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Independent investigative journalism, broadcasting, trouble-making and muckraking with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com
Independent investigative journalism, broadcasting, trouble-making and muckraking with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com. Originating on Pacifica Radio's KPFK 90.7FM in Los Angeles and syndicated coast-to-coast and around the globe! NOW FIVE DAYS A WEEK!
'BradCast' 8/24/2022 (Guest: Tom Bonier of TargetSmart on the surprising post-'Roe' election landscape)
08-24-2022 (52.98 MB)
On today's 'BradCast': First up, we have noteworthy results in primaries and runoffs in New York, Florida, and Oklahoma, which delivered good and bad news for both progressives and Democrats. The biggest news was in a US House special election in upstate New York, where Democratic candidate Pat Ryan defeated Republican Marc Molinaro in a very swingy 'swing district'. The results in that 'bellwether' race and recent contests around the country show Democrats outperforming pundit expectations, upending the conventional wisdom of Republicans and corporate media that the 2022 midterm elections would bring a 'red wave'. Since the GOP's stolen and packed U.S. Supreme Court in its 'Dobbs' decision overturned women's privacy rights and reproductive freedoms, every special election has shown Democrats improving on their 2020 voter turnout. TOM BONIER, CEO of TargetSmart, a Democratic data firm, explains the remarkable shifts in voter turnout over the past few weeks since Kansas voters stunningly crushed a ballot initiative to amend the state constitution to ban abortion altogether. Bonier discusses several big data trends in areas like voter registration that show growing voter registrations and engagement for Democrats, even in historically 'red' districts in battleground states, in the post-'Roe' election landscape. Bonier warns that 'conventional wisdom' prognostications about this year's midterm elections are based on historical data, which is proving increasingly unreliable in these unconventional times. He cautions that it will be 'difficult' for Democrats to hold on to majorities in both houses of Congress, but data show it is increasingly possible, if pro-democracy voters 'fight for every vote.'
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Duration: 57:51 m - Filetype: mp3 (128 kbps 44100 Hz)
