How Clinton lost Michigan and blew the election

[LisaM]

161. The election was called without Michigan, by the way.

We should have won Michigan in a landslide, Wisconsin too. But this isn't just about Hillary and the campaign she did or didn't run. These states are being run by unpopular far-right governors, both are heavily gerrymandered, and both are quickly and thoroughly doing what they can to dismantle voting rights (I'm less familiar with Pennsylvania, so can't comment there), get rid of unions, and put in as many deterrents to democracy as they can. They barely represent their own constituents, yet act as if they have mandates to be quasi-dictators.

Snyder should not have been re-elected. Walker should not have been re-elected. Both were. Hillary actually out-performed Russ Feingold in Wisconsin, but he should also have been elected, he was very popular when he was a Senator and did an amazing job.

When the margins are high enough to matter, we don't notice all the discrepancies. When the margins are razor-thin, as they were in MI, WI, and PA, and they all favor a party who shouldn't have won, it's easy to wonder. The Republicans don't sit there and boo hoo about messaging. They don't care if they win by one vote or one million votes. They treat the outcome as the same (Dems don't).

The minute these Republican governors got in, they starting gaming the system. We can wring our hands over making giant messaging changes because 70,000 votes in three states couldn't balance out a 2.8 million voter majority, but I think we're better off ensuring a fair and accessible system in which everyone can vote very easily.

We could run a different candidate and (wrongly, I think) re-brand our values, but the Republicans would figure out another way to cheat. Because cheating is what they've got. Their results in government are pathetic. Their social hate message is ebbing away and they know it. All they have left is working the system. It's to their shame that they don't mind winning this way, their eternal shame - it's a complete lack of moral compass - but if we figure out how to move 70,000 votes, they'll counter with some other dirty play.

We need to get voting back on track. Now.