Both did about the same in that area

...where Trump won by 20.

Ant analysis which doesn't put these factors first lacks credibility.

The previous republican congressman did.

Trump only won by about 1

..REPUBLICANS squandered a 20 point advantage and all we can talk about is how Ossoff screwed up.

I'm done with these threads. Too much nonsense.

Ossoff outspent Handel and Trump only won by a single point.

But the Ossoff campaign certainly raised a lot of money and did not get outspent 2:1.

But non stop ads attacking Ossoff is where the other money came from. They were all from PACs with names like "American's for Freedom" etc.

...I misread something or the other.

I do think Handel squandered a 20 point advantage her predecessor enjoyed.

No worries.

...that's why I keep you around.

Always happy to be kept around!

like the kind exhibited by Al Franken yesterday while lecturing the GOP over
the total lack of transparency over AHCA

DISPLEASURE works. It's not disdain, and therefore not arrogant, it's not violent
nor drama, so it's not something to run away from.

You go to a restaurant. The waitress says, "How's your meal?" You want service?
You show DISPLEASURE.

"It's cold, the fries are limp, I ordered the large with onions, you've delivered the
large with pickles and cheese, it's undercooked. WHAT DID YOU DO TO THIS STUFF?"

You'll get exactly what you ordered, and then some.

I've tried it. It works. DISPLEASURE is powerful.

It is deeply frustrating that we are "doing better" in these special elections but still not winning.

My thoughts on this:

1) it is not enough to be anti-Trump. we have to communicate what we are FOR, and how our party will help people's lives more than the Republicans

2) while it may be harmful to go too far to the left, even more importantly, vanilla does not work either. Finger in the wind won't cut it.

3) we need something similar to what Gingrich did for the Republicans with his "contract with America". We have a lot of winning issues.....putting them together into a plan.....even Trump had a readily understandable slogan MAGA......and it helped his slimy cause......we need to figure out what we stand for, on issues of course, but not just issues, we need to communicate our vision for America.....our ideals....we need to develop something voters can relate to and identify with on a gut level....we used to be the party of the middle and working classes and we still should be.

4) what are our winning issues? 1) health care, 2) medicare/social security/the safety net, 3) the environment, 4) sensible foreign policy and trade 5) creating jobs 6) economic fairness, a fair deal for everyone (don't be anti-rich, be pro-worker. This is just scratching the surface. We are consistently right on the issues, yet we have difficulty winning elections. We need voters to be able to identify with us so they don't agree with us on the issues but vote R anyway.

5) We need a slogan. Maybe borrow from Obama: A New Beginning? Borrow from Truman: a new fair deal for everyone?

6) We need young faces.

Ossoff ran on all the issues you suggest and lost...you can't have one method for every state...and you need to recruit candidates who can win. I think Ossoff was a good candidate but not living in the district hurt him. Below you mentioned the following issues.

"1) health care, 2) medicare/social security/the safety net, 3) the environment, 4) sensible foreign policy and trade 5) creating jobs 6) economic fairness, a fair deal for everyone (don't be anti-rich, be pro-worker."

I love these issues...of course I do...but they won't move Republicans...some believe they want the same things we do...but they don't.

In GA6 we had to get some Rs to vote for us. So it was an uphill battle from the start. Ossoff not living in the district hurt him, yes.

From what I heard, Ossoff did not take the proposed Trumpcare and the secrecy of the Republican back rooms and take it to the mat. This bill is so unpopular, even a lot of Rs don't like it! I think he should have run with it, hard.

It gets back to turnout. Fewer voters showed up yesterday than in the earlier primary. Hillary would be in the White House if more Democrats voted. But we have hordes of people who don't vote.

Why? Well, it would be easy to just call them lazy and stupid. But that won't get them to the polls next time.

My view is we have to get a more positive message. Not be against Trump (although we are of course) but we have to have a message of what the Democrats stand for, how we will help voters' lives better than the Rs.

Health care, the Ds have been running AWAY FROM Obamacare for years. It is time to embrace affordable health care for all, and attack Trumpcare who will make it more expensive, less available, and that is because they are giving the very rich a huge tax cut. This is a winning issue. Nail it. The Rs are running scared here, that is why they are keeping it all secret. We need to shout it out from every rooftop what the Rs are doing.

My idea is we need to get together and come up with some sort of Democratic version of Contract With AMerica....I don't mean steal Gingrich's crappy ideas, but rather the concept. Get a flashy name for it.....and make a manifesto that will show what we stand for in ways that voters can relate to, understand, and support. We have left a vaccuum here and Trump was able to fill that with the easy-to-understand MAGA and AMerica First. Crappy ideas, but great marketing.

Anyhow, I think that a positive message is what we need to increase turnout.

And we need to shift to younger leaders. The older folks have served us well, but we need fresh blood

The first thing though is if you want a positive message stop criticizing the Democratic Party...not you in particular ...that is a general 'you'. I agree we need to embrace affordable care and that has happened...I think it was a real mistake to put in a single payer bill in congress..should have been an improvement for ACA bill... but that being said...you want to run on issues and so do I, but I am uncertain we can move the right at the moment. We can try...candidate recruitment is important and stop primarying sitting Democrats like Manchin or even Nancy Pelosi...it is so stupid...waste of money and time. I despise our revolution and other so called progressive groups for this crap.

Keeping it legal, but rough and nasty.

By June 20th you would have thought Ossoff was Pelosi's love child.

Or did he bull-rush people?

that was +20 R in Nov. 2016 to +5 R just six months later, a swing of 15 points in the D's direction. You can bet the few sober minds that remain in the fascist party are examining these results very closely and worrying mightily about what they portend for Nov. 2018.

Ossoff had a Herculean task, but he's not Hercules, just a mere mortal.

Marietta, it is a miracle that we got this close...and in Carolina too...the GOP should be shaking in their jackboots.

He didn't! Neither did Clinton!

The Reeps are so brainwashed and hateful that they will vote
for horrible people like 45 and Handel. This is ALL on them!