The New York Times is getting awful cocky about big Democratic victories on November 7. One of the two leading stories on the front of Monday’s paper: “Obama Targets G.O.P. Control of Statehouses – Seeking to Reduce Big Losses in His Tenure.” The other lead story found no worries for Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the home stretch, shouting "Victory in Sight" in the headline.
Filing from Faribault, Minn., where they were following the campaign of Democrat Patti Fritz for a seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives, Monica Davey and Michael Shear foresaw a big Democratic turnaround on the state level:
For half a dozen years, Republicans have swept into statehouses across the nation, winning more legislative chambers than at any time in history and pushing states to the right on issues such as abortion, voting rights, labor unions and gender identity.
But with Donald J. Trump’s stumbles raising alarms for Republicans down the ballot, Democrats hope that a resounding win at the presidential level will translate to significant gains in capitals in Minnesota, Colorado, Nevada, New Hampshire and beyond. President Obama, who has endured gridlock in Washington as Republicans in the states took direct aim at his vision and legacy, is stepping in to assist more than 150 state legislative candidates, by far his biggest effort to bolster local Democrats since he took office.
....
Still, Democrats have a long way to go. Republicans effectively control 68 of the nation’s 99 statehouse chambers, compared with 36 at the start of 2010. For years, Democrats complained that Mr. Obama and his political operation paid too little attention to the health of the party, and during his tenure, more than 800 Democratic state lawmakers have been voted out of office, among the worst losses for the party under any president in more than 100 years.
....
Democrats hope Mr. Obama’s involvement, which began in earnest last week, broadens their chances. Dozens of candidates for state posts were getting word of the support only last week. In Minnesota, Mr. Obama is backing Jamie Becker-Finn in her campaign for a different State House seat. José Javier Rodríguez, a state representative in Florida, hopes Mr. Obama can help him move to the State Senate. And in Georgia, Mr. Obama recorded an automated telephone call to support keeping Kimberly Alexander in the State House seat she won in 2012.
Well, that’s one way to state conservative insistence that people use the bathroom of their biological sex:
Mr. Simas, the White House political strategy director, said Mr. Obama was motivated in part by a deepening frustration with conservative legislation passed in statehouses. In North Carolina, lawmakers restricted bathroom use by transgender people....
....
In addition to statehouses, a surprisingly large number of governors’ races -- as many as seven -- are seen as up for grabs, including some that could alter control of capitals. If John Gregg, a Democrat, wins a tight race to replace Mike Pence as governor of Indiana, that state’s Republican-controlled Legislature will face roadblocks to its agenda. The same will be true in North Carolina if Attorney General Roy Cooper, another Democrat, wins.
....
Democrats anticipate a different Trump effect. They have begun demanding that Republican opponents take stances on Mr. Trump and address his lewd remarks about women and allegations that he sexually assaulted women.
....
Risks for Republicans, even at the bottom of the ticket, are clear: Alienate Mr. Trump’s voters or alienate those perturbed by his behavior. “At this point, you really are trying to run out the clock,” said David Flaherty, a Republican pollster and the chief executive of Magellan Strategies, based in Colorado, where Republicans are trying to hold or expand a one-seat majority in the Senate. “You’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t.”
Monday’s lead story by Alexander Burns and Amy Chozick found no worries for Hillary Clinton’s campaign during the home stretch: “Victory In Sight, Clinton Presses Beyond Trump – Appeals to Vote Early – With Lead in the Polls, She Turns to Backing Other Democrats.”
Hillary Clinton moved aggressively on Sunday to press her advantage in the presidential race, urging black voters in North Carolina to vote early and punish Republican officeholders for supporting Donald J. Trump, even as Mr. Trump’s party increasingly concedes he is unlikely to recover in the polls.
Aiming to turn her edge over Mr. Trump into an unbreakable lead, Mrs. Clinton has been pleading with core Democratic constituencies to get out and vote in states where balloting has already begun. By running up a lead well in advance of the Nov. 8 election in states like North Carolina and Florida, she could virtually eliminate Mr. Trump’s ability to make a late comeback.
....
It is a sign of the extraordinarily lopsided nature of the presidential race that, even in a Republican-controlled state like North Carolina, Mrs. Clinton is in a position to exhort voters to hand control of the Senate to Democrats. Though she is still not broadly popular, Mrs. Clinton has cast her candidacy -- and now, perhaps, her party -- as a safe harbor for voters across the political mainstream who find Mr. Trump intolerable.
....
Republicans fear Mr. Trump will do grievous damage to the party unless he can close the yawning gap with Mrs. Clinton in the presidential race. An ABC News tracking poll published on Sunday showed him trailing Mrs. Clinton by 12 percentage points nationally and drawing just 38 percent of the vote.
....
While there are two weeks of campaigning left in the race, the window for Mr. Trump to resurrect his candidacy grows slimmer by the day, now that voting is underway in a number of important states.
Also on Monday, the Times returns Trump’s multi-varied Twitter insults with a middle finger in the middle of its news section, dedicating two full pages of tiny 3-point type to an enormous list of “All the People, Places and Things Donald Trump Has Insulted On Twitter Since Declaring His Candidacy for President.” Truly news you can use!
