{"id":27270,"date":"2017-04-21T14:37:12","date_gmt":"2017-04-21T21:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=27270"},"modified":"2017-04-21T14:37:12","modified_gmt":"2017-04-21T21:37:12","slug":"ossoffs-moderate-stance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2017\/04\/21\/ossoffs-moderate-stance\/","title":{"rendered":"Ossoff’s Moderate Stance"},"content":{"rendered":"

I trust you all know that Democrat Jon Ossoff has a chance to win a runoff election in Georgia’s 6th Congressional Distract in June.  I think his odds are good, but I fear that some of the same forces on the left that helped Trump in November may split the party, because they don’t consider Ossoff’s moderate stance ideologically pure enough.<\/font><\/p>\n

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\"0421ossoff\"<\/p>\n

Another special election, another near upset for Democrats. Running against a slew of Republican competitors to replace Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price in Georgia’s 6th congressional district, Democrat Jon Ossoff fell just short of the majority<\/a> needed to avoid a runoff. He will now face the second-place finisher, the infamous Karen Handel<\/a>, on June 20.<\/p>\n

It’s a good sign for Democrats \u2014 and a good test case for the areas of the country where Hillary Clinton did unusually well. But they should be wary before using Ossoff’s campaign strategy as a template for the rest of the country. To win in districts President Trump dominated in 2016, Democrats would be well advised to adopt better class politics\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026Clinton’s campaign was by and for upper-class white-collar professionals, and Ossoff (perhaps wisely) followed her lead. His extremely bland campaign<\/a> was about responsible governance, an end to corruption, and bipartisanship. In a wealthy, largely white Georgia suburb, that plays pretty well \u2014 as it probably will in similar places, like Texas’ 32nd and 7th districts<\/a>, which Clinton actually won. Run a more competent and energetic version of her basic campaign strategy, and Democrats ought to be able to scoop up those seats without breaking a sweat. (Colin Allred, a former NFL player, has already declared<\/a> for the 32nd, which Democrats did not even contest in 2016.)…<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From <This Week<\/a>><\/font><\/p>\n

Karen Handel is the woman-hater that helped transform Komen for the Cure into the Republican pawn that almost succeeded in defunding Planned Parenthood.  For more, I wrote about her here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>.  A choice between Ossoff and Handel is no choice at all, but I certainly won’t call him the lesser of two evils.  That’s what many did with Clinton and look what happened.  Ossoff’s stance may be less than ideal, but he’s with us on virtually all the issues that matter.  That makes him a good, not a lesser evil.  He has to be low key about it because of his district.  Here he is with Rachel Maddow<\/a>.<\/font><\/p>\n