Trump Was Going to Announce Prez Run Before Midterms

“Donald Trump was seriously considering announcing a week from today before the election because he thought Republicans are gonna win the House, gonna win the Senate, and he wanted to take credit for it. … He’s now backed away from it. He may deny it, but he told people who raise money for him, he told political people that this is what he was going to do.”

— Republican pollster Frank Luntz told Fox News that Donald Trump “was seriously considering” announcing a presidential bid before the midterms.

Fetterman Rakes in $2M Following Debate with Oz

$2 million

The first and only debate between Pennsylvania Senate candidates John Fetterman and Dr. Mehmet Oz on Tuesday yielded a fundraising windfall for both candidates, reports the Daily Beast. Fetterman reportedly raised $2 million by Wednesday afternoon. The Oz campaign went dollar for dollar, filing a fundraising report showing nearly $2.2 million in receipts. But $2 million of that came from Oz himself.

Four Points to Give Democrats Hope

Political Wire‘s Taegan Goddard notes that though polling and historical midterm trends show Democrats potentially losing their majority in the House and with only a 50:50 chance of maintaining their slim margin in the Senate, there still are some reasons not to succumb to pessimism.

Four things Democrats can point to:

  • The economy isn’t as bad as some polling suggests. It’s true that inflation is at a 40-year high, but the economy is growing and there are still more job openings than people looking for work.
  • Abortion rights will be a motivating factor for many voters — particularly young women. It’s not often that a fundamental right is taken away in this country and we saw Democratic candidates outperform in a series of special elections over the summer. We also saw voters in Kansas come out in extraordinary numbers to make sure abortion stayed legal in their state.
  • The polls could be wrong — maybe even very wrong. In two of the last three election cycles polling proved wildly misleading. Though pollsters insist they have improved their “likely voter” screens, we have seen fewer polls this year from fewer pollsters. That could make even the polling averages unreliable.
  • The number of Americans who vote early continues to rise. It’s extremely hard to gain insights from early voting trends, but overall it is generally viewed as an advantage for Democrats.
  • Midterms Present Voters a Clear Choice

    “The issues on the congressional ballot this year are momentous. But, for the most part, they are not what is being discussed by the candidates, highlighted in voice-of-doom TV ads and emphasized by the media. … To oversimplify a bit, the choice on the ballot in November — especially for the House — comes down to whether voters want to impeach Joe Biden or complete the investigation into Trump’s complicity in the Jan. 6 insurrection.”

    Walter Shapiro

    Ask Dr. Democrat

    Dear Dr. Democrat,

    The polls are unreliable. The pundits are unfathomable. What’s going to happen in the midterm elections?

    Worried in Wimauma

    Dear Worried:

    You should be.

    Republicans will take both houses in the midterms, THEN the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act will kick in, prescription drug prices will fall, Biden’s De-frickin-cember releases from the strategic petroleum reserve will bring down gas prices, and things will start to get better. Republicans will take and get all the credit, and we will be there going, “No, it was us! Really it was! Vote for us again!”

    The two botched impeachments, the Mueller report and the way-too-late Jan. 6 Commission will fade like the afternoon sun does without daylight saving time, and new impeachments and investigations, all centered on Democrats, will dominate the news cycles right up to election day 2024…when Ron DeSantis becomes our next president.

    Sorry, no balm of Gilead here.

    Be careful,

    Dr. Democrat

    Dem PAC Pours $20 Million Into State Races

    $20 million

    “With the battle for state legislatures taking on an elevated importance during this midterm cycle, a Democratic super PAC is investing more than $20 million in state legislative races, with about 70 percent of the funds going to support candidates in 25 districts across Michigan, Pennsylvania and Arizona,” the New York Times reports. “The investment is from Forward Majority, the super PAC, as Democrats across the country are pouring significant resources into state legislative races.”