speckxMar 20

90% of crypto's Illinois primary spending failed to achieve its objective

https://www.mollywhite.net/micro/entry/202603172318

90% of crypto's Illinois primary spending failed to achieve its objective

The cryptocurrency industry super PACs dumped $14.2 million into the Illinois primaries. 90% of that – $12.8 million – was wasted, in that it went to opposing Democratic candidates who won their primaries (Stratton in the Senate race, Ford in H-07) or supporting their opponents. The PACs' only victories in the state were where they contributed money towards outcomes that were already highly likely. They opposed Robert Peters (H-02), who had been polling in third place and ultimately received 12% of the vote. They supported Bean (who was leading the polls in H-08) and incumbent Budzinski (H-13). Sadly this early spending in Illinois used up less than 6% of what the super PACs have on hand, so buckle up for a looong eight months.

Molly White
Show threadtptacek
Nobody's lobbying achieved objectives in the Illinois primary, which is more a statement about the ineffectiveness of lobbying (at least in these kinds of races) than anything else. The candidates that won were the candidates you'd expect to win given demographics and the recent political history of the region.
Mar 20 at 4:58pmWeb
Show threadlongislandguidoMar 20

> The candidates that won were the candidates you'd expect to win given demographics and the recent political history of the region.

If the news is to be believed, the online influencer with no elected office experience came within a couple points of the experienced politician that won, so I would disagree with your assessment.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/lefty-influencer-kat...

A 4 point lead over someone barely over the Congressional age requirement with no experience is hardly a clear-cut win and almost margin-of-error territory.

MSN

Show thread__loamMar 20
Using a new york post article to dismiss the insurgent left on grounds of experience is one way to describe it I guess. Schumer and Jeffries have decades of experience between them and the Democratic party has the lowest approval in its history among its base. Kat Abughazaleh is more in step with where that base is on foreign and domestic policy, ignore the progress her wing of the party is making at your peril. There will be more Abughazalehs and Mamdanis in the future because those politicians are actually interested in delivering public services to their constituents instead of more technocratic hand wringing combined with the bloodiest period of foreign policy since Vietnam.
Show threadlongislandguidoMar 20

You may have misunderstood my point.

I'm not discrediting anything except the notion that this was business as usual and the winners were as expected.

The article was simply the first I found as reference (could not remember the original source I read about this) and I make no comment on its bias.

This is starting to get into 2015 "nothing to see here, Donald Trump will never win" levels of denial.

Show thread__loamMar 20
I may be taking out some frustration on you undeservedly here.
Show threadburningChromeMar 20
[flagged]
Show thread__loamMar 20
Everyone I've spoken to that actually lives in New York city was very happy with the plow schedules. I'm also under the impression that they approached many of these homeless people multiple times over several days to try to get them into shelters but many refused help.
Show threadHDThoreaunMar 20
Abughazaleh has 0 experience governing. To claim that she is actually interested in delivering public services when there is literally no evidence of that is laughable. There were 2 other candidates in this race from the insurgent left as you call it, both were local and have experience governing. If the insurgent left voters backed either of them they very likely would have won. Instead they backed a tiktok clown and it cost them.
Show threadtptacekMar 20
This "Democratic party has low approval" thing is a canard. The Democrats have low approval because Congress has low approval and because the Democratic base is angry we're fully out of power right now. Many of the people responding to polls saying they disapprove of the party would crawl across broken glass to vote for them in the midterm general.
Show threadyborgMar 20
The Krishnamoorthi Senate loss was a shock, he had more money than virtually the rest of the field put together and had name recognition and was a sitting 5 time House representative. Nobody knows who the Lt. Gov. was, even with Pritzker's backing.
Show threadJumpCrisscrossMar 20

> he had more money than virtually the rest of the field put together and had name recognition

Money doesn’t buy elections. Someone gets shocked about this every cycle when the overwhelmingly-funded toast sandwich lands with a thud.

Show threaduoaeiMar 20

Your statement is one of those "not even wrong" pedantic ploys that falls apart at the lightest sneeze in its direction.

Money is the only way to exert pressure on society and narratives. If you think that has no effect on elections then you are about as antisocial and antipatriotic a person as I can imagine.

Show threadJumpCrisscrossMar 20

> Money is the only way to exert pressure on society and narratives

It’s not. Every piece of state and federal legislation I personally wrote language into passed before I was wealthy. Showing up is incredibly hard for a lot of people. Being decent and eloquent when you do is impossible for the rest.

I’ve donated to get power and gotten involved. The latter absolutely smites the former, to the point that donors are almost being taken for a ride outside a few idiot candidates who unfailingly lose.

Show threadtptacekMar 20

I'm fond of telling people that Krishnamoorthi called me personally, on the phone, twice, to raise money in elections he ran unopposed in. Each time he had a story for why it was important I donate to him and not some other Democrat in a contested race.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Chicagoland progressives fucking love Juliana Stratton, by the way.