DEMS REALIZING PEOPLE ARE MORE CONCERNED WITH HEALTH CARE THAN RUSSIA.

Sen. Charles Schumer (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite)

One main takeaway for Democrats from their loss in Georgia’s special election is that the party has not focused enough on issues that directly impact people’s lives.

Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, told his colleagues during a private meeting yesterday that voters in the 2018 midterm elections will almost certainly be more motivated by an issue like health care than the escalating Russia investigation, and he urged lawmakers to keep their eye on the ball....

The congressman added that Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and Donald Trump firing James Comey as FBI director remain important. “But we need to walk and chew gum at the same time and recognize that the issues that really matter to people are the ones that affect their everyday lives,” he said.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)  Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images

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Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who as a member of the Intelligence Committee is constantly asked about the Russia investigation, worries that the health debate is not breaking through because Democrats aren’t talking about it enough. “When reporters ask me a question about Russia, I now say, ‘I’m happy to talk about it, but you’re going to have to listen to me talk about the health care challenge ahead first,’” he said during a press conference to talk about the opioid epidemic. 

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The Democratic polling firms Garin-Hart-Yang and Global Strategy Group conducted a national survey for Priorities USA, the Democratic super PAC, last month that found the Comey news and concerns related to Russia are major liabilities for Republicans. But the pollsters found that the health-care issue is a significantly bigger driver of voter behavior. ...

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Tamara Draut, vice president of policy and research for Demos, a liberal advocacy organization, said that focusing on pocketbook issues is the only way Democrats will win back working-class voters who defected from the party last year. She recently conducted focus groups with white working class voters in Columbus, Ohio, who voted for Barack Obama but switched to Trump. “People are desperate for some action to give them some real economic relief,” she said. “The kitchen table concerns are what keep them up at night and give them ulcers. Health care is clearly one of those.”

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“Democrats Should Focus More on Jobs, Less on Russia,” progressive writer Robert Borosage urged his compatriots in a column for The Nation back in March.

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(J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

SO, LET'S TALK ABOUT THE TRUMPCARE BILL IN THE SENATE.

-- Paige Winfield Cunningham, author of our Health 202, obtained a copy of the “discussion draft” that McConnell is going to unveil today: “The Senate GOP leadership plan would roll back the ACA’s taxes, phase down its Medicaid expansion, rejigger its subsidies, give states wider latitude in opting out of its regulations and eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood for one year…

“The bill largely mirrors the House measure that narrowly passed last month but with some significant changes: While the House legislation pegged federal insurance subsidies to age, the Senate bill would link them to income as the ACA does. The Senate proposal cuts off Medicaid expansion more gradually than the House bill, but would enact deeper long-term cuts to the health-care program for low-income Americans. It also removes language restricting federally-subsidized health plans from covering abortions, which may have run afoul of complex budget rules.”

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-- More rank-and-file Republican senators, concerned about political blowback back home, are complaining about the lack of transparency and the rushed timeline. The Wall Street Journal’s Stephanie Armour, Kristina Peterson and Louise Radnofsky report: “Some Republicans, including Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.), are calling the timetable too rushed to ensure their support. 

FOR THE DEMOCRATS, A RAINY NIGHT IN GEORGIA.

With all the ballots counted, Republican Karen Handel won the most expensive House race in U.S. history by 3.8 percentage points. 

That’s a larger margin of victory than the 1.5 points that Donald Trump carried Georgia’s 6th Congressional District by last November.

Handel even wound up winning by a greater margin than the GOP candidate in an unexpectedly close special election to replace OMB Director Mick Mulvaney in South Carolina that had not been on the national radar.

The suburban district north of Atlanta is ruby red and has been in GOP hands since Newt Gingrich won it in 1979, but that does not make Jon Ossoff’s defeat any less devastating for Democrats struggling to find their way in the Trump era.

Last night was a wake-up call for Democrats that they still need to home in on an effective anti-Trump message. ...

The results are already prompting Democratic recriminations, as the Bernie Sanders wing of the party pushes the establishment to get behind more liberal candidates. Initially, Ossoff’s mantra was “Make Trump Furious.” But he rarely talked about the president toward the end of the contest because he needed to win over moderate Republicans and didn’t want to motivate low-propensity Trump voters to turn out against him. He modulated his rhetoric, calling for fiscal conservatism in his ads and focusing on jobs. He avoided hot-button issues and called for civility.

Liberal activists and their allied outside groups are grumbling that Ossoff moderated too much...

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The outcome demonstrated that two political fundamentals remain true: Attack ads work, and candidates matter. Democrats pinned their hopes on a 30-year-old who had never run for office before and didn’t even live in the district. Ossoff became more dynamic on the stump as the race dragged on, but his lack of a record made it easy to caricature him. He was a vessel through which Democrats channeled their hopes, but he lacked charisma....

Nancy Pelosi was a huge drag on Ossoff. The most prominent and effective hit on the Democratic candidate was to tie him to the congresswoman from San Francisco....

Handel, 55, has been a fixture of local politics for 15 years. She ...served as Georgia secretary of state and narrowly lost GOP primaries to become governor in 2010 and then senator in 2014. She had the baggage that comes with being a career politician, but her deep roots and relationships certainly helped far more than they hurt. She was a known commodity who came into the race with high name identification.

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Total spending in the race topped $50 million. National Republican groups poured resources into the race to offset Ossoff’s impressive online fundraising. In the end, from the April primary through yesterday’s election, both sides were equally matched on the airwaves...

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A West Wing that has grown accustomed to losing news cycles was in a celebratory mood:

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 GOP leaders on Capitol Hill are relieved that Handel’s win will avert a collective freak-out of the rank-and-file....  “Most immediately, the election result could bring momentum to Senate Republicans’ efforts this week to craft their version of a major revision to the Affordable Care Act. ‘We need to finish the drill on health care,’ Handel said during her victory speech” in Brookhaven, Ga.

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Republican lawmakers who have tough reelection races in 2018 will see Handel’s victory as proof that they can thread the needle when it comes to Trump. Handel hardly mentioned him, yet she was still able to win over his supporters. We saw the same dynamic at play in several 2016 contests, as well. As a political reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer notes:

Bigger picture: Perhaps the GOP House majority isn’t as vulnerable as some people have been saying. But veteran Republican operatives also warn against overreading the lessons of one special election. There are many districts that will be a lot tougher for Republicans to hold than Georgia’s Sixth next November..... A Los Angeles Times reporter puts it more starkly:

RUSSIAN KILLS IN THE U.K.

Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images

• Fourteen fixers, oligarchs, and other critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin have succumbed to mysterious deaths around the UK as the British government turns a blind eye, according to a bombshell BuzzFeed investigation. [BuzzFeed / Heidi Blake, Tom Warren, Richard Holmes, Jason Leopold, Jane Bradley, and Alex Campbell] 
• In a report that reads like a spy thriller, BuzzFeed has begun to release names of men whom intelligence officials say were killed by members of the Russian Mafia or security forces. Officially, British police have ruled that the 14 victims died of heart attacks or suicide, but the BuzzFeed investigation alleges the cause of death is something more sinister. [BuzzFeed / Heidi Blake, Tom Warren, Richard Holmes, Jason Leopold, Jane Bradley, and Alex Campbell] 

Alexander Perepilichnyy

• At least one of these assassinations — of Russian financier Alexander Perepilichnyy — came from direct orders from Putin, according to US intelligence officials. Before he died in 2012, Perepilichnyy helped expose massive tax fraud by Russian officials. [BuzzFeed / Heidi Blake, Jason Leopold, Jane Bradley, Richard Holmes, Tom Warren, and Alex Campbell] 
• Assassinations of journalists and Putin critics in Russia are nothing new, and are troubling in their own right. [Vo  x / Vladimir Milov] 
• But evidence that the Kremlin is going further afield to silence its critics — combined with the allegations that Britain is looking the other way — is noteworthy.
• The most well-known assassination of a former Russian is the 2006 poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. Litvinenko had recently gotten British citizenship and was living in London when he was poisoned via radioactive polonium in his tea. [BBC / Frank Gardner] 

Alexander Litvinenko on his deathbed

• The years following Litvinenko’s death saw outrage and a period of extremely tense relations between Britain and Russia. They also saw the Russian Parliament pass new laws allowing that country’s special services to target and kill “extremists” abroad — except their definition of extremists included people who slandered the president. [BBC / Steven Eke] 
• So what changed between Russian and the UK from then to now? Money, and fear.
• There’s billions of Russian money in British real estate, which made former Prime Minister David Cameron loath to impose tough sanctions on Russia when it invaded Crimea in 2014. [Reuters / Tom Bergin and Brenda Goh] 
• Now, with Russian hackers meddling in the US election and attempting to interfere in the French elections as well, intelligence officials say the British government is too afraid of retaliations to confront Putin about the assassinations taking place on its soil. [BuzzFeed / Heidi Blake, Tom Warren, Richard Holmes, Jason Leopold, Jane Bradley, and Alex Campbell​] 
• BuzzFeed says it plans to release more names of those killed in Britain in the coming days.

Beyond opposing Trump, Democrats keep searching for a message





WASHINGTON POST

AMERICAN CULTURE: AMAZON SWALLOWS WHOLE FOODS.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

• Amazon is doubling down on its push into brick-and-mortar stores. And now they’re not just bookstores; they’re grocery stores.
• The world’s largest online retailer announced today it is buying the pricey organic supermarket chain Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, adding to the online grocery delivery service it already has. [CNN Money / Paul R. La Monica and Chris Isidore] 
• The news has already sent other grocery stocks into a tailspin. Kroger, Supervalu, and Costco shares all dropped, as did those of Target and Walmart. [CNBC / Katie Little] 
• So what’s in the details of biggest deal the internet giant has made to date? First of all, it’s great for Whole Foods, which has been struggling with falling sales recently. It gets a bunch of cash and the ability to keep operating under its name. [Business Insider / Bob Bryan] 

Drew Angerer / Getty Images

• For Amazon, it’s the latest sign of an internet giant moving to dominate the retail market in all areas, from books to clothes to electronics and now food. Amazon already makes movies and television shows, designs its own clothing lines, and manufactures home electronics, and is opening up more physical bookstores across the US.
• Its Prime service is transforming how Americans buy products (and has also come under fire for discriminatory delivery practices). [Bloomberg / David Ingold and Spencer Soper] 
• Amazon’s vast presence has important implications for US antitrust laws, which are supposed to guard against businesses becoming monopolies, incentivize competition, and protect consumers from high prices. [Yale Law Journal / Lina Khan] 
• In many ways, antitrust laws aren’t prepared to handle internet retail and the modern economy. Because those laws focus more on prices of the things we buy, they aren’t really equipped to deal with a business like Amazon, which underprices some of its goods to undercut the competition and grow even bigger. [The Yale Law Journal / Lina Khan] 
• What remains to be seen is how Amazon fares under Trump, who does not have the friendliest relationship with its CEO, Jeff Bezos (an outspoken critic of Trump policies and the owner of the Washington Post). [Recode / April Glaser] 

On voting rights, we’re becoming two separate and unequal countries

(Shutterstock)

WASHINGTON POST


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Despite a string of losses in the courts, Republicans are going to keep trying to make voting as difficult as possible, particularly for African Americans, for one reason: It works. There are active debates about exactly how many people were kept from the polls in 2016 — for instance, some contend that Wisconsin’s voter-ID law disenfranchised enough African Americans to swing the state to Donald Trump — but every young person, urban dweller or racial minority they can keep from the polls increases the odds that Republicans will win.
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Meanwhile, Democratic states are moving in the opposite direction, proposing measures such as automatic registration and same-day registration, in which you can register when you show up to the polls on election day (it’s in place in 13 mostly liberal states, plus D.C., while it’s been passed but not yet implemented in three more). But if they really wanted to make things easy, they’d be pushing for universal vote by mail (UVBM), which is used only in Washington state, Oregon and Colorado.

It’s something of a mystery why UVBM hasn’t been more of a priority for Democrats, because it couldn’t be easier. You get your ballot in the mail, you fill it out, you drop it in a mailbox. There’s no taking time off work, wondering where your polling place is or waiting in line. It’s particularly helpful for people who don’t have flexible schedules. While fraud is theoretically possible, in practice it’s a minuscule problem. Just ask someone from one of those three states what they think about it, and they’ll tell you how much they love it. That’s not to mention the fact that it makes elections cheaper and easier to hold, and provides a paper trail for any disputes.

Even as Republican and Democratic states move further apart, it seems clear that Republican legislators feel a good deal more urgency about this issue that Democratic ones do. You can bet that Republicans will do everything they can to make sure that changes they make this year are implemented in time for the 2018 election, in order to put a thumb on the scale in what could be a disastrous election for the GOP.

There’s one final piece to this puzzle, which is that it’s important to avoid the temptation to look at this conflict through a both-sides prism. You can argue that Democrats are making the same partisan calculation Republicans are, favoring the voting system that shapes the electorate in their favor. That may be true, but the fact is that Republicans are trying to make it hard for certain people to vote, while Democrats are trying to make it easy for everyone to vote. So both parties aren’t on equally firm moral ground.

Read more at WASHINGTON POST

Russian attempts to hack state voting systems ran far deeper than previously reported and could continue to affect future elections. 

Bloomberg’s Michael Riley and Jordan Robertson report: “In Illinois, investigators found evidence that cyber intruders tried to delete or alter voter data. The hackers accessed software designed to be used by poll workers on Election Day, and in at least one state accessed a campaign finance database … In all, the Russian hackers hit systems in a total of 39 states ... The new details … show the scope of alleged hacking that federal investigators are scrutinizing as they look into whether Trump campaign officials may have colluded in the efforts. But they also paint a worrisome picture for future elections: The newest portrayal of potentially deep vulnerabilities in the U.S.’s patchwork of voting technologies comes less than a week after former FBI Director James Comey warned Congress that Moscow isn’t done meddling.”

A Democratic Blind Spot On Culture

POLITICO

Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, hires his own lawyer in Russia probe



WASHINGTON POST

THE RURAL-URBAN DIVIDE

America’s cultural divide runs deep. While rural and urban Americans share some economic challenges, they frequently diverge on questions of culture and values. On few issues are they more at odds than immigration. 

A Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation survey found rural Americans are apprehensive about the nation’s rapidly changing demographics, fear that Christianity is under siege and believe that the government cares more about city dwellers. But the disagreements between rural and urban America ultimately center on fairness: Who wins and who loses in the new American economy?



WASHINGTON POST (1)

WASHINGTON POST (2)

Five myths about famine.


WASHINGTON POST

Strong approval of Trump is fading across a number of demographics. His Base Is Shrinking



WASHINGTON POST

Make no mistake. Republicans can still succeed in destroying Obamacare.






GREG SARGENT, WASHINGTON POST

Kansas’ collapsed tax-cut plan will provide political fodder for Democrats for decades.

WASHINGTON POST

MUELLER'S CIRCLING TRUMP

 Special counsel Robert Mueller has begun investigating whether President Trump obstructed justice in the Russia probe. 

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Devlin Barrett, Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima and Sari Horwitz scoop: “The move ... to investigate Trump’s conduct marks a major turning point in the nearly year-old FBI investigation, which until recently focused on Russian meddling during the presidential campaign and on whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. 

Investigators have also been looking for any evidence of possible financial crimes among Trump associates ... Five people briefed on the interview requests ... said that Daniel Coats ... Mike Rogers ... and Rogers’s recentl departed deputy, Richard Ledgett, agreed to be interviewed by Mueller’s investigators as early as this week.”

-- Trump responded to The Post's story this morning:

Why Trump is scared: “Mueller is recruiting perhaps the most high-powered and experienced team of investigators ever assembled by the Justice Department," Garrett Graff, who wrote a book about the former FBI director, writes for Wired. "It’s a team that’s not just a paper office tiger but one with deep experience investigating crime around the world.” A renowned litigator, James Quarles also happens to be a former assistant prosecutor in the Watergate investigation, where he specialized in campaign finance research, according to Wired. With decades of experience representing the federal government before the Supreme Court, former Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben has been touted by CNN as Mueller’s most important hire. One of Mueller’s first appointments, Andrew Weismann, is another heavy hitter. He has taken a leave of absence from working as the head of the Justice Department’s criminal fraud unit to join the special counsel, and has been described by Politico as Mueller’s most significant hire.That reflects the fact that Weissmann has a reputation as someone who has made a career out of taking on organized crime. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Obstruction of justice happens when someone tries to impede or stop a federal investigation by threatening or coercing investigators. If Mueller’s team decides there’s enough evidence to mount a case, they must demonstrate intent — that Trump knew full well what he was doing by telling Comey to stop investigating former NSA Director Michael Flynn. [Cornell Law School / Wex Legal Dictionary]

Congressman Among 4 Shot at Baseball Field; Suspect Is Dead

Just after 7am, in Alexandria Va., a man opened fire with his M-4 rifle and loosing off as many as 100 shots at Republicans practicing baseball. 

James Hodgkinson, 66, died from gun injuries on Wednesday hours after he opened fire on a group of Republican congressmen and their aides who were practicing for a congressional baseball game in the Washington, D.C. suburb. Steve Scalise, the third-most senior House Republican, and four others were injured. 

• Scalise is critically ill after surgery for a hip wound.
• 
  
• Two other Congressional staffers were wounded but are stable and the two hero Capitol Hill Police officers who stopped his spree were also hurt but will recover.

The shooter ... creeped out female bar staff at BBQ restaurant where he spent Happy Hours - after moving to D.C. to protest against the president he hated.

Creeped out: Female bar staff found Hodgkinson strange, workers at the Pork Barrel BBQ told DailyMail.com

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4604820/Congress-shooter-creeped-women.html#ixzz4k3pmO1S5
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• 
  
• He was apparently sleeping in his Ford E-series van and had told his wife on Tuesday that he was coming back to Belleville, Illinois, because he missed her and his dogs 
• 
  
• The man ... drank by himself watching golf, staffers at the restaurant told the DailyMail.com

Hodgkinson was a staunch Sanders supporter and campaigned for the senator to get the Democratic nomination for president last year. His family said he was distraught over Trump's November election win and revealed that he had been living in Alexandria out of a gym bag and sleeping in his car for the last two months,... spending time in the lobby of a YMCA, where he showered daily,  hunched over his laptop. 

In a statement on the Senate floor, the Vermont senator said that he was aware the shooter 'apparently volunteered on my presidential campaign' - and condemned his actions.

He was seen there about 7am Wednesday morning, minutes before he opened fire at the neighboring Simpson Field. 

A married union tradesman with a home inspection business, Hodgkinson had threatened to 'destroy' the president and his administration on social media but was not known to Secret Service. 

Hodgkinson had a lengthy criminal record which includes charges, but no convictions, for DUI, domestic battery, pointing a gun at a relative.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4604820/Congress-shooter-creeped-women.html#ixzz4k3qSAp00
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His criminal record included a 2006 arrest for punching his female neighbor in the face as she tried to shield his underage daughter from him. 

'He definitely creeped out all our female bartenders,' said Jamie Craig, a bartender at the restaurant. 'I tried to shy away from him… just a feeling, he gave me a weird, odd vibe.' Craig said Hodgkinson would come to the bar alone, usually dressed in a collared shirt and jeans. He would order Budweiser, but usually only drank one or two.

Hodgkinson didn't talk about politics, said Craig, and he didn't mention his personal life. 

They would usually discuss the weather or different types of craft beer, but Hodgkinson usually kept to himself and seemed to be staring out the windows daydreaming.

'He would always have one or two and leave. He did seem to be staring a lot out the windows,' said Craig.

'He was quiet, definitely not a socialite,' she added. 'He was not the friendliest of people. I remember he was a bit of a rude person sometimes.'

She said Hodgkinson would often look angry and annoyed when he tried to get the bartenders attention during busy times at the bar.

Two Capitol Police officers who were accompanying Scalise were the only other armed people on the scene. They returned fire with their pistols but were shot themselves. 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4604820/Congress-shooter-creeped-women.html#ixzz4k3r28sDG
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4604820/Congress-shooter-creeped-women.html#ixzz4k3ipKJ89
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Putin’s campaign of personal revenge against the United States



DAVID IGNATIUS, WASHINGTON POST

It’s time to bust the myth: Most Trump voters were not working class.

WASHINGTON POST


The importance of a cultural blue-collar identity in support for Donald Trump

WASHINGTON POST


The real reason working-class whites continue to support Trump.

WASHINGTON POST

While Trump Tweets, Assad and Putin Advance in Syria

STEVE COLL, NEW YORKER