ChrisWeigant.com

Archive of Articles in the "2016 Elections" Category

The D.C. Marijuana Compromise

[ Posted Tuesday, December 9th, 2014 – 18:14 UTC ]

One Maryland Republican in the House, apparently still upset that his state donated the land for D.C. centuries ago (or something), pushed an amendment to the cromnibus that would have flat-out overturned the will of the people on Initiative 71, and kept recreational marijuana fully illegal in District law. Democrats indicated that this was a deal-breaker for them (on the entire cromnibus bill), so today a compromise of sorts seems to have been reached.

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Friday Talking Points [327] -- The Calm Between The Storms

[ Posted Friday, November 14th, 2014 – 17:56 UTC ]

What walks like a duck and quacks like a duck but seems to have serious mobility problems?

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Elizabeth Warren Moves Up

[ Posted Thursday, November 13th, 2014 – 16:59 UTC ]

Senator Elizabeth Warren is about to become more influential in the Democratic Party. It was announced today that she will be joining the ranks of the Democrats' Senate leadership, albeit in a newly-created position that might be best called "Progressive Liaison." The position is seen as forming a new bridge between progressives and the party leadership, who have mostly been much more timid when it comes to issues with real populist appeal. Depending on what sort of leadership role Warren carves out for herself, this could be very good news.

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SiX Could Be The Answer To ALEC

[ Posted Monday, November 10th, 2014 – 18:04 UTC ]

Politico has an interesting article up which details the efforts in the liberal political donor camp to come up with something to combat the influence of the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. The new liberal counterpart will be named the State Innovation Exchange, or "SiX." Creative capitalization seems to be their first innovation.

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Friday Talking Points [326] -- A Democratic Economic Platform For Next Time

[ Posted Friday, November 7th, 2014 – 17:14 UTC ]

President Obama called the 2010 midterms a "shellacking." He demurred on providing a label for the 2014 midterms, but others sprang into the void. The most notable label so far (the one seemingly most repeated, at any rate) is that Democrats suffered an "ass-kicking" this past Tuesday night. At this point, I won't quibble over terms. Democrats got beat, and they got beat pretty badly.

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The Aftermath

[ Posted Wednesday, November 5th, 2014 – 17:00 UTC ]

It's either the morning after, or the mourning after -- take your choice.

Last night, Democrats got well and truly shellacked once again in a midterm election. It was so bad, it's pretty hard for Democrats to even attempt to gild the lily or spot that elusive silver lining. Republicans are consumed with glee, which they've well earned this year.

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Onward To 2016!

[ Posted Tuesday, October 28th, 2014 – 17:12 UTC ]

With one week to go until the 2014 midterm elections, almost all of the punditocracy world is absolutely chomping at the bit for this cycle to already be over, so they can concentrate on the much-more-fun 2016 presidential election season. This is pretty obvious, with some media now swooning over Jeb Bush's possible candidacy and the Clintons out stumping for other Democrats (and being covered more in the news than the actual candidates).

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Contemplating A Republican Senate

[ Posted Monday, October 20th, 2014 – 17:40 UTC ]

As frightening a prospect as it is for progressives and liberals and other assorted Democrats, it is now impossible not to contemplate what two years of a Republican-led Senate would be like. While Democrats are still putting on a brave face about their chances in the 2014 midterms ("Our ground game is going to win the day!"), the possibility of Republicans picking up the six Senate seats they now need to gain control of the chamber is very real and even (according to many election forecasters) probable. But what would this mean for President Obama's last two years in office?

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Friday Talking Points [320] -- Congress Briefly Interrupts 3-Month Vacation To "Work"

[ Posted Friday, September 19th, 2014 – 16:57 UTC ]

Congress followed up their recent five-week vacation with almost two whole weeks of actually doing their jobs, so to reward themselves they're now going to take off on another vacation. Until mid-November. The American people will show their disgust at this pathetic work ethic by returning upwards of ninety percent of them to office, if this year is anything like a typical one. The big question on everyone's mind is whether the Democrats will hold onto control of the Senate, which will mean two years of gridlock with the Republican House, or whether Republicans will gain control of the Senate, which will mean two years of gridlock with both the Tea Party and the president.

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Schrödinger's Candidate?

[ Posted Thursday, September 18th, 2014 – 16:36 UTC ]

"Aha!" I thought, "Hillary Clinton attending a Steak Fry (which is not a steak fry, simultaneously) is a perfect political metaphor: she is Schrödinger's candidate!"

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