Control Of The Senate Now Appears To Hang On The Georgia Runoffs

thoughtone

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Control Of The Senate Now Appears To Hang On The Georgia Runoffs

source: TPM

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ATLANTA, GA - NOVEMBER 02: Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Raphael Warnock speaks at a Drive-in Mobilization Rally to get out the vote on November 2, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)

Hopeful Democrats, stunned by likely losses in the North Carolina and Maine Senate races, have turned their eyes to Georgia where two January runoffs represent their only chance at retaking Senate control.

Democrat Jon Ossoff, with an assist from the third party candidates, dragged Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) under 50 percent as the final votes were tallied mostly from the state’s metro areas Thursday afternoon. Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock had secured his place in the runoff on Tuesday, though his path was easier with Republican support split between Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA). Loeffler ultimately got the Republican bid after a vicious intra-party battle.

With Sen. Doug Jones’ (D-AL) loss, Democrats needed four more seats to get to 50. If former Vice President Joe Biden wins the White House, that would leave Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) free to cast the tie-breaking vote. Democrats successfully toppled incumbents in Arizona and Colorado, leaving them two seats short.

This election has shown Georgia to be a true swing state for the first time. At the time of publishing, former Vice President Biden and President Donald Trump were neck and neck as the final votes were tallied. Early indications seem to point to demographic change, the increasingly Democratic suburbs and enormous organizing efforts, including by the likes of Stacey Abrams, as factors contributing to the shift.

But despite the purpling of Georgia, Democrats are still the likely underdogs in a runoff.

“I tend to be pretty skeptical of Democrats’ chances in Georgia,” Jeffrey Lewis Lazarus, a political science professor at Georgia State University, told TPM. “Since 2000 this state has been the Lucy’s football of politics for Democrats — they keep getting 47%, 48% in statewide races, and every time they think the next time they’re going to get over the top. And it keeps not happening.”

Lazarus said that he thinks a Georgia statewide victory is possible for Democrats only in a blue-wave election — something that has not materialized this time.

“Democrats have spent 20 years trying to get those last two points and have gained very little ground,” he said. “I’m not sure this is the year they get over the hump, even if Biden does eke out a win over Trump.”

Another factor adding uncertainty to the runoffs is the lack of a top of the ticket. Whichever way the presidential election goes, neither Biden nor Trump will be providing any coattails in January.

A potential Biden victory would give an edge to the GOP, according to Dan Judy, Vice President of North Star Opinion Research, a consultancy for Republican candidates. Republicans who don’t like Trump will be freed up to vote for a Republican candidate without him on the ballot or in the White House, Judy posited.

“I’d say that both Democratic candidates certainly have a chance in the runoffs, but the Republicans will be favored,” Judy said. “Partisans on both sides will be very fired up, but I believe the prospect of divided government will be very attractive to a lot of independents in the state.”

One thing is for certain: the races will be flooded with gobs and gobs of money.

During the 2017 special election in Georgia’s 6th congressional district, Ossoff was running against Republican Karen Handel. Ossoff dominated the first round of voting, but fell short of 50 percent, and Handel ultimately won the runoff. That race — for just one seat in the House — gobbled up $55 million from the candidates and outside groups.

This time, it’s two races in the Senate, which are more expensive to begin with, and would determine control of the chamber. The totals could be staggering.

“I really can’t imagine an upper limit to how much money is going to flow into Georgia,” Lazarus said. “Certainly it’ll be several hundred million dollars, maybe even an outside shot of breaking a billion when it’s all said and done.”

“I don’t want to speculate on exactly how much money will be spent, but it is likely to dwarf anything the state has ever seen,” Judy added.

Ultimately, if Ossoff and Warnock do pull off wins, the Senate will be split right down the middle.

The last time that happened was in 2000, after the excruciatingly close election between President George W. Bush and Al Gore. To deal with a tied Senate, which hadn’t happened since 1953, then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) struck a power-sharing deal with Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-MI).

They agreed to fill committees with equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans, and both parties got the same staff resources. Republicans, who had the edge when Bush got to the White House, kept the chairmanships and power to convene the committees for hearings and markups.

The arrangement, which worked reasonably well, only ended up holding for about five months, until Republican Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont became an independent and started caucusing with the Democrats, making Daschle the majority leader.

It’s hard to imagine Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) coming to such an agreement, though these are largely uncharted waters. An evenly split Senate is rare in U.S. history, and has only happened three times before.
 

COINTELPRO

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Registered
President Trump stood no chance against a real politician of 50 years. I detailed some of the tactics the Democrats used which he was unable to recognize and counter. It is like the Connor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather fight.

He surrounded himself with too many business people/attorneys and not veteran corrupt politicians that could get the job done. They are parasitic organisms to the private sector but they know how to game the political system to their advantage.

He should have pardoned and hired one of those corrupt Democratic politicians in federal prison as a consultant.
 
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Mrfreddygoodbud

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
President Trump stood no chance against a real politician of 50 years. I detailed some of the tactics the Democrats used which he was unable to recognize and counter. It is like the Connor McGregor vs Roy Jones fight.

He surrounded himself with too many business people/attorneys and not veteran corrupt politicians that could get the job done. They are parasitic organisms to the private sector but they know how to game the political system to their advantage.

He should have pardoned and hired one of those corrupt Democratic politicians in federal prison as a consultant.

conner mcgregor fought roy jones...???

or you mean floyd mayweather??

Trump fucked up by getting the wrong negros to back him.... kanye west, herschel walker is not going to get him any of the real american aka moorish american aka african american vote...

trump pandered waaaaay tooo much too his base and expected his coons to do the rest.

if he wouldve got that stimulus check out... and act like he gave a fuck about front like workers....

he wouldve easily held on to that lead,

democrats made a better promise to the frontline workers.

republikkklans were too much of corporate whores to give the slightest shit...

and it cost them..

the fucked up shit was the people that let the repulikkklans up shits creek, got reelected

fuckin lindsey fagrahm and fuckin bitch mccockface
 

COINTELPRO

Transnational Member
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I am glad that it is over, these politicians and the media were pestering the hell out of me, it is starting to die down a little. It was fun attacking some of these clowns and belittling them on here such as Biden and KH.

 

COINTELPRO

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Look at this piece of garbage Van Jones (Chinese News Network), crying on TV, trying to make death threats and a mockery of me. Damn we are going to see more Harriet Tubman, Confederate flag type of racial mockery by biracial or self hating losers like Van Jones.

 
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scullydog

Rising Star
Platinum Member
President Trump stood no chance against a real politician of 50 years. I detailed some of the tactics the Democrats used which he was unable to recognize and counter. It is like the Connor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather fight.

He surrounded himself with too many business people/attorneys and not veteran corrupt politicians that could get the job done. They are parasitic organisms to the private sector but they know how to game the political system to their advantage.

He should have pardoned and hired one of those corrupt Democratic politicians in federal prison as a consultant.
You're an ass.
 

COINTELPRO

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You know neegrows been trying to get attention on this board for years.

You let Indians and Asians launch even worse attacks for years with junk lawsuits about college admissions or get on CNN constantly with garbage such as pretending to be black to get into medical school with lower standards. CNN is just down the street from BGOL.

I am the only one on here speaking out against these racist attacks.
 

QueEx

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Super Moderator
You let Indians and Asians launch even worse attacks for years
An admission, however, THAT YOU, are launching a self attack (assuming you are black as well), ON US.

That shouldn’t sit well with You; it doesn’t with me.


.
 

QueEx

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Georgia to conduct full hand recount of presidential ballots

Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announcedWednesday there will be a "full, by-hand" recount of ballots cast in the presidential election in every county in the state. The decision is the result of the race's narrow margin, which President-elect Joe Biden leads by 14,000 votes.

Georgia's 16 electoral votes remain up for grabs, and Biden has already secured more than the 270 required to win, so flipping Georgia wouldn't strip Biden of a win.

President Trump's campaign, however, is seeking legal options in an attempt to overturn results in several states, although there has been no evidence to back up their claims of large-scale voter fraud.

Raffensperger, a Republican, has expressed confidence about the handling of Georgia's elections, but hopes a recount "will help build confidence" in the process.


Source: Axios
 

QueEx

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What exit polls say about state of Georgia's Senate runoffs


CBS NEWS
BY ELENA COX
AND LACRAI MITCHELL
NOVEMBER 27, 2020

It's rare for runoff elections to generate much interest among voters, but Georgia seems primed to be the exception, with its two upcoming Senate runoffs in January that will determine who controls the Senate.


Republicans and Democrats are searching the state for new voters, although CBS News exit polling of the general election suggests neither party has much room to grow outside of their bases before the January runoffs. Time is short, with little over two weeks before early voting begins.

One race pits GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler against Democrat Reverend Raphael Warnock; and
the other has Republican David Perdue defending his seat against Democrat Jon Ossoff.

Trey Hood, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, thinks it's crucial for the parties to attract new voters to their coalitions to stay viable in January. Some opportunities for both parties do exist, but first, they'll likely be trying to make sure that the people who voted for them in November cast their ballots again by January 5.


Mail voting

Despite President Trump's attacks on mail-in voting, Georgians embraced the opportunity to vote by mail amid surging COVID infections. In November, like other states, they broke mail voting records, successfully requesting and returning 1.3 million absentee ballots, a 74% return rate,​
- while nearly 2.7 million people voted early in person. Mail-in voting is certain to be a key part of Democratic efforts in January, too.​
Joe Biden dominated absentee voting, with almost 850,000 votes, compared to about 451,000 for Mr. Trump. That near 2-to-1 margin helped overcome his deficit in early in-person voting — Mr. Biden had almost 1,251,000 to Mr. Trump's 1,419,000 — and in Election Day ballots, when the president received almost 588,000, compared to Mr. Biden's 367,000 votes.​

It's hard to predict how many will vote — and by what means — in January, but the:

U.S. Elections Project says nearly 825,000 people had so far requested mail-in ballots by Wednesday morning.​
--> Georgians have until January 1 to send their requests, although the U.S. Postal Service recommends sending requests as early as possible.​
--> Voters can register for the runoff until December 7, and​
--> early voting will take place beginning December 14.

Most Georgians have likely already made their decisions about who's getting their vote. No voter who spoke with CBS News planned to switch votes in the January contests.

A week before the November election, CBS News polling showed just 4% of likely voters were undecided in the Perdue-Ossoff race. Perdue led with 49.7% to Ossoff's 47.9%, falling just 0.3% short of outright victory. Libertarian Shane Hazel was eliminated with 2.3% of the vote.

Perdue's vote wasn't divided between Republicans, as Senator Kelly Loeffler's was in her race, and he actually won a fraction more votes than President Trump, with 49.7%, compared to the president's 49.3%. Ossoff finished with 47.9% support, leaving him about a two-point margin to make up in January.

In the other Senate race, the special election to fill former Senator Johnny Isakson's seat, Loeffler and Collins won a combined 45% of the vote, ahead of Warnock's 32.9%. The other Democratic candidates received 15% combined.


Longtime Democrat Latreana Johnson, 63, of Savannah, first spoke with CBS News in October, during the early voting period. She voted for Warnock and Ossoff then and said she plans to do so again in a few weeks. Voting for Ossoff was an easy call for her — because of one consequential endorsement = "Barack Obama is backing him up 100% and you can't go wrong with Barack Obama, so I'm backing whoever he backs up," said Johnson.


The Georgia White Vote in November:
Perdue lost support from White voters
As was the case in the presidential race, White voters in Georgia, who make up 61% of the Georgia electorate and who mostly supported President Trump, largely went for Perdue, too, at 69%, but he underperformed with this group, compared to his last Senate bid in 2014, when he won 74% of their votes.​
In her race, Loeffler won the larger share of support from White voters
(42%), outpacing the other Republican in the race, Congressman Doug Collins, who received 28% support.​
Perdue won White voters with college degrees, though his margins with this group are much lower compared to his last bid. In 2014, Perdue won 70% of White college graduates, while this year he won significantly less: 56%.​

SOURCES OF SUPPORT
-Trey Hood, a political science professor at the University of Georgia who is also the director of the Survey Research Center at the University of Georgia, said there's been a shift in the base of both political parties.
Republican
"You probably have a larger percentage of college-educated White [voters] that are still Republican in Georgia compared to, say, Wisconsin or something," said Hood. "It's very interesting that the base of the parties has switched in terms of sort of working class being sort of the base of the Republican Party now."​
Democrats lead with independents
Georgia Republicans and Democrats largely voted within their party, but both Ossoff and Warnock also performed well with independents in November. They won 51% and 37% of independent voters, respectively. Six percent of independents chose Libertarian candidate Shane Hazel over Ossoff or Perdue.​


Both parties look to Latinos
Both parties are likely to target Latino voters, too, who were more divided in their support for the Democratic candidates. Nearly a third went for Reverend Raphael Warnock, while 26% voted for the other Democratic candidate, Matt Lieberman. Overall, Latinos constituted 7% of the state's electorate in November.

Ossoff received less support from Latino voters (52%) than President-elect Biden, who earned 62% of the Latino vote in Georgia, while Perdue performed better with Latinos than President Trump, winning 43% of the vote. Mr. Trump won 37% of the Latino vote in the state. And while Hazel received just about 2% of the overall vote, he did pick up 4% of the Latino vote.

"The Hispanic population is growing and continuing to grow in Georgia, whereas the white population is contracting to some degree and the Black populations [are] fairly stable, growing slightly," Hood said.

Black voters turn out for Democrats
Hood says Black turnout is "critical to the Democratic coalition." He recalled, "In the last statewide Senate election runoff we had in 2008 with Saxby Chambliss, I did the calculations, and Black turnout from the general, from the 2008 general to the runoff dropped by three points. So, that was very high." Chambliss won the runoff by nearly 15 points, "and a lot of it was due to that falloff in Black turnout," Hood said, adding, "if that happens again, that's going to be very detrimental to the Democratic candidates in the runoff."

Black voters make up 29% of the Georgia electorate, and 88% voted for Mr. Biden. Black women overwhelmingly voted for Jon Ossoff — similar to the presidential race, where Mr. Biden garnered 92% of votes cast by Black women in Georgia. The majority of Black voters also went for Warnock. Johnson said Warnock appealed to her because of his life experiences.

"He can relate. Period," said Johnson. "He grew up in one of the major projects here in Savannah, Georgia...he had a lot of brothers and sisters and everything, and the bottom line is that [he] can relate to our struggle."


Election integrity
Republicans
have another challenge before them in that the top members of their party, including President Trump and the two Republicans running for Senate, have been sowing doubts about the election system and any Republican who vouched for it, including Georgia's governor and secretary of state. And it remains to be seen whether the GOP can now convince its voters to show up again in January to participate in a process they have worked to undermine.

"It's the integrity of the system that is absolutely 100% my concern," said Frederiksen, who lives outside of Warner Robins. "If we lose this fair and square, so be it. OK, America voted that way, which I don't believe they did."

What exit polls say about state of Georgia's Senate runoffs - CBS News
 

MASTERBAKER

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Georgia GOP Senate candidates humiliated at Trump rally promoting THEM

BREAKING: Georgia’s Republican Senate candidates just got humiliated at a Trump rally promoting THEM.



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QueEx

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GOP launches legal war on absentee voting ahead of Georgia runoffs
Federal judges will hear cases Thursday aimed at restricting absentee voting in the Jan. 5 Senate runoffs.

P o l i t i c o
By ZACH MONTELLARO
and JAMES ARKIN
12/17/2020


Federal judges in Georgia will hear arguments Thursday in Republican-led lawsuits to restrict absentee voting ahead of next month's Senate runoffs — the first salvos in a GOP effort to change voting rules for future elections following President Donald Trump’s loss in 2020.

Republicans have filed three lawsuits in the state ahead of the Jan. 5 runoffs, in which hundreds of thousands of people have already voted by mail or in person for races that will decide control of the Senate in 2021. The suits primarily target the use of drop-boxes to return absentee ballots, as well as aiming to raise the threshold for signature verifiers to accept absentee ballots.

The net result of the suits, which are backed by a combination of local, state and national Republican Party organizations, would make successfully voting by mail harder in Georgia, which Republicans say is necessary to protect the security of the elections — and others claim is an attempt to suppress votes for Democratic candidates.

The legal efforts are likely just the start of a yearlong push by state Republicans to tighten voting rules in response to the 2020 election, which prompted unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud from Trump, his supporters and other GOP leaders who are convinced that the contest wasn’t fair. Republican lawmakers in Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, among others, have already announced their intention to seek changes to state election laws next year in response to perceived irregularities, and Trump’s opposition to mail voting in 2020 — coupled with the way those late-counted ballots broke against him in some key states — has destroyed the decades-long bipartisan consensus on expanding the practice.

Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, the two Republican candidates in the Georgia runoffs, said in a joint statement last week that their lawsuit was aimed at "reasonable and actionable steps we can take immediately to further ensure the integrity and accuracy of our January 5 elections."
So far, more than 378,000 voters have returned votes via absentee ballot, and more than 846,000 absentee ballots have been mailed out to voters but have yet to be returned. That’s slightly fewer than at the same point in the general election, though large numbers of people have voted early in person since voting sites opened this week. Democrats have continued to highlight absentee ballots, and the state Democratic Party has already begun canvassing efforts to help educate voters on the absentee process and curing ballots.


Georgia has been a center of protest on the right since the Nov. 3 general election, after President-elect Joe Biden narrowly defeated Trump in the state. Trump has relentlessly attacked election systems and officials across the country since his loss, but he has reserved special attention for Georgia, swiping at Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, two Republicans whom Trump endorsed in 2018, for not backing his fraud claims. Earlier this week, the president retweeted Lin Wood — an attorney who has promulgated some of the wildest conspiracies with the election — calling for Kemp and Raffensperger to be jailed.

Loeffler and Perdue have broadly embraced the president’s rhetoric on the election, supporting a lawsuit the U.S. Supreme Court rejected that sought to effectively disenfranchise every voter in the state by tossing out the state’s presidential election results. The pair has also joined Trump in attacking Raffensperger, parroting unsubstantiated allegations of irregularities in the state.

But the senators took a different tack in a lawsuit they joined alongside the state GOP and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, commending state officials’ efforts while seeking to tighten their rules.

“Georgia election officials, from the state level to the local level, have undertaken significant efforts to assure the integrity of the Georgia election process in the runoff,” reads the suit. “Those efforts should be commended, and this lawsuit is brought to augment and further improve them.”

A judge scheduled a hearing for the suit on Thursday.

The suit calls Georgia’s absentee ballot signature verification process “unreliable and non-transparent,” and it seeks to effectively toss out a consent decree to which Raffensperger agreed in March in response to a Democratic-led lawsuit. The consent decree mandated that ballots could only be rejected if two out of three election officials consulted determined the signature on a ballot envelope doesn’t match one on record. Election officials also had to contact the voter in question in a timely manner to give them a chance to fix problems with, or “cure,” their ballot.

The signature verification process has been at the center of many Georgia conspiracy theories, including ones spread by Trump, who falsely claimed the consent decree “makes it impossible to check & match signatures.” Raffensperger, who has faced threats against his family and his staff, has consistently defended the integrity of Georgia’s elections and defended the signature verification process again this week at a press conference.
“Let me be clear: Before an absentee ballot is ever cast, a signature match is confirmed twice,” Raffensperger said, referencing both when an absentee ballot request form is turned in and when the ballot itself is returned. “Not once, twice. As in the signature is matched twice. I don’t know how much clearer I can make that for everyone to understand.”

The GOP lawsuit seeks to reverse the ratio for rejecting a ballot, asking that every ballot envelope be reviewed by three officials, and if one of the reviewers says the signature doesn’t match, the ballot would be rejected and sent through the cure process.

A second federal lawsuit, filed by Republicans in one of Georgia's 14 congressional districts and would-be electors, was dismissed from the bench on Thursday. It looked to block the use of drop-boxes for submitting absentee ballots, roll back signature review guidance and prevent county election administrators from opening ballots until Election Day.

District Judge James Randal Hall, who sits in Augusta, Ga., and is an appointee of former President George W. Bush, said that the plaintiffs did not have standing to bring their case. Even if they did, Hall said, he still would not have granted the requested relief because of the closeness of the election.


GOP launches legal war on absentee voting ahead of Georgia runoffs - POLITICO
 

QueEx

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Georgia Runoff Turnout Nears 1.5 Million and Heads Toward Record

Bloomberg
By Billy Houseand
Gregory Korte
December 21, 2020

  • High turnout for the Jan. 5 runoff encourages Democrats
  • Results of two runoff races will decide control of U.S. Senate



    Nearly 1.5 million Georgia voters have already cast ballots in Senate runoff elections next month, signaling a competitive race that could break the record for runoff voting in the state set in 2008.


    Democrats have a slight advantage among those who have participated in early voting, which began Dec. 14, according to an analysis by TargetSmart, a Democratic political data firm. The firm’s model shows 48.2% of early and absentee voters are likely Democrats, compared with 45.5% for Republicans.

    The double runoff for the two Georgia Senate seats will decide whether President-elect Joe Biden has a narrow majority in the Senate to advance his agenda in Congress, or if Republicans will have the votes to block major legislation. If Democrats win both seats, the Senate would be split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would cast a tie-breaking vote.

    The seats are now held by Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, who are facing challenges from Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. In the general election, Perdue led Ossoff 49.7% to 48%. The Loeffler-Warnock race was a special “jungle primary” to fill the seat vacated by Johnny Isakson. Warnock led 32.9% to Loeffler’s 25.9%. Republican Doug Collins came in third with 20%.

    Biden won the state by 12,670 votes, giving Democrats some confidence that they can take one or both Georgia seats for the first time since 2005.
    To do so will require mobilizing voters in a Jan. 5 election in which the Senate seats and one public service commission seat are the only races on the ballot, and the coronavirus has constrained the ability to do many traditional organizing events.


    President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Biden, Harris and Ivanka Trump have all made campaign stops in Georgia on behalf of their parties’ candidates, possibly heightening interest on both sides.

    Runoff elections, held mostly in Southern states when no candidate gets a majority of the votes, inevitably have lower turnout — particularly among minority groups — giving Republicans the advantage.


    But so far, early turnout among Black voters is even stronger than in the Nov. 3 general election, according to voting data compiled by Ryan Anderson of GeorgiaVotes.com. Black voters make up 32.1% of the runoff voters, compared with 27.8% in the general election.

    “If this pattern holds, this would likely benefit Democrats,” said Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Atlanta’s Emory University. “Blacks are the base of the Democratic Party in Georgia, comprising more than half of all Democratic voters.”


    Still, the presidential election showed Republicans were more likely to vote on the day of the election — a trend that could intensify as Trump has stoked distrust of mail-in absentee ballots cast in his loss to Biden.

    The Jan. 5 election is on pace to break records for a Georgia runoff, and rival turnout for the general election. As of Sunday, 901,497 people have already voted in person at Georgia early voting centers, and 569,267 have returned ballots by mail.



    https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-12-21/georgia-senate-elections-draw-nearly-1-5-million-early-voters
 

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QueEx

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Quaker Oats no long uses that picture. So if you see products with that image its probably way past due date.

Thanks. I know Quaker has started to respond to the heat.
I just didn't see where "we" should be using those images
against, "us" -- and, thereby, perpetuating or continuing
the insult.
 

QueEx

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Record cash pours into Georgia Senate races, with a large chunk from California


Democrats running for U.S. Senate Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock tap elbows during a rally in Marietta, Ga.

Democrats running for U.S. Senate Jon Ossoff, left, and the Rev. Raphael Warnock tap elbows during a rally last month
in Marietta, Ga. (Jenny Jarvie / Los Angeles Times)



Los Angeles Times

By DAVID LAUTER
SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
DEC. 25, 2020

WASHINGTON — With early voting well underway and both sides expecting extremely close races, record amounts of money continue to pour into Georgia’s twin Senate runoff campaigns, including a large chunk of cash from donors in California, new Federal Election Commission filings show.
The two Democratic candidates, Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, shattered all-time fundraising records over the last two months. Their Republican opponents, Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, respectively, hold a financial edge, however, thanks to outside Republican groups that can raise massive sums mostly unconstrained by federal campaign laws.


Much of that outside money comes from donors whose identities remain undisclosed.

DEMOCRATS:

Rev. Raphael Warnock brought in just over $103 million in the two months from mid-October to mid-December, according to his filing.​
Jon Ossof raised even more — almost $107 million.

Republicans:
David Perdue raised $68 million
Kelly Loeffler, $64 million.

All four candidates have received much of their money from out of state, with California donors contributing the most.

All four surpassed the previous fundraising record for a Senate candidate — the $57.9 million that Jaime Harrison, a Democrat, raised in the third quarter this year in his campaign to unseat Republican incumbent Sen. Lindsey Graham in South Carolina. Of course, Harrison lost, a reminder that more money provides no guarantee of victory.

That has not caused donors to waver, and the cash has led to a flood of television advertising saturating Georgia’s airwaves.

This week alone, more than $87 million has been spent or booked in television, radio and digital ads in the state, according to AdImpact, a firm that tracks ad spending. That’s more than most Senate campaigns spend in an entire year. All told, some $365 million already has been spent for advertising in the two races, with an additional $110 million already booked, AdImpact’s figures show.

Control of the Senate rides on the outcome of the two races, and with it a large part of President-elect Joe Biden’s agenda. Democrats won in November won enough Senate seats to give them a total of 48, including two independents who caucus with them. If they win the two Georgia seats, the Senate would be evenly divided, and Vice President Kamala Harris would be able to break the tie, giving Democrats control.

That prospect has driven the huge outpouring of contributions, including large sums to four political committees controlled by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The four groups have spent or booked more than $132 million in advertising in support of the Republican candidates. That spending has given the Republicans an advantage in the ad wars.

While outside Democratic groups are spending less than their Republican counterparts, they have still raised considerable sums. Fair Fight, founded by Stacey Abrams, the former Democratic candidate for governor in Georgia, reported raising $22 million, with most of it being spent on voter turnout operations. Two groups controlled by Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York have spent or booked roughly $30 million in advertising.

The volume of ads may have long passed the point of diminishing returns for the candidates, but the spending, especially the money from outside groups, has provided a windfall to television stations in Georgia — and Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina too. Stations in Gainesville and Tallahassee, Fla., Dothan, Ala., Chattanooga, Tenn., and Greenville, S.C., each of which reaches a corner of Georgia, have all seen significant advertising as the campaigns try to reach every possible voter.

Federal law requires stations to sell ad time to candidates at their lowest rate, but they can charge outside groups whatever the traffic will bear, which has meant hefty premiums, especially in the Atlanta market, which covers the majority of Georgia’s voters.

All four Georgia candidates ended the two-month reporting period with plenty of cash on hand — ranging from $16 million for Perdue to $23 million for Warnock — guaranteeing a fusillade of spending in the final days before the election ends Jan. 5.

The two Democrats each raised about half their money from small-dollar donations, less than $200 per person. The two Republicans got much more of their money from larger donors.

The sources of much of the outside spending remain unknown and will continue to be shrouded until long after the vote count. Because of the way campaign finance rules are written, most outside committees don’t have to report their fundraising until the end of January, although they are required to report spending. Some of the outside groups have legal structures that allow them to keep donors secret forever.

Voter interest in the contest has continued to run high. As of Thursday night, 2,070,987 people had voted early, with large turnout on both sides. Democrats have been cheered by data showing that Black voters have made up a larger share of the vote so far than at equivalent points in the general election. A sharp drop-off in turnout among Black voters has hurt Democrats in the state’s previous runoffs.

Polls in Georgia — one of the states in which pre-election surveys proved accurate in the presidential contest — have shown the Senate contests a dead heat.


Record cash pours into Georgia races, a large chunk from California - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)


.
 

Mo-Better

The R&B Master
OG Investor
Thanks. I know Quaker has started to respond to the heat.
I just didn't see where "we" should be using those images
against, "us" -- and, thereby, perpetuating or continuing
the insult.

Yeah and it looks like Folgers pulled that deplorable commercial with the black family they aired last year right around the holiday season. I quit using Folgers after they aired that commercial. Some tried to say it was satire. There's a big difference between satire and racism. We need to know it when we see it. My feeling is if they want fun OK, but not at our expense. They had never used a black family and to present like this.

White family member comes home to total peace, beautiful setting what some live to create. Peace and quiet.


vs.

Black family member comes home, finds dan with another man standing in the shower together, daughter practically nude wants to shower gets surprised by dad and his friend, as dad stares at daughters body, just total chaos.


I saw nothing funny here. If Folgers thought this was so funny why didn't they use Peter's white family? Lampoon yourself don't play these racist games with us. We should all be tired of these insults by now.
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
Yeah and it looks like Folgers pulled that deplorable commercial with the black family they aired last year right around the holiday season.

DAMN! :eek2:. I’ve never seen the one with the Black family before. Folgers “pulled it” but how could they have “pushed it” in the first instance :dunno::confused:
 

Mo-Better

The R&B Master
OG Investor
DAMN! :eek2:. I’ve never seen the one with the Black family before. Folgers “pulled it” but how could they have “pushed it” in the first instance :dunno::confused:

It should've never aired. Chalk it up to the present climate of this country and its poor leadership, soon to be out of office.
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
It should've never aired. Chalk it up to the present climate of this country and its poor leadership, soon to be out of office.
I agree totally - - it should never have been aired.

While new leadership is just around the corner, I think, perhaps, we’ve gone through some kind of cultural change or revolution, the results of which may not yet be clear.
 

muckraker10021

Superstar *****
BGOL Investor
nytimes.jpg

As Bills Pile Up, Many Anxiously Keep Tabs on the Stimulus Bill
Financially pressed Americans are looking forward to extended unemployment benefits and a $600 check, finally signed into law by the president.

merlin_181704807_db045022-9caf-4236-994b-19166ae13c8c-superJumbo.jpg


Jennifer Bryant and her fiancé, Stephen Patterson, outside their apartment in Flowery Branch, Ga. Without the aid and eviction moratorium in the stimulus bill, they could lose the apartment.



By Nelson D. Schwartz and Gillian Friedman | https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/27/business/stimulus-aid-trump.html

More than 10 million Americans who have been left in financial limbo — many of them on the brink of poverty — spent the weekend anxiously awaiting word about whether President Trump would continue to withhold approval of the $900 billion pandemic relief package sent to him on Christmas Eve.

The bill extends unemployment benefits that ran out on Saturday while also providing most taxpayers with a one-time payment of $600, a vital boost for financially pressed workers and an economy on the edge of another contraction.
But President Trump’s unexpected demand for a $2,000 per individual payment put the aid effort in jeopardy, leaving those on the financial edge to wonder how they would pay the rent and put food on their tables.

Then, on Sunday night, he signed the measure.

One of those awaiting the president’s action, Melissa Martinez, 52, of Westminster, Colo., said she had applied for more than 50 jobs since being laid off as an operations manager for a transportation company in April. Like millions of others, her unemployment benefits expired the day after Christmas. “I’m out of options,” she said.

She has a lung condition that requires her to be on oxygen and makes her vulnerable to Covid-19 so she has only looked for jobs that will allow her to work remotely. Without the stimulus money, she said she would seek jobs that require her to show up in person.

Jennifer Bryant and her family need the aid in the stimulus bill to keep their home in Flowery Branch, Ga. She and her fiancé, who have five children between them, had been collecting the now-expired unemployment benefits. Besides the extension of those benefits, the relief package would keep in place a moratorium on evictions that will otherwise expire on Dec. 31.

“When Congress passed it, it was the biggest sigh of relief for us,” said Ms. Bryant, 39, who is about $10,000 behind on her rent. But then she watched a video that Mr. Trump posted on Twitter on Tuesday, in which he called the bill “a disgrace” and implied he would not sign it.

“I went to bed in tears,” Ms. Bryant said. “To have our hope pulled out from under us, our lifeline. It’s devastating.”

Mr. Trump had been expected to quickly sign the bill, which was passed last Monday after months of congressional gridlock over a successor to the $2.2 trillion CARES Act. He had been largely absent from negotiations over the bill. His video surprised even senior administration officials and represented an embarrassment for his top economic lieutenant, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who helped negotiate the agreement with Congress and had applauded the passage of the bill earlier that day.

House Democrats had planned to vote on Monday on a stand-alone bill that would provide for the $2,000 direct payments once the roughly $1.4 trillion government funding measure attached to the stimulus was signed into law. Government funding had been scheduled to lapse at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday.
Senator Patrick J. Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, urged the president on “Fox News Sunday” to sign the original compromise bill, adding that “time is running out.”

“I understand he wants to be remembered for advocating for big checks,” Mr. Toomey said. “But the danger is he’ll be remembered for chaos and misery and erratic behavior if he allows this to expire.”

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. favors more stimulus after he takes office on Jan. 20, but getting that passed is unlikely to be any easier than it was for the finally approved $900 billion stimulus.

In addition to the one-time payments of $600, the stimulus legislation will provide a $300-a-week subsidy to all workers receiving unemployment benefits. It will also renew two programs created by the CARES Act in March: Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which provides benefits to workers who have exhausted their state aid, and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which covers gig workers, part-time hires, seasonal workers and others who do not qualify for traditional unemployment benefits.

The second program has been crucial for Reiina Crider of Federal Way, Wash., who worked as a pet groomer and a delivery driver for DoorDash. When the virus struck and schools closed, she stopped working to take care of her 15-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter, who is deaf and has autism. Ms. Crider, 36, is also the guardian of her 14-year-old niece.

The $211 she receives each week from the program plus some additional federal benefits have not been enough to keep her from falling behind on rent, and she owes her landlord $1,500. Waiting for Congress to make up its mind on the bill had been “terrifying,” she said.

“It’s the worst thing I could possibly imagine,” she said. “If you told me a year ago that the entire country would be suffering the way it is now, with no help from the government, I would have told you that would never happen. We live in America.”

More than 20 million Americans are collecting unemployment benefits and the unemployment rate stands at 6.7 percent. A year ago, before the pandemic hit, the jobless rate touched 3.5 percent, tying a 50-year low.

For those living on the edge, the recent political gamesmanship has been infuriating.

“We don’t have time for them to argue,” said Shannon Williams of Toledo, Ohio, who has lost two jobs to the pandemic. “Everybody needs help sometimes and right now, a lot of people need it.”

Many of the jobless can’t wait much longer for that help. Robert Van Sant’s unemployment benefits of $484 a week don’t cover his monthly expenses of $2,200 in rent, utilities, internet access, food and other necessities. But the additional federal money would ease the strain on his savings account, which he has been draining to make ends meet.

“I was really relieved” to hear that the legislation had passed, said Mr. Van Sant, 51, who was furloughed from his job as a bartender in Chicago. “It would have meant I could go to the grocery store and actually buy some food that I really want instead of eating beans and bread and bologna.”

Mr. Van Sant’s future is tied to the fate of he stimulus bill. Without the aid, he said he would have to move back to his hometown Bettendorf, Iowa, where the cost of living is lower. “It just saddens me. I’ve worked my whole life to live in the city, and everything that comes with it,” he said.

The stimulus bill will allow A.J. Holley, 50, who lost her job as a restaurant manager, to continue receiving benefits. Absent the relief money, she had planned to pay her bills with funds from her 401(k), which she recently liquidated. By March she would no longer be able to pay rent on her apartment, which she shares with her 19-year-old daughter.
It will be months before the promise of two new vaccines shows up in a more robust job market and economy. For hard-hit businesses like restaurants and bars, where employment stands at 10.2 million, down from 12.3 million in February, cold weather that limits outdoor seating will compound the pain.
Some unemployed restaurant workers, like Ms. Williams in Toledo, did find new jobs, only to see them disappear, too. Ms. Williams was let go in May from Chipotle, then briefly worked at a Chrysler plant until several workers on her assembly line contracted the virus and she was laid off again.


Shannon Williams, of Toledo, Ohio, was nearly $500 short on her rent in December. The stimulus aid would allow her to catch up on December and pay January’s rent as well

Her unemployment benefits do not cover her bills, including $1,094 in rent and utilities. She was able to pay her landlord in November, but was nearly $500 short in December.

The stimulus bill will provide a $600 stimulus payment for Ms. Williams, 34, and three of her four children. The money will allow her to catch up on December’s rent, and pay January’s as well.

Throughout the long debate over the bill in Congress, most economists had agreed that additional stimulus was crucial to keeping the economy from sliding backward. And the fragility of the economy, they say, is only matched by the precarious state of unemployed workers.

“We desperately need the stimulus,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton, an accounting firm in Chicago. “These people are running on fumes. It’s beyond irresponsible — it’s unconscionable and cruel.”

“We don’t want the wounds caused by Covid to fester and the scars to become deeper,” she added. “The hope is to heal.”
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
POLITICS
Trump Calls Georgia Runoffs 'Invalid' As Polls Tighten, 3 Million Vote Early

News Week
BY BRENDAN COLE
January 2, 2021


With a record number of voters already having cast their ballots early in Georgia, President Donald Trump has attacked the Senate runoff election process in the Peach State, calling it "illegal and invalid."

Trump is scheduled to appear at a rally in Dalton, Georgia on Monday to lend his support to GOP candidates Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Sen. David Perdue who are taking on Democratic challengers Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively.

Tuesday's runoff will determine the U.S. Senate's balance of power and both parties are spending hundreds of millions of dollars and deploying heavy hitters to sway voters.


Trump Calls Georgia Runoffs 'Invalid' As Polls Tighten, 3 Million Vote Early (newsweek.com)

Georgians
and
Jaw Juns:

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