USA Elections 2016 - started Feb 21, 2016

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/peter-roff/articles/2016-02-26/clint...

Finally an accurate analysis of the American election which occurs very infrequently. Read it and weep.

At least CNN interviewed the writer this morning

How America Made Donald Trump Unstoppable

He's no ordinary con man. He's way above average — and the American political system is his easiest mark ever 

The unexpectedly thrilling Democratic Party race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, too, is breaking just right for Trump. It's exposing deep fissures in the Democratic strategy that Trump is already exploiting.

Every four years, some Democrat who's been a lifelong friend of labor runs for president. And every four years, that Democrat gets thrown over by national labor bosses in favor of some party lifer with his signature on a half-dozen job-exporting free-trade agreements.

It's called "transactional politics," and the operating idea is that workers should back the winner, rather than the most union-friendly candidate.

This year, national leaders of several prominent unions went with Hillary Clinton – who, among other things, supported her husband's efforts to pass NAFTA – over Bernie Sanders. Pissed, the rank and file in many locals revolted. In New Hampshire, for instance, a Service Employees International Union local backed Sanders despite the national union's endorsement of Clinton, as did an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers chapter.

Trump is already positioning himself to take advantage of the political opportunity afforded him by "transactional politics." He regularly hammers the NAFTA deal in his speeches, applying to it his favorite word, "disaster." And he just as regularly drags Hillary Clinton into his hypothetical tales of job-saving, talking about how she could never convince Detroit carmakers out of moving a factory to Mexico.

Unions have been abused so much by both parties in the past decades that even mentioning themes union members care about instantly grabs the attention of workers. That's true even when it comes from Donald Trump, a man who kicked off the fourth GOP debate saying "wages [are] too high" and who had the guts to tell theDetroit News that Michigan autoworkers make too much money.

You will find union members scattered at almost all of Trump's speeches. And there have been rumors of unions nationally considering endorsing Trump. SEIU president Mary Kay Henry even admitted in January that Trump appeals to members because of the "terrible anxiety" they feel about jobs.

"I know guys, union guys, who talk about Trump," says Rand Wilson, an activist from the Labor for Bernie organization. "I try to tell them about Sanders, and they don't know who he is. Or they've just heard he's a socialist. Trump they've heard of."

This is part of a gigantic subplot to the Trump story, which is that many of his critiques of the process are the same ones being made by Bernie Sanders. The two men, of course, are polar opposites in just about every way – Sanders worries about the poor, while Trump would eat a child in a lifeboat – but both are laser-focused on the corrupting role of money in politics.

Both propose "revolutions" to solve the problem, the difference being that Trump's is an authoritarian revolt, while Sanders proposes a democratic one. If it comes down to a Sanders-Trump general election, the matter will probably be decided by which candidate the national press turns on first: the flatulent narcissist with cattle-car fantasies or the Democrat who gently admires Scandinavia. Would you bet your children on that process playing out sensibly?

In the meantime, Trump is cannily stalking the Sanders vote. While the rest of the GOP clowns just roll their eyes at Sanders, going for cheap groans with bits about socialism, Trump goes a different route. He hammers Hillary and compliments Sanders. "I agree with [Sanders] on two things," he says. "On trade, he said we're being ripped off. He just doesn't know how much."

He goes on. "And he's right with Hillary because, look, she's receiving a fortune from a lot of people."

At a Democratic town hall in Derry, New Hampshire, Hillary's strangely pathetic answer about why she accepted $675,000 from Goldman to give speeches – "That's what they offered" – seemed doomed to become a touchstone for the general-election contest. Trump would go out on Day One of that race and blow $675,000 on a pair of sable underwear, or a solid-gold happy-face necktie. And he'd wear it 24 hours a day, just to remind voters that his opponent sold out for the Trump equivalent of lunch money.

Trump will surely argue that the Clintons are the other half of the dissolute-conspiracy story he's been selling, representing a workers' party that abandoned workers and turned the presidency into a vast cash-for-access enterprise, avoiding scrutiny by making Washington into Hollywood East and turning labor leaders and journalists alike into starstruck courtiers. As with everything else, Trump personalizes this, making his stories of buying Hillary's presence at his wedding a part of his stump speech. A race against Hillary Clinton in the general, if it happens, will be a pitch right in Trump's wheelhouse – and if Bill Clinton is complaining about the "vicious" attacks by the campaign of pathological nice guy Bernie Sanders, it's hard to imagine what will happen once they get hit by the Trumpdozer.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-america-made-donald-trump-...

Twisted!  

http://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2016/02/28/displaced-disney-workers...

O'Leary pontificates for the 1%

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/29/donald-trump-will-be-president-and-stocks...

The notion that Trump and Sanders are pulling different ends of the same troubled American heartstring is not new, but over the disparate strains of Muse tunes and “Mustang Sally” at the Cox Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City on Sunday, Paul and Sherelle Bowermann were living proof of this theory. They, along with over 4,000 other Oklahomans, had come to hear Sanders speak at an event that included Native American dancing and the obligatory rendition of “This Land Is Your Land” (Woody Guthrie was from Oklahoma, after all). The Bowermanns were supporting the Vermont senator, but “believe it or not, our second choice is Trump,” said Sherelle, 73. In a general election, given the choice between the Manhattan businessman and Clinton, they would vote for Trump. Paul, 68, who characterized his political outlook as “eclectic,” liked that Sanders seemed “more compassionate to people who are down and out” and that Trump seemed to be “protesting the powers that be, the billionaires that run the country.”

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/if-you-want-to-understand-whats-roil...

Warren, although she would never say it, must be very disappointed how this Dem race appears to be turning out.

Warren's ghost hovers over Massachusetts primary

As Clinton and Sanders slug it out, the state's most prominent politician is watching and waiting.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/elizabeth-warren-clinton-sanders-m...

The GOP nomination for president contest is over. It's a done deal.

Not long ago people were suggesting Trump GOP's ceiling was in the 30's % range.

Do people realize the lastest CNN poll, which have been accurate, has Trump now at 49% support in the GOP?

Any Democrat who underestimates Trump is an utter fool.

After GOP establishment 'froze' on Trump, Democrats ready battle plans

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/29/politics/donald-trump-democrats-election-2...

Donald Trump's candidacy is going to realign the political parties

http://www.vox.com/polyarchy/2016/3/1/11139054/trump-party-realignment

So here come the early results

Kasich 2nd in Vermont after Trump

The media's Trump reckoning: 'Everyone was wrong'

From the New Yorker to FiveThirtyEight, outlets across the spectrum failed to grasp the Trump phenomenon.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/donald-trump-media-response-220033

No matter what happens Sanders is staying in the race all the way to Philadelphia

National poll: Clinton, Sanders both top Trump

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/01/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-bern...

Nobody is probably going to be throwing in the towel tonite which probably will be celebrated in Trump headquarters tonite. 

Mass but early going

Sanders 67%

Clinton 33%

Seemed to take a long time but Sanders now has won handily OK

http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/election-2016/primary-forecast/oklah...

--

Looks like Rubio is going to win a state after all tonite - Minnesota  

Right now Clinton has 79% of the delegates and 24% of the required delegates to win

Right now Sanders has 21% of the delegates and 10% of the required delegates to win

Delegate count

Clinton 883

Sanders 232

Not allocated 3,650

Need to win 2,383

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2016-delegate-tracker/

Sarah Palin's Alaska should be a hoot for the GOP.  

So far Clinton 7 states and Sanders 3 states tonite

I gather we are just waiting for Alaska now.

 FollowJosh Putnam‏@FHQ

MN's unique. Trump currently running 3rd. 2012's frontrunner -- Romney -- finished 3rd there as well. http://ow.ly/YXFh8 

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/super-tuesday-trump-cruz-rubio-car...

Trump toned down his remarks tonite.