Good news Roundup: Labor day edition

Hey, its been a while since I’ve done a Holiday edition. Happy Labor day to everyone. I hope you got the weekend off (I did not because I am in retail).

So lets get into it without further ado:

Ahead of Midterms, Democrats lead in Cash, candidates and voters

The number of voters participating in Arizona's primary on Tuesday was up by more than 146,000, almost 17 percentage points, compared to 2014. In Florida, the numbers were even more remarkable. Tuesday’s total vote tally was up by more than 1 million, a 50 percent spike from the 2014 numbers.

Democrats led the way in the state. Votes cast in the Democratic gubernatorial primary were up more than 80 percent compared to 2014.

And the numbers out of primary season reflect a Democratic edge in a few different ways.

First, in perhaps the most meaningful way, there are the dollar amounts. Yes, politics is about ideas and candidates, but it doesn’t mean much without the money to get the message out. And, on the whole, Democratic candidates have an edge there.

The Blue Wave in action. Keep up the pressure, we wont be stopped.

California close to enacting states strongest Net Neutrality law.

State lawmakers voted to pass a bill restoring net neutrality protections Friday. If signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown, it would ensure all California broadband customers have equal access to content on the internet.

The law would be the strictest for internet providers in the United States, and put California at odds with the federal government.

The Republican-led Federal Communications Commission voted to overturn Obama-era net neutrality protections earlier this year. Ajit Pai, the FCC chairman appointed by President Donald Trump, pitched the repeal as a way to stop the federal government from "micromanaging the internet."

"When Donald Trump's FCC decided to take a wrecking ball to net neutrality protections, we knew that California had to step in to ensure our residents have access to a free and open internet," California State Senator Scott Wiener, a Democrat who sponsored the bill, said in a statement. "We hope that other states can look to this legislation as a model for net neutrality standards."

Kick some ass California!

Barack Obama set to hit the midterm campaign trail

President Obama, after mostly staying out of the spotlight since leaving office, plans to campaign in coming weeks in California, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania — meaning there'll be a frequent fall contrast between Presidents 44 and 45.

What to watch for: Look for other travel and more endorsements. During a speech in Illinois on Friday, Obama will preview top themes for the campaign trail. These include the importance of turning out to vote at this particular moment, especially given that Dems are notorious for sitting out during midterms or when Obama isn’t on the ballot.

On Friday at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Obama will receive the Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics in Government and deliver remarks on the state of our democracy.

Obama communications director Katie Hill said: "President Obama will offer new thoughts on this moment and what it requires from the American people." "He will echo his call to reject the rising strain of authoritarian politics and policies." "His post-presidency is the next chapter in the cause of his life — bringing people together to change the world for the better."

Obama will also headline a fundraiser in New York City this month for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), which is chaired by Eric Holder, his former attorney general.

He’s back ladies and gentlemen. Give em Hell President Obama.

Meghan McCain slams ‘cheap rhetoric’ ‘opportunistic appropriation’ in her father’s eulogy.

He was a great man," Meghan McCain said of her father, the late Sen. John McCain, at his funeral Saturday. "We gather here to mourn the passing of American greatness. The real thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly, nor the opportunistic appropriation of those who lived lives of comfort and privilege while he suffered and served."

"The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great," she continued, in a more explicit swipe at President Trump, who has repeatedly criticized Sen. McCain and deferred the draft to fight in Vietnam, where McCain suffered torture as a prisoner of war.

I didn’t always agree with the late Senator, but I’ll take any ally I can have against Trump, and good on his daughter putting Trump in his place.

GOP senate Candidates are scrambling to rewrite their record on pre existing conditions.

Josh Hawley, the Republican Senate candidate in Missouri, says he is all about making sure anybody can get health insurance, regardless of their medical status: “We need to cover pre-existing conditions,” he said earlier this summer.

But Hawley, who is currently Missouri’s attorney general, is one of the 20 state officials who has signed onto a new lawsuit seeking to eliminate the Affordable Care Act’s guarantee of coverage, which they argue is unconstitutional. Hawley is also a longtime supporter of Congress repealing the law outright.

“It’s simple: Obamacare must go,” he told supporters last year.

Hawley would have Missourians believe there is nothing contradictory in his rhetoric and action ― he simply wants to get rid of “Obamacare,” not the law’s promise of insurance for anybody regardless of pre-existing conditions.

In reality, Hawley and other Republicans have no concrete or well-developed plan for replacing the law with something that would provide the same kind of access. If either the lawsuit he supports or repeal legislation were successful, people with cancer, diabetes and a variety of other chronic conditions would have a much tougher time getting comprehensive coverage. The GOP, including Hawley, is now talking up a Senate bill experts have said wouldn’t solve the problem.

Hawley is hardly the only Republican Senate candidate making statements so inconsistent with his record.

Mike Braun in Indiana, Martha McSally in Arizona, Patrick Morrisey in West Virginia, Rick Scott in Florida ― the list goes on. All across the country, Republicans running for Congress are promising voters they will look out for people with pre-existing conditions while supporting some combination of legislation, litigation and regulation that would undermine those very protections.

Once again, the GOP’s war on Healthcare is coming back to haunt them. Did they really think that wouldn’t come back to roost?

Anyways, that’s all for today, have a good Labor Day.