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Its been fourand ahalf months since they suffered devastating losses at the polls, but party leaders said Saturday night at the Scott County Democratic Partys Red, White and Blue fundraising dinner theyre determined to turn things around next year.

About 250 people turned out for the fundraiser at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds.

Much of the evening was spent lambasting Republicans who are in control of government in Washington, D.C., and Des Moines. Citing proposals to kill the Affordable Care Act to a voter identification bill in Iowa, Democratic leaders urged activists to organize and fight back.

We have to stop this nonsense, said Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, the only Democrat in Iowas congressional delegation.

Former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat who just formed a group to advocate elimination of the Electoral College, told the crowd that it was time for a new voting rights act.

Some Democrats have called for changing how the nation votes for president after President Donald Trump won the presidency but lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Feingold acknowledged Saturday the Electoral College puts a spotlight on smaller states like Iowa and Wisconsin, but he asked, hows that working out for us? Not so well.

Democrats did some celebrating at the dinner. A number of speakers noted the failure Friday of House Republicans to get a bill passed repealing the Affordable Care Act.

What a great victory for democracy, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said.

Still, Democrats are in a state of transition in the aftermath of last year's losses. The Iowa Democratic Party has a new chair. So does the Democratic National Committee, having just chosen Tom Perez.

DNC Vice Chairman Michael Blake was the evenings keynote speaker. Blake, who worked for former President Barack Obama in Iowa during the 2008 cycle, said beforehand the party is dedicated to work with Iowans and not just during presidential elections.

"We recognize if you want to have real success, you cant just be here for presidential elections, you cant just be here for the caucus, you have to be here all the time," he said.

A handful of Democrats who are being mentioned as possible candidates for governor also were on hand, including State Rep. Todd Prichard, D-Charles City, state Sen. Nate Boulton, D-Des Moines, Jon Neiderbach, a former school board president from Des Moines, and former Iowa Democratic Party Chair Andy McGuire of Des Moines.

Prichard, who grew up in Davenport, announced last Thursday hes formed an exploratory committee. Neiderbach already has said he's running.

They spoke later into the evening.

Davenport Alderman Mike Matson, who represents the city's 7th Ward, also said Saturday that he is considering running for governor. Beforehand, Matson said his experience at City Hall, in the military and in education would be a plus. I think I would be a good leader, he said.

Matson said he could make a decision whether to run by the end of summer.

Continued here:
Democrats determined for 2018 | Government and Politics | qctimes ... - Quad City Times

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House intelligence chairman met source on White House grounds

1 feared dead, 7 rescued from Oakland blaze

Bitter GOP finger-pointing clouds path for Trump agenda

Suspects sought in deadly Cincinnati nightclub shooting

Brown swipes Trump for border wall, says California to fight

Sacramento slaying victims are mom, 2 kids and another woman

HOPE YEN

ASSOCIATED PRESS | March 27, 2017, 9:17AM

| Updated 1 hour ago.

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump is hoping to drive his priorities forward following the crumbling of the Republican health care bill but GOP finger-pointing is rampant, underscoring how tough it will be to produce the unity the party will need.

Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, criticized the contrarian House Freedom Caucus on Monday, a day after resigning from the hard-right group because it helped sink the Republican health care effort.

"You can have your principles and then when it comes to voting, you have to compromise to get something passed," Poe said of the caucus, which has roughly three dozen members.

"It will continue to be the opposition party in the party," said Poe, who said he would have supported the measure. "We cannot be effective if we continue to vote no."

One Freedom Caucus member, Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., said Trump got bad advice "from some in leadership who said that some of us should not even exist up here. We need to be on a team and get a good product."

Brat said that could be done "in short order."

On the other side of the GOP spectrum, moderate Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., corroborated a New York Times report that Trump told him he was destroying the party by opposing the Republican bill.

"Well, it's just another day at the office for me, I guess," Dent said. Dent said the party's most conservative wing was never going to back the bill and that making concessions to them "alienated moderates."

The failed GOP bill, which party leaders withdrew shortly before a House vote that was doomed to failure, would have repealed much of former President Barack Obama's health care law. It would have voided its tax penalties on people for not buying insurance, tax increases on high earners and health industry firms, and expansion of Medicaid for low-income people. It would have also blocked federal payments to Planned Parenthood.

Trump initially focused blame for the measure's failure on Democrats and predicted a dire future for the current law. On Sunday, Trump turned his criticism toward conservative lawmakers for the failure of the Republican bill, complaining on Twitter: "Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Ocare!"

But there were mixed messages from the White House.

Trump aides said the president could seek support from moderate Democrats on upcoming legislative battles ranging from the budget and tax cuts to health care, leaving open the possibility he could revisit health care legislation. Whether he would work to repair Obama's law was a big question.

White House chief of staff Reince Priebus scolded conservative Republicans, explaining that Trump had felt "disappointed" with a "number of people he thought were loyal to him that weren't."

"It's time for the party to start governing," Priebus said. "I think it's time for our folks to come together, and I also think it's time to potentially get a few moderate Democrats on board as well."

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the Freedom Caucus, acknowledged he was doing a lot of "self-critiquing" after the health care defeat. He insisted the GOP overhaul effort was not over and that he regretted not spending more time with moderate Republicans and Democrats "to find some consensus."

Trump faces decisions on whether to back administrative changes to fix Obama's health care law or undermine it as prices for insurance plans rise in many markets. Over the weekend, the president tweeted a promise of achieving a "great healthcare plan" because Obamacare will "explode."

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Priebus did not answer directly regarding Trump's choice, saying that fixes to the health law will have to come legislatively and he wants to ensure "people don't get left behind."

"I don't think the president is closing the door on anything," he said.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer offered to find common ground with Trump for repairing Obama's statute.

Schumer said Sunday that Trump must be willing to drop attempts to repeal his predecessor's signature achievement, warning that Trump was destined to "lose again" on other parts of his agenda if he remained beholden to conservative Republicans.

Schumer, a New York Democrat, suggested that if Trump changes, "he could have a different presidency."

On Saturday, Trump urged Americans in a tweet to watch Judge Jeanine Pirro's program on Fox News that night. She led her show by calling for House Speaker Paul Ryan to resign, blaming him for the defeat of the bill in the Republican-controlled chamber.

Priebus described the two events as "coincidental," insisting that Trump was helping out a friend by plugging her show and no "preplanning" occurred.

"He doesn't blame Paul Ryan," Priebus said.

Poe, Dent and Brat spoke Monday on CNN. Priebus spoke on "Fox News Sunday," and Schumer and Meadows appeared on ABC's "This Week."

___

Associated Press writer Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.

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Bitter GOP finger-pointing clouds path for Trump agenda - Santa Rosa Press Democrat

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House intelligence chairman met source on White House grounds

1 feared dead, 7 rescued from Oakland blaze

Bitter GOP finger-pointing clouds path for Trump agenda

Suspects sought in deadly Cincinnati nightclub shooting

Brown swipes Trump for border wall, says California to fight

Sacramento slaying victims are mom, 2 kids and another woman

PAUL ELIAS

ASSOCIATED PRESS | March 27, 2017, 9:19AM

| Updated 26 minutes ago.

OAKLAND One person is feared dead, and firefighters rescued at least seven people from a raging fire in a three-story residential building Monday in a scene that sent residents rushing from flames and billowing smoke.

Dazed adults and children wrapped in Red Cross blankets milled in a parking lot as firefighters continued to pour water on a building had been their home until Monday's early morning blaze.

Ruben Deon Mitchell Jr. said he was awakened shortly after 4 a.m. to screams of fire. He escaped, but not before telling frightened children on the second floor to use the fire escape to get out.

"I opened the door and there was smoke in the hallway," he said.

Oakland Fire Battalion Chief Erik Logan said one person is feared dead after rescuers spotted what looked to be a body on the third floor. They had to retreat before they could confirm, he said.

"When firefighters first went in, they saw what might have looked like a body on the third floor, but the flames were so intense they had to retreat," Logan told the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/2o9Ngbc). "We have to get more of this fire out to see."

The blaze was contained to the building, Logan said.

"It's an old building," he said.

Logan said about 50 to 60 people lived in the building, which one resident described to KTVU-TV as a place for recovering addicts.

Oakland became the site of the deadliest structure fire in the U.S. in more than a decade when three dozen partygoers perished at a warehouse fire in December. The building that burned Monday is about 5 miles (8 kilometers) northwest of that warehouse.

The morning scene outside the building was smoky and confused. Red Cross volunteers eventually found sweatpants for a 9-year-old boy who had scrambled out of the building in his underwear and socks.

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Original post:
Oakland battalion chief fears 1 dead in residential fire - Santa Rosa Press Democrat

New York Times

Democrats Plan to Filibuster to Thwart Gorsuch Nomination New York Times While a parade of witnesses addressed the Senate Judiciary Committee, trading dueling views of Judge Gorsuch, the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, went to the Senate floor and announced that he would try to lead Democrats in ... Schumer: Democrats will filibuster Gorsuch nominationWashington Post Democrat Leader Schumer Calls for Filibuster on Gorsuch VoteThe New American Senate's top Democrat opposes Supreme Court nominee Neil GorsuchUSA TODAY CNBC -Bloomberg all 4,840 news articles »

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Democrats Plan to Filibuster to Thwart Gorsuch Nomination - New York Times

Ad will collapse in seconds CLOSE March 24, 2017 03/24/2017 6:03 p.m. By Ed Kilgore Share Democrat Jon Ossoff isnt just raising eyebrows in the usually-Republican 6th Congressional District of Georgia, hes looking competitive. Photo: Jon Ossoff for Congress

The collapse of Republican efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare was bad news for Donald Trumps HHS secretary, Tom Price, who will have to deal with bitter recriminations between his old friends in the House and his new boss in the White House.

But you know what would make Price feel a whole lot worse? Being replaced in the House by a Democrat.

For the first time, Democratic hopes of picking off this seat, once occupied by Senator Johnny Isakson, and before that by Newt Gingrich, are beginning to look like something more than wishful thinking. With the first round of the jungle primary fast approaching on April 18, Democratic candidate (and former congressional staffer) Jon Ossoff is no longer just an incredibly well-funded neophyte likely to make a runoff against the survivor of an internecine battle between Republicans. Hes now clearly competitive in the runoff as well as the first round.

According to a new survey from Georgia-based Opinion Savvy, Ossoff has the support of 40 percent of likely first-round voters, with Republican front-runner Karen Handel at 20 percent; would-be Trump-clone Bob Gray and State Senator Judson Hill at 10 percent; and former state senator Dan Moody at 8 percent.

More importantly, Opinion Savvy had these numbers for voters screened for likely participation in a near-certain June runoff: Ossoff leading Handel 42/41; Ossoff leading Gray 44/42; and Ossoff tied with Hill at 44 percent.

The 30-year-old Ossoffs strength is largely derived from the reported $3 million he has raised, much of it from national online fundraising, and from his success in consolidating his partys support while the Republican candidates bicker and split the GOP vote. The threat of a Democratic upset in the 6th is strong enough that Paul Ryans leadership PAC has now committed more than $2 million to attack ads on Ossoff (one with footage of him in college dressed up like Hans Solo; another tying him to Nancy Pelosi, not a beloved figure in the 6th).

Ryan, in fact, could be the one national Republican who would be humiliated by a loss in Georgia nearly as much as Price. Neither of them is having much fun at present.

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A new survey shows well-funded Democrat Jon Ossoff ahead of or even with his most likely GOP rivals in a second-round runoff in June.

The investigation into Khalid Masood is moving fast.

The collapse of Trumpcare could be the GOP version of Clintoncare: something none of them will hurry to repeat.

Some solid owns coming from the left side of the aisle this afternoon.

Ryan withdraws the GOPs health-care plan after concluding it cannot pass the House. Trump says he wont try to repeal Obamacare again anytime soon.

The Republican Party could not come up with a better idea.

If no longer nestled in a giant health-care bill, the defunding of the womens health organization could spark an appropriations fight.

The repeal of the ACA is on the verge of collapse.

The Republican House Intelligence chair abruptly canceled an open hearing Friday. The committees ranking Democrat cries foul.

Steve Mnuchin, in a possible ethics violation, also encouraged people to go see Lego Batman, which he produced.

AHCA was more than an Obamacare repealer. It also included provisions on taxes, Planned Parenthood, and Medicaid that GOP will still need to pursue.

Devin Nunes, who worked on the Trump transition, is having trouble letting go of old allegiances.

The president has realized that he doesnt actually need to repeal Obamacare to slash taxes, as Paul Ryan had suggested.

Get to know these phrases: facially legitimate and bona fide reason.

The Trump aide has told associates hes unhappy with the bill and is already distancing himself from it.

This week in Trumps America: The president is flailing. But how he will respond to his setbacks is far from certain.

Its not clear what House Republicans will do.

State Department likely to give the okay by the end of the week.

Ethics experts will not be pleased with this decision.

After a final offer to House conservatives failed, Trump and Ryan may be back to square one with a divided GOP and no clear path forward.

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Democrat Gaining Ground in Georgia Special Election - New York Magazine