It's called being a bloody idiot, and not focusing on what actually matters.
Mastriano is very likely going to lose because he is too far to the right for Pennsylvania. It was a mistake to nominate him in the first place. But to say that he is not right-wing enough is the rankest of stupidity that you will be able to find.
My opinion is that Mastriano actually has a 55 percent shot of winning.
Many of the PA Republican leaders who shunned him in the primaries are coming home and he is finally getting good fundraising support.
The fundamentals of the race favor him: incumbent President is hated in PA, gas prices too high, his opponent is an Attorney General who is weak on violent crime. Shapiro is also running a shitty McAuliffe type campaign focused only on abortion and attacking Mastriano on Jan 6.
I thought Mastriano would be doomed in the general but looking at his campaign, he is doing much better than expected.
If things continue and Mastriano continues to hit the ground with the grassroots and Shapiro continues to bitch about abortion and 1/6, we will be saying Governor Mastriano next year.
The abortion attack has to be neutralized. You can't go around in PA saying that you will ban abortion even in cases of rape and incest. Stick to the 15 week stuff and you will have the better end of the argument. On the other hand, the January 6 thing is such nonsense that I do hope he spends all his time on that.
The only hope for Mastriano is that fundamentals will reassert themselves. Based on that, I predicted that Trump would lose in 2020, and that Republicans will do better than the polls now indicate. The economy is bad, and midterms are notoriously difficult for incumbent parties.
That alone should guarantee a major GOP victory, though I can't say if it will extend to PA. Even in the wave year of 2010, Republicans shot themselves in the foot by nominating crazy people like Sharron Angle.
We don't have any Sharron Angle level candidates this year.
Most questionable guy is GA Senate pick Herschel Walker but he is a likeable football legend. He has documented mental health issues that he has publically talked about and has a few kids out of marriage.
Next ones are Dr. OZ for PA senate and Arizona gov and senate with Kari Lake and Blake Masters. Dr. Oz has a base problem but I think they will finally come home by Nov. Fetterman had a stroke so it is unclear if he makes it to November. Lake and Masters talk mostly about the stolen election but I think they both pivot after the primaries are done and they win.
Mastriano's base is mainly rural socialcons so his abortion stance will sadly remain. I think moving to a 15 weeks ban would help him a lot in Philly suburbs but that is not going to happen.
The fundamentals of the environment along with higher than Trump margins in the rurals will hopefully push Doug Mastriano to victory.
We don't have any Sharron Angle level candidates this year.
You only know in retrospect. If Mastriano gets clobbered 60-40 despite a national wave, then we'll know. I don't think it will happen, but it's possible.
Mastriano's base is mainly rural socialcons so his abortion stance will sadly remain. I think moving to a 15 weeks ban would help him a lot in Philly suburbs but that is not going to happen.
I saw a poll claiming that abortion was the most important issue for 15%. This while Democrats are still outdoing the GOP on the generic ballot, despite the current disaster. It might be that things will change, it is likely that they will, but this is a warning sign.
Youngkin and DeSantis moved quite deftly to 15 weeks without repudiating their pro-life stance. That is what I would like to see. No flip-flops.
But to say that he is not right-wing enough is the rankest of stupidity that you will be able to find.
You've got people on here who say the same thing about Trump. "He lost votes because he abandoned his White base to give money to minorities who wouldn't vote for him anyway!" I can't tell if they are serious or working for the other team.
There's a core of truth to that. He spent very little time on appealing to Latinos, very much on blacks, and yet Latinos swung for him hard, and blacks did not. That seems like wasted effort, and getting off your own supply of 'Blexit'.
It was wasted effort but I doubt it cost him any "right-wing" votes. Perhaps he could've gained more of those elusive "suburban moms" had he campaigned tactically. OTOH it's hard to campaign tactically when they can change the election rules at any time and there's no fair playing field.
Oh, I don't think it lost him anything, there was not really a problem with the right-wing base. Though there should have been, given his release of criminals and refusal to act with BLM - possibly out of fear of alienating Blexiteers.
It's called being a bloody idiot, and not focusing on what actually matters.
Mastriano is very likely going to lose because he is too far to the right for Pennsylvania. It was a mistake to nominate him in the first place. But to say that he is not right-wing enough is the rankest of stupidity that you will be able to find.
My opinion is that Mastriano actually has a 55 percent shot of winning.
Many of the PA Republican leaders who shunned him in the primaries are coming home and he is finally getting good fundraising support.
The fundamentals of the race favor him: incumbent President is hated in PA, gas prices too high, his opponent is an Attorney General who is weak on violent crime. Shapiro is also running a shitty McAuliffe type campaign focused only on abortion and attacking Mastriano on Jan 6.
I thought Mastriano would be doomed in the general but looking at his campaign, he is doing much better than expected.
If things continue and Mastriano continues to hit the ground with the grassroots and Shapiro continues to bitch about abortion and 1/6, we will be saying Governor Mastriano next year.
The abortion attack has to be neutralized. You can't go around in PA saying that you will ban abortion even in cases of rape and incest. Stick to the 15 week stuff and you will have the better end of the argument. On the other hand, the January 6 thing is such nonsense that I do hope he spends all his time on that.
The only hope for Mastriano is that fundamentals will reassert themselves. Based on that, I predicted that Trump would lose in 2020, and that Republicans will do better than the polls now indicate. The economy is bad, and midterms are notoriously difficult for incumbent parties.
That alone should guarantee a major GOP victory, though I can't say if it will extend to PA. Even in the wave year of 2010, Republicans shot themselves in the foot by nominating crazy people like Sharron Angle.
We don't have any Sharron Angle level candidates this year.
Most questionable guy is GA Senate pick Herschel Walker but he is a likeable football legend. He has documented mental health issues that he has publically talked about and has a few kids out of marriage.
Next ones are Dr. OZ for PA senate and Arizona gov and senate with Kari Lake and Blake Masters. Dr. Oz has a base problem but I think they will finally come home by Nov. Fetterman had a stroke so it is unclear if he makes it to November. Lake and Masters talk mostly about the stolen election but I think they both pivot after the primaries are done and they win.
Mastriano's base is mainly rural socialcons so his abortion stance will sadly remain. I think moving to a 15 weeks ban would help him a lot in Philly suburbs but that is not going to happen.
The fundamentals of the environment along with higher than Trump margins in the rurals will hopefully push Doug Mastriano to victory.
You only know in retrospect. If Mastriano gets clobbered 60-40 despite a national wave, then we'll know. I don't think it will happen, but it's possible.
I saw a poll claiming that abortion was the most important issue for 15%. This while Democrats are still outdoing the GOP on the generic ballot, despite the current disaster. It might be that things will change, it is likely that they will, but this is a warning sign.
Youngkin and DeSantis moved quite deftly to 15 weeks without repudiating their pro-life stance. That is what I would like to see. No flip-flops.
You've got people on here who say the same thing about Trump. "He lost votes because he abandoned his White base to give money to minorities who wouldn't vote for him anyway!" I can't tell if they are serious or working for the other team.
There's a core of truth to that. He spent very little time on appealing to Latinos, very much on blacks, and yet Latinos swung for him hard, and blacks did not. That seems like wasted effort, and getting off your own supply of 'Blexit'.
It was wasted effort but I doubt it cost him any "right-wing" votes. Perhaps he could've gained more of those elusive "suburban moms" had he campaigned tactically. OTOH it's hard to campaign tactically when they can change the election rules at any time and there's no fair playing field.
Oh, I don't think it lost him anything, there was not really a problem with the right-wing base. Though there should have been, given his release of criminals and refusal to act with BLM - possibly out of fear of alienating Blexiteers.
Trump lost because of lower margins with college educated White men than in 2016. The only group he did much worse with.
Mail in ballots meant wives could influence their husband's vote, that definitely lost Trump some college white men votes.
Lockdowns and not cracking down on BLM riots also did hurt him with this group.
Also he should taken all the money he wasted on Black outreach and pumped it into ads targetting Latinos and college white men.
That might have given him enough votes to win outside the close margins that allow voter fraud to flip the race.