Don Peterson to primary Pete Schwartzkopf

Don Peterson to primary Pete Schwartzkopf

Breaking: Don Peterson has filed to run against Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf in the Democratic Primary. Here is his press release:
Don Peterson, a progressive social activist from Rehoboth Beach, filed paperwork today to challenge Speaker of the House Pete Schwartzkopf in the Democratic primary. [...] “I am running for State Representative in the 14th District because I believe it’s time for a change. It’s time for a new, more progressive voice in Dover, for someone who has the time and energy to focus on the people of this District – all of them. I want to work to close the income inequality gap, reform our broken criminal justice system, strengthen the social safety net for those of us most in need, and provide open, transparent and responsive government.” Recognizing the issues facing residents of Sussex County, Peterson is concerned about the lack of quality permanent jobs in the district and services available to meet the needs of our aging population. "Although we live in a relatively affluent area, there are under-served communities nearby that lack safe, secure and affordable housing, and even drinkable water. Social programs are underfunded, and a surprising level of racism still exists. These are important issues that we must not ignore," he said. Peterson believes his strong background in government budget and finance, his experience as a leadership and organizational coach, his lifelong commitment to social justice, and the knowledge he’s gleaned from his years of political and community activism in eastern Sussex County prepare him to deal with the range of challenging issues facing Delaware.
Pete's moves seeking an early endorsement of both his own 14th RD and the 20th RD now make sense, as he expected to be primaried. And the resignations of most of the [progressive members] of the 14th RD board now make sense, as they are likely to support Don. [Update: commenters below have indicated that most of the board did not resign, but most of the progressive members did].
Wednesday Open Thread [3.2.16]

Wednesday Open Thread [3.2.16]

It is amazing to me, and ironic, that Sanders is now in the Hillary role from 2008, relying exclusively and explicitly on the white vote to win hand picked states rather than campaigning everywhere, while Hillary is now in the Obama role from 2016, running up an insurmountable delegate lead due to large wipe-outs in more diverse states. Look, I know Bernie's supporters do not want to hear this, but this race for the nomination is over. To quote Tim Russert from 2008, we now know who the Democratic nominee is going to be and no one can dispute it: Hillary Clinton. Hillary is now running a general election campaign, removing her focus from Sanders and directing it to Trump. Her campaign will not attack Sanders or demand he drop out. Nor should he drop out. The race should continue, so that he accumulates delegates to have a voice at the convention and in the party platform, and to keep his supporters engaged. And even he knows that, since last night he said his campaign was about more than the Presidency.

Super Tuesday Results [Updated 6:20pm]

At 7 pm, Hillary wins Georgia and Virginia. Bernie wins Vermont. Trump wins Georgia. Trump and Rubio in a nailbiter in Virginia. Trump and Kasich in a nailbiter in Vermont. I will be filing in the maps below as the night progresses. Update 8 pm: Hillary wins Tennessee and Alabama. Oklahoma and Massachusetts are too early to call, but NBC says Sanders is leading in Oklahoma. Trump has won Tennessee, Massachusetts and Alabama. Oklahoma is too close to call. Update 9:30 pm: Hillary wins Texas and Arkansas. Trump wins Virginia. Cruz wins Oklahoma and Texas. Sanders wins Oklahoma. Hillary is leading Massachusetts 51-48 with 19% in, but with Boston out, which likely means she is in good shape there. Update 10:30 pm: Trump has won Arkansas. Hillary is still leading Massachusetts with 68% in, 51-48. Sanders is leading Minnesota 59-41 with 15% in. Sanders is leading Colorado 53-45 with 9% in. Rubio is leading Cruz in Minnesota 37 to 27 with 10% in. I am going to go ahead and color all the rest of the states in, even though they are not official. If it changes, I will change it in the morning. Update 6:20 am: Sanders ended up winning Colorado and Minnesota, and Hillary won Massachusetts. Cruz won his third state of the night, Alaska! And Rubio won Minnesota, but Trump dashed hopes of four GOP winners by winning Vermont over Kasich. Also, regarding the GOP side in Colorado, the Republicans held a caucus where they didn't vote or assign pledged electors. Stay tuned for the Open Thread where we analyze the analysis of the results. Dem.Map GOP.Map
The Delaware Liberal General Assembly Progressive Rankings

The Delaware Liberal General Assembly Progressive Rankings

Matt Bittle of the Delaware State News recently did a story on the "Mostly True Blue State of Delaware," that partly focused on the the legislative ideological rankings of the various party legislators, as judged by the Delaware Chapter of the American Democratic Association (ADA) and the American Conservative Union (ACU). The ADA picked 10 pieces of legislation which they deemed important pieces of progressive legislation. All of them are included in my list of legislation below. The ACU also picked several pieces of the same legislation, though their favored position was opposition. In reading that Matt Bittle story, I felt inspired to compile our own Delaware Liberal Rankings of all of our lawmakers in Dover. From John Kowalko to Timothy Dukes. From Bryan Townsend to Colin Bonini. I have primarily used the Delaware ADA's list of priority progressive legislation from the past two legislative sessions (148th and 147th, covering the years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016) in order to judge each lawmaker's actions regarding such legislation.
Bernie’s Still the One

Bernie’s Still the One

Bernie Sanders doesn't embody what a 2016 mainstream Democrat is. He embodies what a 2016 mainstream Democrat should be and the support base that has been championing his messages is what the Democratic Party should be. And no, I don’t mean 70 year old Jewish guys from Brooklyn. I mean progressive. Democrats should be progressive and, dare I say, liberal. Sanders has started to bring the progressive core of the Democratic Party out of a decades long hibernation and he’s succeeding in getting the newly awoken to help wake up people sleeping next to them.
A risk free vote for Sanders

A risk free vote for Sanders

Whether or not Bernie can change the Democratic Party will come down to follow through. We can't know the future, and so it is pointless to try and game plan what Sanders may mean to the Party five, ten, or even twenty years from now. Instead, we can look at the facts as they stand today. Many are doing that and digging into their pockets to support Sanders in spite of the long odds of success. Why is that? I can't say it any better than Booman said it.
Tuesday Open Thread [3.1.16]

Tuesday Open Thread [3.1.16]

This should help end the narrative that Donald Trump is a KKK-loving genocidal racist: “About 30 black students who were standing silently at the top of the bleachers at Donald Trump’s rally here Monday night were escorted out by Secret Service agents who said the presidential candidate had requested their removal before he began speaking.”
Monday Open Thread [2.29.16]

Monday Open Thread [2.29.16]

As you may know, Donald Trump had himself a day yesterday. He repeatedly and pointedly refused to disavow the endorsements of David Duke and the KKK. Donald Trump's biggest fan in all media, Joe Scarborough says this is now disqualifying, whereas the other racist things the Donald has said up until now weren't apparently. In a column for the Washington Post today, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough asked if "this is how the party of Abraham Lincoln dies." Yes.
"The first question is why would Trump pretend to be so ignorant of American history that he refused to pass judgment on the Ku Klux Klan before receiving additional information?" he asked. "What kind of facts could possibly mitigate a century of sins committed by a violent hate group whose racist crimes terrorized Americans and placed a shameful blot on this nation’s history?" Trump has repeatedly bragged about having the "world's greatest memory" so it's hard to believe Trump doesn't know what the KKK stands for, he wrote. "The harsher reality is that the next GOP nominee will be a man who refused to condemn the Ku Klux Klan and one of its most infamous Grand Wizards when telling the ugly truth wouldn’t have cost him a single vote," Scarborough said.
Sunday Open Thread [2.28.16]

Sunday Open Thread [2.28.16]

Ezra Klein says that Hillary Clinton just showed us how she is going to run against Donald Trump:
Trump sets Clinton up for a much softer and unifying message than she'd be able to get away with against a candidate like Rubio, and you could see her previewing it in her South Carolina victory speech. "Despite what you hear," Clinton said, "we don't need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great. But we do need to make America whole again. Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers." Trump may be the only force in American politics able to make Clinton into a uniter and not a divider. The Clinton campaign has their hands full winning the Democratic primary. But if they had a vote in the Republican primary right now, they would be casting it for Trump.