Developers are Crabgrass

Sunday, July 26, 2026

Key U.S. Senate seats for the November electrion, which might be hinge races to see whether Democrats or Republicans control the Senate. And * * *

As already posted here, the Minnesota Dem primary is between a conservative AIPAC supported candidate and a progressive, Peggy Flanagan, a Native American Ojibwe activist serving as the 50th lieutenant governor of Minnesota since 2019. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, Flanagan served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. Flanagan grew up in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, an inner-ring suburb of Minneapolis. She is a citizen of the White Earth Nation. She is endorsed by Bernie and AOC.

The conservative has the big money advantage, the war chest to spend and spin. Grassroot support belongs to Flanagan, and the question is whether money or grassroot legitimacy will win the primary. Either way, the DFL is likely to win the Senate seat in the general election, replacing Tina Smith, who has endorsed the progressive. Amy Klobuchar is running for Governor and a likely winner, who will then vacate her Senate seat that she's held since the Big Bang, or it seems so.

The pediatrician running now against Lindsey Graham's sister in South Carolina might win the general election against the Republican, but the odds are uncertain. A good - indeed superior - candidate against a state that went Trump in 2024. That is a pivotal election. That race is discussed in the below post.

Michigan is in play. The Republicans are running whoever, I care not to discuss that, and the Dem candidate Crabgrass favors is a progressive endorsed by Bernie and AOC, as Guardian reports -- Abdul El Sayed, a physician, seeks a primary win to become Democratic Party general election candidate. (He is not AIPAC endorsed.)

The Michigan primary is days away.

Quoting Guardian from the subheadline onward:

Abdul El-Sayed may be buoyed by a younger, anti-establishment coalition as he runs against an establishment candidate

El-Sayed, running in Michigan to be the Democratic candidate for US Senate this November, is trying to strike a delicate balance between policy wonk and performer – capable of detailing the mechanics of the proposed Medicare for All system of universal healthcare one minute and delivering a punchline the next.
At a moment when American politics has become conspicuously humorless, he is an unusual political persona. And in a matter of days, on 4 August, Michigan Democrats will decide whether he’s their type to send him to the United States Senate.
El-Sayed faces the more moderate representative Haley Stevens, who has the backing of the Democratic party establishment. The duo are virtually neck-and-neck at the polls – raising the prospect of the party’s grassroots voters again defying the wishes of its leaders.
While a string of socialist victories across Democratic primaries in recent months has boosted the left of the party, El-Sayed rejects the label. He just wants capitalism that works.
El-Sayed, 41, has tried, and failed, to win office before: in 2018, he lost the Democratic gubernatorial race in Michigan. Has the younger, anti-establishment coalition he now represents grown larger than the one that rejected him eight years ago? El-Sayed believes it has.
“I think people are sick and tired of the establishments on both sides of that, and I think we are having success because we’re speaking to that frustration,” he said. “And politics doesn’t have to suck, and you can build a politics that doesn’t suck.”

That quote seems to summarize a view of his establishment opponent's brand. Given how Schumer, Gillibrand and Cheyenne Hunt shook a me-too to derail Platner in Maine, it appears they don't have one to shake at El Sayed. Which is fortunate. Surely you'd expect they've searched for one.

Following an image of El Sayed rallying with Bernie and AOC, Guardian, writes:

Next month’s Michigan primary will test whether that coalition is now large enough to nominate one of its own as a Democratic candidate for Washington.
El-Sayed insists he didn’t plan to run in this year’s US midterm elections. Heading into 2025, he said, “I thought I was going to keep doing what I was doing” – running Wayne county’s public health department, trying to keep key programs and health centers afloat as Donald Trump’s administration wielded the axe.
“The straw that broke the camel’s back was when they froze federal funds,” El-Sayed recalled in an interview. “I’m sitting here trying to figure out how to flow programs like [nutrition support initiative] Wic and federally qualified health centers and vaccines, and meanwhile we’re watching our tax dollars get sent abroad to drop bombs on other people’s kids.”
Throughout his campaign, El-Sayed has frequently tied the Israel-Gaza war, which he unflinchingly calls a genocide, and other conflicts involving the US to affordability at home. “Every time you want to put glasses on kids, people ask you: ‘Doctor, how are you going to pay for that?’” he said. “Nobody asks the general how he’s going to pay for the next war.”

Repeating, he is not the AIPAC favored candidate, that said, back to the text:

The roots of this worldview long predate this campaign, and run through Egypt, where El-Sayed spent childhood summers with his father’s family.
He describes the country as both “glorious”, because of the fullness of family and social life, and “painful”, because of the strict political order surrounding it, and the role that decades of US military support helped play in sustaining it.
[...]
El-Sayed credits his grandmother, whom he calls the smartest person he ever knew, for teaching him that, while talent is distributed widely, opportunity is not.
“I’m playing with house money, man,” he said. “Put all the chips back on the table and try and do something new. I was supposed to be a cab driver in Egypt. That’s not my life.”
Instead, as a student, he was a starting defenseman on the University of Michigan lacrosse team, vice-president of its Muslim Students Association and, in 2007, the university’s first Rhodes scholar in years. He studied at Oxford, attended Columbia medical school and eventually entered public health, rather than private practice.
“He was always the smartest guy, the awesome guy who can work the room,” said Mohamad Issa, a head and neck cancer surgeon in Ohio who knew El-Sayed during his college years. “The first person there. The last person to leave.”
Issa remembers approaching El-Sayed after a game of basketball as a nervous freshman, having earned disappointing grades in his first science classes. He had been told by an adviser that medicine might not be for him.
El-Sayed, then a student athlete, spent months mentoring him, offering study strategies that Issa says transformed his academic career. Two decades later, Issa says, he still teaches those same techniques to students he mentors today.
“He’s a bro,” Issa said. “That’s all you gotta know.”
After years of research and being an instructor, El-Sayed led Detroit’s health department after the city’s bankruptcy, then took over Wayne county’s, where he helped cancel roughly $700m in medical debt affecting 300,000 Michiganders.
“He almost has an idealistic pressure in his mind about wanting to live fully, in a way that is admirable,” said Dr Sandro Galea, dean of public health at Washington University, who has known El-Sayed for more than 20 years. “It comes from a sense of wanting to do right by people, wanting to help in a better world for people.”

Clearly, again, he is not AIPAC's horse in the race. Shunning a "socialist" label, Guardian reports El Sayed's thinking:

His critique of the economy is not that markets can never work, but that concentrated corporate power has prevented them from working as advertised. “If the markets actually worked the way they’re supposed to, you might have some efficient movement of money,” he said. “The problem is, we don’t live in capitalism, we live in oligopoly.”
El-Sayed points to universal healthcare. Private insurers make money from people when they are younger and healthier, he says, before handing them to the government at 65, when their care becomes more expensive. A rational system would spread those costs across a lifetime, according to him, rather than privatize the profitable years and socialize the costly ones.
For El-Sayed, the question is ultimately the same one he absorbed in Egypt, at school, in his research and from his grandmother: who is permitted to benefit from the institutions around them – and who is expected merely to endure them?
With that message, he has gained ground inside the Democratic electorate, with rallies attended by hundreds of eager Michiganders from across the political spectrum, though
the party establishment has been considerably slower to follow.
Chuck Schumer, the US Senate minority leader, and retiring senator Gary Peters have backed Stevens, reflecting the party leadership’s preference for the more conventional candidate. El-Sayed, meanwhile, has assembled a different coalition, winning recent endorsements from the likes of progressive representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders.
The divide reflects a broader disagreement inside the party over what will help it win.
Grossman, [a pundit] at Michigan State University, does not believe the concern driving figures at the top of the Democratic party to oppose El-Sayed is primarily ideological. It is, he said, more about what a victory by someone to Stevens’s left would signal nationally.

That national signal being that the people can have a voice which Schumer and Gillibrand cannot bend and control, a signal that pair would sooner shun immediately than look at and reflect upon It's power, and money management of U.S. politics at stake, and Schumer et al. don't want to give up what Pelosi eventually gave up because she was older than sin. More from Guardian:

“The concern from Washington is more about the long-term image of the Democratic party and whether someone closer to El-Sayed’s politics would make it harder to hold the seat in future elections,” said Grossman. “I don’t think Abdul will suffer a major penalty for ideology in this election.”
El-Sayed has faced unusually determined resistance.
Not everyone inside the party embraces his offering. Lon Johnson, a former chair of the Michigan Democratic party who supports Stevens, argued El-Sayed’s politics could ultimately cost Democrats one of their best opportunities to retake control of the US Senate. “There is real concern that Abdul would not be able to beat [Republican Mike] Rogers and then potentially lose us a majority possibility in the Senate,” Johnson said.
Outside groups, led by the pro-Israel lobbying network Aipac and its affiliated political funds and committees, have poured roughly $30m into the race on behalf of Stevens, making Michigan one of the most expensive Democratic primaries in the country.
While El-Sayed continues to speak out about Israel’s destruction of Gaza, ads have leaned heavily on domestic issues, highlighting Stevens’s experience working with the Obama administration’s auto rescue in 2008.

Yeah. Obama bailed out Wall Street and GM and let Main Street face big time forclosures, so what, yea for that? Hardly. Latest news about GM, they have been selling Buicks made in China, and given tariff things from Trump, they will move part of that game to the U.S. That linked USAToday thing:

GM intends to sell the Buick Envision vehicles assembled at Fairfax to the North American market, the company confirmed. This means production in China may continue for sales to other, non-U.S. markets.
This is the latest change for GM after regulatory shifts and slower-than-expected consumer demand of electric vehicles roiled its production plans during President Trump's second term.
In the meantime, production of the Buick Envision in China has not been disrupted, and GM will continue to ship the Envision to the U.S. from China. GM said additional product and timing details of the new Buick will be shared closer to launch. GM sold 41,924 Buick Envisions in 2025.

So, yeah, Obama bailed out GM and as a thank you GM in turn used Chinese labor, not U.S. autoworkers, until the tariff war changed their mind That is representative of the thinking of the establishment Dem Party in DC, and change would be welcome.

Try search = gm saic joint venture's future -- That will show a story of history from Obama's bailout to now. Learn or already know facts.

The Obama bailout of the corporation, not the workforce but the firm, is on the rocks.

GM is still a Schumer-like firm, a failure, but happily entrenced and making rich folks richer until a hammer may fall. Using the U.S. auto industry as an example of anything suggested as good for the masses from establishment Dems runs into ownership greed being serviced in DC.

Try search = ford family control of voting stock and prospering however the market goes

Tesla is doing okay, Elon managing it in non-traditional ways, while the others arguably show us a stinking example of has been. And when an Establishment Dem trots out "Obama GM bailout" to engage autoworkers, are the unions that clued out?

Unlikely.

Don't expect clean thinking rather than slanted spin propaganda from establishment Dems like Schumer and Gillibrand. It's not in the DNA. Which is why an evolution is afoot. Gross economic inequality favoring the class war the rich are waging on everyone else is being called into question. There are better candidates than others. That's fortunate.

But it is an evolution. The inertia mass of incumbent Democrats will hold the line until enough progressives get win after win, so there is hope, while the establishment seems to not mind playing trans-issue crap with the GOP while both embrace a status quo loving money. Concentrated money, donorship elite paying dues to those running both Parties.

===================

It grew into a rant. I could say, "Sorry about that." But no. I am not at all sorry. People every so often need a good rant.

"Andrews views the broader landscape of Trump’s second term with profound alarm. She sees a state and a country buckling under the weight of “chaotic” economic and social policies. “I’m deeply concerned about the direction this country is moving in,” she says. “Gas prices are high. Grocery prices are high. There’s an affordability crisis in housing and in childcare. We don’t have jobs to meet the needs of folks who are graduating from technical colleges or from four-year universities and, on top of that, we’re witnessing unprecedented corruption in the federal government.” Her proposed remedies to break the fever include ending partisan gerrymandering, implementing term limits, banning members of Congress from trading stocks or becoming lobbyists and overturning the Citizens United supreme court ruling to purge dark money from politics."

Guardian report, even before Graham croaked Dr. Annie Andrews was the SC Dem candidate for Senate. Now she runs against sister of smooth slime. A quack awakened the political imperative within the heart of this South Carolina pediatrician -

Dr Annie Andrews says her ‘mission remains the same’ as she now aims to unseat Darline Graham, sister of the late Republican senator

[...] “My opponent will change but my mission remains the same and that’s what I’m staying focused on.”
That mission was galvanised by the two decades that Andrews spent on the frontlines of what she describes as America’s “broken” public healthcare system, including 15 years at a children’s hospital in Charleston. The experience ultimately compelled her out of the medical ward and into the political arena.
“Over those years, I started to understand that the problems my patients and their families were facing were policy problems. These were systemic problems with systemic solutions and what we needed to do was start electing people who inherently care about South Carolina’s kids and families and care about solving those problems.”
She recalls: “In the aftermath of Trump being re-elected, the day that I decided to consider this seriously was the day RFK Jr was nominated to lead HHS because, as a paediatrician, that’s the worst-case scenario for America’s public health system.”
For Andrews, the elevation of Kennedy – who spent decades amplifying baseless anti-vaccine views – is not merely a political affront but a direct threat to the lives of the children she treats.
“Doctors are trained, when they take a history from a patient, to ask if their immunisations are up to date. Twenty years ago, when I started asking that question, the answer was almost universally yes.
“Now when I ask that question, I brace myself for the response because bad actors like RFK Jr, [quack, quack] grifters and conspiracy theorists have been peddling in these anti-vaccine conspiracy theories for decades [quack] and it has seeped into the consciousness of many parents in America who now don’t know who they can trust for solid evidence-based medical information about decisions for their children’s health and it’s deeply frustrating to watch as this has evolved.”
The consequences are brutal. Measles cases in the US have hit a 35-year high, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, with more than 90% of reported infections occurring among the unvaccinated or those whose vaccination status is unknown.
[...]
Indeed, for Andrews, the triage urgently required in Washington is clear. She views the impending Medicaid budget cuts signed into law by Trump as a devastating threat to rural South Carolinians. She advocates for defending Medicare, lowering prescription drug costs through federal negotiating power, and gradually introducing a public option to force private insurers into offering more competitive, less profit-driven plans.
And her definition of the public health emergency extends to gun violence. She speaks with the authority of a doctor who has “cared for children with bullet holes in them” and “stood at the bedside of a child who has been shot and held the parent’s hand, understanding that these are preventable injuries, these are policy choices that have been made by our lawmakers”.
While acknowledging that gun control may not be the primary issue driving voters to the polls in 2026, she insists: “I will not stand on the sidelines as gun violence continues to be the leading cause of death for kids in South Carolina and kids all across this country. But the good news is the vast majority of Americans agree with me. Over 90% of Americans believe we need commonsense solutions like universal background checks.”
[,,,] Her proposed remedies to break the fever include ending partisan gerrymandering, implementing term limits, banning members of Congress from trading stocks or becoming lobbyists and overturning the Citizens United supreme court ruling to purge dark money from politics.
Andrews has spent a year building a statewide campaign apparatus, raising funds and recruiting more than 2,000 volunteers. This week, she gained the endorsement of Her Bold Move, a national support network for women running for political office. [...]

Not a Medicare for All advocate, but championing a public option; she is short of a certified progressive, and the Dem Socialists advocate a unicameral Congress with the Senate abolished, and Andrews is silent about that. So, good overall, but in South Carolina a ray of sunshine in a stale ranging tightly from Lindsey crap to Clyburn crap.

As Guardian noted in closing the item:

South Carolina is a stronghold for Republicans with state elections historically decided by double-digit margins. In 2020, the Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison shattered national fundraising records, amassing a war chest of more than $100m, yet still lost to Graham by a crushing 10 percentage points.

Clyburn is well up in years, set in ways, and the fact is Harrison was a Clyburn pick and hence got money and hence lost the contest. Some Dems need to think anew.

Or keep losing, the Clyburn way or the highway. Awaken, please. The fish fry is yesterday, Andrews is today, and we hope she is tomorrow in the Senate.

(The Crabgrass headline is a run-together of two item paragraphs)

===========================

Her Bold Move, (https://www.herboldmove.org/about-us), the national support network endorsing Andrews is not explicit, but it seems some women thought Emily's List needed a second front, of possibly more young and open thinkers. HBM 2026 endorsement images suggest extreme longevity is not considered a plus to these advocates. That's a Crabgrass guess, but Emily's List did go extreme super-top-heavy on Hillary in the Hillary vs Trump days, so something shaking differently is a sound development. Something other than Clintonian hash might just have a better, fresher flavor.

They seem Democrats, per checking the web on those already holding a political office, none dessicated, judging from the photos. Pelosi not on the endorsement board nor endorsed. One wonders, do Republicans have a second front female advocacy thing, younger than Susan Collins, etc. - or even one at all?

UPDATE: Emily's List might face a third front - WFTW

https://www.womenforthewin.org/

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/wftw

Of interest,

Colleen J. Davis

chairs the Her Bold Move endorsement board, and is a key person with WFTW, with this https://www.womenforthewin.org/meet-the-team bio

Colleen J. Davis has been in the entertainment industry for two decades. In that time, she has worked on television series of all genres including soap operas, reality, live events, children’s programming, & daily talk shows. Over the past few years, Colleen has made the transition from creative producer to clearance producer where she oversees various legal aspects of a production. Politics have always been an important part of Colleen’s life. With a firefighter father & a postal worker mother, local elections had direct impacts on her family. From a young age, she was taught the importance of voting & has still never missed a single chance to submit her ballot. Colleen splits her time between L.A. & her native Seattle. When not working, she can be found traveling or cheering on her favorite soccer teams: the Seattle Sounders, the O.L. Reign, & the U.S. Women’s National Team.

Davis appears to have no wikipedia page (a Delaware Colleen Davis office holder does, so don't be confused). However, https://grokipedia.com/page/Colleen_J_Davis notes her activity with both of the above mentioned activist networks. Crabgrass gets a feeling that Emily's List is establishment-entrenced Dem party, these two networks being distinct and different.

Schumer might feel far, far more comfortable with Emily's List. Vice versa.

FURTHER UPDATE: US citizens learning of Andrews for the first time might want to contribute directly to her campaign, and not via either of the two activist nets.

search = Dr Annie Andrews campaign page -- links to

https://drannieandrews.com/platform/

See, also, https://drannieandrews.com/the-new-york-times-the-doctor-will-seek-your-vote-now/

South Carolina residents probably already know much about Andrews. And await general election early voting to cast a ballot in comfort, no lines, no ICE.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Andrews_(physician)

WANTING TO AVOID ANY CONFUSION: "EMILYs List Endorses Dr. Annie Andrews in South Carolina's U.S. Senate Race".

So even the traditionalists are Andrews supporters, which matters.

Saturday, July 25, 2026

Sideline Susie.

If you care: https://sportsbyline.com/nbc-sideline-reporter-michele-tafoya-click-to-listen/

Ambitions beyond her doing a sideline interview or a report from the injury tent and you're screaming at your TV, show the field, show the fucking field!

Now ambitions beyond the sideline. Qualifications? That remains a question. But somebody who hates football while favoring "entertainment" decided sideline susies was a good idea. We've had them ever since. Tafoya was handed that ball, and ran with it.

UPDATE: A GOP view:

After reading this Washington Examiner article, I'm not certain that Mike Lindell, the purveyor of MyPillow, is a Republican. If he is, he's a John McCain Gang of Eight type of Republican, not a movement conservative like Ted Cruz. I've vooted before for candidates who weren't movement conservatives up and down the ticket in Minnesota. I'll enthusiastically vote for Michelle Tafoya for U.S. Senate in the primary and in the general election if she wins the primary, which I think she will.

What can I say?

UPDATE: Link.

An early 2028 New Hampshire Presidential Preference Poll. Early polling is worth what you pay for it. Bright spots, neither Ted Craz nor Amy Klobuchar - as is reasonable - have traction.

https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1982&context=survey_center_polls

Realty seems to be a catching-on trend about Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom.

Mayor Pete is a technocrat from McKinsey, and that will not get anyone decent healthcare. Why he's so high on the poll, you tell me. I do not understand it.

Mark Kelly doing well - trending - is a positive sign. Politically distant from AOC and Bernie, but solid and trustworthy. He's been who he's been, and you need not worry about any surprises about anything with Kelly.

Again, should anybody expect vigorous healthcare reform efforts from McKinsey?

There is a Repubican part of the poll, and again Ted Cruz having no traction is a promising thing. Otherwise, Vance will be it.

Thursday, July 23, 2026

There is nationwide traction, while locally MinnPost headlines, " Minnesota progressives campaign on ‘Medicare for All’ as ranks of uninsured grow But moderate Democrats embrace less ambitious reforms to health coverage, splitting the party." - by Ana Radelat 07/21/2026

The MinnPost item sketches a picture:

WASHINGTON – Jake Johnson, a Democrat seeking to represent southern Minnesota in Congress, gingerly sidestepped a question at a town hall he hosted about whether he supported “Medicare for All.”

Johnson, a moderate who is trying to unseat Rep. Brad Finstad, R-1^st District, said at that event in New Richland that he sympathized with those who are struggling to afford health insurance and pay for medical costs. He said he supported “a strong public option to the health insurers we have now.”

That meant Johnson would support allowing Americans to purchase a healthcare plan offered by the federal government that would compete with private insurers.

But that proposal — aimed at countering the increasing cost of health insurance coverage that is driving up the number of uninsured — has been rejected by Democratic socialists and progressives who have notched impressive victories in primaries this year and made their mark in Minnesota through the DFL endorsement process.

From 2019: At Houston debate, Klobuchar opposes Medicare-for-All plans

They pan the “public option” and other reforms proposed by Johnson and other party centrists as ineffective solutions that would continue to allow insurers and pharmaceuticals to unfairly profit from pain and illness.

So, the debate over healthcare in this election year has caused a fissure in the Democratic Party in Minnesota and across the nation.
[...] Sometimes a Democratic candidate’s position on healthcare reform is based, at least in part, on how well the party has done in their district.
The 1^st Congressional District Johnson seeks to represent gave President Donald Trump 55% of the vote in 2025.
But in the neighboring 2^nd Congressional District, former Vice President Kamala Harris won with 52% of the vote, and, unlike Johnson, the endorsed DFL candidate, Matt Little, is a vigorous proponent of Medicare for All.
[...] Little said if he wins the 2nd District seat he would support a new bill, sponsored in the U.S. House by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., that would guarantee comprehensive healthcare to every U.S. resident as a human right, eliminating all premiums, deductibles and copayments.
The legislation would end the leading role of private insurers in providing most of the nation’s healthcare coverage, although they would be allowed to sell supplemental plans.
[,,,] Little, who like Sanders considers himself a progressive, said the time is ripe politically to once again try to establish a “single payer” system similar to those of other industrialized nations that most Republicans decry as low- quality “socialized” medicine.

“I think we are in a defining moment right now in the country,” he said, citing the Trump administration’s cuts to Medicaid and the GOP Congress’ failure to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that helped many Americans, including about 90,000 Minnesotans, purchase health insurance.
[...] Like Little, state Rep. Kaela Berg is running for the 2^nd District congressional seat that is now held by Rep. Angie Craig, who is running for U.S. Senate.

Like Little, Berg is running as a progressive.

But unlike Little, Berg is flexible when it comes to proposed reforms to the nation’s healthcare system.

Berg said she supports the public option “and anything that gives people more health coverage.”

“It’s great to say Medicare for All and energize people,” Berg said. But she said that “we need to have (more) coverage now, whatever that looks like … while we continue to fight for Medicare for All.”

[...] And organized labor is split over Medicare for All, with some unions, including the United Auto Workers and the Association of Flight Attendants, supporting the idea and others strongly opposed because healthcare has been one of organized labor’s most potent bargaining chips.

The third Democrat running for Craig’s seat, state Sen. Matt Klein, is a physician, an internist who works for the Mayo Clinic.

He said he is a “firm believer that we need to get to universal healthcare” and if elected to Congress would “support whatever bill advances that.”

But he stopped short of backing Medicare for All, saying he would prefer the implementation of the public option.

The American Medical Association is firmly opposed to Medicare for All, saying it would limit patient choice and physician autonomy. The American Hospital Association and other powerful medical groups also strongly oppose the idea of a government-run, single payer plan.

Still, more than 100 U.S. House Democrats, including Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-5^th District, and Betty McCollum, D-4^th District, are co-sponsors of Jayapal’s Medicare for All bill and Sen. Tina Smith has co-sponsored Sanders’. But Rep. Kelly Morrison, D-3^rd District, who like Klein is a physician, has not co-sponsored Medicare for All legislation.

[...] The Democrats running for retiring Sen. Tina Smith’s seat — Craig and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan — are also split over how to achieve the goal of universal health coverage.

“This is not working,” Flanagan said of the nation’s healthcare system. “It is broken and I think people are ready (for Medicare for All).”

While noting the healthcare overhaul is impossible unless Democrats hold the White House and both chambers of Congress, Flanagan said defaulting to support of a public option for now with the hopes of working toward Medicare for All would not work.

“You should not start at the bottom because you are going to get even less,” she said.

Craig, meanwhile, last week introduced the Medicare-X Choice Act, which would create a public option in the nation’s Affordable Care Act exchanges.

Craig said the public option would “give the insurance companies some competition,” leading to lower premiums and better coverage for all.

Yeah, the bastards would compete over highest percentage of denied coverage, as they have under present law.

Let them compete for supplemental plans, but there, expect them to still be denying coverage to boost the bottom line profits they would want to still extract, but at lower levels than they are permitted to extract now. Final item paragraphs:

Since Democrats are split over Medicare for All, there’s little chance a single-payer system will be established in the United States anytime soon.

But a Democratic takeover of the U.S. House and/or U.S. Senate could result in a rush of Democratic healthcare legislation and a vigorous debate over how to reverse the increase in uninsured Americans, even as any substantial change would have to wait for a Democratic president.

That ending is true enough. But if the people are ready to send populist progressive candidates in ever larger numbers to Congress, the wrestle is set and only improvement can come of it, however long the timeline. Do it.

Of interest, over the last 24hrs Google Analytics shows the bulk of Crabgrass readers are from the US. A distant second, Norway. And we should lust for the plan they have. Beyond a $200- $300 copay, up front, the rest for a year is free, as needed.

See: here, and here. A way to view that, Norwegians are comparatively a civilized nation. With a healthcare perspective not that of the most predatory highwayman imaginable (arguably A/K/A that of UnitedHealth).

You want rankings? Try this. You'll have to go down the list somewhat to find the US, and the opening two paragraphs may be viewed as hinting so:

Health
These nations prove that health is the ultimate wealth. By investing in universal care and cutting-edge research, they make it clear that quality medical support should be treated as a right, not a luxury. They build populations that are resilient and health infrastructure that is prepared to tackle any threat. Their focus on healthy life expectancy and universal coverage makes them the gold standard for modern, compassionate living.
The Health category is based on an equally weighted average of three subcategories: Mortality & Longevity, Public Health Preparedness and Healthcare. For more information on how we rank, read the Best Countries methodology.