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New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker (right) snaps a selfie with Montana Sen. Jon Tester and a supporter March 18, 2017, in Helena for the Montana party's annual dinner. | AP Photo

The party's center of gravity may be moving away from the East.

By Gabriel Debenedetti

03/19/17 07:41 AM EDT

HELENA, Mont. After eight years of watching Democrats hemorrhage state and local offices, a collection of ambitious Western pols is attempting to muscle into Democratic Party politics and move its center of gravity away from the East Coast.

They've seen two decades of presidential nominees who hail from east of the Mississippi River. Now they are intent on taking the lead against the Trump administration policy agenda and setting the terms for the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

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"This is where the action is, where the action can be, and where the action has to be," said Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, one of the White Houses most prominent critics and a leading defender of a health care system under which eight Western states have expanded Medicaid. "Nationally [and] in D.C., the partys been flummoxed by the combined effects of gerrymandering and the massive accident of democracy named President Donald Trump."

Inslee, whose stature is rising within the national party as his state repeatedly challenges Trumps travel bans in court, joins a handful of other West Coast and Mountain West Democrats who are suddenly drawing mention as presidential prospects in 2020. Among them: Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, California Sen. Kamala Harris, and Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley.

Their rise appears to herald a shift in a party that has regularly promoted Westerners to positions of power within Congress, but not once nominated one for the presidency from west of the Rockies.

One reason is that the West Coast is one of the few remaining pockets of Democratic strength outside the Northeast. Nearly a third of Democratic governors are now from Western states, and California and Oregon are two of just six states nationwide where Democrats have unified control of the governorship and both branches of the state legislature.

"The center of the Democratic Party the heart and soul has moved to the West, theres no question about it. In the arena of younger political leaders, in the arena of fundraising, and in the arena of political organizing," said former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, one of just five Western Democrats to run for president since 1980. The Democratic base of younger, minority, entrepreneurial, civil rights-oriented electorate has dramatically shifted West."

That includes Hispanic voters, who helped power three consecutive Democratic presidential victories in Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico. Hillary Clinton also romped to victory on the West Coast, holding Trump to less than 40 percent of the vote in Oregon and Washington state, and outpacing him by more than four million votes in California.

"Its just a numbers game. Look at the map of the 2016 election," added Ben Tulchin, the Bernie Sanders campaigns San Francisco-based pollster. Thats where our numbers are going to come from.

The evolution of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Denver into major fundraising hubs has also altered the traditional balance of power. Now, Western pols boast close relationships with many of Democrats most influential funders.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Bookers appearance at a Montana Democratic Party dinner here on Saturday night three years before he might seek the presidency himself is a signal that potential 2020 contenders are recognizing the subtle shift away from more traditional party power centers on the East Coast.

"The garden of our democracy needs constant tending," said Booker, speaking to 1,200 Democrats gathered at the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds here.

In thanking his host Sen. Jon Tester a farmer the New Jersey senator nodded to Montanas rural heritage. "The farm that our nation is, to get the fruits and the harvests, you cant wake up one moment and suddenly have a burst of activism. You have to be tending to our democracy constantly. There is always work to do."

While Montana is widely thought of as a red state, it has a penchant for electing statewide Democratic leaders like Gov. Bullock handing him a singular national perch as he works with a Republican-dominated state legislature on policies like expanding Medicaid, as he did in 2015.

As the national party looks at what its for and what it can do, even if you can figure out the math and figure out a presidential race, if youve lost the rest of the country, thats not a prescription for governing, Bullock said of the partys renewed interest in the West and also in his rural-state success.

From Seattle to Los Angeles, the fierceness of the West Coast resistance to Trump has also put Democrats like Inslee in spotlight. Washington state, alongside Hawaii, has led the charge in the legal challenges to the White Houses ban on travel by individuals from certain Muslim-majority countries, and the governor has capitalized on the moment as he assumes a prominent role atop the Democratic Governors Association.

"Weve always been the Left Coast [when it comes to] ideas. The West Coast has stayed true to basic Democratic values when it comes to working for the middle class," said Washington Democratic Party Chair Tina Podlodowski. "Look at Washington state moving towards the $15 minimum wage. Look at social issues, from gay marriage to the legalization of marijuana, [and] around things like sanctuary cities."

Gary Hart, the former Colorado senator and two-time presidential candidate, has long called for the party to look westward. In early 2008, he sent then-Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean a memo urging greater investment in the West, a copy of which Hart shared with POLITICO.

Gary Hart: "The West provides the Democratic Partys greatest opportunity and represents its greatest future." | AP Photo

"The national Democratic Party should look Westward. The South will return to the Democratic Party only when economic downturn requires it. Meanwhile, the West provides the Democratic Partys greatest opportunity and represents its greatest future. National Party leaders must develop a plan to win the West in the early twenty-first century or risk settling into minority status for many years to come," reads the two-page memo, which encouraged new focus on issues including conservation, energy, technology, and public lands.

Dean put that years convention in Denver, but few of Harts recommendations like talking forcefully about public lands seeped into the partys top-line strategy. But Trumps policies on immigration and international trade as well as proposed budget cuts that could adversely affect states with large rural populations could have an outsized effect in the West, creating opportunities that didnt exist before.

"Ive been preaching it within Democratic Party circles for 30 or more years," Hart said. "Having lost the South what was before the 60s considered the solid Democratic South Democrats have been preoccupied with getting the South back. And therefore you had Clinton and Gore, and a focus on how do we get Southern voters back, to a degree, at the expense of looking at the West."

Hickenlooper, the Colorado governor, pointed to the sheer number of Westerners who are the subject of 2020 speculation as proof the party is beginning to break its Eastern habits.

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"There is a national frustration with Washington and the dysfunctionality that that kind of old-school partisanship has created, and in a way when you look at Montana or Colorado, were about as far away from that kind of dysfunctionality as youre going to see," he said. "Its a good sign as the party looks in more directions for ideas."

"It takes a little gusto and verve to take this on," added Inslee, who abandoned a bike ride to grab the ferry to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport when news of Trumps initial travel ban broke back in January. "We have rocket fuel in our engines now."

Read the rest here:
Western Democrats spearhead Trump resistance - Politico

Bobby Caina Calvan, Associated Press

Photo: Bobby Caina Calvan, AP

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, right, snaps a selfie with fellow Montana Sen. Jon Tester and a supporter on Saturday, March 18, 2017, in Helena, Montana, for the state party's annual dinner.

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, right, snaps a selfie with fellow Montana Sen. Jon Tester and a supporter on Saturday, March 18, 2017, in Helena, Montana, for the state party's annual dinner.

Montana Democrats rally behind Quist, rail against GOP

HELENA, Mont. (AP) Montana Democrats brought in one of their national party's rising stars to headline their annual dinner, but the hundreds who gathered Saturday wanted to hear more from one of their own: musician Rob Quist, who must convince fellow Democrats that he can win the state's only congressional seat and help national Democrats push back against the Republican tide.

He will have to prevail in the May 25 special election against Republican Greg Gianforte, a Bozeman entrepreneur and former gubernatorial candidate with deep pockets and a determination to win public office.

"This House seat should not be his consolation prize," Quist said of his Republican opponent, in a speech meant to energize the 1,200 Democrats from across the expansive state meeting for the Mansfield Metcalf Celebration at the Lewis and Clark County fairgrounds.

To win votes, Quist has been traveling the state just as he did while touring with his musical group, the Mission Mountain Wood Band.

"We know that Montanans talking to Montanans is what will determine this election," Quist said in his address.

In his address, he railed against the Republican plan that would dismantle key elements of the Affordable Care Act.

"The right to a healthy and productive life should not bankrupt families," he said. "I understand personally what it's like to worry about mounting health care bills."

A Gianforte spokesman called Quist out of touch with the values of Montanans.

"Montanans want a strong voice in Congress who will stand up for the Second Amendment, enforce our immigration laws, and provide the military with the resources they need to defeat ISIS," said the spokesman, Shane Scanlon. "That's why Greg Gianforte's message is resonating with Montanans, because they know he will always be on Montana's side."

Quist, running for his first political office, beat two experienced legislators and several others to win the right to represent his party in an election to fill the seat vacated by now-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

While Quist is trying to energize his base, the night's keynote speaker, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, is helping the party capitalize on the growing distress among Democrats over Republican control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.

"We are the party of we, not the party of me ... the party of inclusion," said Booker, adding that the party should not be overly fixated on President Donald Trump, but should instead focused on the party's core values.

"It's not about Republicans," he said. "It's about us."

Booker is a first-term Democrat and is already being spoken about by some as a future presidential contender.

Montana's May balloting and another special congressional election in Kansas next month are among the first tests for national Democrats. Outside campaign analysts consider the contests safely Republican, and Quist has scant time to dispel that thinking.

Sen. Jon Tester dismissed the notion that the Montana race would be a referendum on national Democrats.

In his speech, Tester urged the crowd to rally behind Quist. He then reminded supporters that he has his own re-election next year.

It remains to be seen how much national organizations, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will invest in Montana's congressional race. Quist acknowledged that the calculation will depend on whether he can convince party leaders that he can mount a serious campaign.

Rank-and-file Democrats wonder, too.

"There's only a small amount of time, and I don't know if he can do it and how much he has," said Macrae Peeples from Missoula.

The Congressional Leadership Fund, an outside group seeking to keep Republican control of the U.S. House, has already begun bombarding the television airwaves to help Gianforte tamp down Quist's chances of turning the race into a competitive one.

"I will meet him anytime and anyplace, and we'll see who's out of tune with Montana Politics," Quist said in an interview.

Quist said he's raised at least $350,000 and that contributions continue to pour in. ___

Follow Bobby Caina Calvan at https://twitter.com/bobbycalvan

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Montana Democrats rally behind Quist, rail against GOP - SFGate

The liberal showdown in Virginia's gubernatorial race played out earlier this month in Northern Virginia, where Democrat Ralph Northam met with workers at Ronald Reagan National Airport who were campaigning for a $15-per-hour minimum wage.

"We need to work hard to increase the minimum wage," he told NBC News after the event, later adding: "I've been fighting for progressive values in Virginia for the last 10 years."

The very next day, his primary opponent Tom Perriello made the same visit - and his campaign told NBC that he had embraced raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour before Northam did.

Say hello to the 2017 Democratic gubernatorial primary in Virginia, which increasingly has become a contest to see which candidate is more progressive. And say goodbye to the more centrist Virginia Democratic playbook that current Sen. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and Jim Webb, to lesser degrees used successfully in the state over the last 16 years.

Northam, the state's lieutenant governor, has touted his record fighting the state's transvaginal ultrasound legislation in 2012, as well as pushing for gun-safety reforms.

Perriello, a former Democratic congressman, talks about achieving criminal-justice reform, combating a "rigged" economy and fighting against the Trump administration's "white tribalism."

And it all raises the question: Just how blue is the state that Democrats have won in three-straight presidential elections? Or is it still purple, given the Republicans' control of the state legislature and their gubernatorial victory there eight years ago?

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, says Perriello's surprise entry in the contest earlier this year Northam originally expected no serious competition in the June 13 Democratic primary made it a race to the left.

"No question Perriello is dragging Northam to the left," Sabato said. "Actually, Northam has moved left during the McAuliffe administration, even before Perriello announced. But now Northam has to stress all of his liberal positions some of which, on gun control and abortion, may be more to the left than Perriello's record."

But Sabato also notes that President Trump's unpopularity in Virginia a poll last month had his approval rating at 38 percent in the state could overshadow this Democratic competition over who is more progressive.

"Trump may generate a larger turnout than usual than usual among Democrats come November. The larger the turnout, the likelier the electorate will resemble last November, and the better the [Democratic] nominee's chances," he said.

Northam, a doctor and Army veteran, says he isn't concerned about a primary dragging the eventual Democratic nominee to the left. "These are things that I've fought for my whole life," he told NBC. "And as a lot of people know, I ran in a very conservative district," referring to his days as a state senator.

Perriello's campaign has a similar response, arguing that pursuing priorities like a $15-per-hour minimum wage "is a fight we welcome" given that it's something even some Trump backers support, says Perriello spokesman Ian Sams.

"Of the two candidates running in the primary, Tom brings bolder arguments than Ralph has brought," Sams adds. "We welcome an argument who can be the most bold."

Yet as Northam and Perriello try to one-up each other in the Democratic primary, their own progressive records contain some noticeable holes, which each candidate is trying to exploit.

For Northam, it's voting for George W. Bush in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. "Knowing what I know now, that vote was wrong. That administration does not stand for what I believe in," he said in an interview with NBC News.

"At the end of the day, I don't think Virginians are worried about who I voted for 17 years ago. They're worried about what I've been fighting for since I was a public servant and where I want to take Virginia."

For Perriello, it's the A-rating he earned from the National Rifle Association when he served in Congress, as well as his vote for an anti-abortion amendment in the debate over the 2010 health-care law.

"I want to be very clear that I regret my vote on the Stupak-Pitts Amendment," he wrote in an online post last month. "This vote caused real pain to constituents and other women. I appreciate that some of these brave women and reproductive justice advocates took time to tell me their stories and educate me about the full implications of that vote."

Republicans in Virginia are giddy to see this Democratic contest turn into a race to the left.

"This is a primary between left and left-er and it's hard to tell which one is which," says Matt Moran, a spokesman for GOP gubernatorial frontrunner Ed Gillespie. "They oppose offshore drilling, an energy pipeline backed by Gov. [Terry] McAuliffe, and are both in favor of sanctuary cities, driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, a $15 minimum wage, and free community college. And it's only March!"

Adds Republican Party of Virginia Chair John Whitbeck, "It appears that Tom Perriello and Ralph Northam are desperate to be Virginia's version of Bernie Sanders."

But Democrats ultimately believe that Virginia's gubernatorial race will be more about the eventual Republican nominee having to own President Trump than any primary liberal showdown.

"There's going to be a tremendous amount of focus on Virginia to see which way this country wants to go," Northam told NBC News.

As well as focus about just how blue - or purple - Virginia really is.

See the original post here:
Virginia Democrats Run to The Left in Key 2017 Race - NBCNews.com

Florida House Democratic Leader-designate talks about empathy and leadership James Call

Speaker Richard Corcoran's crusade to end state subsidies to businesses is a dagger aimed at the heart of Gov. Rick Scott's job-creating legacy.(Photo: Steve Cannon, AP)

Florida House Democrats find themselves in an unusual situation they matter. Their 41 votes could be the deciding factor in a fierce turf war raging within the ruling Republican Party.

Gov. Rick Scott and Speaker Richard Corcoran quickly escalated a dispute about how to spend .002 percent of the state budget into what is surely going to be remembered as a classic capital slugfest.

Corcoran threw a haymakeron the eve of a vote to kill Enterprise Florida, the states chief business recruiter. Meeting with GOP lawmakers, he showed a video detailing Enterprise Floridas failed projects and calling business incentives corporate welfare.

Scott countered with his own video, in which he depicted Corcoran as a job-killing Tallahassee politician.

At ringside, available to each corner, are House Democrats. Theyve lacked influence in Tallahassee since the lastdecades of the 20th Century. But in the fight over how to build a 21st Century economy, Democrats find themselves wanted and needed by two unlikely suitors, both Scott and Corcoran.

To get a veto proof majority for the budget, you need to come to us, said Rep. Evan Jenne, the Democrats policy chair. Theyre not there. We havent seen the House's final version of the budget, yet.

'A chance to define the party'

Corcoran and his allies recoil at the idea of giving taxpayers dollars to profitable businesses to make money in Florida. That strategy,Scott claims, has made Florida a national leader in job creation.

Its deeply offensive whether you are a Bernie Sanders progressive or a Ted Cruz conservative, said Rep. Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast. He sponsored the House bill that strips millions of dollars spent on tax credits and other incentives Florida provides businesses from the state budget.

We live in a constrained balanced budget world, said Renner. Those $200 million are not spent on public safety, they are not spent on schools, they are not spent on tax relief and other forms of relief that would benefit all businesses and all people.

The House approved what Scott called "job-killing" legislation with an 87-28 vote.

Twenty-two Democrats voted with the Republican majority to cut business incentives from the state budget. Corcoran cant afford to lose more than seven of them to Scotts side. He needs at least 80 votes to block Scott from vetoing a budget without the incentives the governor demands. And Corcoran needs to get an incentives-free budget througha Senate, which at this point seems more aligned with Scott than with the House.

So, a veto-proof vote on the House floor for the budget means a lot, said House Democratic Leader Janet Cruz, D-Tampa.

Former House Democratic Leader Mark Pafford called it a once-in-a-generation opportunity for theminority party.

"Absolutely, it's a chance to define the party. A party that has lost the confidence of its electorate,"said Pafford, who was term-limited out of office in November.

'The governor could go nuclear'

Cruz said the Democrats are taking it one day at a time while the GOP sorts things out. New House rules require representatives to attach their names to local funding requests. Members are asking for more than $2.3 billion requests both Corcoran and Scott can use as leverage to win votes.

The incentives brawl could prolong the session, keepinglawmakers in Tallahassee into June, sweating out a July 1 deadline to produce a budget Scott will sign.

Last week, Scottheld a campaign-style rally at the statehouses front door to pressure the House. A couple of hundred tourism executives and private sectorworkers crowded into the rotunda to show support for using tax dollars to market the state.

Gov. Scotts 'Fighting for Florida Jobs' rally

Backed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater they dont have a vote in the dispute but signaled the establishment is with the governor Scott explained Floridas economy was on a roll. He urged his listeners to tell lawmakers not to throw away the tools he used to produce 1.2 million jobs since he took office in 2011.

All these people showed up because they care about jobs in this state. This is about jobs for Florida families, jobs, jobs, jobs, said Scott, speaking to reporters afterward. What I asked everybody to do is go talk to their House member, go talk to their Senator.

Scott is playing hardball. He has taken the fight to the districts of opposing lawmakers.He has also been generous in his praise of lawmakers siding with him on business incentives. At a Tallahassee media event, he singled out Representatives Loranne Ausley and Ramon Alexander, two Democrats who voted with him in the House debate. The two have filed 44 bills requesting more than $100 million for local projects.

"Whoever votes to help me make sure we get more jobs, I'm going to praise them," Scott said. "If you're going to vote to decimate the job market in this state, I'm not going to praise you."

On the other hand, playing with lawmakers' funding requests is a dangerous game. If Corcoran were to promise support for a member's vote against Scott, the maneuver could backfire.

"Thegovernor could go nuclear as well and begin systematically line item vetoes on many different specific lines of spending for particular legislators," said Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida political science professor. "If Gov.Scott aimed most of his line item vetos at opposition House members for instance, but left Senate priorities untouched, it might encourage Senators to give up attempts at overrides."

'No guarantees'

Capitol observers cant remember a similar intra-party fight played out in public in the last 50 years.

Were in uncharted waters, headed to the part of the map where it says there are dragons, said Jenne, the Democrats policy chair. Im worried about a month from now when there are two weeks left and theres no agreement."

Jenne has been around politics much of his life. His father served in the Legislature in the 1970s and Jenne has eight sessions under his belt.

Were not trading votes. Weve told our members to vote for whats best for your constituents," said Jenne. "We're focused on policy.

The Democrats'focus does not necessarily line up with either Scotts pro-business or Corcorans limited-government approach. Rep. Kionne McGhee, D-Miami-Dade, who will follow Cruz as the Democratic Leader in 2019, pledged to keep policy discussions about people, especially the underdog.

We will continue to fight on your behalf, McGhee said in his acceptance speech Monday night when he recalledhis struggle to overcome poverty and undiagnosed dyslexia to become a prosecutor. There is no time for apathy. But there is always room for more empathy for those who truly need our help.

While supporters congratulated McGhee on his selection as the futureleader in the Democrats House office, Cruz stayed focus on the present logjam.

The Speaker made it very clear to us what his priorities were, and we, in turn, made it clear to him what our priorities are, said Cruz.

I will tell you not to make any plans for summer vacation," was the Democratic Leader's response when askedwhether the odds were with Scott or Corcoran.

The session is scheduled to end on May 5. Summer begins June 21. The state needs a budget 10 days later.The Senate has yet to weigh in on the dispute. No Senate bills have been filed to advance Corcorans cause.

Some Senators, including Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, have expressed support for incentives.

"Bottom line there are opportunities for the Democrats here," said UCF's Jewett, who like Corcoran once worked for former Speaker Tom Feeney. "But there are no guarantees as to how this will all play out."

Reporter James Call can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on Twitter @CallTallahassee.

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From MSNBCpoliticsshows to town hall meetings across the country, the overarching issue for the Democratic Partys base since Trumps victoryhas been Russia, often suffocatingattention forother issues.This fixation has persisted even though ithas no chance to sink the Trump presidency unless it is proven that high levels of the Trump campaign actively colluded with the Kremlin to manipulate the outcome of the U.S. election a claim for which absolutely no evidence has thus far been presented.

The principal problem for Democrats is that so many media figures and online charlatansare personally benefiting from feeding the base increasingly unhinged, fact-free conspiracies just as right-wing media polemicists did after both Bill Clinton and Obama were elected that there are now millions of partisan soldiers absolutely convinced of a Trump/Russia conspiracy for which, at least as of now, there is no evidence. And they are all waiting for the day, which they regard as inevitable and imminent, when this theory will be proven and Trump will be removed.

Key Democratic officials are clearly worried about the expectations that have been purposely stoked and are now trying to tamp them down. Many of them have tried to signal that the beliefs the base has been led to adopt have no basis in reason or evidence.

The latest official to throw cold water on the MSNBC-led circus is President Obamas former acting CIA chief Michael Morell. What makes him particularly notable in this context is that Morell was one of Clintons most vocal CIA surrogates. In August, he not only endorsed Clinton in the pages of the New York Times but also became the first high official to explicitly accuse Trump of disloyalty, claiming, In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.

But on Wednesday night, Morell appeared at an intelligence community forum to cast doubt on allegations that members of the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. On the question of the Trump campaign conspiring with the Russians here, there is smoke, but there is no fire at all, he said, adding, Theres no little campfire, theres no little candle, theres no spark. And theres a lot of people looking for it.

Obamas former CIA chiefalso cast serious doubt on the credibility of the infamous, explosive dossier originally published by BuzzFeed, saying that its author, Christopher Steele, paid intermediaries to talk to the sources for it.The dossier, he said, doesnt take you anywhere, I dont think.

Morells comments echo the categorical remarks by Obamas top national security official, James Clapper, who told Meet the Press last week that during the time he was Obamas DNI,he saw no evidenceto support claims of a Trump/Russia conspiracy. We had no evidence of such collusion, Clapper stated unequivocally. Unlike Morell, who left his official CIA position in 2013 but remains very integrated into the intelligence community, Clapper was Obamas DNI until just seven weeks ago, leaving on January 20.

Perhaps most revealing of all are the Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee charged with investigating these matters who recently told BuzzFeed how petrified they are of what the Democratic base will do if they do not find evidence of collusion, as they now suspect will likely be the case. Theres a tangible frustration over what one official called wildly inflated expectations surrounding the panels fledgling investigation, BuzzFeeds Ali Watkins wrote.

Moreover, several committee sources grudgingly say, it feels as though the investigation will be seen as a sham if the Senate doesnt find a silver bullet connecting Trump and Russian intelligence operatives. One member told Watkins: I dont think the conclusions are going to meet peoples expectations.

What makes all of this most significant is that officials like Clapper and Morell are trained disinformation agents; Clapper in particular has proven he will lie to advance his interests. Yet even with all the incentive to do so, they are refusing to claim there is evidence of such collusion; in fact, they are expressly urging people to stop thinking it exists. As even the law recognizes, statements thatotherwise lack credibility become more believable when they are ones madeagainst interest.

Media figures have similarly begun trying to tamp down expectations. Ben Smith, the editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed, which published the Steele dossier, published an article yesterday warningthat the Democratic bases expectation of a smoking gun is so strong that Twitter and cable news are full of the theories of what my colleague Charlie Warzel calls the Blue Detectives the lefts new version of Glenn Beck, digital blackboards full of lines and arrows. Smith added: It is also a simple fact that while news of Russian actions on Trumps behalf is clear, hard details of coordination between his aides and Putins havent emerged. And Smithscore warning is this:

Trumps critics last year were horrified at the rise of fake news and the specter of a politics shaped by alternative facts, predominantly on the right. They need to be careful now not to succumb to the same delusional temptations as their political adversaries, and not to sink into a filter bubble which, after all, draws its strength not from conservative or progressive politics but from human nature.

And those of us covering the story and the stew of real information, fantasy, and now forgery around it need to continue to report and think clearly about what we know and what we dont, and to resist the sugar high that comes with telling people exactly what they want to hear.

For so long, Democrats demonized and smearedanyone trying to inject basic reason, rationality, and skepticism into this Trump/Russia discourse by labeling them all Kremlin agents and Putin lovers. Just this week, the Center for American Progress released a report using the language of treason to announce the existence of a Fifth Column in the U.S. that serves Russia (similar to Andrew Sullivans notorious 2001 decree that anyone opposing the war on terror composed an anti-American Fifth Column), while John McCain listened to Rand Paul express doubts about the wisdom of NATO further expanding to include Montenegro and then promptly announced: Paul is working for Vladimir Putin.

But with serious doubts and fears now emerging about what the Democratic base has been led to believebyself-interested carnival barkers and partisan hacks, there is a sudden, concerted effort to rein in the excesses of this story. With so many people now doing this, it will be increasingly difficult to smear them all as traitors and Russian loyalists, but it may be far too little, too late, given the pitched hysteria that has been deliberately cultivated around these issues for months. Many Democratshave reached the classic stage of deranged conspiracists where evidence that disproves the theory is viewed as further proof of its existence, and those pointing to it are instantly deemed suspect.

A formal, credible investigation into all these questions, where the evidence is publicly disclosed, is still urgently needed. Thats trueprimarily so that conspiracies no longer linger and these questions are resolved by facts rather than agenda-driven anonymous leaks from the CIA and cable news hosts required to feed a partisan mob.

Its certainly possible to envision an indictment of a low-level operative like Carter Page, or the prosecution of someone like Paul Manafort on matters unrelated to hacking, but the silver bullet that Democrats have been led to expect will sink Trump appears further away than ever.

But given the way these Russia conspiracies have drowned out other critical issues being virtually ignored under the Trump presidency, its vital that everything be done now to make clear what is based in evidence and what is based in partisan delusions. And most of what the Democratic base has been fed for the last six months by their unhinged stable of media, online, and party leaders hasdecisively fallen into the latter category, as even their own officials are now desperately trying to warn.

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Key Democratic Officials Now Warning Base Not to Expect Evidence of Trump/Russia Collusion - The Intercept