How Republicans Could Win In 2016

By the time you read this, the Republicans will have again showcased their leaders in the race to run the country and the world.

Here are five ways Republicans win:

By having the better candidates or the better policies — although in my view, the former is unusual and the latter, rare . . .

. . . or through voter suppression (examples here!) . . .

. . . or with multi-trillion-dollar whoppers (“by far the vast majority” of his proposed tax cuts, candidate George W. Bush told us, would “go to people at the bottom of the economic ladder”) . . .

. . . and via gerrymandering (how else can it be that a state like Florida, which leans Democratic in the popular vote, is overwhelmingly Republican in its legislature and its Congressional delegation?) . . .

. . . and dark money.

That last — dark money — appears to be how they unseated North Carolina Senator Kay Hagen, as suggested in Tuesday’s New York Times.  (“A New Low In Campaign Finance.”)

It seems that a dark money group raised $4.7 million to support her opponent, 98.7% of it from a single mystery donor.

Which makes a little bit of a mockery of the $2,700 limit on individual donations to a candidate, and the stringent disclosure requirements that adhere thereto.  If I give $2,700 to Kay Hagan, it’s disclosed promptly.  If someone else gives $4.6+ million to defeat her, it is not.  Hurray for the Bush-41-Bush-43-tilted Supreme Court that gave us such decisions as Bush v. Gore, Citizens United, and McCutcheon (which latter raised the cap on federal contributions, never mind unlimited “dark money” contributions, from $123,000 per individual every two years to more like $5.5 million).

Still, all Democrats have to do to win is register and vote.

I have high hopes.