2014 What If: Democratic Base Endorses, Campaigns for, and donates to Teachout

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

How would Teachout have done in the primary in this scenario? I'm going to say 43%.

[Vega]

This would never have happened, though.

[AelroseB]

She would, most likely, have won with the backing of the national Democratic Party base.

[Mister Mets]

She did pretty well if you consider her relative obscurity.

If she got the same level of attention two months earlier, she might have been competitive.

She would not have gotten the establishment support in the primary, since elected officeholders and their buddies could figure it sets a bad precedent to back a primary challenger.

[NewYorkExpress]

She did pretty well if you consider her relative obscurity.

If she got the same level of attention two months earlier, she might have been competitive.

She would not have gotten the establishment support in the primary, since elected officeholders and their buddies could figure it sets a bad precedent to back a primary challenger.

In New York Teachout would have gotten no establishment support. But in say, California, Vermont or Chicago/Boston/Philadelphia, the establishment might have split a bit more (for example; Pelosi, Coakley, and Leahy support Cuomo, while Barbara Lee, Shumlin, Sanders and possibly Luis Gutierrez endorse Teachout).

[Thunderbird is the word]

If she'd gotten in earlier and generated more netroots attention possibly, but she'd have had to do better in NYC which is machine controlled.

[Ebsy]

If she'd gotten in earlier and generated more netroots attention possibly, but she'd have had to do better in NYC which is machine controlled.

And yet, I seem to remember one Bill de Blasio winning the NYC mayoral contest in a landslide despite definitely not being a machine candidate.

[IceSpear]

By Democratic base, do you mean activist progressive groups like MoveOn?

She could've cracked 40%, but it also could've caused Cuomo to take her more seriously and bury her in negative ads. Kind of similar to Astorino actually.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

By Democratic base, do you mean activist progressive groups like MoveOn?

She could've cracked 40%, but it also could've caused Cuomo to take her more seriously and bury her in negative ads. Kind of similar to Astorino actually.

Yes. Basically, Teachout supporters actually make a large effort in time and money to get her the primary victory.

[xavier110]

If she'd gotten in earlier and generated more netroots attention possibly, but she'd have had to do better in NYC which is machine controlled.

And yet, I seem to remember one Bill de Blasio winning the NYC mayoral contest in a landslide despite definitely not being a machine candidate.

Well, that's mostly due to racial politics (which I guess usually go hand-in-hand with machine politics). De Blasio really ate into Thompson's minority voters with his ads celebrating his family. Teachout, by most measures, performed terribly with them

[bedstuy]

It's hard to imagine Teachout winning because of general voter apathy.  She started the campaign with no name recognition and there was hardly any press coverage to increase her name ID. 

If someone like Teachout had run on Cuomo's left and done well in NYC among minorities, maybe Hakeem Jeffries, Cuomo would have lost.

[IceSpear]

It's hard to imagine Teachout winning because of general voter apathy.  She started the campaign with no name recognition and there was hardly any press coverage to increase her name ID. 

If someone like Teachout had run on Cuomo's left and done well in NYC among minorities, maybe Hakeem Jeffries, Cuomo would have lost.

Do you think a black NYC Congressman would have had such strong support Upstate as Teachout did? Not like it would matter since NYC is where the votes are, but just out of curiosity.

[Maxwell]

If the Democrats had actually participated in the midterms, things would be different. But they chose not to.

[Ebsy]

If the Democrats had actually participated in the midterms, things would be different. But they chose not to.

Obviously the strategy of running away from Obama with their hair on fire and trying to make themselves look like Republicans was not the right strategy, especially in light of Gary Peters' landslide victory, as he actually let Obama campaign for him in Michigan, and Mark Warner, who's close shave with electoral death nearly gave me a heart attack last November.

[Maxwell]

If the Democrats had actually participated in the midterms, things would be different. But they chose not to.

Obviously the strategy of running away from Obama with their hair on fire and trying to make themselves look like Republicans was not the right strategy, especially in light of Gary Peters' landslide victory, as he actually let Obama campaign for him in Michigan, and Mark Warner, who's close shave with electoral death nearly gave me a heart attack last November.

Well Gary Peters was also a great recruit and a talented politico, which was another problem of 2014 - terrible recruits.

[Ebsy]

The only other good recruit in my opinion was Michelle Nunn. The wave sunk her, not David Perdue.

[bedstuy]

It's hard to imagine Teachout winning because of general voter apathy.  She started the campaign with no name recognition and there was hardly any press coverage to increase her name ID. 

If someone like Teachout had run on Cuomo's left and done well in NYC among minorities, maybe Hakeem Jeffries, Cuomo would have lost.

Do you think a black NYC Congressman would have had such strong support Upstate as Teachout did? Not like it would matter since NYC is where the votes are, but just out of curiosity.

I think you could win Upstate based on issues and general dislike for Cuomo.  So, run as a left-wing alternative and get the Teachout vote plus the black vote.  It's not fool-proof, but someone like Jeffries  might do it, as he's been called the Barack Obama of Brooklyn.

[Mister Mets]

If she'd gotten in earlier and generated more netroots attention possibly, but she'd have had to do better in NYC which is machine controlled.

And yet, I seem to remember one Bill de Blasio winning the NYC mayoral contest in a landslide despite definitely not being a machine candidate.

He had been elected to city office (Public Advocate) and had served two terms in the City Council. He had been the campaign manager of the Dean of the New York Congressional Delegation (Charlie Rangel) and Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign. He was part of the machine.

[Mister Mets]

By Democratic base, do you mean activist progressive groups like MoveOn?

She could've cracked 40%, but it also could've caused Cuomo to take her more seriously and bury her in negative ads. Kind of similar to Astorino actually.

Yes. Basically, Teachout supporters actually make a large effort in time and money to get her the primary victory.

Her main issue is that she became prominent kind of late in the race.

[smoltchanov]

If the Democrats had actually participated in the midterms, things would be different. But they chose not to.

Obviously the strategy of running away from Obama with their hair on fire and trying to make themselves look like Republicans was not the right strategy, especially in light of Gary Peters' landslide victory, as he actually let Obama campaign for him in Michigan, and Mark Warner, who's close shave with electoral death nearly gave me a heart attack last November.

Well, if Democrats wouldn't run away from Obama (very weak President, IMHO) - they could lose even more. An "activists" (left-wing) mainly came to voting booth in 2014 (they always do, as do their counterparts on the right), but somewhat less politically engaged (and less radical) public - didn't. And "closer to Obama" wouldn't help wuth these people.