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Im not sure where I fit in.

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) is a stalwart of the Democratic Party from what used to be the blue state of Michigan. And unlike anyone else in her party, Dingell saw President Trump coming. She warned, pleaded and cajoled to no avail. Now, she feels like a stranger in her own party.

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The Democratic Partys in disarray, Dingell told me in the latest episode of Cape Up. I dont know where I belong. Ive said that. I sometimes feel like I have no home even in the Democratic Caucus here. She went on to say, We need to put ourselves in other peoples shoes and understand where their fear is coming from. Dingell also added this: We took people for granted. We, for a long time, thought we had that worker, men and women, that union worker. Weve lost them because we stopped talking to them.

[I said Clinton was in trouble with the voters I represent. Democrats didnt listen.]

Dingell said her Dearborn, Mich., constituents dont think we [Democrats] understand them. In the battle between automakers and environmentalists, Dingell is particularly clear-eyed. Id really love to bring permanent peace between California and Michigan, she said, noting that what her car constituents want is certainty. If everybody agrees as they did on the fuel economy standards, then the companies have what they need, which is economic and political certainty.

That part of the conversation on intraparty squabbling, which began with Dingell saying, Weve got to stop demonizing each other, was an echo of what she said at the start of the interview. Coming the day after House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and three others were shot on a Virginia baseball field by an angry, left-wing, anti-Trump partisan, Dingells message had added resonance. Weve got to figure out a way to tone down the rhetoric, that we have to stop this demonization of each other, she said. We have to find a way to respect each other, to listen to each other.

[Picture a ripe, red tomato and how this is the key to citizen engagement.]

Listen to the podcast to hear Dingell talk more about the degradation of national political discourse, how she is battling believers of fake news and how the members of the large Muslim American community in her district are feeling.

Theyre very afraid, she said. Theyre afraid that something, somebody could physically attack them.

Cape Up is Jonathans weekly podcast talking to key figures behind the news and our culture. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts.

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One Democrat knew Trump would win. Now she struggles to find a place in her own party. - Washington Post (blog)

Mr. Ossoff has pursued a two-pronged strategy, aiming to peel off a fraction of Republican-leaning voters with a sober, centrist message while mobilizing a broader group of moderates and liberals who are infrequent voters at best and seldom turn out in special elections.

He could win by carrying just 3 or 4 percent of the voters who backed Republican candidates other than Ms. Handel in April. He could also win by turning out enough supporters who did not vote in April.

The final polls showed an extremely close race, with neither candidate holding a clear advantage.

Nearly 150,000 people have already cast ballots in early voting nearly three times the early vote in April, when only 193,000 ballots were cast over all. Nearly 40,000 people who have voted early in the runoff did not vote at all in April.

Both campaigns have welcomed the additional voters. But the new voters are far younger, somewhat more diverse, and much less likely ever to have voted in a Democratic or Republican primary than the voters who turned out in April. All of which bodes well for Mr. Ossoff.

Georgia often takes a long time to count its votes, and the April ballot was no exception. The first returns the early votes of people who cast their ballots at polling places, rather than on paper will not be conclusive, either.

Those early returns will be more Republican this time, because nearly 50,000 Republican-leaning voters who cast ballots on Election Day in April decided to vote early in the runoff. In addition, many Democratic-leaning in-person voters from April chose to vote by mail in the runoff.

As a result, do not expect meaningful clues to the final result until we learn the votes of people who went to the polls on Tuesday.

Candidates and outside groups have spent roughly $55 million in a battle over a U.S. House seat vacated by Tom Price, the health and human services secretary.

For all the early and absentee ballots already cast, the race is competitive enough that Election Day could prove decisive. And, perhaps showing how badly they need a lift, some supporters of Ms. Handel have seized on a liberal, anti-Trump gunmans attack at a Republican congressional baseball practice last week as a boon, thinking it could jolt at least some complacent voters into turning out for her.

I think the shooting is going to win this election for us, said Brad Carver, a Republican official in Georgia at the county and state level.

A little-known conservative group bought a small amount of television time on Fox News over the weekend for an ad showing emergency crews carrying victims of the attack on stretchers. The same unhinged leftists cheering last weeks shooting are all backing Jon Ossoff, and if he wins, they win, an announcer intones.

Ms. Handels campaign denounced the ad but did not call for it to be taken off the air.

Republicans have held the Sixth District for nearly 40 years. A loss would reverberate in Washington, imperiling the partys already-stalled agenda and prompting some incumbents to retire rather than seek re-election. Most immediately, it would threaten the Republican health care overhaul, which is expected to come up for a Senate vote in the next two weeks. Democrats, already enjoying a strong recruiting season, would see a bumper crop of candidates for 2018.

But Democrats who have already fallen short in special elections for House seats in Kansas and Montana, where their candidates faced stronger opposition sorely need more than a moral victory. They need to show they can compete and prevail in the kind of wealthy, highly educated districts that represent their most promising path to a House majority next year.

Tuesdays result may sharply affect congressional recruitment, retirements and fund-raising. But for Democrats chances of recapturing the House in 2018, the lesson is the same whether Mr. Ossoff wins with 51 percent or loses with 49.

Mr. Ossoffs performance has already confirmed that Republicans in wealthy, conservative-leaning districts will be burdened by Mr. Trumps unpopularity. Previously safe Republican incumbents in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Miami and Orange County, Calif., could all be vulnerable next year.

The bottom line: A close race in Georgias Sixth District is consistent with a strong Democratic performance in next years midterm elections strong enough, perhaps, to retake the House. A few thousand votes either way wont change that.

Though the Georgia battle has consumed the countrys political class, another special election on Tuesday will decide who succeeds Mick Mulvaney, who represented South Carolinas highly conservative Fifth Congressional District before he was named director of the Office of Management and Budget.

National Democrats have done little to compete in the district, which remains strongly supportive of Mr. Trump, and Ralph W. Norman, a Republican former state legislator, is widely expected to defeat Archie Parnell, a Democrat and former Goldman Sachs tax expert. But Mr. Parnell had more money to spend than Mr. Norman in the final weeks, and some South Carolina Democrats expect a surprisingly competitive finish.

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Georgia's Special Election Comes to a Nail-Biting Finish - New York Times

Democrats will turn their gaze south this week, hoping victory in a special election in Georgias 6th Congressional District will serve as a referendum on President Trump and spark their efforts to counter his agenda and to win back the House.

Embodying those hopes is Democrat Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old former Capitol Hill staffer who has campaigned as a moderate in the wealthy suburbs north of Atlanta and raised more than $23 million.

But despite Ossoffs financial advantage the showdown is the most expensive House race in history Democrats remain on edge. Polls show the clash between Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel too close to call, and GOP candidates have prevailed in several special elections this year.

Timing is critical, with Tuesdays vote coming as congressional Democrats are rousing their base by attempting to block Republican legislation to overhaul the nations health-care system. Senate GOP leaders have been privately revising a House-passed version for weeks, aiming to call a vote by the end of June.

Many Democrats see the Georgia race and their health-care moves as intertwined. If Ossoff wins, the likely wave of enthusiasm could rattle Trump and Republicans. If Ossoff loses, it could be demoralizing and reveal the challenges facing Democrats ahead of next years midterm elections, despite the GOP health-care proposals unpopularity and the controversy over Trumps handling of investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Democrats need to flip 24 Republican-held seats to take back the House majority, which they lost seven years ago.

The stakes have stoked talk of unity among wings of the Democratic Party, which has dealt with intraparty tensions since Trump won.

On Sunday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he was standing with Ossoff, even though Ossoff has not run as a vocal progressive.

Oh, absolutely, Sanders said on CNNs State of the Union. I very much want Ossoff to win. His views are a lot better than his Republican opponents.

Sanders also said Democrats should do everything possible to counter Trump and the Republican health-care bill, and framed the Georgia race as one of the ways the party could begin to turn around its fortune.

Senate Democratic leaders are considering several maneuvers to stop Republicans from proceeding on the legislation and to protest the GOPs behind-the-scenes discussions, according to aides.

Once senators return to Washington on Monday, Democrats may threaten to halt procedural routines and boycott committee meetings and hearings, the aides said.

Senate Republicans have acknowledged the potential political pitfalls should their legislation be defined by the secrecy in which it has been deliberated.

The Senate is not a place where you can just cook up something behind closed doors and rush it for a vote on the floor, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Sunday on CBSs Face the Nation.

Every camera in the world is going to have to see whats in it, Rubio said.

Ossoff who nearly won the seat outright in the first round of voting in April spent the weekend urging Democrats who are furious with Trump to turn out, all while keeping his tone and message steady as he courted more centrist Republicans in a district that has been in GOP hands since 1979. It was represented by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price until he resigned to join Trumps Cabinet.

We have a great candidate, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a veteran civil rights leader, said as he campaigned alongside Ossoff. Smart, young and just good.

Ossoff said Tuesdays election would have consequences far beyond the districts well- manicured lawns and glassy office parks.

Folks across the district, folks across the state, folks across the country, there are those who have lost faith, Ossoff said. All of us here today, and all of us in this district, have a chance now to help restore some of that.

Ossoff has avoided making the Russia probes and Trumps decision to fire former FBI director James B. Comey central to his closing pitch, calling for a vigorous investigation but mostly focusing on health care and the economy.

Handel, meanwhile, has embraced her long ties to state and local Republicans, a point she has played up repeatedly as she has jeered Ossoff for living outside the district.

A former Georgia secretary of state, Handel campaigned with Price and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, a former Georgia governor.

This is a harbinger of national politics, Perdue said Saturday at a Handel rally. The world is looking, the nation is looking, and all the money has flowed in here.

Dont be fooled by someone who doesnt have a record, he added. Let me tell you something, [Ossoff] is a puppet, and the strings are being pulled by the Democrats and Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader.

Early voting levels have been extraordinarily high, reflective of the intense interest in the race. More than 120,000 people have already voted, nearly a quarter of all registered voters in the district.

Trumps shadow continues to loom, not so much because of Republican reservations about his policies but because of their unease with his combative persona and the lack of progress in enacting key priorities, such as tax cuts and the repeal of aspects of the health-care law.

Handel has turned to the president for a fundraising lift but otherwise treaded cautiously when speaking of him, aware that much of her well-educated conservative base does not always identify with his roaring populism.

Trump barely won the district last year as Price coasted to a double-digit victory.

At the weekend rally, Perdue noted that some Republicans may even be turned off by our president. But he urged solidarity and said Trump keeps his promises.

Handel has been cagey, too, on the Republican health-care plan, saying the House bill is far from perfect in a nod to concerns among voters about the legislations scope and its coverage of people who have preexisting conditions or rely on Medicaid.

On Russia, Handel has dismissed the mounting questions about Trumps interactions with law enforcement officials as noise but said she supports letting the facts take us where the facts take us.

Handel has raised more than $5 million, putting her far behind Ossoff, but she has been boosted by outside groups that have spent more than $11 million on her behalf. A political action committee aligned with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has been particularly active.

Ossoffs droves of volunteers have drawn notice. During a recent trip to the district, The Washington Post encountered numbers of them in blue T-shirts going door to door a glimpse into the energy on the Democratic side, especially among progressive millennial-age voters who see Trump as anathema to their views.

Ossoff said Friday on MSNBC that he has built a coalition of Democrats, independents and Republicans.

But as she stood Saturday in front of an enormous American flag at an airport hangar, Handel described Ossoff as a liberal interloper who had values from 3,000 miles away in San Francisco.

It was a return to traditional partisan themes, seemingly as a reminder to any Republican tempted to stay home or vote for Ossoff.

We are going to show up on Tuesday, and were going to rock Nancy Pelosis world, Handel said to cheers.

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Democrats see high stakes in Georgia's special election - Washington Post

Belleville News-Democrat

The Dems' new midterm challenge: Replicate Ossoff's success Belleville News-Democrat Democrats have discovered something unexpected in Jon Ossoff, the 30-year-old first-time candidate from Georgia: a model for winning back the House majority. Now they just need to try and replicate it over the possible objections of the party's ... Democrats can't win as BerniecratsWeatherford Democrat Democrat playbook: Accuse the other side of that which you are guiltyThe Augusta Chronicle The Democrats' Deadly RhetoricAmerican Thinker Amarillo.com -Salon all 74 news articles »

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The Dems' new midterm challenge: Replicate Ossoff's success - Belleville News-Democrat

(1 of ) Mobile home fire early Sunday afternoon on Bejay Avenue. (Photo courtesy Eloisa Ambriz) (2 of ) Firefighters work on putting out a fire at a mobile home at 404 Bejay Avenue in Santa Rosa Mobile Estates where there was one confirmed fatality on Sunday in Santa Rosa. June 18, 2017. (Photo: Erik Castro/for The Press Democrat)

KEVIN MCCALLUM

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | June 18, 2017, 4:11PM

| Updated 5 hours ago.

A woman was killed Sunday afternoon when fire engulfed her Santa Rosa mobile home.

The blaze in the Santa Rosa Mobile Estates spread so rapidly that by the time firefighters arrived, they had no hope of rescuing anyone trapped inside the home, Santa Rosa Battalion Chief Mark Basque said.

The fire was reported around 12:30 p.m. in the park on Brooks Avenue off East Robles Avenue just outside city limits. The park has about 120 mobile homes, some in poor condition.

Joe Giordani, battalion chief of the Rincon Valley Fire Protection District, confirmed there was a single fatality. The womans husband and her son escaped the flames, but by the time they realized she remained inside they were unable to get her out, Giodani said.

Giodani did not release the womans name, but neighbors identified her as Elizabeth Stamp, 67.

Photos and videos taken by residents showed the flames enveloping the home and a column of smoke soaring hundreds of feet into the stiflingly hot air.

Eloiza Ambriz, 20, who lives across the street from the park, said she and family members had been trying to stay cool in a kiddie pool as the temperatures approached 100 degrees when she spotted the smoke.

It was already huge, Ambriz said of the fire. Her family members used a garden hose to wet the fence and landscaping near the fire, hoping to prevent its spread, she said.

Firefighters were able to keep the fire mostly contained to the single unit although the flames scorched the neighboring mobile homes causing minor damage.

The exterior of Tonia Robinsons unit suffered minor damage.

She and other residents described the home a place from which homeless people came and went on a regular basis, with piles of bicycle parts strewn everywhere. Complaints to the management company went unheeded, said Chris Soeters.

There were so many complaints made about these people over the year and there was never a darn thing done about it, Soeters said.

Resident Melissa Miller said as her family watch the flames, they heard a number of loud popping sounds that made them run inside, worried there might be ammunition exploding. Word spread very quickly that her neighbor apparently was still inside.

It made me very sad, Miller said. This is an unforgettable day.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 707-521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.

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Woman, 67, killed in Santa Rosa mobile home fire - Santa Rosa Press Democrat