Gubernatorial Race 2018 (Rome: ranking, top 10, sold)

[JPD]

Originally Posted by ronricks

1. Actually I have said Kemp is bad. Awful in fact. Multiple times. These are two very bad candidates and neither will be good for our state but for different reasons. I won't be voting for either of them. That is my right. I also am not a 'straight ticket' voter 2. I vote for who I think is most qualified not who has a (D) or (R) by their name. There is no more of an ignorant person than a straight ticket voter.

1. That's precisely what I said you said.

2. That may be, but curiously, you are only willing to spend time...a great deal of time, in fact...discussing the specifics of why you think Abrams is bad, while being totally unwilling to spend even a single sentence on why you think Kemp is bad. That is very curious, indeed.

[ronricks]

Originally Posted by JPD

1. That's precisely what I said you said.

2. That may be, but curiously, you are only willing to spend time...a great deal of time, in fact...discussing the specifics of why you think Abrams is bad, while being totally unwilling to spend even a single sentence on why you think Kemp is bad. That is very curious, indeed.

I have posted many times about Kemp's looney tunes ideas just like I have about Abrams. They both suck. Neither will be able to continue the successes of Deal. I guess we will just have to 'deal' with it?

[CaliDreaming01]

Originally Posted by Forhall

Another day of insane numbers. On this day in 2014 we were at 67K. Today we are at 211k. Glad to see higher non-whites voting as well, the white percentage at this point is 57% compared to 69% in 2014.

That said, voter turnout is sharply up in both democratic and republican counties. Clayton County, the most democratic county in Georgia, is early voting at nearly 500% the 2014 levels.

Very interesting data, though we don't yet know what it means. It's possible enthusiasm means people are simply voting earlier, yet overall turnout will be the same as usual. On the other hand, it could mean a very high turnout election.

Yes, it's so good to see so many people participating. All I can say is wow about those Clayton County figures! And 30.9 percent of those had never voted before. The only bad thing is that 75% of the people voting there were over age 50. I really hate to see this. Younger people have so much at stake and it sucks to see them not looking out for their interests.

We are all focused on the black vote, but I am really blown away by the increase in turnout among other minorities. These folks are making up 12% of the early vote, up from about 5% in 2014. Even more significantly, over 60% of these voters are "new" voters. So even though everyone is hyperfocused on black voters, the bigger story in my mind are the "others" who are showing up and being heard for the first time. I'm thinking a very high percentage of those voters who are classed as "other" are actually hispanics.

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

I could be wrong, but I think that the soaring early voting turnout numbers are a sign that the 2018 cycle is likely to be a very high turnout election across the board in both Democratic and Republican precincts.

Nationally, Democratic voters are highly energized because of their continued opposition to President Donald Trump's highly controversial rhetoric and policies while Republican voters seem to be highly energized because of their continued anger over what they feel was Democratic mistreatment of Brett Kavanaugh during his bruising Supreme Court confirmation fight.

Here in Georgia, Democratic voters (including the state's large bloc of black voters) also seem to be highly energized over the opportunity to elect the nation's first black female governor while Republican voters also seem to be highly energized to vote to keep Georgia a Republican-controlled state for at least one more gubernatorial cycle by voting for a Trump-endorsed GOP candidate in Brian Kemp.

It looks like it will just be a matter of which side's very high turnout is higher.

Yes, there definitely is a lot of energy on both sides. Even though Republican voters are clearly very energized, I do think that the high turnout overall is not good news for them. The problem is that the numbers of GOP voters is steadily shrinking as a percentage of the voting population. Their base already turns out reliably whether they are excited or not. They are already pretty much at max participation, so if Republicans are energized, they are just turning out the same old folks. The Democrats, on the other hand, have a large untapped pool of voters they can mobilize. In the past, nobody's bothered paying attention to these folks on the assumption that they just aren't going to turn out. Abrams seems to have found the key to getting these people out to the polls.

Looking at the early vote numbers, the majority of white voters voting early also voted early in 2014, and 75% over all are voters who voted in 2014 either early or on election day. For whites, the increased participation just seems to be voters voting earlier. For blacks and other minorities, the increased participation is coming heavily from people who are "new".

Also, there's a high likelyhood that of the 23% of whites who are "new" voters are skewed toward young Millennials, who skew heavily Democratic.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by ronricks

I have posted many times about Kemp's looney tunes ideas just like I have about Abrams. They both suck. Neither will be able to continue the successes of Deal. I guess we will just have to 'deal' with it?

This is a lie.

[stoxdiamond]

It's the blue wave, the only silver lining of Trump's presidency is that it caused a lot of idle voters to wake up. If Hillary had won all we would have seen would be more obstructionism from the Republican congress, more attacks on Hillary, and probably an even Redder congress in 2018. Essentially just a continuation of everything that happened under Obama.

Trump's behavior, being left unchecked by a red congress, has led many people to realize that they need to get out and vote in this year's midterms. It's definitely going to leads to a huge turnout nationwide, compared to previous midterms.

[bryantm3]

isn't stacey abrams the one who actually did the math on a GOP tax cut a few years ago and found out it would actually raise rates? and got the GOP to vote against their own plan?

i don't even know if half of y'all have even *seen* an interview with stacey abrams. you're just freaking the f out because it's a black woman. and repeating the same talking points over and over without discussing her history or what she's done in the state, or even her personality. nothing but kneejerk OH MY GOD A BLACK WOMAN HAS A CHANCE TO BE GOVERNOR and flinging every old stereotype that applies to black women— angry, irresponsible, extreme— at her without even listening to how she conducts herself or her positions.

and by the way, even though she is a black woman who has every right to be disgusted and enraged by confederate symbols, she voted AGAINST a bill that would have banned them from being erected on state property in 2015.

we don't have a 1930s cartoon black woman running for governor. we have a level-headed, intelligent, and reasonable candidate who we would be lucky to have run this state, running against a guy who's pointing a gun at a teenager in his TV ads and trying to rig the election for himself.

[ronricks]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

isn't stacey abrams the one who actually did the math on a GOP tax cut a few years ago and found out it would actually raise rates? and got the GOP to vote against their own plan?

i don't even know if half of y'all have even *seen* an interview with stacey abrams. you're just freaking the f out because it's a black woman. and repeating the same talking points over and over without discussing her history or what she's done in the state, or even her personality. nothing but kneejerk OH MY GOD A BLACK WOMAN HAS A CHANCE TO BE GOVERNOR and flinging every old stereotype that applies to black women— angry, irresponsible, extreme— at her without even listening to how she conducts herself or her positions.

and by the way, even though she is a black woman who has every right to be disgusted and enraged by confederate symbols, she voted AGAINST a bill that would have banned them from being erected on state property in 2015.

we don't have a 1930s cartoon black woman running for governor. we have a level-headed, intelligent, and reasonable candidate who we would be lucky to have run this state, running against a guy who's pointing a gun at a teenager in his TV ads and trying to rig the election for himself.

The only person that has mentioned she is black is you. Nobody cares about that in 2018. It does provide a convenient scapegoat though. I originally thought she was financially illiterate but after the AJC did some digging she isn't she is just as corrupt as any other politician who hides behind non profits and shell companies to run their money though. It is what it is. I don't think she or Kemp would be good for Georgia. Both have glaring faults.

[BELMO45]

I see another mess now in Gwinnett with absentees being tossed. Odds are in Gwinnett that’s gonna hurt republicans more than anything else. Of course the media doesn’t spin it that way. They only mention the minority candidates who have no chance anyway being in the most racist county in the nation. I highly doubt Abrams has any legit shot anyhow but if she loses by less than 3% (which I do not think she will) there will be a bunch of hoopla for a few weeks.

[BELMO45]

Originally Posted by stoxdiamond

It's the blue wave, the only silver lining of Trump's presidency is that it caused a lot of idle voters to wake up. If Hillary had won all we would have seen would be more obstructionism from the Republican congress, more attacks on Hillary, and probably an even Redder congress in 2018. Essentially just a continuation of everything that happened under Obama.

Trump's behavior, being left unchecked by a red congress, has led many people to realize that they need to get out and vote in this year's midterms. It's definitely going to leads to a huge turnout nationwide, compared to previous midterms.

I still expect no major changes from what is anticipated. Republicans gain a couple in senate and democrats win house. The only concern I have is that it may not be by as much as initially expected. You have to think that the house margin will be hurt based on what we see happening to Rosen, McCaskill, Heitkamp, and Beto. I’m guessing those 8-10 seats that looked to go Dem in some redder areas now will probably not so I’m thinking the majority is single digits

[DreamerD]

Originally Posted by bu2

And President Obama severely depressed consumer spending, making the recession even worse than it would have been. President Clinton had to tell him to quit belly-aching all the time. Obama, every day, was whining about how bad it was and how much worse it would get. Finally, after Clinton chastised him around late February, he learned to bite his tongue. I'd given him the same advice back in November in a letter, not that I expected anyone to do anything with the advice.

It was not any coincidence that the big crash in the market and employment didn't happen until after President Bush gave his speech talking about supporting the banking system because of how bad the housing crisis was.

I don't believe Pres. Obama should receive that amount of blame for the decrease in consumer spending. You had people getting loans they had no business getting/being granted. People were near to or maxed out on credit cards, etc. It was a bubble waiting to burst. People were living beyond their means and could no longer do so...not Pres. Obama's fault.