(12-13-2017 12:13 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(12-13-2017 12:06 AM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  

(12-13-2017 12:04 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(12-12-2017 11:16 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  There use to be yellow dogs and blue dogs and moderates in the Democratic Party. They were wiped out and made extinct by their vote for ObamaCare in the 2010 midterm. They haven't been back in the South -- save gerrymandered districts -- since.

So Democrats ... you eeked out a 1% victory in Alabama:
- Over a child molester.
- With 12 million in out of state money.
- With a candidate that claims to throw overboard overboard major parts of the Democrat agenda. The only places he stands firmly in camp D is global warming, healthcare, living wage, and abortion. He is firmly NOT in camp D on global trade and the 2nd amendment.

That's a LOT of stars aligning ... for the narrowest of victories.

I'm interested in seeing whether Doug Jones votes for himself or if he votes for Chuck Schumer. Because the last chance the Democrats had to show they have IDEOLOGICAL tolerance was Joe Manchin. And they've pretty much ruined Joe Manchin. Joe left the Governor's office in West Virginia with a 70% approval rating. He has so far been lock stop with Schumer with the rubber meets the road. His approval rating has been destroyed as a result. He is now just 4 points up against "Generic Republican" in polling ( https://www.peoplespunditdaily.com/polls...oval-high/ ). Manchin is probably going to get his *** handed to him next year as a result.

So ... will Democrats try to sew seeds of moderation and ideological diversity? Or will they sell the farm to get what they can in 6 years? Because I can assure you if they do, it will be the biggest landslide defeat of an incumbent in the US Senate in quite some time if they do. Based upon what I've seen and heard of Doug Jones so far, if I had to bet I'd go with "another Schumer soldier".

Your logic is flawed:

Democrats don't win in Alabama. Democrats will never win in Alabama. Democrats will not keep the seat in 2020

None of that has anything to do with the 2018 Midterms, and the 2020 Presidential election. For years its been almost impossible for a republican to lose Alabama. What this year proved is that if they can come up with a candidate reprehensible enough, it can happen.

If Doug Jones were to actually vote as a bipartisan moderate would he still lose the race? Probably. But it would also make enormous inroads into future campaigns for the Democrats. You don't dig yourself out of a hole that deep in just one cycle but you have to first decide to stop digging. If Doug Jones plays Schumer Yes Man, then no Democrat may ever win a senate seat in Alabama again. Because it is difficult to imagine a more favorable election for the Democrats than this.

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The reality is that the Democratic party doesn't need Jones to play moderate when he's in Washington because they aren't counting on him winning his seat. Nor do they really need him to honestly.

This doesn't change 2020 when the Democrats come up with a person to run against Trump and that person barely visits Alabama because they know there is zero chance to win. What the democrats have to figure out from this, is did the large turnout in urban areas (For a special election) come because they all hated Moore, or because they were voting against Trump.

There's not much they can do about the former, but if its the latter, there are things they can do before 2020 to capitalize.

I think the anti Trump factor would have made it closer than expected. The fact Moore was a terrible candidate gave the dems a chance to win and they took advantage of it