End Of An Era (And That's Good)

By Miss Kubelik

If we cats were New York City residents, Zohran Mamdani would not have been our first choice as mayor (we'd probably have voted for Brad Lander). But with only a couple of stumbles — his 9/11 statement being one — Mamdani's been very impressive since taking office. He's made changes that matter deeply to New Yorkers in their daily lives, and has filled a bunch of potholes at the same time. It's the Jon Ossoff model of public service: Be there for your people when they need you.

Now, Mamdani has managed to pull off something that's been needed for years: banning horse-drawn carriages. Yep, it's going to cost some jobs. Yes, it'll put "Ghostbusters" and "Seinfeld" farther back in the Gotham historical timeline. And having a carriage clip-clop past you is charming. But horses have suffered and been abused, and it needs to stop. (Humans have died, too, just for the record.)

Mamdani is catching up to Montréal, which banned calèches in the historic part of the city at the end of 2019. As part-time Montréal residents, we thought we would miss the atmospherics, but we don't. It's much better to know that horses are not navigating the heat, traffic, and cobblestones of Montréal for people's ephemeral amusement. Same with New York. Thank you/merci, Zohran. We cats PURR.

GOP: Sucked Into The Vortex Of Vivek

By Zamboni

The Vivek Ramaswamy controversy in Ohio continues. Today, Benedict Donald, the adjudicated rapist, came out in favor of the Ramaswamy ad that practically everyone else is condemning. Not much of a surprise there, although we Democrats are grateful that Trump is doing his part to keep the story at the top of the news cycle.

Meanwhile, after days of silence, current Republican Governor Mike DeWine finally came out and blasted the ad. Late to the party, Gov! Growing up, Mike clearly wanted to be the 43rd man on the moon. (Extra points to you Peanuts fans who recognize that as a Linus-ism.)

Like Linus waiting in the pumpkin patch on Halloween night, we cats are standing by to see how the Ramaswamy ad is playing out in the real world of the Buckeye State. But the political pundits are pretty much united that it was a colossal mistake, an own goal that will cost Vivek an election that he was already losing. What is pleasing in the meantime is that Republicans in Ohio are busy fighting each other over it. They obviously deeply resent that Vivek has put them in this awful position so close to Election Day. Who can blame them? And who can't help but feel a ton of schadenfreude at the same time?

The other fun fact? Now Trump has attacked DeWine for attacking the ad. This is so great. Make a note on your calendar to check how much money Amy Acton has raised in the wake of all this. She's already the second-highest trending campaign on ActBlue, and M.K. Pritzker, wife of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritker, just sent a cool $500,000 Acton's way. We cats love all this, and we PURR.

The Prize Turkey Is Back On The Road

By Baxter

Social media wags are in countdown mode again because Benedict Donald is even more incoherent than usual at the hate rally for Darline Graham Nordone in South Carolina tonight.

"Trump has been gaffing, slurring, and rambling for his entire speech," one, a behaviorist, reports. "Whatever he used to take for focus, presumed to be Adderall, no longer works as well. Also, the neuron firings in his brain and his speech center appear to now be ill-timed with one another. As such, he cannot complete a sentence, and oftentimes, can barely complete a thought." So why are his handlers letting him do these events? Especially late in the day? It's a mystery.

(Gay Trump is back, too, as he compliments Nordone's husband's looks, which is probably better than admiring Jon Husted's butt. Nobody anticipated this, but dementia is a curious thing.)

There's no transparency about Trump's health, despite the fact that MAGA (and the media) screamed bloody murder about Joe Biden's. So the nation is in the dark about how much Donald is teetering over the brink, and whether his brain will go before his circulatory system does. But it would be interesting to take a poll of how many Americans have champagne on ice for the precise moment it happens.

Trump's also been interrupted by hecklers about a dozen times. In South Carolina! We cats admire the protesters' moxie, and we PURR.

Oh, The Horror: More Bad News For Republicans

By Sniffles

Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia came out with House race rating changes today, pushing 28 seats to at least leaning to Democrats, and sending Democrats past 218 to control the chamber. 

"A good measuring stick is 2018, when Democrats ended up winning 235 House seats," they write. "Forced to choose today, we probably wouldn't quite put the Democrats there, but we think they'll get close to that number and could exceed it."

Here's their summary for all races:

House — 223 at least leans D, 200 at least leans R, 12 toss-ups

Senate — 49 at least leans D, 46 at least leans R, five toss-ups

Governors — 25 at least leans D, 22 at least leans R, three toss-ups

Our two cents: Sabato may want to take another look at the Ohio gubernatorial race in a few days, after today's dust-up over a disgusting video that was circulated on conservative social media. The involvement of Vivek Ramaswamy is unclear, but asked to respond to the controversy, his campaign doubled down on the video's message. This debacle is still unfolding. We cats took the opportunity to send another few bucks Amy Acton's way, to show our support. (You can, too.)

As for the House and Senate predictions, it's just about time for people in the White House to start throwing folks under the bus to save themselves. Get a lawyer. Snag a Fox "News" commentator gig. Become the face of a crypto company. Move to Russia. We cats PURR.

Canada (And Mark Carney) For The Win

  

Voters in Alberta have spoken: By a three-to-one margin, they want to remain in Canada. And this isn't the only piece of good news. Albertan separatists are vowing to topple Premier Danielle Smith — yay! Let's have some good old-fashioned internecine warfare in the provincial Conservative Party. It's not only fun to watch, it gives Alberta Liberals and the NDP a political opening. We cats PURR.

Their True Colors

By Hubie and Bertie

Benedict Donald is in Kansas tonight, which is all you need to know to understand how the midterms are going for him. No, wait — there's something else. He's been interrupted by hecklers twice already.

It's a sign of how his numbers are in the toilet, but also an indication that the Trumpsters are getting sloppy. Stephen Miller must be furious that troublemakers are getting into his boss's Bund rallies. Either people are bolder, or Trump's advance folks are stupider, or both. 

Down in Texas, the cursed Ken Paxton campaign made a perhaps near-fatal error by tossing a Black conservative TikTok influencer out of one of their rallies in San Antonio. The woman, who goes by the too-precious name of Thelma Louise, was shocked and stunned. "I'm a REPUBLICAN that has done nothing but support my party," she said.

Oh, Thelma, the reason you were ejected is clear. As for the Paxton campaign — and the entire GOP at this point — there's a very simple way to avoid embarrassments like this: Don't be racist. We cats HISS.

So, Things Continue To Go Well For Them (Not)

By Miss Kubelik

Do you need more evidence that this election season is just not going Republicans' way? Check this out.

From The New Bedford Light: "Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor and New Bedford City Councilor Shawn Oliver was arrested on a charge of operating under the influence of alcohol, according to the New Bedford Police Department. Around 11:40 PM, officers responded to Dartmouth Street for a motor vehicle crash involving an overturned car that struck multiple parked cars.

"Oliver has been campaigning across the state, including with his running mate, gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue, [who] posted on social media that he spoke to Oliver and asked him to immediately suspend his campaign. He said, 'When elected, I will formally ask for his resignation.'"

Well! That's not good — especially with polls showing incumbent Democratic Governor Maura Healey leading the race by 20-25 points.

Yes, we know it's Massachusetts, generally the bluest of all blue states. But let's savor the fun leads. We cats PURR.

(UPDATE, Oct. 19: Oliver suspended his campaign yesterday. Sad!)

After "Everywhere," Let's Go To The Senate

By Zamboni

Dan Osborn is running as an Independent for Nebraska Senate seat held by Republican Pete Ricketts, and he's making Ricketts feel... well, kind of rickety. The polls don't all agree, but they're pretty much neck-and-neck (the Democrat dropped out of the race to clear a path for Osborn). You can donate to Osborn by clicking here.

Just for this ad alone, Osborn deserves to win. It's so good.

Two thoughts occur to us: A number of red-state Republicans have been caught flat-footed, running lackluster campaigns and, in some cases, even finding themselves short on cash. That's because they've never had to fight in a real race, and they got lazy. Think Roger Marshall in Kansas and Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi.

The second thought is that folks on our side seem to be having a lot of fun. We cats PURR.

See You Tomorrow!

  

The theme to tomorrow's No Kings Nationwide Day of Action is "Vote Early." If you vote early, you allow campaigns to take you off their GOTV lists and focus on folks who might not otherwise turn out. To find a No Kings rally near you, click here. See you there! We cats PURR.

Time's Up

By Baxter

Gee, Benedict Donald had another terrible week. The question is, does he know it? (Natalie probably doesn't tell him.) Meanwhile, it's weird how the guy who became a reality-show star by telling people "You're fired" has so much trouble telling people in real life that... they're fired. Katie Zacharia's debut and heave-ho was so chaotic, humiliating, and passive-aggressive that Anthony Scaramucci was tweeting sympathetically to her. Go home and enjoy your family, he basically said. The universe has done you a favor. (He ought to know.)

As the DC drama continues — the atmosphere inside the White House is starting to sound like World War Z — and as prognosticators continue to move House and Senate races the Democrats' way, stories and videos keep surfacing online that make it all feel like a wave year (both north and south of the 49th Parallel). Such as:

Republican Dan Sullivan whined to the moderators of last night's Senate debate in Alaska, asking if questions had been provided in advance — all because Democrat Mary Peltola had been referring to her notes (which one assumes was allowed, or she would have been stopped). The moderators looked appalled. "Absolutely not." Peltola said, "I'm prepared!" Send her some love by clicking here.

Benedict Donald was in Georgia today, talking about how he doesn't think Jon Ossoff is good-looking but that Mike Collins is. (Did Collins's ass come up, as Jon Husted's did? This is just getting weirder.) Then when he left the podium, Donald walked right past the opened door of The Beast. Something is wrong with him, and it's astounding that a news media that used to berate Joe Biden for his choice of comfy shoes refuses to acknowledge Trump's obvious decline.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy apparently has taken out a fourth Russian data center. We think we're in love.

Finally, with the midterms upon us, you may not have noticed that early voting has started in the Canadian province of Alberta on the question of separation. Our two cents: This is a minority opinion that the right-wing, Trump-loving premier of Alberta has tried to "walk a tightrope on" but has basically allowed to get out of hand because she secretly agrees with it (she's not very bright).

The separatists didn't bank on a Prime Minister like Mark Carney, who grew up in Alberta and who now has a 71 percent approval rating across the country. Carney has been barnstorming the province and making great speeches to adoring crowds. Sign him up as TIME's Person of the Year without delay. We cats PURR.