Rick Hasen: “The United States has failed its first important test for democracy since the 2020 election season: Election denialism has taken hold among a significant segment of Republican voters, and election deniers are poised to win elections next week.”
“They will go on to oversee or certify some elections in 2024. The question that matters now is whether the next line of defense for American democracy—our system of state and federal courts—is strong enough for the task ahead.”
“Two years after helping deliver President Biden the presidency, and four years after decisively handing control of the House of Representatives to the Democratic Party, Americans living in the suburbs are poised to once again play a major role in an election,” FiveThirtyEight reports.
“But after Democrats got the upper hand in suburban areas in 2018 and 2020, the pendulum looks set to swing back in the GOP’s direction in 2022 — at least to some extent. Most of the House races that will decide the election will take place in suburban and exurban districts: About 7 in 10 House races viewed as at least somewhat competitive — those not rated as solidly Democratic or Republican — are in predominantly suburban districts.”
“Donald Trump’s attorneys saw a direct appeal to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as their best hope of derailing Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election, according to emails newly disclosed to congressional investigators,” Politico reports.
You already know the problem: the same story can look completely different depending on where you read it — and some barely show up at all because algorithms decide what you see.
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“Europe is close to entering a recession and the US economy may not be far behind,” Bloomberg reports.
“That’s the stark message Wednesday from A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, the world’s No. 2 container carrier and a bellwether for the $29 trillion market for global trade.”
Rep. Liz Cheney said the House Jan. 6 committee is in talks with former President Donald Trump’s lawyers about his potential testimony, ABC News reports.
YouGov: “There is broad agreement on one thing: American democracy is under threat. Two-thirds (66%) of Americans say it is, and that jumps to 79% among likely voters. Democrats and Republicans are equally likely to see a threat, but the threats they see are different.”
“Democrats who believe democracy is under threat are most likely to name the lack of acceptance of election results by some candidates (79%), political extremism (78%), and gerrymandering (61%) as threats they have in mind when thinking of democracy under threat, with corruption (59%) a close fourth.”
“Republicans are most likely to cite votes not being counted correctly (76%), ineligible voters casting ballots (72%), and corruption (70%).”
New York Times: “The reaction to the assault on Mr. Pelosi among Republicans — who have circulated conspiracy theories about it, dismissed it as an act of random violence and made the Pelosis the punchline of a dark joke — underscores how thoroughly the G.O.P. has internalized his example. It suggested that Republicans have come to conclude that, like Mr. Trump, they will pay no political price for attacks on their opponents, however meanspirited, inflammatory or false.”
“If anything, some Republicans seem to believe they will be rewarded by their right-wing base for such coarseness — or even suffer political consequences if they do not join in and show that they are in on the joke.”
“An enthusiastic Republican base and persistent concerns about the state of the economy place the GOP in a strong position with about a week to go in the race for control of the US House of Representatives,” according to a new CNN Poll.
“The new survey out Wednesday shows that Democratic enthusiasm about voting is significantly lower than it was in 2018, when the Democratic Party took control of the House. Republican voters in the new poll express greater engagement with this year’s midterm election than Democrats across multiple questions gauging likelihood of vote.”
“Heading into the final week of voting, some of Democrats’ key base voters’ levels of enthusiasm are far below that of Republican-base voter groups,” the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found.
“While white women with college degrees, who are an important bloc for Democrats, are among the most enthusiastic to vote, Black voters, Latinos and young voters are among the least.”
“At the same time, older voters, Trump voters, white evangelical Christians and rural voters — all key GOP groups — are fired up to vote. Those without college degrees are less enthusiastic about the election, but that’s driven by voters of color without degrees.”
“Notably, showing why midterm elections tend to be base elections, independents are also way down the list when it comes to enthusiasm.”
“The Justice Department is weighing whether to grant immunity to the Trump adviser Kash Patel and force his testimony about claims that highly sensitive government documents the FBI seized from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort were declassified,” The Guardian reports.
Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) on Tuesday deleted a tweet mocking the assault of Paul Pelosi, husband of her colleague, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
“Saudi Arabia has shared intelligence with the U.S. warning of an imminent attack from Iran on targets in the kingdom, putting the American military and others in the Middle East on an elevated alert level,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Tim Miller: “To summarize: Voters want to ensure that police are funded, that there are more cops on the streets, that guns are more difficult to purchase, and that people should be able to have police confiscate weapons from loved ones with mental health issues.”
“How about in bumper sticker form: More cops. Fewer guns and violent criminals on the street.”
“Or, in other words, exactly the policies that Joe Biden has tried to enact during his first two years and will continue if left to his own devices!”
“Two Washington power centers will on Wednesday lay bare the politically poisonous dynamics of the top economic issue threatening President Joe Biden’s congressional majorities with the midterm elections less than a week away,” CNN reports.
“The Fed is likely to trigger another historic interest rate hike and, about a half-mile away at the White House, Biden will host an event to highlight the administration’s extensive efforts to expand the workforce in critical fields like broadband and construction. One policy decision is expected to ripple through markets, media and politics alike, turning a spotlight directly onto an issue that Democratic officials say has wrought significant damage to their political prospects. The other will detail an intensive administration effort designed to reshape the pipeline to enter into professions over time.”
“President Biden’s top aide wakes up almost every morning at around 3:30 a.m. in his suburban Maryland home, rolls over in bed and pulls out his iPhone to check a number critical to the fate of the presidency,” the Washington Post reports.
“The information sought by Biden’s chief of staff is not covert intelligence from a foreign government nor a top-secret national security assessment, but a publicly available tracker on AAA.com — the average national gas price, which updates in the early morning…”
“Klain’s fixation on gas prices reflects a wider sense inside the Biden administration that the president’s popularity is, to a remarkable degree, tied up in that single indicator — one that many economists regard as not nearly as important as the attention it gets. With some incredulity, White House economic officials have watched for months as the president’s approval rating moves in almost exact relation to the average national gas price.”
“White suburban women, a key group of midterm voters, have significantly shifted their support from Democrats to Republicans in the closing days of midterm campaigning because of rising concerns over the economy and inflation,” according to the latest Wall Street Journal poll.
“The new survey shows that white women living in suburban areas, who make up 20% of the electorate, now favor Republicans for Congress by 15 percentage points, moving 27 percentage points away from Democrats since The Journal’s August poll.”
“America First Legal, launched by longtime Donald Trump aide Stephen Miller, has plastered airwaves and mailboxes with the issue ahead of the election — all without mentioning candidates currently running for office, as both groups are registered nonprofits,” Politico reports.
“There are just six days left in this chaotic midterm, which means campaigns around the country are readying their final pitches for voters,” Playbook reports.
“Candidates traditionally use their last flight of ads as a “closing argument” — a chance to tell voters who they are, what they plan to do if they win and, most importantly, ask for their vote. It’s the executive summary of their campaign, typically delivered direct-to-camera in a bid to make one final connection with voters.”
“But this year has been anything but typical. As those final ads have started trickling into Playbook HQ we’ve seen some candidates observe the old pieties, while others just continue bludgeoning their opponents.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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