Tuesday Afternoon

By Sniffles

We cats are looking forward to Tuesday, when the political situation in both Alaska and Mississippi will become clearer. Election Day ballots, and absentee and provisional ballots, will be counted and/or dealt with by then. And Alaska's electorate is rural, wild, and far-flung, so let's all have a little patience there.

Rumors are that, by Tuesday, after the absentees and affidavit ballots are dealt with in Mississippi, Scott Colom will lead by approximately 4,000 votes, and Cindy Hyde-Smith will be forced to concede by Wednesday. (It's also been pointed out that Mississippi tends to elect its Senators for life. Scott Colom is only 43 years old.) What an incredible result, if it happens — Mississippi hasn't had a Black Senator since Reconstruction.

Colom plus Peltola should put the Democrats at 56 seats in the Senate. Can we all just take a break from the Russian-bot-induced argument over House and Senate leaders to acknowledge how incredible that is? Particularly when you look back at how inhospitable the Senate map was for Democrats in 2026. Thank you, Ken Martin and DNC; thank you, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries; and most of all, thank you, Black women, for organizing and making all this possible. We cats PURR. 

America, November 2026

  

This must drive Benedict Donald and his MAGA minions crazy. Which means we love it. We cats PURR.

Signs Of The Times

  

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has called six federal by-elections for December 7, to help augment his majority in Parliament. One of them is in Laurier-Sainte-Marie (our neck of the woods, Canadian-wise). Which means that as we toddle around, we're seeing a lot of campaign posters like this one. Kind of cool to run across the current Leader of the Free World on the streets of Montreal. We cats PURR.

Florida, You're About To Be Kansas

By Hubie and Bertie

The world is agog that the state of Kansas has elected its first Democratic Senator in nearly 100 years. And while votes are still being counted, Kansas might end up with a Democratic governor, attorney general, and secretary of state. How agog-y can you get?

Thing is, Donald Trump wasn't the guy who broke Kansas for the GOP.

No, that honor goes to former Senator and then Governor Sam Brownback, who implemented a half-baked, tax-and-spending-cut scheme that ended up in chaos. (The Kansas Supreme Court had to order the legislature to meet its constitutional obligation to fund education.) Things unraveled for the Republicans from there.

Brownback begat Democrat Laura Kelly, a moderate former Republican, as a two-term governor. He begat the beginning of the a slow shift in the makeup of the state legislature. And now we have not just Laura Kelly and Sharice Davids, but Adam Hamilton and Cindy Holscher and an almost-flip in one of the three remaining Republican-held Congressional districts. Pretty amazing.

Florida should pay attention. They've passed a Brownback-on-steroids constitutional amendment to abolish property taxes, and the impact on the entire range of municipal services will be immediate. It will turn out to be a long-term loss for Republicans as classroom sizes explode, schools, libraries, and municipal parks close, streets aren't cleaned, public hospitals are forced to cut services, etc. etc.

How will the hapless governor-elect Byron Donalds navigate all this? We cats wait and watch — but because we believe in government and the idea that we're all in the same boat together, we HISS.

(IMAGE: Original illustration for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by W.W. Denslow, 1900)

Icons In Blue

 

Thank you, Canada, for lighting up Niagara Falls and Toronto's CN Tower in blue to celebrate America's midterms. And thank you, interwebs, for keeping the Sapphire Slippers meme going. Did the Eiffel Tower bathe itself en bleu because of the midterms, too? The French aren't saying. But we cats PURR anyway.

Cat Fight! Brucie vs. Elsie

By Miss Kubelik

Quite an election in New York this week. Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Tish James both steamrolled to victory, and Democrats snagged supermajorities in the state legislature. And everyone's excited that Cait Conley ousted the weaselly Mike Lawler in NY-17.

In our neck of the woods, NY-21 is still uncalled by the AP, although the repulsive Trumpster Anthony Constantino, with his doughy, punchable face, is claiming victory. If Blake Gendebien, our candidate in that district, ends up losing, we hope he'll run again. Blake carried every one of the district's counties on the Canadian border, and with a 250-plus Democratic majority in the US House — maybe as many as 265 — Constantino won't have anything to do for the next two years except bomb-throw. (He certainly isn't going to DC to legislate.)

Meanwhile, the outgoing occupant of that House seat, Elise "Elsie" Stefanik, has caused a big kerfuffle in the New York Republican Party, which is in, um, disarray anyway. (Everybody hates everybody else, including party chair Ed Cox. It's a glorious sight.) Elsie poured gas on the fire when she told The New York Post that her GOP primary rival Bruce Blakeman's loss to Hochul is what happens "when you have a low-energy campaign with limited resources that lacked apparatus."

She added, "I know feelings are raw...so I will cut some slack because...I don't know from experience, as I have never lost any of my seven elections." Meeeee-OWWWWW! Claws out much, Elsie?

Blakeman went nuts.

"Elise Stefanik is a selfish, do-nothing politician that didn't lift a finger to help Republican candidates in New York this year," he tweeted in a rage. "She had one moment of glory in what was otherwise an unremarkable career."

We're obviously not fans of either Brucie or Elsie, but we'll give Blakeman this: He's absolutely right that Stefanik did nothing to help during the general election. Many times this fall, we found ourselves asking where Elsie was — she dropped her bid for governor, and basically disappeared. Is she even going to bother to show up in Washington for the House's lame-duck session? Keep an eye on that.

Alas, New York is probably not rid of Elise Stefanik — she'll come back like a herpes sore, maybe running for Senate in 2028. But her road will be bumpy: She's tainted by Trumpiness in a deep-blue state, and her failings are many. Her pet project in Congress was electing more Republican women to office. But come January, the number of GOP women will be down to 20 or fewer, while the number of Democratic women in the House will surge pass 100. Lame! We cats PURR. 

Thank God For Candidates Like Adam Hamilton

By Zamboni

Several versions of this image are going around the interwebs, but we like this one because it has Toto (even though, yes, he's a dog). An excellent way to celebrate the fact that Kansas will send a Democratic Senator to Washington for the first time in nearly 100 years.

Adam Hamilton is a pastor. And he was a perfect fit for his state — although he was obviously helped by how simply terrible his Republican opponent Roger Marshall was (and is). At the same time, observers need to acknowledge that despite the MAGAts' insistence that the Democratic Party is the party of anti-Semites and commies — Abdul El-Sayed's name comes up the most often — many, many of the candidates we chose to run in races across the country were moderates.

And in many cases, openly and unapologetically devout. A Canadian Anglican priest we follow had this to say: 

"One of the remarkable things about the midterms was the number of clergy elected as Democrats. It did my heart good to see progressive Christians like James Talarico being elected. The Right doesn't have a monopoly on Christianity. The Left isn’t against religion. We’re against the weaponization of it.

"As a Christian, I think it's beautiful to see Christians, Muslims, Jews, secular humanists, and atheists working together in government. It's what America was always supposed to be about. Christians like Talarico are more representative of the faith I was raised in than anything MAGA has shown me." We cats agree, and we PURR. 

CATABUNGA!

By Baxter

We cats need to catch up on our sleep. But first, here are some thoughts on the 2026 Blue Tsunami:

Dave Wasserman from The Cook Political Report, who is not given to overstatement, tweeted just a few hours ago. "I've seen enough," he said. "Generational wipeout." (Excellent!) 

Back in March, the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee boldly issued a list of 26 House seats they were targeting as ripe for the picking. Smugly, they insisted they would work to flip 'em all. The list included Democrats like Derek Tran in California, Jared Moskowitz in Florida, and Marcy Kaptur in Ohio. Well, guess what: They haven't flipped a single one. The Democrat either has won or is leading in the nine races that haven't been called yet. (#SAD!)

We are hearing rumors that Amy Acton did not answer Vivek Ramaswamy's concession call. (Delightful!)

It's hard to choose among the Republicans that we're happiest to have booted out of Congress, but North Carolina's Virginia Foxx and Indiana's Victoria Spartz are battling for first place on our list. (Cat fight!)

Finally, the most touching aspects of the election were the messages of support from other countries. People posted on social media from Canada, Germany, Norway, and the UK, to name a few. It's so nice that they understand that Benedict Donald is not us. (We cats PURR.)

Hat Check

While we're waiting for election returns, we'd just like to say that it was vastly amusing to see people dragging Haley Stevens all day for wearing a broad-brimmed summer straw hat to her polling place. (What's next? White shoes? It's after Labor Day.) The hat was so Scarlett O'Hara. We'd like to thank Haley for giving us the chance to upload this image of the ever-stunning Vivien Leigh in her famous "Gone With the Wind" chapeau. (We get our laughs where we can.) We cats PURR.

Your Vote, Your Voice

By Sniffles

Well, everybody, Election Day is almost here. There are lots of promising prognostications out there right now, from folks with long political resumes who are truly worthy of respect. But of course none of their predictions will come true if we all don't get out and vote.

Republicans like to make the process as endless, unfair and inefficient as possible. If you didn't early vote, please do it tomorrow, no matter how long it takes. Let's knock 'em off the table! We cats PURR.

November Surprise

By Hubie and Bertie

The New York Times and Siena University published new set of Senate polls today, and goodness gracious. Adam Hamilton in Kansas is up five points, James Talarico in Texas is up by seven, and Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Troy Jackson in Maine are leading by six. In Alaska, Mary Peltola is just ahead by one. (Come on, Mary, you can do it.)

And Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is leading Mike Rogers in Michigan by 11 points. So can someone explain why Haley Stevens chose today of all days to politically self-immolate?

El-Sayed has been ahead of Rogers by more modest margins in other surveys, so this one's a real eye-catcher. But whether El-Sayed's ahead by that much or not, the fallout for Stevens today has been epic. Her Congressional staffers are resigning, folks who worked on her campaigns are ripping her to shreds on social media, and people are telling tales that they had resolved to keep under wraps even as her long, drawn-out unraveling tested their patience.

A lot of the stories involve Stevens's fiancé, Jason Turkish, who she only met after Michigan's August primary. Now they're engaged, and he's the only one whose political advice she'll follow — all of it bad. Can you imagine throwing your entire career away for... this guy? Barf.

Stevens's behavior is inexplicable, of course, and would be in any year, but in 2026 — with the very survival of democracy on the line — it's unforgivable. But it helped El-Sayed raise $1.2 million in four hours this afternoon. Backfire of the year? You be the judge. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Happy Halloween, Everyone

We have our marching orders for Tuesday. Meanwhile, enjoy! (And turn those clocks back tonight.) We cats PURR. 

Mississippi? Yes, Mississippi.

President Bill Clinton went to Mississippi on Friday to campaign for our excellent Democratic Senate candidate, Scott Colom. Goodness gracious. If you had told us a year ago that our Democratic big dogs would be speechifying in places like Mississippi and Kansas, we would have told you to go outside and touch grass (or smoke it). Yes, there are lots of reasons to be nervous about Tuesday, and it ain't over till it's over. But take a few steps back and see where A) the money and B) the surrogates are going — in both parties. Those facts tell a tale, and we're happy that we're on this side of it. We cats PURR. 

The Wheels Have Come Off The Wagon

By Miss Kubelik

Advice to Fox "News" from former CBS correspondent Scott MacFarlane: Never interview the dude who seems really eager to talk. Because he's probably setting you up.

It makes you wonder how the Fox crew is vetting their stand-ups. Maybe they're not doing a very good job? Like Team Trump not being able to keep hecklers from getting into Benedict Donald's rallies? Or canceling in-person rallies and then rescheduling them again? What a bunch of amateurs. Clearly, the White House and the GOP are in chaos — and not just in the run-up to Tuesday.

The Trumpsters clearly don't know what they're doing. Which means the only thing between us and the total destruction of America is the fact that they're so terribly inept. Thank God for that! We cats PURR.

Jean-Luc Has Left The Planet

 

It can't be possible that Captain Picard, Sejanus, Ebenezer Scrooge, Professor X, Henry II, Henry V, Macbeth, Captain Ahab, King Richard, and most of all, Sterling from "Jeffrey" (see above) is no longer with us. The world owes Sir Patrick Stewart great thanks, not just for those and many other performances, but because he got us through the COVID pandemic with his wonderful daily readings of Shakespeare's sonnets. We cats salute him — in whatever galaxy he inhabits now — and we PURR.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: Campaign Catch-Up Edition

By Zamboni

Less than a week until Election Day, and so many stories to follow. Here are a few we've noticed.

A new New York Times/Siena poll has Democrat Peggy Flanagan leading Republican Michele Tafoya in the Minnesota Senate race, 54 percent to 40 percent. This got a lot of attention today, because it's far better for Flanagan than previous polls have been. Hmmm: Trump's approval rating in Minnesota is 35 percent — but Flanagan is associated with what is either a scandal-plagued or witch-hunted state government, depending on your point of view. But Tafoya can't outperform Trump's number by more than five? Sad!

Speaking of the Times, there's something really odd about its Mary Peltola article today. Peltola's former campaign manager, who was fired several months ago and was a source for the story, contacted the newspaper and said she wanted to take back everything she told them. "I am not willing to be a source for any story in any capacity," she said. Weird! Meanwhile, the article should have no bearing on the DOJ suit against the state of Alaska — the wording on the ballot is crystal clear (even though Trump thinks Alaska voters are too stupid to know what the term "incumbent" means).

PS: The GOP's hands are very, very dirty when it comes to running fake or "ghost" candidates. They've done it in Florida (of course), and this year in New York, they've recruited spoilers to run on ballot lines for smaller political parties, like Working Families. Pot, meet kettle.

Roll Call has published its lists of vulnerable Senators and House members. Of the 10 on the House list, eight are Republicans, while seven of the eight on the Senate list are. (And #8 is really a stretch, because it's Jon Ossoff. Jon Husted in Ohio is #1, and Susan Collins in Maine is #2.) But tell us again how all the polls are wrong, GOP.

Nobody seems to know what's going to happen with the election in Israel (although Benjamin Netanyahu has already accused the Arab-Israeli parties of "stealing" it). And after failed presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro said he would never leave Brazil, he skipped town and landed in Miami today. "I'm the leader of Brazil!" he bleated. God, we cats are so sick of these Trumpy right-wing crybabies. Is there not a man among them? They make us hack up hairballs, and we HISS.

Blowhards

By Baxter

Preacher of the House Mikey Johnson is the quintessential guy who never should have had his current job in the first place. Honestly, there's never been a time when he wasn't in over his head.

Recently, he daydreamed about going back to Louisiana and opening a lawn-care business if/when he loses his gavel. Now, he's telling pretend journalist Laura Ingraham that all the polls are wrong.

All of them. All. Never mind that in the last two midterm elections, 2022 and 2018, polling was spot on.

Ingraham didn't ask about this, of course, because she's a stupid, hateful fraud, but what happened to the 26 Congressional districts that the Republicans were once so confidently targeting, including ones they added because of their nefarious mid-decade gerrymandering?

A well-informed (and actual) journalist could ask:

• How many staffers from the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee are in those districts right now?
• How much has the RCCC spent in those districts since October 1?
• How many of those districts are currently seeing RCCC ads?
• How many Trump 2024 districts is the RCCC planning to win?

Pretty tough queries for Mikey and Republicans to answer, especially when analysts like Sabato's Crystal Ball keep moving races our way (20 more today — with one, VA-07, just changed to Safe Democratic). But reporters should keep asking, anyway. We cats PURR.

(PHOTO: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

Happy Birthday, Madam Secretary

The more time that passes, the clearer it becomes that she was right about everything. We cats PURR.

Ooh La La, Lula!

By Sniffles

Pop the champagne, kids! Luiz Ignácio Lula da Silva has won the presidential election in Brazil. Wow!

Before tonight, clan Bolsonaro seemed like that bad rash that a topical ointment just can't cure. We cats were braced for Flávio to win and for the planet to die, because a Bolsonaro victory would have spelled doom for the Amazon rainforest. And it would have been something Benedict Donald could boast about (when he's not talking about Jon Husted's ass). Whew, what a pick-me-up. Obrigado, Brazil!

But that's not all, folks. Serbia has also turned out its right-wing strongman, Aleksandar Vučić. "The long-serving leader of Serbia has conceded defeat," The Guardian reported, "ushering in a seismic political shift after a historic election that saw ​the increasingly authoritarian leader pitted against a student-led movement that had spent two years protesting against his government."

This is all so great. Not just because the results are terrific in each of these countries, but because we've got a couple of really important other elections still coming up: Israel's on Tuesday, October 27, and — of course — our own midterms on Tuesday, November 3.

As with our midterms, the consensus is that Israel's election is the most pivotal in its history. Will Israelis reject the government that has turned the world against them, or stick with the war criminal Netanyahu? (We cats don't call him that with pleasure. It actually makes us sick that the entire world was on Israel's side after October 7 and that Netanyahu threw it all away — not unlike George W. Bush after 9/11.)

Hey, speaking of Bush — where the hell is he? Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have come out swinging on the campaign trail, but Smirky is nowhere to be seen. What a pathetic POS. We cats HISS.

The First Time We Saw Amy Acton's Mom, We Thought Of This

Rumors flew today that Vivek Ramaswamy was going to take down his revolting Donna Arthur ad, but it seems he was merely swapping out a 60-second version for a 30-second one. All righty, then. It's okay that he's reminding voters how much they hate him. We cats PURR.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: Eleven Days To Go Edition

By Hubie and Bertie

Lots of news related to the midterms today. Here are some stories that are getting our attention.

The Cook Political Report has changed its rating of the Ohio gubernatorial race from "Toss-Up" to "Lean Democratic." Gee, wonder why? The notorious Vivek Ramaswamy ad is not only repulsive in and of itself, but Donna Arthur — Amy Acton's mom — is, too. She was convicted of animal cruelty back in 2021. We won't share the details, because they're upsetting, but they involve kittens. Pile child sexual abuse, plus passing some bad checks, on top of that, and you've got the perfect person for Republicans to clutch to their bosoms.

Trump is dropping certain tariffs on Canada to try to help Susan Collins. So what does Troy Jackson say now? Easy-peasy: "This just shows how impotent Susan Collins is. She couldn't prevent the tariffs in the first place, and now Trump comes in less than two weeks before Election Day with a Hail Mary pass? Please. There's also no guarantee that the day after the election — no matter what the outcome — that Trump won't reimpose the tariffs." (Mainers, take note.)

By the way, weren't the Trumpsters just stamping their feet about supposed Canadian interference in the US election? The irony!

Impeachable offense #28,936: Benedict Donald states that he ordered the Justice Department to challenge the Alaska Senate results if Dan Sullivan loses. (We don't favor impeachment speculation at the moment, but Democrats should consider this if/when we get Congress back. The Alaska ballot clearly indicates who the incumbent is.)

Speaking of impeachment, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is at the top of our list — for so many reasons. But let's do it because he and his inept staffers broke Dwight Eisenhower's globe.

Reporters should stop tolerating Trump's verbal abuse.

Finally, to the voters of Mississippi: You really need to elect Scott Colom to the Senate. Not just because Cindy Hyde-Smith has been bad at her job, but to send a message to Trumpsters and cop-apologists that killing a one-year-old is unacceptable. The mom was suspected of shoplifting diapers. Do you know what Pope Leo (or Jesus) would say? It would be: "Do you need formula to go with that, ma'am?" Because, really, has anyone read Les Misérables? Come on, people. We cats HISS.

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.

Egg, Meet Face

By Sniffles

It's completely understandable to not want to invest hopes and dreams in political polls, because we've been burned before. But there are other ways to tell that 2026 is just not the Republicans' year.

A GOP ad buyer purchased airtime for Susan Collins in Portland, Oregon, not Portland, Maine. Yes, media markets cross-pollinate, but to see an ad for a candidate who's 3,200 miles away?

Vivek Ramaswamy posted a video of himself shaking hands with a registered sex offender. He took it down, but then the same dude — whose case involved a 13-year-old girl — surfaced in a Ramaswamy TV commercial a month later, as his wife touted Vivek's pledge to lower property taxes. Guess that's more important than keeping children safe from predators.

And don't get us started on the Talarico bombshell-that-wasn't. What a train wreck! The folks behind it need to lawyer up, because the Lindner Center of Hope sure has standing to sue.

It's all very fun and schadenfreude-y. Meanwhile, let's keep working on our voter registrations and GOTV, everyone. We cats PURR.

Cindy Can Run But She Cannot Hyde

 

This is a really good ad. The Senate race in Mississippi — yep, Mississippi — hasn't been on anyone's radar until recently, when things really began to go south for the Republicans. Now, with terrible news on the economy breaking 20 days out, the GOP must truly be losing their damn minds. We cats PURR.

Here's To Leo Batting A Thousand

 

Pope Leo had a cancerous nodule removed from his lung this week. We cats are not really into popes, but the last two have been a breath of fresh air. And Leo, the first American pontiff, tends to annoy the Trumpsters. So let's think good thoughts for him — at the very least, so we can continue with the baseball memes. We cats PURR.

Randy Rainbow Is A Doll

 

The source material is not our favorite Frank Loesser song (although we adore him), but this parody is still one of Randy Rainbow's best! (Aren't they all?) We cats PURR.

Hey, Where'd Everybody Go?

 

Here's something Canadians can be thankful for today: When Ukrainian drones knocked out the Yandex Russian data centers, most of the Alberta separatists disappeared from social media (as well as a good chunk of Pierre Poilievre's Conservative tweeters and skeeters). Kind of makes you think, doesn't it? We cats PURR.

It's The Midterms, And Democrats Are Cookin'

By Hubie and Bertie

This Canadian Thanksgiving, we cats are grateful for the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which destroyed a large number of Russian-backed bot farms over the last few days. The Ukrainians shut down huge networks that push pro-Russian narratives about the war — and about our politics here at home. Twitter and Bluesky peeps have noticed a sudden dearth of bots in their feeds. Nice work, SBU!

No wonder Benedict Donald, Vlad Putin's biggest fan, is so mad.

It's unclear how long the bots will be offline, but everyone should enjoy the silence while it lasts. It gives us more time and head space to prepare for November 3. The midterms are underway, with early voting beginning in eight more states this week:

• October 13 — Georgia and Idaho
• October 14 — Iowa, Rhode Island, and Tennessee
• October 15 — North Carolina
• October 17 — Massachusetts and Nevada

And don't forget that October 17 is also No Kings Day! Plan to attend an early-voting-themed rally near you!

Meanwhile, here are a couple of handy tips for what to watch out for on Election Night.

First, keep your eye on Virginia, where the Trumpsters are playing defense in some key Congressional races, even though the Democrats' redistricting plan got tossed by the courts. Governor Abigail Spanberger told reporter Scott MacFarlane, "We are on a strong path to flipping multiple seats. I say: three. On a great night, it could be four." Why? Hispanic voters are furious at Trump, so watch for returns from VA-01 and VA-02 early in the evening (polls in Virginia close at 7 PM).

Another poll closure to note will be in the Florida Panhandle, which votes ruby-red. It's also in Central time, so if the clock strikes 8 PM Eastern and the networks don't instantly call the Senate race for Ashley Moody, Republicans will be having a bad night in Florida.

Finally, it'll be fun to see what happens in NJ-07, which was without a Congressman for months this year when Tom Kean, Jr. went AWOL. Sabato's Crystal Ball has moved the race from a "Toss-Up" to "Leans Democratic." Polls close in New Jersey at 8 PM. We cats PURR.

(IMAGE: Dignity, always dignity.)

Now, That's The Christmas Spirit!

By Miss Kubelik

There's a chance — not a big one, but a chance — that Trump and the white supremacist Hegseth back down on their pledge to livestream the execution of Nidal Nasan on December 3. Mostly because so much of what they say/pledge/bleat turns out to be utter nonsense. So pace your outrage accordingly.

But if they go forward with it, the whole national-security argument seems the most potent. Nidal is in a wheelchair, but even if he weren't, to be shot in front of the world by a firing squad will just serve to make him an uber-martyr — and the terrorists that the Trumpsters claim to be so against are thrilled to have martyrs. Are we right?

And if not national security, then, goodness gracious — how unseemly to be livestreaming an execution just when the holiday shopping season is underway, when Hanukkah starts the very next day, and when people are probably watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on TV. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, not. Is this what we've become?

Our first thought was that not only are we losing to Iran, we're becoming Iran. But now we're thinking of Brenton Tarrant, the Christchurch mosque shooter, who not only killed 51 people but livestreamed it on Facebook. Our Secretary of Defense is no better than Tarrant in his bloodthirstiness. Great.

Our other thought was that Albert Camus had it right when he mused on capital punishment in "Reflections on the Guillotine." His argument was that the death penalty was no deterrent unless it was carried out in public. But who wants to live in a society in which people are executed in public? That's something for the North Koreas, Saudi Arabias, Afghanistan — and Iran. Not the United States. We cats HISS.

(IMAGE: Brenton Tarrant, Christchurch mosque killer, who received, by the way, a life sentence without parole.)

Oh, Blake! (The Sequel)

By Zamboni

We cats didn't expect to be back on the Blake Gendebien beat so soon, but the online politicos are agog today about a new Siena poll that shows him leading the unappealing Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino for Congress in NY-21, 46 percent to 42 percent. (Blake's on the left in the image above.)

This poll is within the margin of error, but it just adds to the pileup of headlines painting dire pictures for the Republicans in the run-up to the midterms. Elise "Elsie" Stefanik's would-be GOP successor running behind his Democratic opponent ranks right up there with other bad tidings for the Trumpsters — like the fact that there's a competitive Senate race in Kansas, of all places, or that Cook Political Report just shifted 18 more House ratings (including NY-21) the Democrats' way.

NY-21 hasn't elected a Democrat to the House since Bill Owens's re-election in 2012. It's tempting to view the Siena poll as symbolic of Trump's toxicity, but there are a number of reasons for this.

The Republicans had a messy primary. MAGAt Constantino ran against Assemblyman Robert Smullen, the establishment's choice, and went after him as you'd imagine any Trumpster would do. Things got so nasty that at one point, Smullen refused to shake Constantino's hand at an event. (Bad look.) Defamation lawsuits were flying. Some have declined to endorse Mr. Sticker Mule, with the Conservative Party (yes, New York is weird) leaving their ballot line blank rather than support him.

Constantino is volatile and unserious. Which is a polite way of saying that he behaves just like the malevolent Toddler-in-Chief. For example, the last time a poll showed him trailing Gendebien in the race, Constantino threatened to sue the pollster, SurveyUSA, and sic the FCC on the poll's sponsor, NewsChannel 13 in Albany. This is not the way a sensible grown-up conducts himself.

People are tired of the shtick. Polls and races across the country have shown voters' weariness with Benedict Donald and his entire road show of fear, chaos, and division. Constantino embodies all that.

Trump's trade war with Canada is killing the North Country. Constantino supports Donald's ridiculous tariffs, which is an incredibly stupid position to take in a district that views Canada as a neighbor and essential economic partner. But Constantino worships at the altar of Trump.

Blake Gendebien is a good candidate. Like other Democrats — like Adam Hamilton in Kansas — Blake is a thoughtful, non-bombastic person who listens to voters and addresses their concerns. He opposes the Trump policies that raise prices on NY-21's farmers and businesses. All of which means that even if he weren't leading Sticker Mule Man in the polls, we'd still be writing postcards for him. We cats PURR.

Palling Around With Jeffrey

By Baxter

We cats have kept our eyes on the continuing scandalous swirl around Bard College president Leon Botstein, who has stubbornly tried to limit the damage to his privileged life ever since he got ensnared in the Epstein files. Botstein's relationship with Epstein, which Botsein has insisted was just related to cultivating the pedophile as a donor, has been coming out in dribs and drabs. Now, though, we might just be at the definitive drib and drab.

"A powerful Democratic lawmaker" — that would be Jamie Raskin — "has called for a criminal investigation into former Bard College president Leon Botstein after Congressional investigators uncovered an email from Botstein to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in which he says Botstein asked if a young woman was 'for me, or are you keeping her for yourself?'

"The latest development appears to have triggered the immediate resignation of Botstein from all Bard-affiliated positions, including his professorship and roles in Bard’s music programs," The Guardian reported. "Botstein had led the college for 50 years and only recently stepped down as president."

Incredible. The Bard community has tried mightily to brush over Bostein's Epstein allegations, allowing him to "retire" from his college presidency, but keep his cushy on-campus housing and his position as Bard's orchestral conductor, among other perks. Why, oh why, do institutions cloak and protect their evildoers? And oh, by the way, the offending email had been initially redacted by the Department of Justice. So throw them into the mix — because, of course, all Epstein roads inevitably lead to Benedict Donald, right?

Well, at least this latest outrage has made Leon give up all his Bard goodies, and now (with any luck) he may be facing criminal indictment. Maybe Tish James can spare a few minutes from her Cornell investigation to look into it? Meanwhile, we cats are pleased to see Botstein get some kind of comeuppance, and that makes us PURR.

Oh, Blake!

By Sniffles

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recently added New York's 21st district to its "Red to Blue" list — which means they think it's winnable, and worth dumping some money into. And why not? The Republican candidate, Anthony Constantino, has become so alarmed over recent polls that he's accusing Democrat Blake Gendebien of illegal garbage dumping — on his own dairy farm.

How does he know? He hired a private detective company from Saratoga Springs to survey the Gendebien property in St. Lawrence County with video-taking drones. What Constantino neglected to mention is that the Department of Environmental Conservation has already said that Gendebien has done nothing wrong. "Six-dollar diesel is making farming hard enough without this weirdo drone stalking my home and business," Blake said. “I’ve already been cleared here.”

So, Blake Gendebien's farm wouldn't pass the Martha Stewart* neatness test? No working farm would. The fake outrage needs to stop because, as Gendebien has pointed out, it just shows how little Constantino knows about farming (which a lot of NY-21 voters do).

We're also not sure how Constantino's drone video "exposé" lowers the cost of gas and groceries. Will any enterprising journalist ask him that question? We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

*Martha writes picture books about gracious living. She says that nothing else matters if you can do a nice dried floral arrangement.

Shrinkage

 

By Hubie and Bertie

We cats love this photo pair, mostly because inflatables should be banned from planet Earth. But it's also a potential metaphor for the state of the Republican Party.

Larry Sabato from the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia has flagged a new Gallup poll of party identification: For the third quarter of 2026, respondents who identified with the Democratic Party led those who aligned with the GOP, 50 percent to 39 percent.

"Pay attention to this one," he says. "Plus-eleven D for party ID = largest Dem lead since early 2009 (Obama inauguration).

"Gallup is not just another poll; it’s the gold standard."

Sabato refuses, though, to predict that the midterms will wipe out the Republican Party for now and ever, which is sad, because we're convinced that the only way the country will be saved is if the GOP is destroyed and rebuilt — think 1850s-style stuff. Kind of like how colleges need to completely root out fraternities from their campuses. Just our $0.02. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: The Early Cat Gets The Mouse Edition

By Miss Kubelik

The midterms are upon us. Early voting has already begun in Minnesota, South Dakota, Virginia, Vermont, and Illinois. This week, early voting gets underway in:

• Maine, California, Montana, and Nebraska (Oct. 5)
• Indiana, New Mexico, Ohio, and Wyoming (Oct. 6)
• Arizona (Oct. 7)

There are key races here — Maine, obviously, plus a surprisingly contested Senate race in Nebraska, a terrific Democrat, Deb Haaland, running for governor in New Mexico, and former Senator Sherrod Brown leading the hapless Jon Husted in Ohio — but they're all important. Early voting increases Democratic turnout across the board and makes it easier for our folks on the ground to get less-likely voters to the polls. If you have friends and family in any of these states, urge them to bank their votes now.

Other stories that are getting our attention today pretty much run the gamut. Take a look:

Things don't appear to be going well for Byron Donalds in Florida. Trump's low approval ratings led Donalds to scrub all mention of him from his campaign website — which now has boomeranged into a Trump hissy fit (Trump, of course, denies this). Meanwhile, Democrat David Jolly has either closed the polling to neck-and-neck or slightly ahead. Let's not sleep on this race: Give to Jolly by clicking here.

The commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Corrections has resigned in the wake of the horrifically botched execution of Christa Pike. Jeez, why is anybody surprised that this guy with a checkered past would preside over a state-sponsored torture chamber? Sickening. The murder that Pike committed was barbaric, and the execution was barbaric. At some point, the barbarism has to stop.

Two important elections are taking place abroad this week — today's in Brazil, where lefty president Luiz Ignácio Lula da Silva is fending off a challenge from jailbird Jair Bolsonaro's son, and tomorrow's in Québec, which will determine whether a pro-secessionist party runs the province. The Parti Québecois has promised no breakaway referendum until Benedict Donald leaves office, but considering the rumors that secessionists in both Québec and Alberta have secretly met with the Trumpsters, that's not very reassuring.

Finally, the Cornell gang-rape story exploded not just because Jane Doe filed her lawsuits. Cornell's student newspaper, The Daily Sun, has been relentlessly covering the story for two years. Now, they've broken the news that the Cornell police made a drug arrest at the Chi Phi fraternity the night before the gang rape. The school was aware of the arrest — which means that they should have forced the fraternity to cancel the party Jane Doe attended. (Frats have to register parties with the university ahead of time, it seems.) The story just keeps getting worse for Cornell, but The Daily Sun deserves the Julie K. Brown Award for never giving up on this beat. Well done, kids. We cats PURR.

The Right Stuff

By Zamboni

A lot of folks on social media have been tweeting about how triggering the Cornell University rape case stories are. By "folks," we mean, of course, women. Because the fact that the system failed the victim at every turn is — we're sad to say — par for the course. But wait!

Governor Kathy Hochul of New York has relieved the Tompkins County DA of his duties and put a total badass in charge of the Cornell investigation. New York Attorney General Letitia James will leave no stone unturned in her pursuit of justice, you can be sure of that.

Benedict Donald has already said that he thinks the Cornell rapists will not "get a fair shake" from James, and we say, bring it on, Trump. In fact, keep talking about how sympathetic you are to these seven fair boys, whose lives had not been upended the way the victim's was — until now. You, Donald Trump, can only add to our midterm victory margins in New York, whether we're talking the Governor's race or the House of Representatives. Bruce Blakeman, Mike Lawler and Anthony Constantino must be hoping you'll shut up soon (well, maybe not Constantino, who is a Trumpy nut).

We cats continue to be smug about the fact that our first vote as New York residents was in 2018, for James as AG. She has been exemplary, and we're proud of her. Go get 'em, Tish! We cats PURR.

Nixon Just Might Be The One

By Baxter

Since yesterday was the end of the quarter, we cats took a few minutes to send some money to Democratic Senatorial candidates. A lot of them were polling well against the Trumpsters, others were neck-and-neck, and still others were behind but showed promise. But we have to admit we didn't make a contribution to Angie Nixon in Florida, our nominee against incumbent GOP appointee Ashley Moody.

We weren't writing Nixon off — just doing our research, as they say.

Now, though, we're pretty tempted. It turns out that JD Vance (known in some jocular quarters as "Couchfuck McGee") went to Florida today to campaign for Republicans. Think about that for a second: Democrats are doing well enough that Vance has to spend time in Benedict Donald's home state. In fact, he's doing a whole itinerary of red states because polls are looking pretty scary for them these days.

Anyway, in his stupid speech in Lakeland, Vance addressed Nixon and told her, "Get the hell out of here. You don't belong in America." Nixon responded on social media, and she did not mince words.

"I don't wanna COUCH my words here: I know JD Vance, his eyeliner, and absent Ashley Moody are used to running away from people when things get tough, because they care more about themselves and their billionaire buddies than the people they represent.

"But this is my home. The most ordinary man imaginable came to my home state to tell me to 'get out of America' while they enjoyed the comfort of buildings my ancestors built. Imagine standing on the shoulders of the people who built this country and then telling their descendants they don’t belong here.

"Wanting lower property insurance and healthcare for families isn't un-American. It’s what working people deserve. They can take their tech-bro cash and their weird, intrusive agenda somewhere else, because I'm not going any damn place. 

"I don’t go high when they go low. I get LOUD. Because the soul and humanity of this country are at stake."

Nicely done, Angie Nixon. We'll shoot you a few bucks, just for this post. We cats PURR.