Thank you for continuing to share these messages with your friends. If you are not already on our mailing list, please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, A Path Forward to November 3, 2020, every two weeks, which means there will be a total of 100 missives before the Presidential election of 2020, in which our country will select a whole new course.
Nancy Pelosi knew from the beginning that conviction in the Senate was not going to emerge as the final, definitive, justice-serving act that would save America from Donald Trump. We impeached because we had to. Having it come down to whether to call John Bolton as a witness was a fortunate defining moment, which we can revisit every time a bit of Bolton’s book leaks out.
And then came Lamar Alexander, who grew up admiring Republican Senator Howard Baker’s bipartisan approach to the prospective impeachment of Richard Nixon. Because Alexander is not running for re-election, he seemed an ideal candidate for some truth-telling. Though he was unable to muster the strength to vote for witnesses, he delivered this:
“It was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation. When elected officials inappropriately interfere with such investigations, it undermines the principle of equal justice under the law.”
After that, even more notably came Mitt Romney, declaring Trump’s actions “an appalling abuse of public trust.” He said:
Attempting to corrupt an election to maintain power is about as egregious an assault on the Constitution as can be made.”
Regarding Trump’s impeachable acts, there will be much more to say between now and November 3, new disclosures and all new actions by Donald Trump. What Donald Trump said to John Bolton will be one of many mirrors in the carnival’s hall of horrors. Lamar Alexander and Rob Portman and Ben Sasse and Lisa Murkowski's statements come down to this: “Yes, he did it.” The stories of the “perfect call” are lies. We can work with that. And, we can glory in the fact that Mitt Romney had the honor and the courage to step forward. That was the hardest thing he has ever done.
We have fewer than 10 months to the election. Our present collective consternation is problematic. Are we really going to buy into a luxury we can’t afford, which is to be locked in despair or to be made dysfunctional by anger over monumental Republican Senatorial constitutional malfeasance? What would be the point of that in the face of the most consequential election of a lifetime? Worse, what would be the point of the fatalistic and absurd contention that if we can’t impeach him, we can’t beat him, which is harbored by the most beleaguered among us? Why would that conclusion even remotely be the case? We know the man threaded the needle the first time, winning by 80,000 votes in three states after receiving Putin’s intentional and Jim Comey’s unintentional assistance. Why would we attribute superpowers to a con man? Beat him.
We are dismayed that he has a continued following ranging up to 40% of the electorate. It is sad and bad, but why is it a surprise? He has his own tv channel! It feeds a daily narrative that every single thing we do to defeat him is evidence that he is being successful. It’s all a deep-state spin, and those in that “party” who don’t buy into it have found no way to escape from it. Happily, the very things that Donald Trump says and does to keep this “base” are what has driven independent voters away from him.
We already proved that good news in November 2018, which was the first national referendum on Trump. Totaling the House races, we won by over 9.6 million votes, the largest midterm margin in history. We already have the blueprints, and we are already using those blueprints to move forward daily--- register new voters who will be with us; lay the groundwork for a huge voter turnout, which was absent in 2016. Support strong candidates, early and often. Make certain our candidates behave in appropriate ways toward each other, and consider walking away from them if they do not. We are in this together.
Swing Left has targeted 12 super states.They want us all to tattoo the names of these 12 states to our forearms, or at least etch them in our memories: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Unbelievably, we lost all of these states except Colorado and Maine in 2016. This sorry performance gave us 232 electoral votes of the 270 we needed. Consider the ten states we lost. There are many paths of victory (38 more electoral votes) beyond winning back Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, even though those states are looking great.
We won the governor’s races in all three in 2018, with margins of 400,000 votes in Michigan and 860,000 in Pennsylvania.
In the likely event that we win both Michigan and Pennsylvania, the election would be ours when we win Arizona or North Carolina or Wisconsin, all of which we lost narrowly in 2016 and all of which have treated us to large gains since then. And then there are several other combinations of states in which we are doing well. Back in Obama’s day, we won Florida and Ohio. Of these two, Florida is extremely promising. We lost narrowly in 2016, had 2018 gains, and are doing a great job of registering new voters, aided by a Florida law that re-grants voting rights to certain ex-offenders.
We are not going to lose the “firewall” states that we famously lost by 70,000 votes. Startlingly, we could well win Florida and Arizona or Florida and North Carolina and not need any of the industrial Midwest, except for Illinois.
Defend the states we won in 2016 and then choose from the states below to pick your path to 38 more electoral votes that will restore America:
| State | # of electoral votes | |
| Texas | 38 | |
| Florida | 29 | |
| Pennsylvania | 20 | |
| Ohio | 18 | |
| Michigan | 16 | |
| Georgia | 16 | |
| North Carolina | 15 | |
| Arizona | 11 | |
| Wisconsin | 10 | |
| Iowa | 6 |
Since the foundation for this wonderful outcome is the candidate we choose and the hard work we will take on between now and November, let’s do these three things:
| 1) It’s Time to Thank Mitt Romney | |
 | Not only did Mitt Romney do a courageous thing, he gave an extraordinary speech on why he voted as he did and it should be required reading. A lot of people will disparage him. He needs to know that there are millions of people out here who admire that he stood up when every bone is his body was calling for him to sit down. Call his Salt Lake City office at 801-524-4380. |
2) Click and Donate to Amy McGrath | |
 | There are other senators like Cory Gardner that we are even more likely to beat, or Thom Tillis. But, why not defeat the single most cynical person in the country, who somehow also ended up as the Senate Majority Leader. Mitch McConnell’s approval ratings are underwater in Kentucky, and former fighter pilot Amy McGrath is running a campaign that gets stronger with each month. Could there be a more satisfying contribution to make? |
3) Add a Few Million More Voters | |
 | Both 2016 and 2018 were “turnout” elections. Getting people registered and to the polls was hugely consequential. In 2016, our shortcomings on this matter caused our temporary demise. Much of voter registration (and its promotion) has become an online task, with Rock the Vote remaining the key player. But the League of Women Voters has not forgotten that this is about all of us. The League is coming on strong again, with over 60 affiliates participating in their national efforts. Watch this trailer made by League members in San Luis Obispo and revisit what is being done in your own community. |
So it goes. As November nears, hundreds of thousands of us are thinking of helping in swing states like the twelve identified by Swing Left. The next missive will feature how to consider the pros and cons of such on the road experiences. If you have adventures (or misadventures) to share, email in the next ten days.
Best,
David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington
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