The State Financial Reports reveal the state of the race

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The 30 day primary financial reporting deadline for state candidates facing a primary election just passed. You can view the reports here by entering the last name of the candidate in the highlighted "committee name" field. The reporting period is not quarterly like it is in federal races. Instead it is from the beginning of the year until August 14. Some observations: Who was loaned Lacey Lafferty over $86,546? And what in God's name has she spent it on? I sense perhaps another Christine O'Donnell situation here. Money is certainly not everything. Races, especially local races, can be won on the ground. State-wide races, a little less so. This fundraising tells me that the LG race is a two woman race between the Republican McGuiness and State Senator Bethany Hall Long, with Ciro Poppitti coming in third, Eaby and Fuller tying for fourth, and Sherry Dorsey Walker coming in last. Kathy McGuiness' list of financial supporters reads like Charlie Copeland's Rolodex. ABC, the anti-union Right to Work Association of Builders and Contractors, donated $1,200.00. Seriously, Pete Schwartzkopf needs to be run out of town on the rails for foisting this Utahn Republican on us.

Bottom Line: Putin’s man in Kiev was running Trump’s campaign

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Putin > Yanukovych > Manafort > Trump These are pretty clear cut relationships. Now Manafort has been demoted just ahead of two news items which reveal how deeply Manafort was/is involved with promoting Russian interests in Kiev and DC. The first story deals with $2.2 million secretly routed to DC based lobbying firms in clear violation of federal law. The second deals with Manafort's work to sabotaged US interests in Ukraine which has landed Manafort on a list of war criminals who are now wanted in the Ukraine in connection with the Russian invasion and seizure of the Crimea.

We are endorsing this year

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There are a number of contested primaries this year, and we will be offering our opinion on a number of those races. The first endorsement will be coming shortly. We will be endorsing in the following races: U.S. Representative Insurance Commissioner New Castle County Executive Wilmington Mayor We may also weigh in on some State Senator and State Representative races. But there is one race where we have no consensus and even no idea who we all will vote for: the Lt. Governor race. This year's race among six candidates has convinced me that the gubernatorial candidate should chose his Lt. Governor running mate and they should run as a ticket. I want to see legislation dealing with that, and with filling a Lt. Governor vacancy, on the first day of the session. So on the Lt. Governor race only (because you all will have ample time and space to argue over the other races soon, trust me), who are you supporting and why?
Odds and Ends

Odds and Ends

If, for reasons passing all possible understanding, you are not registered to vote, and/or if you are not registered as a Democrat and you want to vote in the Democratic Party primary on September 13, then your deadline to do so is this Saturday, August 20. There is simply no excuse. You can do it online here.. Also, the Sussex County Democratic Jamboree will be taking place after the primary this year, on September 18, and it will serve as a good unity function.
Wednesday Open Thread [8.17.16]

Wednesday Open Thread [8.17.16]

Trump has shaken up his campaign for a third time. There has been talk that Trump is basically the comments sections of Breitbart and INFOWARS if it took human form. Well, now Trump has hired Breitbart.
Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon will “temporarily step down from his role with Breitbart News” to join the team as the campaign CEO, while Republican strategist Kellyanne Conway will be promoted to campaign manager. [...] While Paul Manafort will stay on as campaign chairman and chief strategist, two Trump advisers who spoke to the Washington Post on condition of anonymity said that his internal role would be diminished as the Republican nominee tries to retake the reigns of his campaign. The aides told the Post that Trump has felt “controlled” and “boxed in” by staffers urging him to tone down his rhetoric and pivot towards a general election audience. As a seasoned campaign operative, Manafort played a key role in trying to turn Trump’s understaffed, shoestring operation into a more traditional national presidential campaign. But the notoriously blustery real estate mogul has shrugged off these efforts, continuing to get in trouble for off-the-cuff comments like his claim that “Second Amendment people” could keep Hillary Clinton from appointing liberal Supreme Court justices. As his poll numbers in national surveys and battleground states have fallen, Trump has expressed a wish to return to the kind of combative campaign that fueled his success in the Republican primary.
So.... wait a minute. This staff shakeup is not an effort to run a more disciplined presidential on message campaign It is an effort to get more undisciplined and more uncontrolled. Ok then.
Truth, accuracy, and “fact checking” are all meaningless bullshit.

Truth, accuracy, and “fact checking” are all meaningless bullshit.

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..and now I'm not so worried about an October Surprise. But first read this...
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday that he was using “abbreviated language” when he claimed that the U.S. had seen no terror attacks carried out by Islamic extremists before President Barack Obama came into office. "You speak in somewhat abbreviated language," he told the New York Daily News by way of explaining his Monday introduction for Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio. "All human beings speak in abbreviated language at times."

Ken Simpler should enroll his kids in public school

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The last sensible Delaware Republican, Mike Stafford, put this on his Facebook yesterday. I could not agree more.
Mike Stafford Yesterday at 9:37am · Before he ran for office, I recall asking Ken Simpler where his kids went to school after listening to +30 minutes of canned Rodel and Scott Walker-style anti-union and "education reform" tropes and talking points come spewing out of his mouth. His answer wasn't the local public school! I told him a politician who talks about education reform but doesn't have their kids in public school is like a Chevy salesman who drives a Toyota, only worse- because such a politician is willing to experiment on other peoples' children.
Tuesday Open Thread [8.16.16]

Tuesday Open Thread [8.16.16]

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Nate Cohn: “The Upshot’s model gives Mrs. Clinton an 88 percent chance of winning. It’s about the same probability of hitting a field goal from the 20-yard line.” “That’s a pretty good way to think about it. If Mrs. Clinton ultimately wins, we will probably look back and say she had more or less already won it by this point. If she loses, these next two months will be talked about for decades.” “The game-winning field-goal analogy has one big weakness: She may win this by a lot more than a field goal.”