Wednesday, July 01, 2020

White House Update: The Thirds


Like the languid, stifling humidity of a July afternoon in southeast Texas, the ennui of the 2020 presidential campaign between Joe Biden and Donald Trump has now settled to the pitiable level of a mental competency hearing.

Senility is becoming an overt line of attack for the first time in a modern U.S. presidential campaign.

[...]

As President Trump ramps up insinuations that his general election rival is doddering, Joe Biden turned the tables on Tuesday, saying Trump “doesn’t seem to be cognitively aware of what’s going on” with his own briefings about Russia and U.S. service members.

At the same news conference where he took a swipe at Trump, Biden was asked by a reporter if he has been tested for cognitive decline.

  • "I've been tested and I'm constantly tested," Biden responded, adding that "I can hardly wait to compare my cognitive capability to the cognitive capability of the man I'm running against."
  • A Trump campaign Twitter feed played back the clip and asked, "Did Biden take a cognitive test? What were the results? Why is he getting frequently tested?"


Those would be my sentiments.


-- If you haven't been following the Green Party's quadrennial intraparty dysfunction, David Collins has a nuanced and ameliorative take, which I linked in this Tweet.


It may seem as if I don't care who the GP puts up, but I'm all in for Hawkins/Walker.  I like Dario Hunter just fine, wish this squabble between the two weren't happening, but Howie and Angela have secured enough delegates through the proper channels to capture the nom on the first ballot, so the party really should be over for Hunter and his crew of disruptors (Primo Nutmeg, I'm looking at you).  I just don't see where Governor Body fits in to all of this, either, and don't really care.  He had his shot and passed.  Gadfly refried these frijoles in a recent post, which is in Monday's Wrangle.

-- But should the Greens fall into disarray, failing to take advantage of the momentum generated by Berners yearning for a leftist option, then I will write in Mark Charles.


Here's his latest campaign update (from my inbox).

I hope this message finds you well. These past few weeks have been a sobering reminder that the pandemic is still very much with us with skyrocketing Covid-19 cases and it will be a factor throughout the rest of the campaign. Despite this, Donald Trump and Joe Biden have begun holding public and in-person campaign events.

Our campaign, however, is holding to our core stance - we value life. Therefore, we have made the decision to not hold any public, in-person campaign events in the foreseeable future. Voting is essential, but public, in-person campaigning is not. We are living in the 21st century. Most Americans have access to computers, smartphones, internet, television, radio or newspapers. And during a global pandemic, without a vaccine, political candidates certainly can find creative and safer ways to get our political messages out.

Because of this, we will not be collecting signatures in-person to get my name on the ballot in various states. Here is a summary of our current Ballot Access Plan:

  • We are currently collecting signatures electronically and remotely in the states of Illinois, North Dakota, Alaska and Utah.

  • We are making plans to begin remote/electronic signature collection in the states of Connecticut, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Washington.

  • We are raising money to pay a fee to get on the ballot in the states of Oklahoma ($35,000), Colorado ($1,000) and Louisiana ($500).

  • We are also planning to file paperwork to get on the ballot in the state of Vermont (no signatures or fee required).

  • I will not be on the ballot, nor can I be a write-in in the states of New Mexico, Florida, Arkansas, Hawaii, Nevada, South Carolina and South Dakota.

  • In the remaining 32 states I can be a write-in candidate.

This is great news because it means that people will have the opportunity to vote for me in the General Election in 40-44 states!

First 100 Days Plan and other Policies
We are in the midst of unveiling a new policy on a weekly basis. We began two weeks ago with a plan for our first 100 days in office to remove the racist, sexist and white supremacist language from the US Constitution. A draft of the Constitution that contained our proposed edits that we plan to submit to Congress immediately after my inauguration is available here along with a one-page summary of this proposal. Last week we discussed the issues of women’s and LGBTQIA2S+ rights. And this week, leading into the 4th of July, we are discussing Indigenous rights and the Doctrine of Discovery. In the coming weeks, watch for policies regarding human rights, the environment, voting reform, and the economy.

Fundraising:
June 2020 has been our best fundraising month to date. As of today we have raised $15,430. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has donated to and supported our campaign. These additional funds have allowed us to bring on more staff, invest more in content creation, promote our campaign and set money aside to pay fees for ballot access.

Looking forward,

  • we need to pay the fees to get on the ballots in OK, CO and LA within the next 5 weeks. None of these states allow write-in candidates, so paying the fee is crucial to get on the ballot.

  • We also have identified some additional staffing needs for our communication team.

We would love to raise an additional $4,700 today bringing our June total to $20,000. And then by raising $50,000 in July, we could cover the fees in these 3 states as well as meet our staffing and other regular campaign expenses. Can you help us meet these goals?


His is a shoestring campaign, with a few handfuls of core supporters.  Whether I ultimately vote Green or not, I count myself as one of Charles' faithful.

I am hopeful as we move into the final months of the campaign. The pandemic along with the recent, and horrific examples of racial injustice have tapped a desire in our nation to break out of the status quo and make some real changes. The Republicans are running with an extremely divisive candidate while the Democrats have nominated a mediocre candidate. But our platform is growing because our message for fixing the foundations is resonating with Americans who really want change. And our vision for building a nation where We the People truly means #AllThePeople will be a compelling option on November 3rd.

Still need to know more?  Watch these.

  1. VIDEO: Live Stream: First 100 Days plan explained

  2. VIDEO: Live Stream: First 100 Days: Gender Equity

  3. VIDEO: Live Stream: LGBTQIA2S+ Rights

-- The Constitution Party has split, and the breakaways have picked a ticket.  From IPR:

The conservative Life and Liberty Party held its first national convention this past Saturday on Zoom, as reported at American Third Party Report.  It nominated party chairman J.R. Myers of Alaska for president and professor Tiara Lusk of Idaho for vice president.  According to the party’s website, it is currently on the ballot in Arkansas and is attempting to appear on several others.

Myers, who was the Idaho Constitution Party’s vice presidential nominee in 2016 and the Constitution Party’s nominee for governor of Alaska in 2014, founded the party as an alternative to the Constitution Party, which has been plagued with infighting.  According to Politics1, the Idaho, Oregon, Alaska, Virginia, South Dakota, Texas, Illinois, and Indiana chapters of the Constitution Party have all disaffiliated from the national party.  The Alabama, Mississippi, and West Virginia chapters are reportedly considering disaffiliating as well.  The North Carolina and South Carolina affiliates are currently mulling whether to nominate a candidate other than the Constitution Party’s 2020 presidential nominee, businessman Don Blankenship.  Politics1 believes some of these parties may ultimately give their nominations to the Myers/Lusk ticket.


-- Last, a notable farewell.

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