Senate Race is going to be as interesting as POTUS...

[Guest]

Ossoff challenges Perdue to three TV debates ahead of expected runoff electionThe Democratic Senate nominee in Georgia, Jon Ossoff, on Monday challenged his GOP opponent, incumbent Sen. David Perdue, to three televised debates ahead of what appears likely be a runoff election on January 5. 
"Georgians deserve nothing less," Ossoff said in a letter to Perdue. "I hope you will agree to give Georgians the debates they deserve." 
NBC News says race between the two men is too close to call, with 98 percent of the votes reported and both candidates just below 50 percent of the vote. A runoff would take place in early January, along with the other Senate race in the state, between GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock.
In an interview Monday morning on MSNBC's Hallie Jackson, Ossoff rejected the idea that Perdue backed out of the final general election debate against him to attend a Trump rally, saying the senator was "incapable of defending himself" because he has "no record to run on." 
Ossoff said that in previous debates he asked Perdue about his record on health care, his stock trades, and why he "lied to the people of this state about the severity of this pandemic." 
"He had no answers, and he decided that he was going to bow out and refuse to debate with just hours until voting started, rather than face me in an open forum," Ossoff said. 
Reacting to NBC News reporting that Perdue is telling donors that he'll need $500 million to win the runoff, Ossoff said, "This is going to be a big fight." He added that he will be working closely with Warnock and Stacey Abrams to get out the vote. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-el...BlogHeader

[Guest]

I'm definitely pulling for Trump in this one. Might even donate to this circular firing squad. 

https://twitter.com/JohnFugelsang/status...34819?s=20

[Guest]

Everyone please take a moment and visit Roger Stone's website. Donate if you can. We can't let pinkos and their inferior religions take over America. 

With enough write-ins in the Georgia senate race, we can tilt the balance in Georgia in Trump's favor! If we can do this, we have a real chance at getting these RINO senators to act on the illegitimate and corrupt election presided over by a Democrat party that is invested in the Communist takeover of Our Great Nation. We will not stop fighting for you, the American Patriot, against the evils of Socialism and inferior Religions. This is a Christian Nation and will be as long as we fight, together, for our sovereignty.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/roger-ston...e-majority

[Guest]

Georgia GOP seeks mail-in ballot changes after Biden's win

By BEN NADLER and KATE BRUMBACK Associated PressDecember 3, 2020 — 3:33pm

ATLANTA — After weathering criticism for certifying President Donald Trump's narrow election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, Republican officials in Georgia are proposing additional requirements for the state's vote-by-mail process, despite no evidence of systemic fraud or irregularities.
Two state Senate committees held hearings Thursday to begin a review of Georgia’s voting laws. Republicans are zeroing in on a plan to require a photo ID for ballots cast by mail. Voting rights activists and Democrats argue that the change isn't necessary and would disenfranchise voters.
Biden beat Trump by just over 12,500 votes in Georgia, with Biden receiving nearly twice as many of the record number of absentee ballots as the Republican president, according to the secretary of state's office. A recount requested by Trump was wrapping up and wasn't expected to change the overall outcome.
Trump, who for months has sowed unsubstantiated doubt about the integrity of mail-in votes, has also made baseless claims of widespread fraud in the presidential race in Georgia.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff have vehemently rebuffed those claims, stating unequivocally that there is no evidence of systemic errors or fraud in last month's election. Yet Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp, both Republicans who have been publicly lambasted by Trump, have joined the push to require a photo ID for absentee voting.
“Voters casting their ballots in person must show a photo ID, and we should consider applying that same standard to mail-in balloting,” Kemp said in remarks streamed live online.
Kemp faced accusations of voter suppression during his successful 2018 run for governor against Democrat Stacey Abrams, an election he oversaw as Georgia's previous secretary of state. He vehemently denied the allegations. Kemp faces reelection — and a possible rematch against Abrams — in 2022.
Raffensperger also has suggested allowing state officials to intervene in counties that have systemic problems with administering elections and broadening the ways in which challenges can be posed to votes cast by residents who don’t live where they say.
The photo ID idea has support among several members of the state legislature, including Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan. “I don't think there should be different standards for the same process,” Dugan said in an interview.
Republican House Speaker David Ralston has been skeptical of voting by mail, telling a local news outlet in April that increased mail voting “will be extremely devastating to Republicans and conservatives in Georgia.” Political analysts have said that typically more Democrats than Republicans use mail-in ballots.
Ralston later said he was not talking about his party losing an advantage but the potential for fraud. “We must do everything in our power to ensure votes are not stolen, cast fraudulently or plagued by administrative errors,” he said in a statement this week.
Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs said in an interview with The Associated Press that currently anyone who knows someone’s name, address and date of birth can request an absentee ballot on that person’s behalf. She said that while signature matches provide some security for mail-in ballots, the process should be shored up.
One way to do that could be to require a person's driver's license number or a photocopy of a separate form of ID, she said.
“We need to secure all avenues that we can of absentee ballots so we never have a candidate run around this state again saying the election was stolen because of absentee ballots,” she said.
While Republicans seem ready to press forward with the photo ID requirement during the upcoming legislative session, Democrats and civil rights organizations are raising alarms.
With no evidence of widespread fraud or other problems in the election, it doesn’t make sense to talk about measures that could ultimately prove to be barriers to voting, said Andrea Young, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.
“What is the problem that you’re trying to solve?" she asked. “The rule should be first, ‘Do no harm’ when it comes to democracy, and whenever there are more restrictions being put on a process, you run the risk of disenfranchising Georgia citizens.”
Young says adding a photo ID requirement for absentee voting would be harmful because “we know that these barriers have a different impact on African American voters, on younger voters and, in this instance, on seniors who have certainly earned the right” to vote.
State Sen. Jen Jordan, an Atlanta Democrat, echoed Young’s concerns, saying Republicans were offering solutions in search of a problem.
“What this says to me is that they just don’t want people voting," Jordan said. “And they specifically don’t want Democrats voting, or people that don’t support their chosen candidates voting, and they’re going to try to make it as hard as possible."
Democrats and voting rights groups have for years sought to decrease rejections of absentee ballots in Georgia, arguing that minorities have been disproportionately affected. Absentee ballots are sometimes rejected because signatures on the outer envelope are deemed not to match signatures in the voter registration system, or because the envelope is not signed at all.
An agreement signed in March to settle a lawsuit filed by the Democratic Party spells out a standard process that must be used statewide to judge the signatures. That agreement has been the subject of much of Trump's online ire, and he has incorrectly said it “makes it impossible to check & match signatures on ballots and envelopes.”

[Guest]

Looks like Ossoff will beat Perdue and Warnock has beaten Loeffler. Good guys get control of Senate. Both drew numbers better than November, suggesting Trump's post-election petulance had an impact. 

https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/13...50880?s=20

[Guest]

@MaroonBells said:
Looks like Ossoff will beat Perdue and Warnock has beaten Loeffler. Good guys get control of Senate. Both drew numbers better than November, suggesting Trump's post-election petulance had an impact. 

https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/13...50880?s=20

Interesting for sure. I wish some members of the GOP in the Senate weren't SO conservative, really giving the whole party a bad look. I really don't like Democratic fiscal policy at all. In fact, I hate it. But getting Trump out was paramount. The few members that continue to back him are just filth.

I'm hopeful a more moderate candidate is elected in the next Presidential election cycle, regardless of party. I see the Lincoln Project is taking a victory lap with recent ads....my wife likes them but I wonder if that's a little bit lowering yourself to a different level. 

[Guest]

What is a moderate, I consider Biden to be.   Who is an example?  Romney, i don’t think so, he never speaks up unless it’s a lost cause.  No real names jump out to me.

[Guest]

I'm not ready to do my happy dance yet...Not till you know who sings. 

If Ossoff does beat Purdue, that is going to trace in a big way to Trump's loathsome behavior and stunts. 

I'm kinda with @ Sticky on this one. I've always found my comfortable place knowing there were checks/balances in govt.

But I dont have a choice between moderations anymore. The Pub's I knew are long gone and a bunch of career and career hopeful Republicans are about to take a shit on the electoral process today and tomorrow.

Good luck to Pence threading that needle. 

And gridlock in DC? What does that get us anymore? 

No, I'm going to go watch those Lincoln Project victory lap ads, hoist a tall one and hope for some great young candidates to capture my imagination tomorrow. Hell, Ossoff might just be one of em. 

[Guest]

@purplefaithful said:

No, I'm going to go watch those Lincoln Project victory lap ads, hoist a tall one and hope for some great young candidates to capture my imagination tomorrow. Hell, Ossoff might just be one of em. 

A black man who preached in Dr. King's church and a Jewish liberal who interned for John Lewis...winning Senate races in GEORGIA. It's a beautiful day. 

[Guest]