The (no longer) much too early 2024 election thread

[Eldy]

Did anyone in the U.S. even cover it as a story?

New York magazine technically covered it, if mockery counts as coverage.

John Bolton Announces 2024’s Most Ridiculous Presidential Bid - Intelligencer

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I just received an email campaign announcement for Katie Porter, who is now officially running for the Senate in California. This is Diane Feinstein's seat. I don't believe Feinstein has officially announced her intentions, but she will be 91 years old in 2024, and 97 when the term ends.

Porter is definitely one that I would support, but there are some other good possibilities who have also expressed interest, so it could be an interesting race.

[Frelga]

She is amazing and we'd be lucky to have her as a Senator. Or President. Or Great Empress, I'm not picky.

[narya]

I got a notification about Porter, too. Good to know you approve. I value your opinion.

[Frelga]

On the other side of the fence, Pence is making ambivalent noises about running for the Republican nomination for President. I guess his decision is going to depend on how things go in the gallows building industry.

In the comments, someone called him "the human version of a bowl of freezer burned vanilla ice milk."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[N.E. Brigand]

On his social media network, Donald Trump today has been attacking Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to challenge the former president to be the 2024 Republican candidate for president. Among the posts Trump made about DeSantis is one in which he appears to endorse another person's claim that DeSantis had been photographed "having drinks with underage girls and cuddling with them" when he was a high school teacher for a year circa 2001-2002. To be clear: as far as I know, this claim is false. What's notable here is the fact that Trump is pushing it.

Edited to note that Trump pushed this claim in at least two posts; in the other instance, he amplifies someone else's post that explicitly refers to DeSantis as a "groomer."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

No big surprise here but good to have confirmation.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Meanwhile,

[N.E. Brigand]

"Trump Plans to Bring Back Firing Squads, Group Executions if He Retakes White House" (Rolling Stone).

[RoseMorninStar]

I've heard that the Koch's are bankrolling Haley.

[RoseMorninStar]

You can listen to Trump speak about this on CSpan.

[narya]

That would be amazing if we had two Indian-Americans in the field.

[Inanna]

Just found out that Nikki Haley is my undergrad batchmate’s Aunt (his mom’s first cousin - which is a very close relationship in India). So we are all now calling her “Nikki Mosi” :lol:

[RoseMorninStar]

She'll be the Kevin Bacon of India. (Six Degrees of Separation/Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon or Bacon's Law)

[N.E. Brigand]

No big surprise here but good to have confirmation.

Asked about this announcement later in the day, Senator Feinstein said, "I haven’t made that decision. I haven't released anything."

[N.E. Brigand]

There was an open primary election in Wisconsin yesterday for a state supreme court seat that could have very consequential results for 2024. The judges whose ten-year term expires this year, Patience Roggensack, is retiring. She tends to take conservative positions. It was she who said in May 2020 that a Covid-19 outbreak in Brown County could be disregarded when determining public safety measures because the outbreak centered on workers at a meatpacking plant there and didn't encompass the "regular folks in Brown County." The general election in this race is scheduled for April 4. I don't believe there are declared party affiliations for the candidates, but of the four main candidates, two lean liberal and two lean conservative. The top two advance, and these are yesterday's results:

46.4% -- Janet Protasiewicz (liberal)
24.2% -- Daniel Kelly (conservative)
21.8% -- Jennifer Dorow (conservative)
7.5% -- Everett Mitchell (liberal)

If that trend repeats in six weeks, then Protasiewicz would be likely to win this seat.

[RoseMorninStar]

We sure hope so. There was a good turnout for such a (single vote) primary.

[N.E. Brigand]

Florida Reublican governor and likely presidential candidate Ron DeSantis was in New York City a couple days ago in order, he says, "to talk about how law and order has been central to Florida's success. Florida leads the nation in protecting law enforcement officers, and our crime rate is at a 50-year low, while New York City saw a 23% surge in major crime in 2022. Anti-police politicians should stop catering to the woke mob."

Of course, the mayor of New York mayor was formerly a police officer.

Also the murder rate in New York City is less than half that in Miami and less than one-third that in Jacksonville, both Florida cities with Republican mayors.

And compared to the state of New York, Florida has "a 19% higher rape rate, 66% higher murder rate, and 280% higher burglary rate."