Frank Rich: "Looks like Vance is rare VP pick who cost his ticket his once-safe home state."

[Dennis Donovan]

Link to tweet

Frank Rich
Deep in today’s ⁦@nytimes - new dive into Trump campaign travails: Looks like Vance is rare VP pick who cost his ticket his once-safe home state.

[Kid Berwyn]

1. 50-State Sweep

Plus the District of Columbia, all within reach.

[Celerity]

8. No, no it isn't.

Red states like Wyoming and West Virginia, etc etc, are not in reach.

I see more and more hubris starting to creep into a large amount of arenas, far from just DU.

Same things I saw in 2016 (minus DU, as I was not on it then).

Every time I see 'expand the map' I shudder.

If we take (the main flippable from R to D) North Carolina, then great, same for the less likely Ohio, or the pretty improbable Forida and/or Texas.

But those would just be icing on the cake.

We absolutely do not have all the swing states in the bag. Not even close. We need to fight like hell for them. Fight like we are losing.

If my stance becomes a small minority one here, and that overall stance is battered relentlessly with derision and open hostility, if I start to be called a wrecker, a drag, a Debbie Downer, an anti-Dem, simply for taking the positions listed above, for refusing to become hubristic, then I am out of here until after the election (and maybe for good, the past few months I find myself truly fighting weekly urges to do a runner, as I am just not a good fit here, for a multiplicity of reasons).

[Kid Berwyn]

10. I'll defend your right to express your views...

…especially when we disagree. The reason? I know you from years of DU and understand where you are coming from.

Regarding sweeping the electoral map: So what if the numbers don’t add up? Should we fail to try, it will never happen. Were ever there was an opportunity to sweep, this is the ticket to do it.

[Demsrule86]

13. What if we hadn't tried in 2008 in VA? The reason we had offices there is Pres. Obama opened them because of the long

primary. And Howard Dean left them open with his 50-state strategy. What if we had not tried in GA? We now have two Democratic Senators. We should try in all states. We need to do grass-roots at a minimum in red states.

[CaptainTruth]

16. You'll get no disagreement from me, you're just stating reality.

I'm not in favor of denying reality, we should leave that for the MAGA crowd, they're experts at it.

[electric_blue68]

23. Well, I hope you stay. I think we should do the 50 State strategy to nudge areas, and States along...

start to turn some red areas (counties) purple, etc.

Its great to hope, but I don't expect a 50 State sweep. Although I do think a few States might be flipped.

I think we should mostly concentrate on the biggest turnouts in Blue States, flip a few Purple States, and a little nudging in Red States.

I'm not sure I'd call it hubris...it's this super heated hope, joy, and optimism; something many people were not feeling too much of -
"Hey, we could fo this!".

[Sedona]

26. Agreed.....don't get complacent...but....

I don't think anyone saw Georgia coming through in 2020 with two Dem Senators as icing on the cake.

[LymphocyteLover]

34. you are right -- we can't take anything for granted, despite the clearly great enthusiasm and the clear Trump meltdown

[Random Boomer]

20. Have you ever been to West Virginia?

I live here and it's not going Blue. We need clear vision, not fantasies, to get ahead and stay ahead.

[orthoclad]

22. Didn't Bernie do well in WV

with a left of center appeal?

[Zoomie1986]

24. He tended to fare the best

In small whitebread states. Not always but usually. He started falling apart in states that were bigger and more diverse. Only his fan club can't do that math.

Some more reality: If Bloomberg hadn't been in the primary mix in 2020, Sanders wouldn't have 'won' California or done as well as he did in Texas. Biden would have steamrolled over him in those states, too.

[orthoclad]

25. Ah, the racist argument

good screen for oligarchs.

[bottomofthehill]

27. St Bernard of Burlington got slaughtered in West Virginia. He got about 10 percent of the vote

He lost by about 100,000 votes and got zero delegates from West VA as he needed to get 15 percent to get any delegates.

[displacedvermoter]

29. Saint Bernard of Burlington?

Is that akin to Saint Barack of Chicago or St. Nancy of San Francisco?

[displacedvermoter]

28. Why so nasty about Sanders and his

"fan club"? Small white bread states sounds kinda condescending doesn't it? Still more of the 2016 stuff we aren't supposed to be refighting, I guess.

[bottomofthehill]

36. He actually did poorly in states where there were primaries and much better where there were caucuses.

Bernie won most of the caucuses which are horribly undemocratic. No absentee voting, no secret ballot, limited timeframe, small turn out events.

The Democratic Party should do away with caucuses.

[Random Boomer]

31. Left-of-center does not play well in West Virginia

He won the Democratic primary here in 2016, but that's just a win within the Dem party, not a win against the majority GOP. The Dems are practically non-existent in this state.

Not sure how you'd judge Sanders versus GOP since it was Clinton who ran on the national ticket.

[orthoclad]

35. As I recall, he drew enthusiastic crowds

with his for-the-people-not-the-rich message.

Might be different now, even the good people I know there are on the trump train. They buy the liberal elite fox news stuff.

[Kid Berwyn]

32. Many times.

If we take the attitude it’s a bother to try, the good people of West Virginia will never get the government they deserve.

[Lonestarblue]

2. Winning Ohio would be awesome!

And Sherrod Brown would most likely be re-elected.

[Raven123]

3. Let's hope he's right

Need to hold what we can. Wish we could pick up a seat to compensate for what is likely a Dem loss in WV

[Random Boomer]

21. Likely?

This is a solid red state, even if there are a few (tiny) purple dots here and there.

[magicarpet]

4. What ? The fact that Vance is a national laughing stock,...

... is a negative thing for Ohio voters and damaging the trDUMP/Vance 2024 ticket and maybe down ticket campaigns too ?

[Demsrule86]

11. He only won by 3%. You should try in Ohio.

[CaptainTruth]

18. Reminder that Rick Scott won by 0.14% in Florida.

11,000-some votes if I remember correctly.

We should try & pick up a Senate seat in FL.

[Diamond_Dog]

5. C'mon O-H-I-O!!!

[SalviaBlue]

6. Only the best people...

[ProudMNDemocrat]

7. I remember the late Tim Russert....OHIO, OHIO, OHIO...

Using his White Board pre-Kornacki days.

Oh what a shock to the system should Ohio turn on CF#45 because of Vance. All the more reason why Harris/Walz should do some campaign stops there as well.

[Aristus]

9. My stepson, a deeply kind, thoughtful, and wonderful person,

and living in Ohio, voted for Jill Stein in 2016, and has regretted it ever since. He voted for Joe in 2020, and is Harris/Walz in November.

But he illustrates how good people can cause bad things to happen when they don’t think things through.

I hope he helps turn Ohio blue.

[OrlandoDem2]

12. We need MASSIVE voter registration drives to compliment our GOTV machine!!

[dlk]

14. Vance has a gift...

[surfered]

15. Ohio voters want to protect women's rights and their sofas.

[JT45242]

17. It will be a curb stomping that will burn the former GOP to the ground

Any state with a substantial non white population is in play.

States in which women can vote without their husband, dad, boyfriend or other knowing what they voted for will go strong for the Democrats.

JD Vance and the ties of both of them to Project 2025 and crazy shit about abortion that is on videotape for both of them...

TFG -- there will have to be consequences for doctors. Bragging about getting rid of roe v Wade.

Vance -- why should the baby suffer because of the circumstances it was created. And other bat shit crazy stuff.

They needed an adult who might ameliorate some of the fears about TFG going all Scarface retaliation instead they got a guy who loves his wife in spite of the color of her skin

[GoodRaisin]

19. That's good news, love it.

We need to put some resources in Ohio to save Brown’s Senate seat anyway.

[RockRaven]

30. I'll believe it when I see the vote count in November...

But if it were to happen, I would love to be able to see/hear what TCF has to say to or about Vance (and Coke Jr, who supposedly advocated for his selection) the moment he finds out.

[yellowcanine]

33. If Trump is below 50% in Ohio in November......it is going to be a long night for the GOP.

Doubtful that Harris wins Ohio. But this would still be great news, particularly for Senate and House races.