Small Differences make Big Differences.

This is my first foray on this blog into Presidential politics. It however has nothing to do with candidates, it is instead is a quick look back on how a few votes in some states may have changed the entire tenor if not the result of the election. It is time to remember back to the night of the Iowa Caucus’s Gephardt was finished, Dean was very crippled, and Kerry and Edwards were both riding high. This went into New Hampshire, were Kerry was well positioned to take advantage of his victory. Edwards however in a way stumbled in a way that made it difficult for him to recover. Edwards in fact went on to come in 4th in New Hampshire to Wesley Clark. It was an extremely close voter with only some 800 odd votes giving Clark the win. Lets imagine that instead of this tie for Third Edwards had been able to take third place by 2000 votes in a clear if not overwhelming way. 2800 odd votes, changed the dynamic of the race rather than a stumbling Block, New Hampshire might have narrowed the field to just two candidates, with Dean still permanently wounded from his Iowa debacle. In that next round of voting John Kerry was able to win five of seven states, only stumbling in John Edwards’s South Carolina. Now had the scenario played out differently, it is not unreasonable to say John Edwards need for South Carolina prevented him from playing in any of the other states that were available, this is particular note in Oklahoma, were Wesley Clark was able to edge out a roughly 1200 vote win over John Edwards, with Kerry trailing by about 6,000. It is in fact not only possible but also probable that the aforementioned improvement in New Hampshire would have won John Edwards Oklahoma. This is of particular importance, because The Clark campaign was very clear that the Oklahoma win was the reasoned they stayed in the race through the next week into Tennessee and Virginia. This mattered most in Tennessee, where Kerry got only 41% as opposed to the 49% that Edwards/Clark. Edwards would probably still have lost here, but not by the massive margin and an upset would not have been impossible. The next real contest was in Wisconsin, Where Kerry was able to edge Edwards by 6% points, and clinch the nomination. If Edwards had won in Oklahoma and lost more narrowly or even won in Tennessee. it would not have been out of the realm of possibility that Edwards could have used this gained momentum to win Wisconsin, A win in Wisconsin would have changed the dynamics of Super Tuesday, as Kerry used inevitability as his main argument throughout the rest of the campaign, pretty much from Iowa and defiantly from New Hampshire on
This is important, because it shows pretty decisively that what seems like a small difference in vote outcome can have a really big result . It also means, that you, Yes you reader, or anyone can have a real, actual, and sustained difference on a race for the Presidency. You could come up with the 3000-vote idea, either for a policy that can help make a candidate more popular, or a political program, like the College Students who came up with Limo to vote in CT 2, that probably won the election for Joe Courtney. History is decided by those who get in the game, and in America that means you.

2004 to 2006 Partisan ID Breakdown by VNS exit poll

Partisan ID is a clear sign of how a party is doing because those who Identify with a party vote for its candidates at extremely high rates and do so in almost all races. These numbers can be a window into the future. If nothing else they show either improvement or declines in states that is valuable to know. The following is VNS data by State and Party ID for 06 and 04, followed by a quick comment on what the data could mean for 08

Arizona
06
Democrat 32
Republican 41
Independent 27

04
Democrat 30
Republican 44
Independent 26

Quick Take
Five point trimming is not nothing, Pederson won Independents by 9. Maybe a Target State?

California
Party ID
06
Democrat 41
Republican 35
Independent 25

Democrat 39
Republican 33
Independent 25

Quick Take :Partisan vote more in an off Year. Nothing to see here. California Blue


Connecticut
06
Democrat 38
Republican 26
Independent 36


04
Democrat 37
Republican 30
Independent 33

Quick Take
Republican id falls, Indies not Dems mostly gain. CT electorate votes for Team Blue


Florida
06
Democrat 36
Republican 39
Independent 25

04
Democrat 37
Republican 41
Independent 23

Quick Take, No real change, Florida remains swing of all swing states, like movement in 8th and 13th to Dems , worry about why Mahoney got only 49% The Battle Never stops in Florida.


Hawaii
06
Democrat 40
Republican 23
Independent 37%

04
Democrat 40
Republican 24
Independent 36

Quick Take. Yawn. Dems win Hawaii

Illinois
06
Democrat 46
Republican 31
Independent 23

04
Democrat 39
Republican 34
Independent 27

Quick Note
Boy did Dems destroy and fast. Those are comically bad numbers for the GOP. Wished we had spent more money on Seals. 08 in bag.



Maine
06
Democrat 37
Republican 29
Independent 34

04
Democrat 31
Republican 30
Independent 38

Quick Take
As goes Maine so goes the nation, hard to imagine it even makes the target list in the next election.

Maryland
06
Democrat 50
Republican 31
Independent 19

04
Democrat 41
Republican 32
Independent 26

Quick Take,
No wonder Erlich went down. That high turnout in the primary was a great sign. Great Time to be a Maryland Democrat. So yes we in it in 08
Massachusetts
06
Democrat 42
Republican 19
Independent 39

04
Democrat 39
Republican 16
Independent 44

Quick Take
More Partisans vote in off years. Republicans improved to 19% and in process ended up with 35% in the Governor’s race as their high point in any statewide office and 5 our of 40 State Senate Seats . I am not sure there is a more dead major party anywhere in the country. Lets hope Mitt Romney can do for The National Party what he did for the State Party. Dems Win in 08.

Michigan
06
Democrat 40
Republican 33
Independent 27

04
Democrat 39
Republican 34
Independent 27

Quick Take
Two point improvement isn’t nothing. Indies still key, the dueling 56’s out of Stabenow and Granholm, after all the hang wringing [ and late million bucks from the NRSC] Make me feel very good about Michigan going into 08.
Minnesota
06
Democrat 40
Republican 36
Independent 24


04
Democrat 38
Republican 35
Independent 27

Quick Take
Partisan Vote more in off year. Dems gain a point of ID which is nice. The Senate Race and Walz and almost the entire under ticket were nicer. We should be ok in Minnesota but it is clearly still a close state, Senate Race aside.

Missouri 06
Democrat 37
Republican 39
Independent 25

Democrat 35
Republican 36
Independent 29

Quick Take
Indies save day in Senate Race. Party ID slight for Republicans. Claire won by enough. with unpopular Governor Blunt to at least put it on target list at outset.

Montana
06
Democrat 32
Republican 39
Independent 29

04
Democrat 32
Republican 39
Independent 29

Quick Take
No Movement in Partisan ID despite Beloved Governor, he won’t be able to carry Dem Pres Candidate. Montana is a Red State at least another Cycle. Tester is awesome.

Nebraska
06
Democrat 27
Republican 50
Independent 23

04
Democrat 24
Republican 53
Independent 22

Quick Take
Great Improvement though clearly not enough to change much. Theses things take time. Nebraska for whoever the Republicans nominate
Nevada
06
Democrat 33
Republican 40
Independent 27

04
Democrat 35
Republican 39
Independent 26

Quick Take
Rare back sliding in critical battle ground state, also explains high profile loses, including two house seats and governorship. Why are Colorado-Arizona, doing well while Nevada struggles? Still has to be a pick off target for 08.

New Jersey
06
Democrat 41
Republican 28
Independent 31

04
Democrat 39
Republican 31
Independent 30

Quick Take
Nice Five point bump, sealed deal in Senate race. Dem Partisans also extremely loyal to Dem nominee,allows for slight loss with Indies. Do they really want to try to pick up a Dem held Senate Seat in New Jersey? Win in 08

New Mexico
06
Democrat 41
Republican 32
Independent 27%

04
Democrat 40
Republican 33
Independent 27

Quick Take
Slight Dem increase encouraging, given extreme close nature of last two Presidential Elections there. Senate Race also interesting.
New York
06
Democrat 47
Republican 25
Independent 27

04
Democrat 45
Republican 29
Independent 26

Quick Note
Only real news is the NY Republicans are not quite as dead as Massachusetts
Republicans Dems win Presidential vote here.

North Dakota
06
Democrat 29
Republican 38
Independent 33

04
Democrat 27
Republican 41%
Independent 32

Quick Take
Improvement is good, hard to see races it will matter in near future, given Dems already hold whole Congressional Delegation. Red in 08


Ohio
06
Democrat 40
Republican 37
Independent 23

04
Democrat 35
Republican 40
Independent 25

Quick Take
Awesome Numbers, Given Kerry Win with Ohio Indies, means Dems have inside track at 08 Electoral College votes.

Pennsylvania
06
Democrat 43
Republican 38
Independent 19

04
Democrat 41
Republican 39
Independent 20

Quick Take
Very good encouraging Numbers, will Republicans want to Contest in Pennsylvania? Can Rendell-Casey be stopped? Does Jim Gerlach have a way to riggle out again, tune in next cycle for, As Pennsylvania turns.

Rhode Island
06
Democrat 38
Republican 18
Independent 44

04
Democrat 39
Republican 16
Independent 45

Quick Take
Probably just noise, in the Party ID numbers, and a party at 18 isn’t going to scary me, though it may have saved their Republican Governor. Rhode Island is blue in 08

Tennessee
06
Democrat 34
Republican 38
Independent 28

04
Democrat 32
Republican 40
Independent 28

Quick Take
Shame it didn’t push Ford across finishing line, but those numbers with our Governor’s 69 means their may still be hope for Tennessee

Texas
06
Democrat 31
Republican 41
Independent 28

Democrat 32
Republican 43
Independent 24

Quick Take
Doesn’t Change much. Texas is Red State. Is Senator Croyn as hated as Perry, can we get only challenger please.

Utah
06
Democrat 20
Republican 56
Independent 24

04
Democrat 19
Republican 58
Independent 24

Quick Take
It is Utah.

Vermont
06
Democrat 29
Republican 27
Independent 44

04
Democrat 31
Republican 27
Independent 41

Quick Take
Vermont’s Indies voted 74% for Bernie Sanders and 67% for John Kerry, so honestly Vermont loves us. Dems in 08

Virginia
06
Democrat 36
Republican 39
Independent 26

04
Democrat 35
Republican 39
Independent 26

Quick Take
No real movement. Virginia Independents were all decisive in 04 and 06 races, do they hold key to Presidency? Too tempting a target not to try.
Washington
06
Democrat 39
Republican 29
Independent 32

04
Democrat 36
Republican 32
Independent 33

Quick Take
Maybe Washington will find its way off targets list now, look its George Nethercutt, I am scared.

West Virginia
06
Democrat 51
Republican 32
Independent 16

04
Democrat 50
Republican 32
Independent 18

Quick Take
No real change, will Dems return home 30% voted for Bush in 04. Probably Red in 08 but needs to be watched.

Wisconsin
06
Democrat 39
Republican 34
Independent 27

04
Democrat 35
Republican 38
Independent 27

Quick Take
Second only in greatness to Ohio, these are great numbers that give Dems a great shot at Wisconsin in 08

Wyoming
06
Democrat 27
Republican 56
Independent 17

04
Democrat 25
Republican 53
Independent 22

Quick Take
How does this state have a Dem Governor and almost elect a Democrat to Congress. This proves not even Utah should be over looked.

Four States I wish I had data for
Colorado Arkansas New Hampshire and Iowa

Iraq, Radio, and Meta

So this will be a really short post as I just got backed from a Radio show discussing the War in Iraq. I have quite nicely gotten into a routine of being a guest on Brandeis's Political Program on the Radio on Tuesday Night's from Midnight to 1. Today's topic was Iraq. I came to the most logical conculsion that their is no good solution and that the worst is one where our soliders continue to get killed with no one being able to tell me what they are doing or why it will make Iraq better. This bring me to today's topic. Which is how Meta should this Blog be. I live a pretty political life, but that doesn't mean that my talking about what I did will be interesting. The question is how much should blog be about me, and how should it be about the issues, and elimating all elements of ego. Almost no bloggers pretend not to be people. But likewise, very few successfull blogs and no successfull political blogs are here is what I did today. What is the right balance? I am asking you my readers, if it turns out I have no readers then the point is not relevant untill I get some.
Thanks for reading
Jason

Looking through to the otherside.

So I took Thanksgiving off from Blogging on theory no one would be reading on Thanksgiving. A lot has changed Politically in a very short time. I found this clip from the National Republican Congressional Committee in case I had forgotten. "The NRCC is a political committee devoted to increasing the 231-member Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives." http://www.nrcc.org/about/ Now I mostly posting this because it is fun reminding myself of the changing of the guard in Congress, but it is also important to note the language of our opponents use, particularly when they are right. The goal of the NRCC when they were in power was increasing their majority. Not holding or defending, increasing their Majority. When I mentioned to my friend the interesting fact the NRCC has not updated the website, and therefore have a purpose that no longer exists. It was deemed funny,but was also met with a question that I thought the whole blog deserved an answer. The question was why would I even be visiting the Republican Website in the first place. The truth you can learn far more from watching your opponents than allies. Watch John McCain talk about social issues, and the first thing you notice is how uncomfortable he gets talking about them. He simply doesn't want to talk about them. Moving specifally to the NRCC, want to know how things are going, which challengers are they touting. Which Challengers are they no longer talking about. Patterns begin to emerge that can be extremely helpful when making decisions. When James Dobson says that a Mormom would be an unacceptable President and his involvement was key in the House Primary in Michigan 7. These cues give valuable information. That is why I quite often read what the otherside is saying, not because I would ever agree with them but because I need to know what they know to be good at this.
Links
www.rnc.org
www.nrsc.org
www.nrcc.org
www.realclearpolitics.com

The Utah Jazz are 9-1

Don’t worry this post isn’t actually about the NBA. But there is a very important lesson in this hot start by the Utah Jazz for those of us in the Democratic Party. I like a good intra-partisan brawl as much as the next guy, I have been involved in two that ended very badly for my guy and still had no problem holding my head high as a Democrat. The point is that, in the end this Democratic Party is a team. We win together, we lose together and we make things better for the American People, together. I mention the Utah Jazz because they are a team without any big starts; their players aren’t in that many T.V. ads. They aren’t a famous bunch, but so far they are playing as a team and dominating the league. James Carville is acting very much like the Stephon Marbury of the Democratic Party. He is undoubtedly a talented political operative, but is letting his mouth , instead of his game do the talking and what is worse he is trashing his teammates. We do not want to be the New York Knicks. This was a big victory for us almost two weeks ago today. Lets not spoil it by playing the blame game, or trying to grab all the credit we can. If the team wins, so will the American People. Go Fight Win.

Republicans Stay the Same [Short Posting for Today]

Republicans Stay the Same [Short Posting for Today]
Today did not bring much political news and also brought to me a massive paper for this weekend. So this post will be short. I find in greatly amusing that after a massive defeat the Republican Party in the House and Senate choose pretty much the same leadership that brought them to this defeat. The Major change was on the Senate Side were Trent Lott was brought back from the Political grave yard to be the number two spot in the Senate. I am not going to kick a guy when he is down but if Trent Lott is all the Republicans can come up with for new leadership and ideas, it will be a generally good couple of decades for Democrats. The best thing is that absolutely no one in the Republican Leadership is from anything approaching a swing district. We can take these guys.

New House Democratic Leadership and our first two endorsements

I am most certainly not going to beat the dead horse of an already finished Leadership fight. That said I am pleased with the outcome. The first woman speaker in the history of the nation is a milestone that I think it is fantastic; I also am a huge fan of the continuity that come with maintaining much of our leadership team from when we were in the minority. Almost everyone in our caucus worked hard together to create this great victory and maintaining this team well us keep the sprit that got us the majority. I also like seeing Rahm in leadership as he will be a good conduit to the DCCC and keep leadership well abreast of the political ramifications of their actions. I also have to update some of the outstanding races from yesterday. It was one win a piece with Democrats holding GA 12 and Republicans holding WY AL This leaves five races not yet called and two facing run offs. Which leads us into today’s endorsements in the upcoming Runoff’s.

Texas 23
Ciro Rodriquez,
I feel this race as being more the first race of the 2008 cycle than the last one of this election cycle. The fact is that everyone involved in this race knows the Democrats will be the majority, everyone knows that the 48% that Henry Bonilla got makes him potentially vulnerable in any race. This race is also very much about the future of Texas. There are only four Hispanic Republican Members of the House and only one Henry Bonilla who is not a Cuban from Florida. Normally, I would say it is a bad thing for parties to be so racially divided but this current Republican Party has used Hispanic Immigrants as the worst kind of political punching bags as the 69% of Hispanics who voted for Democrats in the last midterm election showed. The future of Texas will lie with it is Hispanic residents, which is why it is so important to defeat there last vestige of power in that community. Ciro Rodriquez was also a very good Congressman in his time and Henry Bonilla has a clear set of bad votes, the DCCC has put together here. http://www.dccc.org/gopauctionhouse/members/HenryBonillaTX-23.html
Check out Congressman Rodriquez website
Here http://www.cirodrodriguez.com/ and lets send him back to Congress.

Louisiana 2
We don’t need clearly corrupt Democratic Members of Congress. It is hard to believe that William Jefferson is innocent and even if he was, he looks too guilty at the moment to keep around. Karen Carter has also received the backing of most of the Democratic Establishment in Louisiana. She will make a good Congresswoman and I echo the sentiments of the Blue Majority Fund with this endorsement. http://www.actblue.com/page/bluemajority?refcode=DKosSidebar
Please check out Karen Carter as well
http://karencarterforcongress.com/

Winning theses two races will help us maintain and expand our majority.

Congressman Joe Courtney and updates on other outstanding races.

So I am having a really good day because the race in Connecticut 2 has been called and a Concession has been made by Congress Simmons, It also the reason for the delay in posting today. I didn’t want to write until I had the news. This is particularly exciting for me because the race in CT 2nd was the first one I ever worked on and it was a crushing defeat on a personal level and it feels very good to reclaim this seat. It is also exciting because Democrats were able to take two of three Republican held seats in Connecticut, meaning it was a very clear victory for us in Connecticut. I also must convey the unfortunate news, that the race in WA 8 has been called against us. There are still runoff elections that I will be covering tomorrow, with our first official endorsements at Lasting Majority. There are also currently seven other races that have not been called. Those races are New Mexico 1, North Carolina 8, Ohio 2, Ohio 15, Wyoming At Large, Georgia 12, and Florida 13. Of most importance is the race in Florida 13. Currently the Republican Vern Buchanan has a less then 400 vote lead. There is however a massive ballot error. In by far the biggest county in the district and the only county in which our candidate Christine Jennings was victorious, has an 18% under vote on just this race, that compares to a roughly 3% in all the other counties. This is almost certainly because of a computer glitch. This election as it currently is should not be allowed to stand. We need this precedent and now that we are control of the House there is no reason to allow a travesty of this magnitude to go forward. This is the DCCC press release on the matter.

"Court Grants Jennings Campaign Request to Secure Sarasota Voting System

Recount to continue, involved parties to meet to reach agreement on state audit process

Sarasota, FL – Circuit Judge Deno Economou today granted the Christine Jennings campaign’s request to secure Sarasota County’s electronic voting system used in the 2006 General Election. While not impeding the machine or manual recounts, Judge Economou did put the state audit on hold until at least Thursday afternoon to enable the interested parties to reach agreement on the process.

“We’re pleased with Judge Economou’s decision and with the cooperation of the other parties,” said Jennings attorney Jeffrey Liggio. “We want the recount to continue and are confident that the parties will be able to reach agreement on a fair audit process that includes all sides.”

The hearing resulted in three decisions by Judge Economou:

1) The electronic voting machines, voting cartridges, electronic voting systems, instruments, and data including software and firmware used in the 2006 General Election in Sarasota County will be immediately sequestered and preserved

2) The emergency petition shall be amended to add Secretary of State Sue Cobb to enable Judge Economou to exercise jurisdiction over the Secretary of State

3) The audit originally scheduled to begin Wednesday is put on hold until at least Thursday to allow the interested parties to reach agreement on parallel testing protocol and expert involvement

“Our top priority is to protect the rights and honor the intention of the voters by ensuring a process that will provide a fair, accurate and complete counting of the intended votes,” added Liggio.

FACTS ABOUT CD 13 UNDERVOTE

Undervote rate on machine ballots in Sarasota 14.87%

(i.e. Early Vote and Election Day)

Undervote rate on paper ballots in Sarasota 2.53%

(i.e. absenee ballots)

Total undervote rate in other CD 13 counties 2.52%

(Manatee, Charlotte, DeSoto, and Hardee)"


This a race and potential precendt we can not afford to ignore.
Thanks again for reading.

Raise the Minimum Wage

This is probably one of the best quickest and easiest things that the New Democratic Majority will be able to do. It has been a grand total of Nine years since there has been an increase in the Federal Minimum Wage. The cost of almost everything else has gone up, but not the wages of some of the hardest working and lowest paid people in America. Republicans in the Majority in the House have used every trick, attached every rider and done everything in their power to prevent a straight up or down vote on the minimum wage. There was also more good news on election night then just the congressional elections results. Six states had state Minimum Wage increases on their ballots and Six States passed such measures. The six states were Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, and Ohio. This a great sign for the Democratic Party and the country because it says clearly and thoroughly that as much as Americans may believe in the free market, They also believe a hard day's work should be rewarded with enough so as to not be forced to live in poverty. They also vote this belief whenever given the chance. It is on these issues that the New House and Senate will hopefully provide a more just and fair deal for the American Worker. This is one small step in that direction but it will hopefully not be the last one.

Stay On Offense/Challenge a quater of their Caucus

It is nice to be the Majority again. One of the main reasons Democrats are back in the Majority is that they were able to put a lot more races into contention then were the Republicans. It is vitally important that we keep this playing field imbalance, so that we can continue to be in and expand our Majority. It is my contention, that at least one quarter of House Republicans remain vulnerable today. This statement is even truer if the Republicans were to nominate a true social conservative for President in 2008. Democrats need to compete as if we were behind rather than ahead 15 seats. Being in the Majority makes everything easier for us, and everything harder for them. We also may see a large group of retirements, none of which should catch us off guard. Which is why the advantage must be pressed. It is also important to note that challengers help force legislators to vote with their constituencies on the hopefully popular Democratic legislation we put forward. Rather than having to water down our legislation for Bipartisanship, we can threaten defeat to those members who go against popular sentiment in their districts. Here is my comprehensive list of seats Democrats could still gain as well, as the criteria by which the decisions were reached. Also the currently uncalled races are omitted.


Under 55
All Republican members of Congress who received 55% or of their vote must be consider vulnerable they are listed by How Democratic the District voted in 2004 Presidential race. Those that were not targeted this time receive a *
CT 4 Chris Shays
IL 10 Mark Kirk
PA 6 Jim Gerlach
NY 25 Jim Walsh
PA 15 Charlie Dent *
VA 11 Tom Davis*
OH 1 Steve Chabot
MI 9 Joe Knollenberg *
NV 3 Jon Porter
PA 3 Phil English*
MI 11 Thaddeus McCotter *
NJ 7 Mike Ferguson
IL 6 Peter Roskam
AZ 1 Rick Renzi
MI 8 Mike Rogers
MI 7 Tim Walberg*
IL 11 Jerry Weller *
CA 50 Brain Bilbray
NY 26 Tom Reynolds
NY 29 Randy Kuhl
NJ 5 Scott Garrett *
MN 6 Michelle Bachmann
NV 2 Dean Heller
VA 2 Thelma Drake
CO 4 Marilyn Musgrave
NE 2 Lee Terry *
CA 4 John Doolittle
KY 4 Geoff Davis
KY 2 Ron Lewis
IN 3 Mark Souder
ID 1 Bill Sali
NE 3 Adrian Smith

All Republicans from district Where John Kerry got 45% of the vote or More [listed by State excluding those were a Democrat held the Republican to less than 55%] Their Re-election Percent next to name
DE AL Mike Castle 57%
FL 10 Bill Young 66%
FL 18 Ileana Ros-Lehtinen 62%
FL 24 Tom Feeney 58%
IA 4 Tom Latham 57%
MI 6 Fred Upton 61%
MN 3 Jim Ramstad 65%
NJ 2 Frank LoBiondo 65 %
NJ 3 Jim Saxton 59%
NY 3 Peter King 56%
NY 13 Vito Fossella 57%
NY 23 Bob McHugh 63%
OH 3 Mike Turner 59%
OH 12 Pat Tiberi 58%
OH 14 Steve LaTourette
OH 16 Ralph Regula 59%
PA 18 Tim Murphy 58%
WI 1 Paul Ryan 63%

Others, The members of Congress who are potentially vulnerable for other reasons:

AK AL Don Young
MT AL Dennis Rehberg
CO 6 Tom Tancredo
VA 10 Frank Wolf [ possible retirement]
IL 14 Dennis Hastert[Possible retirement]
CA 26 David Dreier

Welcome

I think I am going to try blogging again. This website will be dedicated to helping Democrats remain in Control of the House and Senate.[Boy do I love typying that] It will proceed with the Goal of keeping track of all House and Senate Races and will also focus on the Race for the White House and key Governorships.
On to Democratic Victories and making America Better.