this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2024
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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 67 points 5 days ago (4 children)

We need to treat every state as a battleground state

Presidential campaigns cost over a billion dollars these days, if that's not enough to campaign in 50 states, where the fuck is all that money even going.

A billion dollars is an insane amount, I legitimately don't understand how either party can claim with a straight face they need or even use close to that much

[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 37 points 5 days ago (2 children)

The main reason Texas is not "in play" it's because everyone assumes it can't be "in play". Over 5 million registered Texans did not vote in 2020! Among them there is definitely 700k Democratic votes and that would be a landslide win for Harris.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 22 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Indiana is never "in play"...

Except when Obama carried the state ~~to the point they even got a Dem governor...~~

Then we started running moderates again for president, they got Pence who caused an HIV epidemic and then the whole country had to deal with him as VP.

The problem is what "red states" need to turn blue isn't what the DNC is willing to give.

[–] Bob_Robertson_IX@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Eh, Mitch Daniels wasn't a Democrat.

Was just about to come on here to say this. Joe Kernan was actually the last in a line of Dem govs of Indiana (following Evan Bayh and Frank O'Bannon)

I'm a bit surprised here that the OC (givesomef... ) admitted to his mistake, considering that in the past he's ignored similar requests for clarifications. E.g https://lemmy.world/comment/12300100 , https://lemmy.world/comment/12283806 , and especially https://lemmy.world/comment/12087110 (where giving a positive answer would have really helped me out).

(That said, I suppose I can understand ignoring something like "Citation needed" as not everyone wants to spend the time stay informed by looking things up and following up).

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[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

There's a lot of learned helplessness in Texas.

[–] Know_not_Scotty_does@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Part of it is because our congressional districts are drawn like a bowl of spaghetti. In statewide elections it matters less but congressional districs were specifically drawn to pack and crack votes here.

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Absolutely, plus all the effort by the entrenched Republicans to keep putting more and more hurdles between voters and the ballot box. And all the effort to drive vulnerable minorities out of the state with bigoted laws.

Hell, I'm a cishetwhite guy and I feel like they are trying to drive me out too.

Campaigning in all 50 states and treating all of them as battleground states are not the same thing. The latter is harder and more expensive.

As to why a billion is not enough, blame the SC for allowing Citizens United in 2010. After that the amount of money just got higher without end in this crazy arms race.

Absurdly wealthy media controlling billionaires donate to pacs who then spend the money on... media

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Imagine how many children could be fed with that money. Absolutely immoral.

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[–] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 38 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Glad to hear. Next up, the geographical map if we're lucky.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 46 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Truly a rabbit ahead of his time.

[–] Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io 22 points 5 days ago (1 children)

With rising sea levels, all in due time. My uni did a map of FL at different sea levels. None of that state is very far up out of the ocean.

[–] Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works 5 points 5 days ago

I looked at peak elevation on the keys one time because a buddy of mine was posting pretty crazy splits on some runs. Gtfo with your shit Doug.

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Not too much though. Florida makes a great breaker for those hurricanes. Get rid of most of it or make it all swamp, you'll have more storms into the core areas.

We may get that anyway with stronger storms, Florida or no Florida...

[–] grue@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Nice wiki link. The Talk section is also interesting, mainly concerned with the list of cities that are called Fall Line cities in the two Fall Line entries. I noted it because my location is on one list but two other places more eastern are on the other list, so it seems to be a very ambiguous definition, as geology tends to be.

But Florida isn't, so suck it! :p

(Although Florida isn't all low, there will be Floridian islands still, for a while)

[–] grue@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

I'm from Georgia, and the definition is completely unambiguous around here. Maybe it just seems more ambiguous in the Mid-Atlantic region because the escarpment gets a lot closer to the coast.

[–] Professorozone@lemmy.world 27 points 5 days ago (3 children)

I wish Florida would just break off and sink into the ocean. And I live here.

[–] kittehx@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 5 days ago (3 children)

climate change will do that soon enough

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[–] aramis87@fedia.io 15 points 5 days ago

Florida has historically been held up as a massively important state for any White House aspirant, and as a result has been on the receiving end of large candidate rallies, surrogate events and huge sums of national money fueling wall-to-wall campaign ads across the state’s 10 expensive media markets. But for the first time in recent political memory, the 2024 presidential race has left Florida as a comparative afterthought.

If you ever wondered why Florida and Texas have been turned into such conservative hellholes, this is exactly why. Both were starting to turn bluer, and the Republicans didn't want to lose those precious electoral college votes.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 13 points 5 days ago

Aww, poor Ronnie looks so sad. He was gonna be president. It was gonna be so great. He’d eat pudding with his fingers at every press conference. At the state of the union, he’d add a banana. And now that’s all been lost. No charisma. No personality. No hope for becoming president. Poor little guy in his ridiculous lifts is so dejected.

Good. Fuck him. Asshole.

[–] nobleshift@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Good. These people are legitimately not intelligent. Not in a funny haha way, not in a punching down way, just cold straight facts.

I've never in my life or in my travels met a nationality of people as intellectually disadvantaged as the nation of Florida.

Absolutely in no way should they be allowed to shape any policy or procedure, including their own.

What bothers me is Texas isn't exactly far ahead of Florida in what they teach kids and they also have massive influence on what books schools across the nation end up using.

[–] magnetosphere@fedia.io 6 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Floridians are just as intelligent and prone to moments of stupidity as the rest of the country. They just seem like exceptional idiots because of Florida’s Sunshine Laws, which publicize ridiculous, headline-grabbing incidents. Now, reporters actively search for funny/outrageous Florida stories, and the process feeds itself. The Sunshine Laws are responsible for most of the Florida Man jokes you’ve seen.

No, I’m not a publicly agent for the state of Florida. Actually, I think it would be a terrible place to live. They’re not idiots, though.

[–] nobleshift@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (3 children)

No bro, I've been here 5 years and these people are not intelligent. Sure there are intelligent people, but taken as a whole Floridians are suffering a mental and intellectual disadvantage.

Incompetence is a fact of life here, and literally every single waking hour of every single day is affected by it in some way.

I get your sentiment, but after traveling around the US for a couple decades, hands-down-bar-none these are the dumbest people (en masse) that I have ever encountered.

[edit] Just go to any grocer and stand at the self-checkout and just watch for an hour. Minimum .25% of the people will be operating at the absolute limit of their mental capacity. No shit. It's amazing and horrifying.

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 11 points 5 days ago

So im gonna preface this by saying the furthest ive gone east is Arkansas. But I swear to fuck Florida plates will handsdown be the worst drivers in a pretty sizable radius, like driving down the wrong side of the highway after pulling a uey bad. Mind you they aint the most psychotic drivers, that goes to Idaho. But Idaho is just kinda doing their own thing, while everyone is playing chess Idaho has glued itself to the ceiling and is pissing into its own mouth.

[–] magnetosphere@fedia.io 3 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Okay. I’ll take the word of a well-traveled resident!

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[–] nifty@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago (2 children)

The smartest regular citizens I’ve met have so far been in NY, MA or MN

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[–] Rapidcreek@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago (2 children)

30 electoral votes don't simply disappear

[–] Hugin@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago (3 children)

No but the chance that you change the vote to your side does go away. Florida isn't competitive anymore so not much point in either side spending here.

A lot of republicans have moved here and a lot of democrats have left. Add the fact that the Florida democratic party is a mess even compared to other state parties and I don't see things changing.

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[–] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (3 children)

Florida isn't worth the time to be a swing state. They don't listen to facts and get more conservative every chance they can. Spending time campaigning in FL for democrats is simply a waste. May as well campaign at a graveyard.

[–] Rapidcreek@lemmy.world 12 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Except if you're Obama and won Florida twice

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May as well campaign at a graveyard.

I mean, that has been part of Trump's strategy.

[–] billiam0202@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

May as well campaign at a graveyard.

Given the number of boomers who live there, you might be more right than you know.

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 6 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Florida's status changes depending on how many retirees move to the state in any given year. When many move, it usually goes more conservative.

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

We were just talking about that. It was glamorized in media for years and many of the television addled moved there. Thus Florida Man was formed.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

At least they are gerrymandering themselves like that, concentrating their votes in Florida.

[–] realcaseyrollins@thelemmy.club 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Good. I'm a right winger but don't like DeSantis' approach to fighting the culture war, and it doesn't seem like he's done enough to fight the rising cost of living in Florida either.

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