Mediaboss Marketing

Who are the Indivisble and why have they flooded town halls across the country to protest President Donald Trump's agenda? ISADORA RANGEL/TCPALM.COM Wochit

Congressman Brian Mast, a new member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, invited committee Chariman Bill Shuster for an aerial tour of central and south Florida waterways and a press conference Jan. 17, 2017 in Stuart. The duo took questions from local media and attendees before heading back to the helicopter to continue their tour.(Photo: LEAH VOSS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)Buy Photo

Democrats are betting low approvalratingsfor the GOP health care overhaul will help them win back a coveted Treasure Coast congressional seat.

U.S. Rep. Brian Mast is startingstrong going into the 2018 election, coming off an impressive 10-point win last year.

But Democrats already are targeting the freshman Republican from Palm Cityfor voting in favor ofthe controversial American Health Care Actthat 55percent of Americans view unfavorably, according to a May poll by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. Under the bill approved by the House, the number of uninsured people would rise by 23 million in the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Democrats hopegrass-roots momentum, President Donald Trump's slumping approval ratings and voter anger over the billwill ignite a Democratic takeover of Congress. They envision something similarto the GOP wave after passage of the Affordable Care Act, aka "Obamacare,"in 2010.

Mast has come under attackby suchgroupsas Indivisible, a grass-roots movement created to resist Trump's agenda,as have GOP lawmakers across the country.

More: Mast and Indivisible foes trade barbs

Mast was one of two Florida lawmakers targeted in an onlinead campaignagainst 30 Republicans who voted for the health care overhaul. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which works to elect Democrats to the House, launched the campaign.

Ousting Mast, however, will be a steep climb.

He's raised almost $400,000 since January, and his seat is rated "solid Republican" by Inside Elections, a nonpartisan election analysis website.

District 18 leans slightly Republican; Trump won the districtby nine points. And Mast has established himself as an independent voice,nota D.C. insider, said Inside Elections publisher Nathan Gonzales.

Beingan Army veteran and double amputee also plays to Mast'sfavor, Gonzales said.

"I think Mast is going to be difficult to defeat," Gonzales said. "At the same time, I dont think the race is over; in some cases, the race hasnt even started yet."

Gonzales also cautionedabout comparing the role health care will play in 2018 to what it did in the GOP's takeover of 63House seats in 2010. Disapproval of Obamacare that year was a catalyst, but other issues induced voters to reject Democrats: the economy,the Wall Street and auto industry bailouts and the economic stimulus bill.

Still, Gonzalesexpects Democrats to pick up several seats next year.

And it's not clear whether health care still will be such a hotissue when congressionalelections take place inNovember 2018. The Senate is crafting its own version of the legislation, and thechangescould change some voters' minds.

"I think its much too early to tell on the 2018 election," said Martin County Republican Executive Committee chairman Toby Overdorf."I believe the opposition is trying to figure out where they want to stand."

More: Mast calls health care overhaul a "good bill"

Even if health care proves to be toxic for the GOP, Democrats will have to find a formidable candidate to go up against Mast. Not only is he considereda war hero, but he's alsoin tune with the district's top local issue, Lake Okeechobee discharges,filinga bill to expedite a reservoir to curb the releases.

Former U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Pam Keith(Photo: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO FROM PAM KEITH)

There are no official Democratic candidates yet, butseveral people are showing interest, saidDemocratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Cole Leiter.

Pam Keith, whose grass-roots campaign for the U.S. Senate garnered 15 percent of Democratic primary votes last year, has set up a political committee to explore a candidacy. Retired Army Maj.Corinna Robinson, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in South Dakota in 2014 and now lives in Tampa, is considering jumping in.

Keith, a lawyer and veteran, said she's energized by her meetings with groupssuch as Indivisible. She also said many constituents are unhappy with Mast's alignment with Trump.

She doesn't know when she'll decide whetherto run.

"The time is now," Keith said. "We have a representative who's not shown up for his constituents."

Mast is in a tough predicament. Voting against repealing Obamacare could jeopardize his standing with Republican voters. Trump won District 18 even carrying Democratic-leaning St. Lucie County promisingto repeal the 2010 law. But the details of the overhaul could anger moderate and independent constituents.

Republicans seem to be bettingthe bill the House passed in Maywill help incumbents keep their seats. A super PAC created by former Trump staffers began airingads urgingvoters to call Mast and thank him for standing with the presidentto repeal Obamacare.

Yet a poll conducted in Mast's district and14 others showsthe majority of voters who know how their representatives voted on the bill said they would prefer to electa Democrat next year. The poll was commissioned by two Democratic groups, Patriot Majority USA and Priorities USA.

Masthas defended his vote, saying the House billprohibits insurers from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions and will lower insurance costs.

The plan, however, allows insurers to charge those with preexisting conditions more in states that get a waiver, and people whogo without insurance for more than 63 days would see their premiums go up.Older Americans also could pay more while younger people would get a break.

"This (bill) is very, very strong on preexisting conditions," Mast said. "It'sgoing to lowercostsfor peopleimmediately."

Read or Share this story: http://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/politics/2017/06/02/analysis-democrats-bet-health-care-bill-help-them-oust-u-s-rep-brian-mast/356530001/

See the original post:
Analysis: Democrats bet health care bill will help them oust U.S. Rep. Brian Mast - TCPalm

Updated 1:22 p.m.|President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused Democrats of resisting testimony from Carter Page, his former campaign adviser, because he blows away allegations they have made.

Page told the top Republican and Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee last Tuesday that he would testify as part of their probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. But Trump now saysthe minority party has changed its mind about hearing from Page.

Trump alluded to uncited reports in tweeting that the Democrats, who have excoriated Carter Page about Russia, dont want him to testify.

The top Democrat on theHouse Intelligence Committee, California Rep.Adam B. Schiffsaid Wednesday that he and Texas Rep. K. Michael Conway, the investigations top Republican,have agreed to review relevant documents before interviewing witnesses, as you would expect in a comprehensive investigation. And while we anticipate interviews to begin shortly, we have agreed that the pace of those interviews will be dictated by the needs of the investigation and not the preferences of outside parties.

On Tuesday, Page said he learned from the Intelligence panelthat he might not be immediately afforded the opportunity to address the committee.

In two tweets, the president went on to say that this alleged change of heart by Democratic members comes because they have concluded Page blows away their ... case against him.

Trump, referring to the FBI director he fired and the Obama administrations last CIA director, wrote that his former adviser wants to clear his name by showing the false or misleading testimony by James Comey, John Brennan...

He ended his second tweeton the matter by again referring to several congressional investigations and the FBIs probe into Russia as a collective Witch Hunt!

Trumps latest tweetstorm came a day after his press secretary, Sean Spicer, refused to answer questions about whether then-candidate and President-elect Trump knew about back channel communications his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner reportedly wanted to establish with Moscow before they enteredthe White House.

[Trumps Total Authorization to Military Gives Some Deep Concerns]

Notably, Spicer would neither confirm nor deny that Kushner attempted to go around the outgoing Obama administration.

Trumps tweets came just minutes before a new poll was released showing growing support among American voters for the House to start impeachment proceedings.

Forty-three percent of those surveyed by Morning Consult and Politico said they want the impeachment process against Trump to begin. Thats up from the previousversion of the same poll, which had the figure at 38 percent. Notably, however, most voters (45 percent) do not want impeachment proceedings.

Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone or your Android.

Original post:
Trump Says Democrats No Longer Want Carter Page's Testimony - Roll Call

There are lots of reasons Hillary Clinton didnt win last years presidential election.

One of the big ones, in her opinion (and the opinions of many others), is tied to media, specifically the medias obsession with Clintons private email server, and disinformation spread on Facebook by malicious actors in Russia.

The Democrats did a poor job controlling the narrative and telling their own story, Clinton said, which will be important as the party tries to take back control of Congress.

We [the Democratic party] are not good historically at building institutions and weve got to get a lot better, and that includes content, Clinton said Wednesday from Recodes annual Code Conference. We have a great story to tell. I found when I started the campaign that I had to say in practically every one of my speeches, Barack Obama saved the economy and he doesnt get the credit he deserves. I had to say that because people had been told differently.

You can watch Clintons entire conversation with Recodes Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg here.

More:
Hillary Clinton says Democrats need to create more content to help win back the House - Recode

New York Times

Trump Lashes Out at Kathy Griffin and Democrats New York Times WASHINGTON President Trump assailed Democrats and a television comedian on Wednesday in his latest Twitter blasts since returning from an overseas trip in which he had largely abstained from the sort of combative social media postings that helped ... site rencontre taille - T.coT.co Kathy Griffin Beheads Donald Trump in Shocking Photo ShootTMZ.com Kathy Griffin on Twitter: "I am sorry. I went too far. I was wrong. https://t.co/LBKvqf9xFB"Twitter all 1,233 news articles »

Continue reading here:
Trump Lashes Out at Kathy Griffin and Democrats - New York Times

CARSON CITY Democrats could put Uber out of business in Nevada without recording a vote on the final legislation.

Welcome to the last 128 hours of the 2017 Nevada Legislature.

The Review-Journal this week reported that regulations taxi companies want imposed on transportation network companies could drive Uber and Lyft from Nevada. Democratic leaders in the Assembly, who received hefty campaign contributions from taxi companies in 2016, kept the proposal alive late last week after it appeared to have died.

Senate Bill 226 is in the Assembly Ways and Means committee. On Monday, chair Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, held a hearing on the fiscal impact of an Assembly floor amendment. This late in the session, if a bill gets a hearing, its a worrisome sign for its opponents.

I wanted to find out from Carlton whether she plans to move SB226, but when I asked for a comment, she said, Nope.

Its unlikely that the amended version of SB226 has enough support among Democrats to pass either house, which is why trickery fueled by taxi-industry influence might be its only path to passage. In April, SB226 passed the Senate 17-4 as a compromise aimed at ensuring that transportation network company drivers have business licenses.

Heres how the shenanigans could work:

Democrats adopt an amendment in Ways and Means thats acceptable to Uber and Lyft, but different from the Senates bill. The now-uncontroversial bill passes committee and the Assembly, possibly by a margin as wide as the Senates.

The amended version goes to the Senate for a concurrence, but the Senate doesnt concur with the amendment, and the Assembly doesnt recede it. Then the Senate and Assembly appoint a conference committee to meet and come up with language thats acceptable to both sides.

This is where the games begin. The members of the conference committee would have a little-noticed meeting where, as one insider put it, They can do anything they want.

Anything includes putting regulations back into the bill even outlawing transportation network companies entirely. If the amendment goes back to the Senate and Assembly floors late Monday evening, lawmakers will be swamped by an avalanche of amendments and rushed by a ticking clock remember, the Nevada Constitution requires lawmakers to adjourn after 120 days. Its impossible to keep up with everything near adjournment. Lawmakers have to trust their leadership.

Because SB226 had passed both houses, the Senate and Assembly would only need to concur with the SB226 amendment via voice vote. This means the Legislature could outlaw Uber and Lyft without one lawmaker having to put their name on the record as voting for it.

Its not likely because alert Republicans could force a roll call vote. Sen. Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas, has expressed opposition to the regulations, but resurrecting SB226 from the dead early Saturday morning didnt seem likely either.

This threat to Uber and Lyft isnt dead until sine die.

Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on Twitter.

Here is the original post:
How Democrats could force Uber out of Nevada without a recorded vote - Las Vegas Review-Journal