[Discussion] The 2018 Midterms Catch-All

News and discussion related to the 2018 midterms.

It's going to be painful here waiting for the results in France since I'm 7 hours ahead of central time. I'm going to have to wait until morning to see the results.

robc wrote:

It's going to be painful here waiting for the results in France since I'm 7 hours ahead of central time. I'm going to have to wait until morning to see the results.

Waiting until tomorrow to see the results is the mentally healthier option.

I know that, but I'm still battling on whether or not to get a bottle of bourbon, get both increasingly drunk and upset as the results trickle in or start another colony in Rimworld where I base my economy on selling yayo, dusters made out of long pork leather, and organs harvested from captured raiders.

Why not both?

Seth wrote:

Quick note - Bohemian Rhapsody is way tf better than the critics are saying. I am confident you will enjoy yourself.

(Try not to check your phone for election results though, you’re in a theater! :))

Less for annoying people with your phone and more for the chance of annoying people with an audible "Oh for f***'s sake."

Nevin73 wrote:

Why not both?

The hangover I had after the 2016 election was bad. I'm going to try and not be invested in outcomes. We have no paper backups, so who knows if my vote will even be counted. Went out and voted anyway.

I just saw the scariest ad I've ever scene for Josh Hawley. A woman with a saccharine sweet voice said that it is Election day and that voting records are public and that my neighbors WILL find out if I didn't vote. She then tells me not to let the Liberals win and to vote for Josh Hawley. I've never wanted to punch a candidate in the nose more.

MathGoddess wrote:

The hangover I had after the 2016 election was bad. I'm going to try and not be invested in outcomes. We have no paper backups, so who knows if my vote will even be counted. Went out and voted anyway.

I find it helps if you internalize that America's been much worse than this before.

My polling place was also busier than I've ever seen it. I'm pretty sure Amy McGrath is going to carry my county, but I'm in a little blue boat in a sea of red. I hope Amy can win this race!

I voted! First ever non-Presidential election! Mostly blue with a few green.

Grenn wrote:

I voted! First ever non-Presidential election! Mostly blue with a few green.

Good job! That’s an important race.

Ugh, I gotta stop sitting here watching real-time election results. Definitely getting flashbacks to 2016 and generally just not feeling good about things.

This is 2016 all over. Seriously.

Nathaniel Rakich
8:27 PM

You may have noticed that our real-time forecast has moved toward Republicans in the House. It’s being too aggressive, in my opinion. The model sees that a bunch of “likely Republican” districts (particularly in Florida) are now 100 percent likely to go red. But there hasn’t been the chance for Democrats to clinch many equivalent likely Democratic districts.

From 538's live blog.

Sure. Still not a great sign.
But there is also Florida not looking good - though it is hard to say based on where results are coming in.*
Weird NYTs site isn't up yet, they are doing these live predictions better.

*If Reps win Florida it would be a sign that polls might be a few % too far in Democrats direction

I cannot understand the mind of a person that would still vote republican after the last four years. I guess if they are totally ignorant and oblivious to what has been happening maybe, that is the only justification I can imagine.

LeapingGnome wrote:

I cannot understand the mind of a person that would still vote republican after the last four years. I guess if they are totally ignorant and oblivious to what has been happening maybe, that is the only justification I can imagine.

Or, they like it.

LeapingGnome wrote:

I cannot understand the mind of a person that would still vote republican after the last four years. I guess if they are totally ignorant and oblivious to what has been happening maybe, that is the only justification I can imagine.

I keep thinking about this tonight.

Seniors Are More Conservative Because the Poor Don’t Survive to Become Seniors

My mom died last year at 61. Very young for the developed world. But she was poor. She was born poor and never got off the treadmill. I'll probably die by the time I'm not much older than she was.

This is how they win. They have a system setup to grind up the disadvantaged.

Anecdotally, when I voted this morning, there was a disproportionate amount of older white couples. Seriously, like maybe 3/4 of the voters seemed to fit this category. A fair number of individual younger women as well. I was disheartened in several ways to see very few minorities (maybe 3-4 total, and that's counting my wife ). I chalk some of this up to the time of day we voted though. Most people probably were at work or otherwise busy. I just happened to have the day off in my schedule.

LeapingGnome wrote:

I cannot understand the mind of a person that would still vote republican after the last four years. I guess if they are totally ignorant and oblivious to what has been happening maybe, that is the only justification I can imagine.

Easy to achieve if you only watch Fox News.

Amendment 4 just passed in Florida, restoring voting rights to 1.4 million convicted felons.

gewy wrote:

Anecdotally, when I voted this morning, there was a disproportionate amount of older white couples. Seriously, like maybe 3/4 of the voters seemed to fit this category. A fair number of individual younger women as well. I was disheartened in several ways to see very few minorities (maybe 3-4 total, and that's counting my wife ). I chalk some of this up to the time of day we voted though. Most people probably were at work or otherwise busy. I just happened to have the day off in my schedule.

LeapingGnome wrote:

I cannot understand the mind of a person that would still vote republican after the last four years. I guess if they are totally ignorant and oblivious to what has been happening maybe, that is the only justification I can imagine.

Easy to achieve if you only watch Fox News.

Or don’t pay attention to any news. A well-dressed white guy in line in front of me and my wife made some off-handed comment about “the radio was talking about how people are mad in Georgia about some guy saying Democrats are trying to hack the election.”

About four of us explained the whole thing.

The guy looked legitimately shocked that not only did Kemp make that sh*t up but that Kemp was allowed to oversee his own election.

It was the first time he heard any of that.

Are we going to get a consistent pronunciation on the name "Beto" tonight?

Yay Kansas.

Florida looking shaky as usual.

Stele wrote:

Yay Kansas.

Florida looking shaky as usual.

Florida going to Florida.

So, as a Canadian, can someone tell me what it means, politically, that the House has flipped from Republican Control to Democratic control?

Woo, just read that Dems have control of the House!

In Utah it looks like Romney wins Hatch's Senate seat, and it's looking good for US House seat 4 to flip to Democrat Ben McAdams. As well, as Medical Cannabis, and expanded Medicare passing.

Looking deeper at the Salt Lake County races it's looking like a poor night for Republicans for county wide positions/seats.

mudbunny wrote:

So, as a Canadian, can someone tell me what it means, politically, that the House has flipped from Republican Control to Democratic control?

I guess it means Democrats can stop most of Trumps/Reps legislation. Though Reps where also pretty good at stopping most of their legislation.
And they can be a pain in the butt for Trump with investigations - though probably not with any meaningful outcome other than bringing attention to them.
On the other hand, Trump might have an easier job blaming democrats, if the economy goes down (not that it would matter, Fox would frame it anyway).
And he can still screw things up with Executive orders, and Senate can still do their conservative judicial make-over.
Correct me if I am wrong?

mudbunny wrote:

So, as a Canadian, can someone tell me what it means, politically, that the House has flipped from Republican Control to Democratic control?

It means (theoretically) that Democrats will be able to block any legislation and they’ll have subpoena power by virtue of controlling House committees.

Shadout wrote:
mudbunny wrote:

So, as a Canadian, can someone tell me what it means, politically, that the House has flipped from Republican Control to Democratic control?

I guess it means Democrats can stop most of Trumps/Reps legislation. Though Reps where also pretty good at stopping most of their legislation.
And they can be a pain in the butt for Trump with investigations - though probably not with any meaningful outcome other than bringing attention to them.
On the other hand, Trump might have an easier job blaming democrats, if the economy goes down (not that it would matter, Fox would frame it anyway).
And he can still screw things up with Executive orders, and Senate can still do their conservative judicial make-over.
Correct me if I am wrong?

Sounds about right.