2018 Midterms: The Senate’s Most Vulnerable Democrat

Republicans are seeking to unseat an incumbent Democrat in a state Donald Trump won by 19 points.

Joe Donnelly opposed confirmation of Trump Cabinet nominees Betsy DeVos (Education Secretary), Tom Price (Health & Human Services Secretary), Rex Tillerson (Secretary of State), Jeff Sessions (Attorney General) and Steve Mnuchin (Treasury Secretary) and Scott Pruitt (EPA Administrator).

The week before Christmas Donnelly voted against the GOP tax reform bill calling it a “partisan tax hike on Indiana’s middle class” that “does nothing to prevent outsourcing of U.S. jobs to foreign countries, and it’s a giveaway to Wall Street and other big money interests.”

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act significantly lowers the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, doubles the standard deduction and doubles the per child tax credit.  When Donnelly cast his “No” vote he put his Party before the people of the Hoosier State.

Data-driven analyses from three separate nonpartisan organizations: The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), which is an official Congressional scorekeeper, the Tax Foundation (which leans to the right), and the Tax Policy Center or TPC, (which leans to the left) all agreed the GOP proposal would, on average, reduce the tax burdens of every income group in America.

In September when President Trump flew to the Indiana State Fairgrounds to rollout his tax reform bill he had Donnelly onboard Air Force One.  President Trump promised in front of the audience that unless Joe voted for tax reform, “We will come here, we will campaign against him like you wouldn’t believe.”

In October 2017, the nonpartisan Center for Effective Lawmaking, run by the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt, tagged Donnelly as the least effective Democrat in the U.S. Senate. Based on 15 different measures, from number of bills sponsored to number of bills becoming law, the center found that Donnelly was ineffectual at getting his bills through committee, let alone to floor votes.

Instead of acknowledging Obamacare has never worked, that Americans were lied to by Pelosi, Schumer, Sanders and The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer about costs and options and results, Senator Donnelly continues to insist Obamacare can be "fixed."

Donnelly earned the nickname “Mexico Joe” when a business linked to his family, Stewart Superior Corporation, profited from outsourcing jobs to Mexico.  According to a May 2017 financial disclosure form, he owned $50,000 in stocks which he sold shortly after The Associated Press published the story.

Primary elections in Indiana will be held on May 8, 2018 to determine which Democratic candidate and which Republican candidate will advance to the November 6 general election.  Before the May primary however, the Indiana Republican Party will host their first election year appearance of GOP senate candidates and conduct a grassroots Straw Poll on January 13, 2018 at the Congress of Counties in downtown Indianapolis.

“Our U.S. Senate straw poll will provide political watchers with the first grassroots barometer to measure early support in this high-profile, statewide race that has national implications. While our Republican candidates are supporting solutions to our nation’s biggest challenges, such as taxes and health care, Democrat Joe Donnelly stands as a roadblock alongside Chuck Schumer and his Democrat party bosses. I am confident that our eventual Republican Party nominee will defeat Democrat Donnelly next November─and events like this will help Hoosiers determine who that candidate will be,” said Chairman Kyle Hupfer.

Confirmed candidates for this special joint appearance are former State Rep. Mike Braun (R-Jasper), Mark Hurt (R-Kokomo), Congressman Luke Messer (R-Greensburg) and Andrew Takami (R-New Albany). Congressman Todd Rokita (R-Brownsburg) is also invited to attend and participate.

Register to participate in the straw poll and attend Congress of Counties here: http://www.indiana.gop/congressofcounties

If you're going to fight, fight like you're the third monkey on the ramp to Noah's Ark.

And brother, it's starting to rain.

— Schadenfreudelish (@aggierican) November 28, 2016

Buckle Up America: The 2018 Midterm Elections Opening Round

Buckle up for a vicious, multibillion-dollar fight for control of the Senate in 2018.  Up for re-election are 33 senators; 23 Democrats, 2 independents who caucus with Democrats and 8 Republicans.

Only two GOP senators (Flake of Arizona and Heller of Nevada) are considered truly vulnerable while 10 Senate Democrats up for re-election in states that Trump won in 2016 can be unseated if we organize to replace them with a candidate who will work for us─We The People.

Election history has shown the party that controls the White House almost always loses seats in Congress during midterm elections.  It’s up to us to rewrite that history.

Democrats will need to pick up three seats to retake control of the Senate.  Republicans will need a net gain of eight seats to hit the coveted 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster.  Political experts are cocksure such an outcome is far-fetched.  I believe we can force those experts to eat their words like when Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight gave Hillary a 79% chance of winning the 2016 presidential election compared to Donald Trump’s 20%.

The Toss-Up races are Flake (R-AZ), Donnelly (D-IN), McCaskill (D-MO), Heitkamp (D-ND), Heller (R-NV) and Manchin (D-WV).

The Tilt Democrat races are Nelson (D-FL), Tester (D-MT) and Baldwin (D-WI).  The Lean Democrat races are Brown (D-OH) and Casey (D-PA).  The Likely Democrat races are Smith who was appointed to replace disgraced Al Franken (D-MN) and Kaine who was Hillary’s running mate (D-VA).

DEMFAX will be an ongoing feature here at Political Clown Parade in an effort to keep everyone informed in the run-up to the primaries and the general election.  Republicans have been apathetic for far too long.  Perhaps with the passage of the tax reform bill they’ve finally learned how to fight.  The long knives will be out in 2018.  Need proof?

A feminista touted as a legal analyst and CNN commentator noted on December 22, 2016:

While the year saw the rise of Trump, this is not the beginning of his term, it is the end. As painful as it has been to watch him and his supporters rally, theirs is merely a last gasp of a dying world view.

That's what 2017 represents for me: a last gasp by Trump and the bigoted, sexist, nationalist and greedy forces that propelled him to power. 

[snip]

2017 is the last gasp. Trump's world will come to an end. In fact, just remove Trump and much of this madness disappears. And he will be removed. He'll cross too many lines. Hell, he might even be removed from office. There will be another president. The damage will get reversed─and Americans, proud of who we really are, will be the ones left standing. 

[snip]

The best thing for us to do, as he seems to lose his grip on reality, is to hold tight to ours. Continue to show up to the polls, ask questions, demand answers, speak up and step up, run for office. 

All the Democrats have is their deep-seated hatred.  They will say “if you hate Donald Trump vote for me.”  They have nothing to offer.  Nothing.

As I mentioned above, this will be an ongoing effort here on this blog.  We must mobilize and fight back.

The primaries critical to gaining the 60-vote threshold in the Senate are:  Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Montana, North Dakota, Virginia, Missouri, Wisconsin and Florida.