Hopefully Trump is impeached or gets beat.
“The 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump was formally launched on June 16, 2015, at Trump Tower in New York City.”
Who do you think is going to appear in the next 12 months who can go from zero to the Presidency? Is there someone with Trump’s money and name recognition? The Starbucks CEO? Mark Cuban (who probably wouldn’t run as a Democrat)?
It’s Biden’s spot if he wants it.
No idea. You dont either.
Ask