Your weekly look at politics, policy and elections in Massachusetts
10/1/20-- After the most chaotic and uncomfortable presidential debate the country has ever seen, Jennifer, Steve, and Stephanie gather in the virtual bunker to share their thoughts and reflect on the reactions of #mapoli members.
Jennifer said, “The president gave a lot of troubling answers on a lot of topics that are extremely consequential and dodged a lot of important questions.” Perhaps the most egregious was his refusal to openly condemn white supremacy.
Trump launched into “an uninterrupted rambling attack on the integrity of mail-in voting.” But, like Jenn says, it didn’t end there. “He wasn’t just attacking mail-in voting but one thing that a lot of people, I think reasonably, read into his comments about asking his supporters to watch people at the polls for fraud is that that also seems like an effort to get people to intimidate voters.”
Stephanie wasn’t surprised by this performance, saying, “If you’ve paid attention to his style over the past four years, a lot of this was pretty predictable.” The tone of the debate did not match the gravity of the situation we’re living in.
“It was frustrating to me that the organization in the debate was just these three men all interrupting each other and laughing nervously when things are just going so wrong.”
As the Commission on Presidential Debates announced they would put in place stronger regulations for the next Presidential debate to limit candidates running away with their responses and ignoring set guidelines, Steve wonders, what actually can be done? Well, hopefully something. Anything. “Yesterday was shameful all around, and it should not happen again,” Steve said.
Journalist Bill Shaner, author of the Worcester Sucks and I Love It blog stopped by The Horse Race to give the lowdown on what's happening in Central Massachusetts. An organization called Defund WPD is asking the Worcester City Council and and the Worcester City Manage to create a public database of police conduct records.
Bill explains, the group initially formed to put pressure on Worcester to lower the police department's budget. "They lost that battle really hard," he says. "Worcester City Council and City Manager sort of callously dismissed them.” Now, the group is still putting on pressure on the police department and the city.
New polling out of UMass Lowell shows how voters in three swing states are leaning five weeks before the presidential election. In New Hampshire, Biden's got a comfortable lead over Trump, while the candidates are locked in a dead heat in North Carolina, and Trump is ahead of Biden in Texas by a three-point margin.
1/13/21--The U.S. House Representatives moves to impeach President Donald Trump today. This comes after last week’s insurrection on the Capitol by …
1/7/21-- Steve, Jenn, and Stephanie are back in The Horse Race bunker, this time to rehash the unsettling events that took place Wednesday in D.C. when pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed …
12/30/20-- Farewell, 2020! Can't say we'll miss you, but as you can tell from this week's episode, there were some fun moments after all. Please enjoy this end-of-year blooper reel, and …
12/23/20-- Happy Holidays, Horse Racers! We are guilty of claiming last week was our last episode of 2020, but as soon as we hit 'publish,' there was …
12/16/20-- This week, we are both celebrating a new development that is the first COVID-19 vaccinations making their way to U.S. citizens, as well as passing a grim milestone that is …
12/9/20-- In keeping with baseless election fraud lawsuits happening around the country, Massachusetts political hopefuls have decided to join in …
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