What Was Important About New York's Primary Results Yesterday? (Not Cuomo's Win)

Cuomo won but time is up for his IDC allies

Cuomo's establishment Dems won across the board at the top of the ticket in New York yesterday-- he, himself (the avatar for corruption), Kathy Hochul (a hair away from being a Republican), and Letitia James (his hand-picked candidate, chosen to keep his criminal activities as governor from being investigated by Zephyr Teachout). Cuomo won with 975,552 votes (65.6%) against Cynthia Nixon (34.4%). Jumaane Williams did better, winning decisively in Brooklyn and Manhattan, but losing to Hochul 731,459 (53.3%) to 640,530 (46.7%). In the 4-way Attorney General race Letitia James led the field with 578,412 votes (40.6%) to Teachout's 442,567 (31%), Sean Patrick Maloney did his job for the establishment by splitting the upstate vote with Teachout. He wound up third with 356,702% (25%). If he kept her out of Cuomo's hair, there is at least the satisfaction of knowing he will probably lose his House seat in November.

But lower down the ballot... nirvana! "Years of anger," according to the NY Times, "at a group of Democratic state senators who had collaborated with Republicans boiled over on Thursday, as primary voters ousted nearly all of them in favor of challengers who had called them traitors and sham progressives."

Blue America has been working for years to help oust IDC leader Jeffrey Klein. Yesterday, with help from the SEIU, Alessandra Biaggi beat him, 53-47%. 6 of the 8 IDC assholes were defeated-- as well as the entrenched and powerful Marty Dilan who has been playing footsie with the IDC for years.

SD 11 (Queens)- John Liu beat Tony Avella
SD 13 (Queens)- Jessica Ramos beat Jose Peralta
SD 18 (Brooklyn)- Julia Salazar beat Marty Dilan
SD 20 (Brooklyn)- Zellnor Myrie best Jess Hamilton
SD 31 (Manhattan, West Side)- Robert Jackson beat Marisol Alcantara
SD 34 (Bronx)- Alessandra Biaggi beat Jeffrey Klein
SD 53 (Syracuse)- Rachel May beat David Valesky

Normally a member of the legislature in New York has to be found guilty of a crime-- or at least be indicted-- to lose reelection. To see 6 of the most conservative Democrats in the state Senate all go down at once is miraculous. Mayor de Blasio helped Myrie to beat Hamilton and , shockingly, Gillibrand endorsed Biaggi against Klein. All the victors had taken inspiration from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The only IDC creeps left are Diane Savino (Staten Island north shore, Brooklyn south shore) and David Carlucci (Rockland County + Ossining). “We will not tolerate the same old way of doing politics,” said Alessandra Biaggi, who defeated Mr. Klein. “Enough.”

Democrats must still pick off at least one Republican seat this fall to seize the State Senate majority. But if they do, the party will be represented by a drastically different cast of characters.

“Some of the elements that won’t be around anymore were sources of division,” said Senator Michael Gianaris of Queens, who feuded with Mr. Klein. “It should be more unified.”

If you'd like to help these progressives win in November, please consider clicking on the 2018 state legislative ActBlue thermometer right above. Some may even face the opponents they beat yesterday running on third party slates. Others will have to beat back Republicans. All of them can use some help.

New York Primaries

Zephyr and Bernie

The polls close in New York at 9 tomorrow... so there's nothing left to do but vote if you can-- and to sit back and watch the returns come in. I'll update this post as they do. Remember, these are state races, not federal primaries, which already happened.

The big ones tomorrow night are the gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial races, the AG race and the state Senate races. The first two are very clear. The villains are Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul. He's corrupt beyond reason-- basically a conservative-- and she's basically a Republican with a "D" next to her name. Progressives Cynthia Nixon and New York City Councilman Jumaane Williams are running on full-bore progressive planks. The whole panoply of garbage status quo politicians has come out to back Cuomo, from Schumer, Gillibrand and Biden to Hillary and DNC chair Tom Perez. Bernie didn't endorse in that race but he did endorse Jumaane. The NY Times, the Working Families Party, Our Revolution, and all the state reform organizations endorsed him as well. Everyone in politics for corruption endorsed Hochul.

Who endorsed Nixon? Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Working Familes Party, DFA, Justice Democrats, PCCC, The Nation and all the reform groups. Don't expect any miracles tomorrow-- or it would actually take a miracle. The last poll I saw had Cuomo beating her 63-22%; probably not accurate. Maybe voters think he's his father. Cuomo has blanketed the sate with close to $10 million in TV ads-- in just the final 3 weeks.

The race where Blue America attempted to concentrate our efforts was for Attorney General, where progressive champion Zephyr Teachout-- also endorsed by Bernie-- is running against a couple of worthless status quo galoots, conservaDem Sean Patrick Maloney and Cuomo candidate (Cuomo doesn't want to be investigated by Teachout) Letitia James. Besides Cuomo she is being backed by the wretched EMILY's List and a gaggle of establishment politicians, including Crowley and outright crooks like Greg Meeks. Zephyr was endorsed by both the NY Times and the Daily News, Alexandria, Cynthia Nixon, Shaun King, Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick, Our Revolution, The Nation, and the Buffalo News-- but by no one who fears the wrath of Cuomo.

No one endorsed Maloney-- not a single one of his congressional colleagues... just one national gay organization, a gay version of EMILY's List.

And then there's the state Senate and the progressive hopes of ousting right-wing IDC creeps who caucus with the Republicans and prevent progressive legislation from moving forward. There are 9 key challenges tomorrow. These (incumbent villains first, good guys afterwards):

• 11th (Queens)- Tony Avella, John Liu
• 13th (Queens)- José Peralta, Jessica Ramos
• 17th (Brooklyn)- Simcha Felder, Blake Morris
• 20th (Brooklyn)- Jesse Hamilton, Zellnor Myrie
• 23rd (north State Island, Brooklyn)- Diane Savino, Jasmine Robinson
• 31st (Manhattan- West Side)- Marisol Alcantara, Robert Jackson
• 34th (Bronx)- Jeff Klein, Alessandra Biaggi
• 38th (Rockland Co)- David Carlucci, Julie Goldberg
• 53rd (Syracuse)- David Valesky, Rachel May

I bolded the candidates endorsed by Blue America. Below is a last minute plea from Alexandria to her New York supporters:

We already knew that New York machine politics were toxic-- every day, they prevent working class folks from participating in our democratic system, stifle public input, and dash people’s faith in the power of our democracy to answer their concerns.

But their toxicity and divisiveness has reached new levels, just days before the New York State Primary.

'Here’s the situation: Just a few days ago, the New York State Democratic Party sent out a mailer for Andrew Cuomo-- a mailer that claimed Cynthia Nixon was anti-semitic based on policy positions she does not hold.

A public outcry ensued. Party leaders claimed that no one had authorized the mailer, and still refuse to tell voters who authored the mailer, or explain why they received it in the first place. But that doesn’t matter, because the damage is done-- it doesn't matter how blatantly false they are, those attacks are going to be the last thing in many voters minds as they head to the polls on Thursday.

...Instead of using these party resources to help register new voters, or hosting events to engage the community, the resources of the New York State Democratic Party went towards helping one Democrat attack another Democrat in a contested primary. Does that sound right to you?

All of this just goes to show that despite our incredible primary win, the corrupt New York political machine is still alive and kicking. That’s why we need to continue to fight, and help elect progressive champions that buck establishment politics, and focus on running grassroots, people-powered campaigns.

...A future where machine politics are gone for good is possible-- but no one is going to hand it to us. If we want a progressive future where candidates stand for the interests of working class communities, then we have to build it ourselves.

I’m ready.

Are you?

Pa'lante,
Alexandria

Crooked Republican Chris Collins Is Suddenly Retiring After All

Early this morning, pre-dawn, NBC News predicted that Chris Collins' political career is unlikely to survive his indictment. "In vowing to remain on the ballot for his re-election race this fall-- despite facing insider trading charges-- New York Republican Rep. Chris Collins joins a not-so-exclusive club of lawmakers who have refused to resign even after being indicted," they wrote. "Unfortunately for Collins, members of that club almost always meet an unhappy fate. Most lawmakers in a similar situation initially vowed to fight, but wound up quickly caving in to bad press and resigning. A handful managed to win re-election only to have to give up the seat later after being convicted."

It was only a matter of a couple of hours before Collins posted the tweet up top. He starts out with a typically deranged Collinsesque statement blaming everyone but himself for his troubles-- the Democrats, Pelosi, a desire to impeach Trump, even on Nate McMurray, his mild-mannered electoral opponent. "Democrats are laser focused on taking back the House, electing Nancy Pelosi Speaker and then launching impeachment proceedings against President Trump. They would like nothing more than to elect an 'Impeach Trump' Democrat in this District, which is something that neither our country or my party can afford."

But then... exactly what NBC had predicted: "After extensive discussions with my family and my friends over the last few days, I have decided that it is in the best interests of the constituents of NY-27, the Republican Party and President Trump’s agenda for me to suspend my campaign for re-election to Congress.  I will fill out the remaining few months of my term to assure that our community maintains its vote in Congress to support President Trump’s agenda to create jobs, eliminate regulations, reduce the size of government, address immigration and lower taxes. I will also continue to fight the meritless charges brought against me and I look forward to having my good name cleared of any wrongdoing." Bye-bye, asshole. And, of course, Ryan should force him to step down now.

Technically, it's too late for Collins to withdraw from the race and the state laws to get his name off the ballot and replace him with some candidate party bosses will pick are very complex. Think back to what happened in Florida when Mark Foley was caught molesting young boys and tried-- and failed-- to get his name off the ballot. The Republican candidate had to run with Foley's name. He lost. According to The Hill there has been a great deal of pressure on Collins to step down.

While Ryan and his GOP leadership team did not publicly call for Collins to step down, GOP sources said there was a “behind-the-scenes” effort in both Washington and New York to convince the defiant congressman that resignation was the best thing for the party three months before the crucial midterm elections.

In the days since Collins’s indictment and arrest Wednesday, there were a flurry of text messages and phone calls between Republican lawmakers, Capitol Hill aides, strategists and lobbyists concerned that the Collins corruption case could put his ruby-red seat at risk and harm other vulnerable Republicans on the ballot, GOP sources said.

Some of these Republicans in Washington had been urging New York Republicans to personally appeal to Collins to resign, the sources said, making the case to him that he’s in an “untenable position.”

The pressure campaign took place mostly out of public view. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) have been silent on the matter.

“No one is above the law, but Chris deserves his day in court and we will wait to see what unfolds,” said New York GOP Chairman Ed Cox.

But one former Collins supporter, David Gunner, the highway superintendent of East Aurora in Collins’s district, circulated a public letter to his fellow New York Republicans on Friday calling on the former Erie County executive to quit Congress.

“I believe Collins has done good things for Erie County and our Congressional District. Many times, he’s made us proud. But this insider trading scandal has put our district in real peril,” Gunner wrote. “If he runs, I don’t think he can win. I don’t care how much money he has, he can’t buy this seat-- the good people of NY-27 won’t stand for it.”

In his open letter, Gunner argued that if Collins continued to remain on the Nov. 6 ballot, he would be a drag on GOP candidates down ballot, including state Assemblyman Ray Walter and local office holders. Nationally, the Collins controversy could cause Republicans to lose control of the House majority, Gunner said.

The charges against Collins’s son were considered important leverage to convincing the congressman to relinquish his seat, said one New York Republican source. Collins could strike a deal with prosecutors, offering to plead guilty in exchange for his son and Zarsky avoiding jail time.

“A natural conversation between the U.S. attorney and Collins’s attorneys is to go easy on the son and father in law if Collins resigns,” the New York source said. “I’m sure that’s a conversation that is going on right now.”

NY-27 wasn't a district the Democrats were counting on as a pick-up opportunity. The PVI is a daunting R+11 and Trump beat Hillary here, 59.7% to 35.2%. Because it wasn't on their radar, the DCCC didn't bother contesting Nate McMurray's campaign with a Republican-lite candidate as they did in other upstate New York primaries. McMurray, a town supervisor from Grand Island, is also the Working Families Party candidate and boasts a strong progressive issues page on his website that includes support for Medicare-for-All, marijuana legalization, bold action on Climate Change, women's Choice, DACA, "increased restrictions on assault weapons," etc.

The corrupt Democratic establishment has not been interested in a progressive reformer like McMurray. The DCCC has refused to take his calls and Governor Andrew Cuomo has urged him to step down and make way for his very right-of-center lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul. On Wednesday, McMurray said more contributions flowed into his campaign than in the entire cycle.


UPDATE:

Apparently, fringe lunatic racist and millionaire vanity candidate, Carl Paladino, is going to mount a write-in campaign and some other right-wing guy, Stefan Mychajliw, also wants to run. More Republicans are expected to jump into the fray.

Is Tomorrow's Primary In New York Important At All?

Tomorrow is election day in New York. Reform-minded Democrats are threatening to do the impossible: upend the career of a very powerful conservative Governor, Andrew Cuomo but defeating him and his handpicked right-wing candidate for Lieutenant Gov., banking lobbyist Kathy Hochul. Cuomo-Hochul represent all the worst of an Establishment that has treated the public with disdain and contempt. Predictably, Hillary Clinton is campaigning on their behalf-- making it clear once again that she's, first and foremost every bit as much a servant of Wall Street and Big Business as any Republican hack. It's remarkable that Cuomo/Hochul can hope to get any votes beyond the 1% who they represent and serve. Not even the NY Times could muster the intestinal fortitude and hubris it would have taken to endorse either of them.

Over the weekend, distinguished MIT Economist and Elizabeth Warren economic advisor Simon Johnson, a member of the FDIC’s Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee, and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, endorsed Zephyr Teachout, the progressive alternative to Cuomo. "Zephyr Teachout," he wrote, "is a compelling candidate for governor of New York. She understands how corporate capture has taken over too many of our political institutions-- and she has a very real and sensible agenda that would make a difference. She represents for New York exactly the same kind of opportunity that Elizabeth Warren offered-- and was taken up on by-- Massachusetts. Stop complaining and vote for Zephyr Teachout."

This past week, economics Nobel laureate and the former chairman of Bill Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers, Joe Stiglitz explained, once again, how capitalism as a system has been gamed, perverted and twisted out of shape for the benefit of an out-of-control plutocracy. Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Picketty has done so well-- and aroused the hysterical and impassioned animus of the far right so quickly-- because, he claims, it "lends further weight to the already overwhelming body of evidence concerning the soaring share of income and wealth at the very top." Much to the chagrin of the pet intellectuals employed by the plutocrats, Picketty's book "sheds new light on the 'reforms' sold by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s as growth enhancers from which all would benefit. Their reforms were followed by slower growth and heightened global instability, and what growth did occur benefited mostly those at the top."

[T]he increase in measured wealth does not correspond to an increase in productive capital-- and the data seem consistent with this interpretation. Much of the increase in wealth stemmed from an increase in the value of real estate. Before the 2008 financial crisis, a real-estate bubble was evident in many countries; even now, there may not have been a full "correction." The rise in value also can represent competition among the rich for "positional" goods-- a house on the beach or an apartment on New York City’s Fifth Avenue.

Sometimes an increase in measured financial wealth corresponds to little more than a shift from "unmeasured" wealth to measured wealth-- shifts that can actually reflect deterioration in overall economic performance. If monopoly power increases, or firms (like banks) develop better methods of exploiting ordinary consumers, it will show up as higher profits and, when capitalized, as an increase in financial wealth.

But when this happens, of course, societal wellbeing and economic efficiency fall, even as officially measured wealth rises. We simply do not take into account the corresponding diminution of the value of human capital-- the wealth of workers.

Moreover, if banks succeed in using their political influence to socialize losses and retain more and more of their ill-gotten gains, the measured wealth in the financial sector increases. We do not measure the corresponding diminution of taxpayers’ wealth. Likewise, if corporations convince the government to overpay for their products (as the major drug companies have succeeded in doing), or are given access to public resources at below-market prices (as mining companies have succeeded in doing), reported financial wealth increases, though the wealth of ordinary citizens does not.

What we have been observing-- wage stagnation and rising inequality, even as wealth increases-- does not reflect the workings of a normal market economy, but of what I call “ersatz capitalism.” The problem may not be with how markets should or do work, but with our political system, which has failed to ensure that markets are competitive, and has designed rules that sustain distorted markets in which corporations and the rich can (and unfortunately do) exploit everyone else.

Markets, of course, do not exist in a vacuum. There have to be rules of the game, and these are established through political processes. High levels of economic inequality in countries like the US and, increasingly, those that have followed its economic model, lead to political inequality. In such a system, opportunities for economic advancement become unequal as well, reinforcing low levels of social mobility.

Thus, Piketty’s forecast of still higher levels of inequality does not reflect the inexorable laws of economics. Simple changes-- including higher capital-gains and inheritance taxes, greater spending to broaden access to education, rigorous enforcement of anti-trust laws, corporate-governance reforms that circumscribe executive pay, and financial regulations that rein in banks’ ability to exploit the rest of society-- would reduce inequality and increase equality of opportunity markedly.

If we get the rules of the game right, we might even be able to restore the rapid and shared economic growth that characterized the middle-class societies of the mid-twentieth century. The main question confronting us today is not really about capital in the twenty-first century. It is about democracy in the twenty-first century.

There's a lot more at stake in Tuesday's New York primary than the mass media deigns to cover. And, clearly, Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul are not on the side of the voters who are being asked to promote the careers each has developed in service to the hedge fund managers and financial manipulators of the ersatz capitalism Stiglitz is warning us about. Blue America endorsed Teachout/Wu because they will not be serving the special interests behind Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul, special interests once traditionally assumed to be associated with the Republican Party, rather than the Democratic Party. It's why we talk so much here about the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, the Andrew Cuomo/Kathy Hochul wing. If you're a New York Democrat planning to vote tomorrow, just remember that the $87,000 legalistic bribe David Koch, of the notorious Koch brothers, gave Andrew Cuomo in 2011 did not come without strings attached-- strings around the necks of your children and grandchildren.

Progressive Frauds Unmasked-- Hochul Raises from Democrats Against Education

When Clinton was president, my industry's trade association contributed $50,000 to the DNC in my name. I've been plagued by ravenous, contribution-hungry Democratic candidates ever since then-- and almost never good ones. Yes, it's how I came to meet Howard Dean and make him a raw vegan brunch at my house once, but other than Dean, it's been one monstrosity after another, from Dick Gephardt, the author of the legislation allowing Bush to invade Iraq, to wheeler-dealers like Terry McAuliffe. This week I got an invitation in the mail from the most unlikely of Democratic corporate shills sniffing around for cash: Cuomo's handpicked conservative, Kathy Hochul. I guess they don't google their guest list.

The invitation requested $19,700 per person for a reception for Hochul, the anti-immigrant, conservative bank lobbyist running for Lt. Governor as a typical EMILY's List conservative make-believe Democrat. No mention anywhere of her strong relationship with New York's Conservative Party... which Hochul discusses in the video up top. There are a few things you'd expect to see on such an invitation, and a few surprises.

It's not surprising that Hochul is raising money at the home of John Petry, a sleazy hedge fund crook who wants to destroy public education through his work with charter schools. That's Andrew Cuomo's policy too, of course. It's not surprising that Chuck Schumer, Charlie Rangel, Joe Crowley, and Carolyn Maloney are co-hosts. They are Wall Street Democrats, as corrupt and pay to play as you'd hope only Republicans would ever be.

But it is surprising that progressive Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler is a co-host for this event. Nadler? Jerry Nadler, the political heir to Upper West Side reform Dem icon Bill Ryan? Nadler, who is apparently the civil liberties champion of New York? Nadler the stalwart of the Progressive Caucus… that Nadler?

But this move is what Democrats need to see, to understand that their progressive leaders are frauds and hacks. Nadler, remember, pledged to vote against any health care plan that did not include a public option before doing just that. Nadler voted for the fraud of a USA Freedom Act which legalizes bulk surveillance. And now Nadler is raising money for Kathy Hochul, making the label "progressive" as valuable as the toilet paper used to wipe Andrew Cuomo's ass.

Nadler joins Bill De Blasio in the progressive fraud club. De Blasio, of course, is the disgraceful machine politician who captured the hearts of undiscerning establishment liberals by saying the kinds of things that made them want to do the heavy lifting of saying he's a progressive, something that has been repeated so many times that De Blasio's fake progressivism is now a political truism. He's backing Hochul as well… of course.

What matters is that Democratic voters see who is on their side when it matters. Zephyr Teachout's campaign is such a moment. After this is done, Nadler and De Blasio will return to their fake posture of pretending to want a more just social order. But today, we see who they really are. Today at 5:30 PM if you gave over $5,000 and were invited to the VIP reception and at 6:15 PM if all you gave was $2,500 or less... at the San Remo, 145 Central Park West, between 74th and 75th Streets… Apt 17C. Hosts include Victor and Sarah Kovner, Marie McKellar, Trudy Mason, John Zaccaro, the slum lord who ruined the vice-presidential campaign of his wife, Geraldine Ferraro and a bunch of random rich people from Buffalo. (Oops, it may be Zaccaro's son, the former coke dealer who's hosting Hochul's fundraiser. My bad.)

If you want to RSVP, call Wally at Dynamic SRG-- 212-531-2858-- a firm that bills itself as "a boutique fundraising firm comprised of experienced professionals who provide fundraising and strategic services for progressive candidates and organizations." Watch the Hochul video up top again.

Want another surprise? "Friends for Kathy Hochul" is listed with an address on Malcolm X Blvd. I'm sure that's just as Malcolm X would have wanted it.

If Cuomo Is The Next Governor Convicted On Corruption Charges After McDonnell, Would You Want Hochul Or Wu To Take Over?

Yes, this afternoon, a federal jury found Virginia's crooked former governor, Bob McDonnell guilty of 11 of the 13 charges against him-- all that public corruption stuff. The crooked wife was found guilty on 8 charges. They were selling the prerogatives of his office for a couple hundred thousand dollars in trinkets and vacations. McDonnell wept like the woman he will soon be behind bars as the guilty verdicts were read out one after the other. He won't be sentenced until January 6. This is not in defense of McDonnell, who deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison, but he isn't any worse than other gubernatorial criminals like Chris Christie (R-NJ), Rick Perry (R-TX), Scott Walker (R-WI), Andrew Cuomo, (D-NY), Nathan Deal (R-GA) and Rick Scott (R-FL). Maybe it's time to stop electing and, especially, reelecting crooked politicians-- even if they are from the political party you identify with.

New York Times Endorses Tim Wu Over Cuomo's Handpicked Conservative Nightmare, Kathy Hochul

Two days ago, the NY Times editorial board wrote that they could not bring themselves to endorse Andrew Cuomo for another term, citing his grotesque record of corruption. I guess Cuomo doesn't have the kind of dirt on them that he has on the pathetic creeps who control the Working Families Party, which endorsed not just Cuomo, but confessed conservative Kathy Hochul (watch the astounding video up top), 3 of the very worst corporate whores in the entire U.S. Congress-- Steve Israel, Joe Crowley and Sean Patrick Maloney-- and handpicked Wall Street shills running for Congress like Kathleen Rice and Domenic Recchia. Unlike the Liberal Party which took 45 years to turn into a useless sack of garbage, it took the WFP just 15 years to devolve from an idealistic progressive hope for working families into a corrupt, backroom bunch of transactional hacks. They were too scared to back Zephyr Teachout and Tim Wu. They endorsed Cuomo and Hochul-- yes Hochul!-- instead.

I don't know for sure if the Times editors watched the Hochul videos, but reading their editorial last night, one sure gets the idea that they did, which went into their astounding decision to back Tim Wu instead. Please give it a read and consider giving Teachout and Wu a hand at the Blue America governors page.

The office of lieutenant governor in New York is a feeble one. The current occupant-- Robert Duffy, a former mayor of Rochester-- was handpicked by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2010 and spent the last four years promoting the governor’s agenda around the state. In May, Mr. Duffy decided he had had enough of traveling in the governor’s shadow, and is not seeking re-election.

On Sept. 9, Democratic primary voters can choose between Governor Cuomo’s new choice for lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul, a former congresswoman, and Timothy Wu, a law professor at Columbia University who is running as an independent-minded Democrat.

Mr. Wu, a political newcomer, offers a fresh perspective and a new voice to counter Albany’s entrenched players. Ms. Hochul does not, and she has a deeply troubling record on health reform, gun control and environmental deregulation. For these reasons, we recommend Mr. Wu in the Democratic primary.


 In an editorial on Wednesday, we did not endorse Zephyr Teachout for governor in the Democratic primary, citing her lack of experience. Mr. Wu, who is her running mate, also lacks political experience, but he is seeking a very different job, with far less responsibility for running a big and diverse state.

Mr. Wu recognizes this difference, and he says he wants to use the lieutenant governor’s job as a pulpit, to become the state’s de facto public advocate, particularly in support of consumer issues, Internet access and economic development zones.

Mr. Cuomo chose Ms. Hochul this spring to balance his ticket with a conservative woman from upstate. Ms. Hochul now supports his gun control bill, but when she ran unsuccessfully for re-election to Congress in 2012, her campaign featured the endorsement from the National Rifle Association. The N.R.A. said at the time that she had “a proven record of defending the Second Amendment.”

She also boasted repeatedly that she had voted many times against “Obamacare.” She strongly opposed allowing undocumented immigrants to have drivers’ licenses. And during her short time in Congress, environmentalists criticized many of her votes, including those to repeal emission standards for cement manufacturers and to allow fewer controls on open pit mines and other polluting industries.

She undoubtedly embraced those views to try to win re-election in a district that had become a stronghold for Republicans. But her willingness to shift politically does not suggest she would offer any kind of independent judgment. Nor does her record give any real clue about what would happen if she took over as governor. In the meantime, she has promised to “support the administration.”

Although he lacks time in politics, Mr. Wu has an impressive record in the legal field, particularly in Internet law and policy. Widely known for coining the phrase “net neutrality,” he has been an adviser to the Federal Trade Commission as part of his efforts on behalf of consumers to keep the Internet from “becoming too corporatized.”

As lieutenant governor, he wants to speak out on complicated issues that are too often ignored in Albany like immigrant rights and broadband access needed by more than a million New Yorkers. Those would be worthy pursuits, but he will also have to learn quickly how to navigate Albany’s difficult politics to make his views heard.

Ms. Hochul, who has been a banker in the Buffalo area, has worked to develop jobs upstate. A former county clerk before her stint in Congress, she has helped veterans in her area and supported Mr. Cuomo’s push for economic development in western New York.

Whoever wins in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor will run as part of the governor’s Democratic ticket in November against the Republican slate. Albany needs an independent voice, someone who can bring fresh ideas to a very stale and often corrupt political culture. Timothy Wu is the one who best fits that bill.

Meanwhile, yesterday was a good day for Teachout as well, as the editors of The Nation endorsed her and gave her a rousing vote of confidence. They wrote that "circumstances-- some of her own creation, many resulting from Cuomo’s missteps and misdeeds-- have conspired to create what the New York Times calls a 'Teachout Moment.' A savvy, trust-busting progressive, Teachout has injected some much-needed debate into the election, earning endorsements from the Public Employees Federation as well as the New York chapters of the National Organization for Women and the Sierra Club. She has also begun to impress New Yorkers. By framing her campaign as part of the fight for 'the democratic wing of the Democratic Party'… she has reminded voters that they need not settle for the austerity policies embraced by Cuomo." It is a powerful and persuasive endorsement.

We believe New Yorkers who want a more progressive government should vote for Teachout on September 9. The Nation makes this endorsement with the understanding that Teachout may not be able to overcome the political barriers that have been erected, in the state and nationally, to a grassroots, idea-driven campaign. But we believe her candidacy holds out the potential for forging the bold, people-led politics we seek in 2014 and beyond.

A vote for Teachout sends two critical signals. First, it objects to Cuomo’s approach to electioneering and governing, which is too heavy-handed, too top-down, and too prone to cutting ethical corners. While the governor has done some good on issues like marriage equality, his rightward tilt on education and economic issues has crippled New York’s fight against inequality. And Cuomo has stumbled badly when it comes to addressing corruption, as evidenced by the recent revelations that he meddled with the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption, which he created in 2013.

But there’s more to this challenge than legitimate criticism of Cuomo and corruption. Teachout offers an example of what it means to be a progressive Democrat in the twenty-first century. A distinguished academic and activist, she has been in the forefront of advancing progressive reform for nearly two decades. As a professor at Fordham Law School, the author of important books on political and economic policy, a key figure in Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign, and a visionary organizer on behalf of banking and business reforms, she understands that the Democratic Party must move toward progressive populism in order to become more than a tepid alternative to Republican extremism.

Thus, the second signal that a vote for Teachout will send is a demand for change in the Democratic establishment, which cannot continue to dance around the issue of income inequality. It must reject austerity cuts and embrace investment in infrastructure, education and communities, as Teachout and others in the party’s populist wing have. It must recognize the political appeal of battling crony capitalism and corruption. And in the midst of a digital revolution every bit as disruptive as the Industrial Revolution before it, the party’s leadership must recognize the necessity of supporting Net neutrality, ending the digital divide and expanding broadband Internet access-- issues that Teachout and her running mate for lieutenant governor, Tim Wu, have highlighted.

A victory by Teachout and Wu would be a dramatic upset-- one with the potential to overturn political calculations nationwide. But even a respectable finish could illustrate the strength of the progressive base and keep the proposals that Teachout and Wu have been fighting for alive.

At this point Teachout and Wu have a significantly better chance of beating Cuomo and Hochul than Dave Brat did of beating Eric Cantor. It won't be easy-- but it can be done and the ramifications, as The Nation explains, would be transformative. Election day is September 9. Teachout and Wu need every dollar they can get for a get out the vote effort. If you can, please consider making a contribution.

Kathy Hochul-- Unmasked

As you probably know, Blue America endorsed Zephyr Teachout and Tim Wu for Governor and Lt. Governor of New York. They are both extraordinary candidates, not politicians per se, but values-driven leaders. When we decided to back them, it wasn't only because of how amazing-- even, dare I say, transformative-- a Teachout/Wu administration would be. I've been growing increasingly concerned about Cuomo's tendency towards corruption, his increasingly conservative posture on every important issue and on his lack of judgment.

One instance of his lack of judgment was his selection of reactionary Democrat Kathy Hochul as his running mate. As you can hear from her own lips in the video up top, she is beyond horrible, bragging about getting the Conservative Party endorsement "every time I've run for office," boasting how she opposed Obamacare and voted "many times to repeal it," and still campaigning against immigrants.

And what makes Hochul so scary is that Cuomo is likely to be indicted and, if he's reelected, may well be forced out of office, making her governor-- not of Mississippi or Idaho, but of New York State. "I voted with Speaker Boehner against the President's policy on Libya… I support the Keystone Pipeline, unlike the President and his administration. I'm one of the few Democrats to receive the NRA endorsement. I've become very conservative in my voting record." This is what Cuomo want to foist on the voters of New York, who have no idea what Hochul stands for and just how horrible her record is.

The contrast with Tim Wu couldn't be greater. While Hochul and Cuomo are doing all they can to hide her positions from New York voters. Tim's are all up on his website. "Aside from corruption, which is a critical issue in New York, I believe that inequality and the excessive concentration of private power are the main issues facing our state and the nation," he wrote. "The two issues are actually linked, because too much concentration yields excessively high prices, which disproportionately affects those who are less well off." When asked to name the policies that have motivated him to run, it is just unimaginable not to CRAVE a debate between him and Hochul, who is afraid to even speak, let alone debate:

• Radical shakeup of Albany Corruption

• Immigration policies that attract the best and the brightest to New York

• Open internet and increased broadband deployment

• Protection for small businesses

• New approaches to upstate economic development

• Scrutiny of big business and uncompetitive utilities

• Enforcement of the antitrust laws

I don't get the idea that Hochul can even relate to what makes Tim tick and why he and Zephyr are running. "I'm a progressive Democrat," he told us last night, "who is truly concerned that inequality and the concentration of private power is doing real damage to the fabric of our society. As an Albany outsider who doesn't owe anyone anything, I look forward to challenging the power of big corporations and the corrupt culture of our state government."

Here's the Blue America page where you can support the Zephyr Teachout/Tim Wu very grassroots campaign.

Steve Israel's DCCC Has Thrown Away The Advantage Democrats Had With Gun Safety

In 2006, Blue America backed Kirsten Gillibrand for Congress when she ran against corrupt, drunken wife-beater John Sweeney. We helped her raise consciousness about what a crook Sweeney was and we helped her raise money and we even got the Squirrel Nut Zippers and Rickie Lee Jones to do a song for her campaign which got a ton of airplay on the local radio stations. So, of course, we were very disappointed when she joined the Blue Dogs after being elected-- pretending to be a progressive-- and we were mortified when she showed herself to be a total shill for the NRA. She seemed to think she needed to take that posture to win elections in a "backward district." Authenticity!

Yesterday we looked at another craven career politician just like her-- Kathy Hochul, who was defeated in 2012 after one miserable term, only be be resurrected by Andrew Cuomo to run against progressive icon Tim Wu as Lt. Governor. Hochul, who used to run on both the Democratic Party line and the Conservative Party line, has been a big NRA supporter-- one of many who powers inside the Republican wing of the Democratic Party (like Cuomo) are putting into key positions. This should alarm progressives who routinely give their votes to a mostly undeserving Democratic Party.

And, of course, Cuomo is hardly the only Democrat smuggling NRA supporters into the highest reaches of the party. The worst of all is Blue Dog Steve Israel, chairman of the DCCC, who has gone out of his way to recruit as many shitty conservative candidates as he could find-- shitty conservative candidates who stand with the Republicans in opposition to gun safety. And although Israel warns his repulsive mystery meat candidates to never talk about progressive issues, he seems delighted to see them bragging about their sickening and perverted gun fetishism. This piece of shit is a Democrat? It sure is in Steve Israel's word!

Look at the grotesque array of worthless garbage on his Red-to-Blue list-- yes there are 3 or 4 token progressives for appearance sake-- and you find a compendium of NRA worshippers. Many of his candidates still have no issues on the websites and most of the ones who do, don't talk about gun safety. The only positive exception I could find was the Wall Street-owned Democrat Kathleen Rice campaigning for the seat being given up by the House's #1 gun safety advocate Carolyn Maloney. "Gun violence," she writes, "is a public health and safety epidemic in our country. Communities torn apart. Parents robbed of their children. Brave police officers caught in the crossfire. Desperate young adults being placed on paths to prison rather than college. The need to take action has never been greater." You'd think there would be more Democrats with messages like that. But each of these has been recruited by Israel and the quote comes from their official websites.

• Jennifer Garrison (OH)- "There are too many politicians in Washington who don’t understand or respect the role of hunting in communities like ours. I have always supported the 2nd amendment and I was proud to have been endorsed by Buckeye Firearms and the NRA as a state legislator. As a Member of Congress, I will continue to support the 2nd Amendment and our values."

• Jerry Cannon (MI)- "As a veteran, a law enforcement officer, and a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, I’ll always defend the right of Americans to keep and bear arms."

• Patrick Henry Hayes (AR)- "In Congress, Hays will oppose any law, including an assault weapons ban, that would take guns away from law-abiding citizens."

• Aaron Woolf (NY)- "He's a strong supporter of the Second Amendment-- especially in a region that so many responsible gun owners call home. Aaron believes law-abiding citizens should have the right to own a firearm-- without infringement from the government-- plain and simple. For that reason Aaron does not support New York’s 'SAFE Act.'"

• Ann Callis (IL)- "Ann Callis is a strong believer in our Second Amendment right to bear arms and comes from a family of gun owners. However, as a judge she has seen firsthand what happens when criminals and the mentally ill get their hands on guns. Like Senator Kirk, Ann Callis believes we can work together to find ways to improve background checks to keep guns away from dangerous criminals and those who are mentally ill."

• John Lewis (MT)- "John Lewis is a strong supporter of the Constitutional right of law-abiding American citizens to own firearms.  Responsible gun ownership is a Montana tradition that John will always defend in Congress."

• Glen Gainer (WV)- "Glen is an avid hunter, firearm owner, and proud member of the NRA." [And that's from his official bio on the site; he has no issues page at all.]

Now, think about Rachel's video about Chris Christie's veto up top. Are these the kinds of candidates who will be part of the problem or part of the solution? After the massacre at Sandy Hook, Carolyn McCarthy and Diana DeGette worked on a proposal to make the high capacity magazines illegal. McCarthy: "These assault magazines help put the ‘mass’ in ‘mass shooting’ and anything we can do to stop their proliferation will save lives in America. These devices are used to kill as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time possible, and we owe it to innocent Americans everywhere to keep them out of the hands of dangerous people. We don’t even allow hunters to use them. Something’s deeply wrong if we’re protecting game more than we’re protecting innocent human beings." It was never voted on but sent to die on Bob Goodlatte's House Judiciary Committee. He told the media that "We’re going to take a look at what happened there [in Newtown] and what can be done to help avoid it in the future but gun control is not going to be something that I would support." and neither would many of the candidates Israel recruited to run as Democrats in November, something that will help hold down progressive turnout. An example of the kind of Democrat running who Israel has refused to back is Tom Houghton, the Democratic candidate running against deranged right-wing gun-nut Joe Pitts in PA-16, a swing district with an R+4 PVI and which Obama narrowly won in 2008 and narrowly lost in 2012. Israel adamantly refuses to give Houghton, who was the first Democrat elected to the London Grove Board of Supervisors and the first Democrat to represent the 13th Legislative District, the time of day. Maybe Israel doesn't like his position on gun safety.

I agree with groups like Americans for Responsible Solutions, who support reasonable and responsible gun laws, while standing behind the right to own guns. ARS has pointed out many of the flaws in our existing background check system. These problems significantly damage the ability of this law which is in place to make us all safer.

Federal law already requires licensed gun retailers to perform background checks on those seeking to purchase a firearm via the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS. The purpose of the NICS is to prevent dangerous individuals, from convicted criminals to those with serious mental illness, from purchasing firearms. This program has successfully prevented over 1.7 million persons who are prohibited from owning a firearm, from purchasing a gun. I support our existing background check requirement. However, there are problems with the law, and the NICS itself, that seriously impede its efficacy.

While licensed retailers must perform background checks, private sellers are exempt from the background check requirement. This provision of the law, known as the “gun show loophole” provides relatively easy access to guns for those whom we have already agreed should be prohibited from owning a firearm. In order for our background check system to be an effective means for protecting our safety, it must be universal.

The “gun show loophole” is not the only problem with our background check system. The NICS is missing millions of pertinent records that should be in the system to identify prohibited gun purchasers. The gaps in the NICS are the result of insufficient reporting by state and federal agencies. This situation must be remedied and the records in the NICS must be up to date and complete to make sure that no dangerous individuals are allowed to legally purchase guns because they have simply fallen through the cracks.

In addition to making the NICS more effective, we must address the issue of gun trafficking by empowering law enforcement to deal with those who are facilitating the illegal traffic in guns. Currently, a very small percentage of licensed gun dealers are responsible for the majority of guns recovered in criminal investigations. These offenders must be stopped, and we must give law enforcement the tools they need to stop them. At the same time, we must stiffen penalties for these gun traffickers if we want laws against gun trafficking to have a real impact on the illegal gun trade.

After addressing the issue of effectively keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals, we must address the issue of what kinds of firearms and ammunition clips are responsible and reasonable for people to own.

I support a ban on assault weapons, as well as a ban on high capacity magazines. The majority of American gun owners own guns for the purposes of sport shooting, hunting and personal defense. Assault weapons and high capacity magazines are not necessary, nor particularly well suited to any of these activities.

On the other hand, assault weapons are involved in up to seven percent of homicides, as the Harvard University institute of Politics points out. The shooters in mass shootings, such as James Holmes in Aurora, have used assault weapons to devastating effect. These weapons allow criminals, like Holmes, to do significantly more damage in a limited amount of time than that which would have been possible without assault weapons and high capacity magazines. Even former Vice president Dick Cheney has come out in support of limiting high capacity magazines.

Banning these “weapons of mass destruction” will keep our families and communities safe. In addition, this will allow police officers to do their job-- the job of protecting us, more safely. Again, According to the Harvard University Institute of Politics, since the expiration of the assault Weapons Ban in 2004, there has been a substantial increase in police deaths as a result of gunshot wounds.

I know that many will criticize me on the issue of limiting access to assault weapons and high capacity magazines, or banning them altogether. I do not support these measures because I want to abridge the rights of American citizens. I support these fixes because I believe in keeping our communities, our families and especially our children safe, while respecting our constitutionally protected right to own guns. As an advocate for common sense responsible gun ownership legislation, I do not seek to limit our second amendment rights but to protect them. I believe that only by taking steps to ensure responsible gun ownership, we can preserve the right to own guns in the long run.

As of the April 30 FEC reporting deadline, Pitts had raised $795,062, 82% of it from PACs. With Israel telling Democratic donors to ignore Houghton, he has only managed to raise $36,938, virtually all it from individual donors. Israel and the DCCC would rather waste their resources on candidates like NRA supporter, Henry Patrick Hayes who is campaigning on a platform of promises that he "will oppose any law, including an assault weapons ban, that would take guns away from law-abiding citizens." Go Dems!

But even as Israel, a meathead and born loser in life, has squandered the gun safety issue for the House Democrats this cycle, the Senate Dems have a more rationale approach. This morning, Ed O'Keefe, reporting for the Washington Post, explained why a new fight over gun safety is about to break out in the Senate:

A new political gun fight would be the first since a bipartisan gun-control measure was swiftly defeated in April 2013, just four months after national outrage over a mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., sparked calls for new legislation. The possibility of a new, mostly partisan debate on gun control likely would upend debate on a bipartisan measure to expand hunting rights on federal lands that is considered a potential political lifeline for about a half dozen Democrats seeking reelection in Republican-leaning states.

Senators of both parties said Tuesday that they are readying gun-related amendments and are poised to introduce them this week. Republicans want to expand the right to purchase or transport firearms and ammunition across state lines, limit when a military veteran can be denied a firearm due to mental illness and allow gun owners to carry weapons on to sites controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers. Democrats said they are working on proposals to limit the sale of certain weapons and ammunition or expand the national background-check system.

The proposals would be added to the Bipartisan Sportsmen Act, a measure that would make it easier to hunt and fish on some federal lands, allow the construction of more public shooting ranges at national parks and wildlife refuges and make it easier to purchase federal permits to hunt ducks, geese and other waterfowl. Those and about a dozen other proposals in the bill are popular in rural states where hunting and fishing are common.

Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), who faces one of the most challenging reelection fights this year, is a lead sponsor of the measure along with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). The bill has a total of 26 Republican co-sponsors, making it one of the most popular legislative proposals debated by the Senate this year. A similar version of the bill was debated in the Senate in 2012 but failed to advance amid GOP opposition.

…Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), whose state is still reeling from the Newtown shooting, said that he and other Democrats are discussing plans to introduce a proposal to curb gun violence. The hunting bill is "innocuous," he said, and "the failure to address gun violence is a gaping unacceptable omission" from the bill. "We should not be in effect expanding the use of guns without addressing gun violence," he added.

Cuomo Digs Up ConservaDem Kathy Hochul-- Promptly Hides Her From The Democratic Base

When Republican Congressman Chris Lee was caught, shirtless, online trolling for younger women, he resigned and nominal Democrat Kathy Hochul, the County Clerk of Erie County won the special election to replace him, primarily because a wealthy, well-known teabagger, Jack Davis, pulled votes away from her GOP opponent. She immediately joined the corrupt, Wall Street-owned New Dems and began amassing a conservative, anti-family record, working hard, for example, to reduce Medicaid spending.

New York Democrats hoped they had found another Kirsten Giillibrand, a pro-NRA conservaDem would could pull the wool over the eyes of progressive voters who assume Democrats are progressives. She was defeated for reelection 150,466 (51%) to 146,134 (49%) by GOP multimillionaire Chris Collins, losing Erie, Genesee, Monroe, Wyoming and Orleans counties, tying Niagara and only winning in Livingston and Ontario. After losing she slid right into a lobbying job for a bank, a totally natural fit. But in late May New York's ambitious conservative governor dug her up again and gave her the nod to run as his Lt. Governor. (Keep in mind that the first time she ran for office, she ran on both the Democratic and Conservative Party lines.) She ran on the Conservative line again-- for Erie County Clerk-- in 2010 after she had pleased the far right by her extremist anti-immigrant mania.

Yesterday, the NY Post ran an article about how Cuomo has been hiding her away from Democratic voters. "Where in the world," asks Fred Dicker, "is former US Rep. Kathy Hochul? The one-time Buffalo-area congresswoman known for her strong support of gun ownership rights and her fervid opposition to giving state privileges to illegal aliens has all but disappeared from public view since Gov. Cuomo picked her in May as his running mate for lieutenant governor."

Key state Democrats told The Post that Cuomo has ordered Hochul “kept under wraps,’’ in the words of one, to prevent her more conservative views from upending his re-election campaign among liberal New York City Democrats, especially Hispanics.

“No extended interviews, no press conferences, no TV or radio appearances, no nothing. It’s like she’s under lock and key,’’ said a senior elected Democrat.

Hochul, who received a top rating from the National Rifle Association when she ran for Congress and strongly opposed former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s efforts to grant driver’s licenses to illegal aliens when she was Erie County clerk, was chosen by Cuomo as part of his aggressive effort to win over Western New York voters.

But Hochul has granted virtually no in-depth interviews, has made only brief and superficial campaign appearances, and has been almost totally silent on her controversial past positions-- including her declaration that she would have illegal aliens who sought driver’s licenses arrested.

“Try defending that position to Hispanics who support the state ‘Dream Act,’ ’’ said an elected New York City Democrat, referring to the Cuomo-backed legislation to spend $25 million on college assistance grants for illegals.

State GOP Chairman Ed Cox could barely contain his sarcasm when asked about Hochul’s invisibility.

“With all the contradictions between the two of them, I’m not surprised that Cuomo would want to make her disappear,’’ he said.

Zephyr Teachout, the a constitutional law professor and former national Director of the anti-corruption group the Sunlight Foundation, is running as the progressive alternative to Cuomo and she is delighted that Hochul as surfaced since it points out the contrast between Cuomo's personnel politics and her own. Her selection for Lt. Governor, Tim Wu, is is a law professor at Columbia University and is most well-known for being the father of Net Neutrality. He's also the son of two immigrants. Last night I talked with Zephyr-- whose campaign you can support here-- who framed the differences between Hochul and Wu very succinctly: "In the Hochul-Wu contest, Hochul represents conservative and fear-based politics, and Wu represents progressive and democracy-based politics." In 2010, she told me, she actually backed Cuomo's first gubernatorial bid.

I supported him-- but he has betrayed the most basic traditional Democratic principles, and governed in a way that benefits his donors and his political ambitions. He supports transferring money that should go to underfunded public schools into tax breaks for big corporations. The Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos has said that Governor Cuomo sounds like a “good moderate Republican.” When it came to picking a Lieutenant Governor for his reelection, he picked an anti-immigrant bank lobbyist, Kathy Hochul, who built her political career on open opposition to drivers' licenses for undocumented immigrants, boasting that she would send any undocumented immigrant who asked for a license to the sheriff. They are running a secretive, closed campaign, where it is difficult to get direct press access to Hochul and Cuomo limits his availability to the press, counting on the fact that they have millions of dollars in campaign contributions so they don't have to actually listen to the New York public. But the truth is that they have abandoned New York, and do not represent the public good, let alone the vision of New York Democrats.

We are running a strong, clear, open, grassroots campaign, challenging Governor Cuomo and Kathy Hochul to an open debate about what it means to be a Democrat in New York, and what kind of New York we all want to live in, and what kind of people we all want to be. Tim and I are committed to a democracy and economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy and well-connected.

Neither Kathy Hochul Nor Jane Corwin Were All That Important Tuesday-- Paul Ryan And The Republican Agenda Were

Tuesday night we tweeted the NY-26 special election returns and, until now, there hasn't been a post-mortem at DWT. Both the New York Times and A.P. drew the correct conclusions: this election results were all about independent voters telling Republicans across the country to step on the brakes or suffer the consequences. Paul Krugman used the word "Buffalo" eight times in his Wednesday morning post-- and that was just in the headline!

The obvious point is that Republicans, having run in 2010 largely by scaring seniors with tales of death panels, are now horsed on their own pet aardvark, or something.

The difference is that whereas Democrats were not, in fact, trying to impose death panels, Republicans really do want to dismantle Medicare – and that’s the truth no matter how many times Very Serious People reach for their smelling salts when Democrats say that. And you would think that would make Medicare an even more potent weapon for the Dems than it was for the Rs (unless they go out of their way to ignore what the electorate is really concerned about.)

It’s now starting to look like a real possibility that we will have had three electoral waves in a row-- a Democratic sweep in 2006-2008, a Republican countersweep in 2010, and a countercountersweep in 2012 as voters realize that the GOP is the same as it always was, only more so.

As you may be aware, we were less than enthusiastic about Kathy Hochul here at DWT because of her willingness-- even eagerness-- to use Republican framing and to toss vulnerable minorities under the bus in her quest for career advancement. That said, I was certainly rooting for Team Blue Tuesday night, if, for no other reason, to wipe the smirk off Paul Ryan's ugly face and watch his carefully-crafted-- crafted by Wall Street puppeteers-- political career fall into a ditch.

Within hours of the disavowal of his vision for turning seniors' healthcare over to his financial backers at the predatory health insurance companies, Ryan was desperately trying to salvage what's left of his credibility-- with his own paralyzed caucus (remember Boehner and Cantor had tricked them all into backing Ryan's crazy plans). He was tweeting up a storm Wednesday morning with every kind of excuse for what a great big misunderstanding his plan to turn Medicare into an inadequate private voucher system has been. He tried ducking responsibility by blaming the Democrats... of course.


But even after Jane Corwin's approval numbers began tanking when she blundered into admitting that she would have voted for Ryan's budget, Ryan never showed up in Buffalo to defend her. The Republicans there and in DC were at least savvy enough to know that his presence in the district would have meant instant death for her campaign. Instead they invited Boehner and Cantor to defend her. That amounted to a slow drawn out death.

And as we've been explaining all month and as Steve Benen summed up so elegantly at the Political Animal yesterday, the voter revolt in Republican territory against the Republican agenda didn't begin this week and didn't begin in NY-26. As Benen explained it may have been the highest profile defeat for the Republican so far, but it was just the latest in an unbroken string of victories for the Democrats:

* New Hampshire: Last week, there was a special election in a state House district where Republicans have dominated for years. The Democratic candidate won in a landslide, even after a local town clerk illegally required photo IDs to vote.

* Florida: Also last week, Jacksonville was home to a high-profile mayoral race, and the state GOP touted the election as the first warning shot of the 2012 cycle. Instead, voters elected Democrat Alvin Brown-- Jacksonville’s first African-American mayor-- stunning the Republican establishment statewide.

* Wisconsin: Three weeks ago, there was a special election in a Wisconsin state Assembly district that has been represented by a Republican for 16 years. In this case, the Democrat won by eight points.

* Maine: Two weeks ago, there was a special election to fill a vacancy in the state Senate, in a district that has been very competitive in the recent past. In this case, the Democrat won by a crushing 2-to-1 margin.

...After a series of losses in races Republicans expected to win with relative ease, the party would be wise to take a moment to realize Americans aren’t buying what the GOP is selling.

Indeed, it looks an awful lot like buyer’s remorse is the most common public sentiment.

When pondering what happened in NY-26 Tuesday, it's important to keep in mind that Chris Lee, the last Republican elected there, just last November, won with 74% of the vote. That's how conservative the district is. Carl Paladino, who was widely viewed as a deranged joke of a gubernatorial candidate and only took 34% of the vote statewide, won NY-26 with 61%. It was McCain's strongest district in New York and the GOP and GOP front groups spent between three and four million dollars in an effort to keep from losing the seat (and destroying Ryan's career). Corwin spent another $2 million of her own on the race.

And it wasn't only about motivated Democrats and independents turning out in big numbers that propelled Kathy Hochul into Congress. Republicans, as the NYTimes ascertained, were unenthusiastic, not necessarily about Corwin, but about the direction their party has been moving:

“I have almost always voted the party line,” said Gloria Bolender, a Republican from Clarence who is caring for her 80-year-old mother. “This is the second time in my life I’ve voted against my party.”

Pat Gillick, a Republican from East Amherst, who also cast a ballot for Ms. Hochul, said, “The privatization of Medicare scares me.”

And the slap in the face to Ryan didn't exactly go unnoticed back in Wisconsin. His opponent for reelection, Kenosha County Supervisor Rob Zerban was out with a statement Tuesday night:

"Tonight it is clear that Representative Paul Ryan's plan to end Medicare is the wrong choice for our families, and we will not stand for it. Voters in New York's 26th Congressional District rejected Paul Ryan’s backward vision of America that puts our seniors at risk. If New Yorkers don’t want Medicare replaced with a voucher plan, you can be sure that families here in Wisconsin's First District will have something to say in the next election. Wisconsinites put our trust in Paul Ryan only to be sold out to special interests.

"I’d like to congratulate New York’s new Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Hochul for winning this strongly-held Republican district. We have our work cut out for us to put our nation back on track, but ordinary people have spoken up tonight to say, 'Hands off our Medicare, Paul Ryan'."

Mike Tate Chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party backed up his messaging against right-wing over reach the next morning:

"In the face of overwhelming opposition, Republicans have been stymied in their attacks on our seniors.
 
"In the Legislature, Republicans furiously reversed their own plans to gut SeniorCare only after six GOP senators now face recalls this summer and thousands of Wisconsin citizens signed petitions to save the successful program that helps seniors pay for prescription drugs. They claim that they will, for the moment, spare the program.

"And as New York's Congressional election shows, Paul Ryan's attempt to end Medicare is being rejected even by Republican voters.

"Both Republican legislators and Paul Ryan promise that they will preserve SeniorCare and Medicare, but we know these promises are an absolute sham.
 
"It's time for Scott Walker and his rubber-stamping Republicans to stop playing politics with SeniorCare, for Paul Ryan to stop his plans to end Medicare and for all of them to stop paying for tax cuts for the rich and huge corporations on the backs of Wisconsin's seniors."

Norman Solomon, one of the Blue America candidates running on a Medicare-for-all platform in next year's congressional races, looked at the race in NY-26 and said it proves that "Democrats can win uphill battles by really putting up a fight instead of splitting the difference with the extremist Republican Party. The reality is that the GOP is committed to dismantling Medicare and a wide range of other humane government programs. We should not give an inch when the lives of children, the elderly and other vulnerable people are at stake."

Paul Ryan is the biggest danger middle class families are facing to their children's future. Wall Street and Big Business will stop at nothing to get him and his toxic agenda into the White House. There is only one way to stop him-- and that's with direct action. And right now that direct action means electing Rob Zerban to the seat Ryan has been sitting in. It won't be easy, but it's not any less possible than the race in NY-26 was. In fact, President Obama won WI-01 in 2008, and the district is filled with fired up Democrats and newly awakened independents. Can you help Rob's campaign? Ryan's budget and his vision and his entire political career were inspired-- as he freely admits-- by deranged anti-Christian novelist Ayn Rand. Wall Street adores her too... and would love her simplistic and extremely dangerous ideas dominating our politics:



Late yesterday afternoon, Harry Reid forced Senate Republicans into the unenviable task of having to vote YEA or NAY on killing Medicare by bringing up the Ryan budget. It failed (57-40), of course, but Republicans Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Scott Brown and Lisa Murkowski voted against it, claiming they could not stick with their party's intentions of dismantling Medicare, while Kentucky psychopath Rand Paul also voted NO-- because Ryan's plan, in his mind, didn't dismantle Medicare quickly or thoroughly enough.

Corporate shills inside the Democratic Party, led by conservatives like Steny Hoyer and Clare McCaskill, want to "compromise" with the Republicans. Real Democrats, what we call progressives, will stand and fight. Watch: