I Am not happy with the Democrats

@hlpflwthat: you are 100% right.
I see it now as a seat they will lose in June.

With 1 Republican to get behind, and with much to lose, the GOP will make hay out of the Democrat not even LIVING in this district.(he lives with his gf, close to the University she is completing her medical degree at).

This is not a small issue, and will be made huge with a fake news onslaught, now that their own single candidate is confirmed, and that the machine can be put into motion on her behalf.

The GOP candidate herself seems half human, and that hurts the Dems too. She doesn't look like she shoots firecrackers out her behind every time she farts, like so many of the cranky old men set they seem to like

And when that is the case - when he doesn't reside in the district - I have thoughts about our 'win at all costs' style of politics today in the US. Isn't doing much for effective governance. Or civil discussion of important issues.

I'm always interested in moving the entire process forward and upward.

@CassandraFemale17: And let's don't forget that the seat will still be up again in '18 like all the rest ... after a couple years of the present GOP and 45.

@hlpflwthat: He did grow up in the district and will return to it after his gf completes her studies. Apparently. And living in the district is never a prerequisite, but it is a bullseye target on his back.

I just hope he plays to competence more than his opponent, and I hope the Dems pull out all the stops. Last night was their loss. I hope they learn a ton from it.

@hlpflwthat: yes it will be up. In 2018.

But it's always harder to unseat someone running. It is much easier to win an open seat.

And then there is Trump. He has a myriad f things he can do to look better in 2018 than he does currently. And that includes war. Somehow we all get behind a President when there's a war. Even an illegal one.

If the Dems cannot win this now with Trump in the toilet, the risk is massive, and time will likely play in Trumps favor.

Clinton became a popular President, but at this same point in his Presidency he was massively unpopular.

Trump can gain momentum by the midterms too.
Most new President do.

The time is now for the Democrats

For these 2 or 3 odd seats. And that will accomplish exactly what? Respectfully, I've gotta say 2018 is infinitely more important than now, in my opinion. And I would hope in the opinion of the DNC.

I understand the opportunity and the chagrin at blowing this. But given the choice, I would choose big victory in '18 over these seats in 2017.

@hlpflwthat: respectfully you are mostly wrong. And very, at that.

2018 will be a shitshow with every House seat up for reelection. Therefore there won't be the same light shone on a single district. There won't be the same level of attention.

Hypothetically, If the balance was 100-100, the win of just one becomes 101-99. A win of one seat more, becomes a loss of 2 in numbers to the other side.

If Democrats say any seat, ANY ONE SEAT doesn't matter, they are massively mistaken. There are of course some seats that will never vote Democrat, thus the investment wouldn't be worth the effort. This isn't one of them. With Trump taking it by a mere +1% of this district it is prime for movement, and this one is as open as one will get.

If they fail in this, as they have already failed post Trump in the last, it is a good omen that GOP voters are not looking at Trump when they vote, and will vote in spite of the anti-Trump sentiment.

@hlpflwthat: this seat is of prime importance too, as the incumbent is not running.

The seat is wide open.

Whomever wins will have a huge advantage in 2018, having a record of representing and working for the voters for the next 19 months until then.

Voters tend to like incumbents, unless their world is falling apart.

I know you're well-versed in political history. I couldn't argue any of the points-past you mention. But I think we're on pretty different pages about what we hope to see from the party.

I think that if we focus on the past, doing what we've done in the past, strategy based on what's happened in the past, we'll be offering up the same fare as 2016 and years earlier. Voter apathy maybe even increases.

I'm sorry, but the past and status quo are fucked. The [i]same[/i] DNC pushes its party favorites. The [i]same[/i] DNC peers down its nose at deplorables. The [i]same[/i] DNC didn't see this election coming, and isn't focused on the next one either. We don't need the same DNC.

Go head and win every fucking election between now & 2018. Congress and the White House will still be GOP controlled. But lose 2018, and the House & Senate stay GOP, with whoever the GOP prez happens to be.

And if you're really convinced that 2018 isn't doable - why bother?

@hlpflwthat: good lord. I wasnt suggesting to ignore 2018. Not once. I was saying every election until then matters in a very big way. And any election before then is a huge opportunity especially given Trumps current unpopularity.

If we say forget about these one by one elections and only wait and concentrate efforts on all seats in 2018, this is a catastrophic strategy. We have to take advantage of Trumps unpopuality NOW, keeping in mind that any new seat we win, will have a Dem history when the midterms come about in 2018. And incumbents hold the advantage.

In the meantime, Trump has a thousand opportunities to do something to raise his popularity over the next 19 months, and make it harder for Dems to gain seats.

Not once have I said cling to the past. That would be a devastating position to moving forward.

But we have to field candidates who spark interest. And not be the Howdy Doodie smiley candidates like Tim Kaine, and not be cardboard personality types like this current one in Georgia. They have to have appeal!

But in addition to candidates with appeal, the party itself needs to have a message that resonates.

If w couldn't pull this one off with 5 GOP candidates fighting it out, we will have a harder time now that they will support only 1.

My point was, in this fight, the time was now, and now will rapidly fade into the past. The fire under the GOP has been lit. They will fight for this huge. At the same time, the Democrats momentum will be fading.

Again, each seat matters, and each special election. The more of them we win before 2018, the more seats we hold going into the midterms. And the ones holding the seat has a statistically greater probability of holding it. Simple.

This seat was open. Is open. And we have probably lost it as we didn't win it when the GOP were at each other trying to win it.

Go look at videos of Osoff who nearly won. Try to not fall asleep. The Democrats keep nominating these nicely nicely smiley do-gooders instead of the fighters we need.

That is forward looking. Not backward.

My words ...
[quote] Respectfully, I've gotta say 2018 is infinitely more important than now, in my opinion. And I would hope in the opinion of the DNC.

I understand the opportunity and the chagrin at blowing this. But given the choice, I would choose big victory in '18 over these seats in 2017.[/quote]

Your next words ...
[quote] respectfully you are mostly wrong. And very, at that.[/quote]

Can you show me where I said forget about this election? I think I agreed with everything you said about it.

@hlpflwthat: I am not arguing.

Of course we want a big victory in 2018. We all do. There will not be enough special elections before then to upset the balance of power.

But these special elections are like a kind of thermometer taking The temperature out there. And if we Dems don't get it together fast, and start winning these easier elections, forget what we 'want' in '18.

Yes when all 435 seats are running at the same time, the chances appear greater. But they only appear that way if we are losing all the small battles up until then, we should expect to continue to lose them.

We will have proved we are not ready. Of course it's far more exciting to win 30, 40, 60 extra seats. But if we think one seat doesn't matter, we are lost.