Tornado Alley (PROG)

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As expected Republicans are working seriously t make it harder for Biden. DeSantis, Abbott,
Trump and others on the coronavirus front. McConnell on any front he can come up with.

‘The president’s decline is alarming’: Biden trapped in coronavirus malaise

Democrats are ringing alarm bells and coming to the simplest of conclusions: It’s the pandemic, stupid.

By CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO and LAURA BARRÓN-LÓPEZ
10/11/2021 07:00 AM EDT

[...]

Biden’s job has been complicated by some Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, who have spread anti-vaccine conspiracies and rejected vaccine and mask-wearing requirements in predominantly red counties. But public health experts have also criticized the administration for being confusing with its messaging and slow to adopt new approaches. A recent push for vaccine mandates has led to an uptick in vaccination rates, but tens of millions have still not received a shot.

[...]

In interviews and polling analyses, Democrats said they ultimately need to get to a place where Biden and down-ballot candidates are playing offense on the issue of Covid. Biden’s directives around vaccine mandates were a good start, Riddle said, but he advised Democrats to make Republicans pay for their intransigence and in some cases stonewalling, singling out Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas.

[...]

Just two presidents in the post-World War II era — including Trump — have had worse approval ratings than Biden by this point in their tenures. And although that may be a product of a more polarized nation, his foundering is fraying nerves among Democrats across the country — especially in Virginia, where a governor’s race next month presents one of the party’s first major political tests since Biden took office.

It isn’t the virus’ resurgence alone that’s hindered Biden. While Afghanistan and the border have largely faded from the news cycle, polls show they contributed to his slide, especially in how voters judged his competency in the job. In Georgia, Democrats said they remained confused and upset by Biden’s decision-making on Afghanistan, migrants at the border, and the intraparty feuding around his economic agenda. “Disappointed” was a word used by most of the Black and white voters who spoke to POLITICO in the metro Atlanta area when describing Biden’s time in office. But none said they were prepared to abandon Democrats in 2022 and 2024.

Sylvia Bernstein, a 71-year-old Biden voter from Atlanta, said Biden had “made horrible mistakes,” particularly on Afghanistan and refugees. “And now this budget that he’s trying to pass — $3 trillion — I don’t see that happening,” said Bernstein, who is white. “And I don’t think he’s gotten much support from other Democrats. Everybody seems to be floundering around.”

The hope among elected Democrats is that legislative success will ultimately calm voters like Bernstein and give Biden a needed reprieve from the seemingly endless brutal news cycles he’s endured, whether they be on the Covid battle or Afghanistan withdrawal.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/11/biden-coronavirus-pandemic-515764

Then there's Manchin and Sinema.

What’s Kyrsten Sinema Up To? It’s Pretty Obvious.

Both allies and enemies say her time in the Arizona state Legislature showcased a commitment to personal ambition over party loyalty.

By HANK STEPHENSON 10/27/2021 04:30 AM EDT
Updated: 10/27/2021 12:38 PM EDT

Hank Stephenson is a journalist in Phoenix and co-founder of the
Arizona Agenda, a newsletter about Arizona politics and government.

PHOENIX — Walk the streets of Kyrsten Sinema’s old stomping grounds, Phoenix’s artsy Roosevelt Row, on a busy Friday night and you might see a dozen or so Kyrsten Sinemas, none of them flattering.

A local dance crew calling itself the Moderate Pixie Dream Girls, whose members dress in pink tutus and purple party wigs, perform on local street corners to protest the Arizona senator’s opposition to increasing the minimum wage or her resistance to immigration reform.

[...]

Back home, some of her oldest allies — as well as critics — have an insight for the Democrats who are trying to corral her, and it’s not necessarily a comfortable one: Get used to it. Politically, Sinema’s career looks like she experienced a personal revolution; she began as a left-wing agitator and ended up as a Republican-friendly moderate. But in Arizona, many people see those positions as almost beside the point: For them, Sinema is better understood in terms of pure ambition, and the constant triangulation needed to hold office in a purple state that fancies itself charting an independent course, whatever that requires in the moment. Sinema declined to comment for this report.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/10/27/kyrsten-sinema-ambition-loyalty-517224