Members of the Rhode Island delegation were still buzzing about the first-night speakers at the Democratic National Convention as they met for breakfast in Philadelphia.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said he was particularly moved by the reaction of Bernie Sanders supporters during his speech.

“Seeing the Bernie people, the young people, in the close-ups on TV weeping as he spoke, was a reminder to all of us how deeply some people put their hearts into that movement,” he said. “For those of us who have lost primaries, either as a candidate or because our candidate didn’t win, it was a reminder that there is a real sorrow and a real adjustment that’s required.”

Whitehouse was impressed by the way Sanders worked to bridge the gap between his supporters and Hillary Clinton. “I honestly don’t know that he could have done that job any better. Clearly he really wanted to try to make sure that took place. He really put his heart into it, and I think he will continue to. Nobody – Bernie voter, Hillary voter – wants to live in a Trump presidency America. Nobody.”

For Congressman David Cicilline, Michelle Obama was a highlight.

“The speech of the First Lady was the most powerful speech of the night,” he said. “She reminded us all of the progress we’ve made — ‘I wake up every morning in a house built by slaves, and I watch my children play on the front lawn’ — it reminded you that this is a great country and we’ve come a very long way, but she also recognized that we have many challenges, that many people are struggling in this country, and that we need a president who understands that struggle, who has real solutions, and that can bring us together. We have only solved problems in this country when we have come together, worked together to overcome them. The tenor of last night’s speeches was such a contrast to the Republicans. They were speeches filled with pragmatism but with tremendous hope and optimism about what is great about this country and our ability to build upon the progress we’ve made.”

Clinton delegate and former candidate for governor Clay Pell agreed that Michelle Obama stole the show.

“The highlight for me was Michelle Obama,” he said. “She was incredible. The whole place lit up. She was an inspiration. The First Lady’s message was about what her own family had been through, and the power of believing in this country. She had a very powerful story about how she lives in a house that was built by slaves, and is now watching two young, smart black girls play on the White House lawn and grow up and believe that because of Hillary Clinton that they too could become president of the United States.”

Pell had kind words for Sanders and his supporters.

“Sanders gave a great, impassioned plea,” he said. “Not only to his own supporters, but to the country, and shared a lot of the values we all way to keep moving forward. I hope he continues to be a leader in the Democratic Party, because he is a person not only of integrity but of vision, and he’s independent in so many ways, and we need that. He’s brought young people, and people of all kinds into politics, and it’s important that we embrace that and recognize that what he’s talking about is the future.”

Sanders delegate Linda Ujifusa wanted to keep the focus on the senator from Vermont.

“I think people should focus on the fact that we were all cheering Bernie,” she said. “I was really impressed with his speech. Of course, as he pointed out, we are disappointed. But his message, of trying to keep the political revolution that he began going is really, really important. I personally decided to run for office based on Bernie’s call to action, because for people to sit on the sidelines is to admit that we’re not willing to be involved.”

Still, some Sanders supporters were unhappy with the message. “I felt betrayed,” said Sanders delegate Laura Perez. “At the beginning of his speech, he even suggested, still vote for me. And then at the end of the speech, okay, you’re all in. This is what we’re going to do.”

Sanders delegate and organizer Lauren Niedel shared in the disappointment.

“Bernie’s speech was inspirational and showed why he should be our next nominee,” she said. “I’m not at all surprised by the message of Bernie’s speech. He stated from the beginning that was his intention. What I’m disappointed in is that if all was fair, if his message could have been seen and heard by more people, and if independents and unaffiliated had their say in each of the primaries, Bernie would be our nominee.”

RI Democratic Party Chairman Joe McNamara praised New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.

“Michelle Obama was great, and I believe we saw a rising star in Cory Booker,” he said. “Booker really took it to the mountaintop with ‘we will rise together.’ That will be a speech that will definitely go down in the history of the Democratic Party, and we’ll be hearing a lot more from Cory Booker.”

“Bernie did an excellent job,” added McNamara. “The speech was wonderful, and everyone — everyone — cheered him.”

McNamara added, “Sen. Sanders stating that this campaign is not about Bernie Sanders, it is not about Hillary Clinton, it’s about the future of our nation, our children and grandchildren, was something, to me, that really hit home.” McNamara said that felt like Sanders’ way of telling his followers, “We’ve worked very hard, but it’s time to support the platform that represents many of the ideals of the campaign.”

That said, to say the entire point of electoral politics is to win is an opinion I do not happen to share, The entire point of NFL games is to win. The entire point of the Price is Right is to win. The entire point of prom king and queen is to win. The point of electoral politics is to get a job serving the constituents. If the point of election-based, representative government was just to win, we would simply give the elected official a gold ring and a trip to Disney World. Instead we give them executive or legisltive powers to architect and implement the policies that shape our economy, society, and community.

Now, Polly here, is not naïve enough to believe that this is what happens. I understand that elected authority often leads to a puffed up sense of entitlement when it should result in responsibility. Yet, to condemn those who believe that losing with integrity is something of which to be less proud than winning by ethical corrosion is to akin saying that Congressman John Lewis of GA was a sucker for believing in a non-violent march to Alabama as a means of generating change.

“Hey, John. Sure you lived your truth and upheld your authentic integrity. But you probably wouldn’t have gotten your ass kicked half to death by the cops if you slipped a .38 special in your pocket and popped off a few rounds at the staties.” That may be true. But the code upheld in the face of immediate harm ultimately helped to shift the paradigm of who was the hero and who was the villain in the struggle for civil rights. Perhaps Frymaster would like to take a swing at Congressman Lewis to see if Lefty can take a punch.

The concept of “winners” versus “losers” is an American ideology to which I do not subscribe. In fact, it originated in western, free-market culture and is the ideology of choice of those who daily ask the question favorited Ayn Rand, “who is John Gault?” The philosophy goes something like: if there are winners, it is because they did whatever was necessary to deserve that status. Likewise, if there are losers, they are equally as responsible for their own failure. I’m a bit surprised that Frymaster, the self-proclaimed “dot-commie,” would adopt such a cowboy-capitalist mentality as pertains to our selection of elected officials.

I respect strategy. I believe in the value of hard work. I also, however, believe in Paul Wellstone’s famous quote:

“Politics is not about power. Politics is not about money. Politics is not about winning for the sake of winning. Politics is about the improvement of people’s lives.”

Sometimes sacrificing a win for the sake of creating a movement is worth the sacrifice. Sometimes it’s okay to be right and lose. Hell, it worked for Jesus. Right? I admit, his message has been more than a bit twisted by over two millenia of selfish appropriation. But I am fairly certain nowhere in the sermon on the mount does he say, “Blessed are the winners, for they get the entire point.”

Now, Frymaster leaves being right to the churches and that’s fine. And I am certainly not using my new testament analogy to evangelize Christian ethics. Rather, I’m trying to make a point about the power of messaging even in the face of loss. Frymaster pans Pell and his supporters for believing in why as much as what his campaign meant. We ran a campaign that stood for something rather than standing on the backs of others. We lost. But we lost with integrity. We lost knowing that we could sleep at night having not carpet-bombed the reputations of other candidates and their families. And we proved that an effective campaign by a first time candidate could be run without lobbyist contributions or corporate PAC money. Not a winning campaign, this time around. But an effective campaign, nonetheless.

“If we are marked to die, we are enow
to do our country loss and if to live,
the fewer men the greater share of honor …
… That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
let him depart. His passport shall be made
and crowns for convoy put into his purse.
We would not die in that man’s company
that fears his fellowship to die with us.”

– William Shakespeare, Henry V

We lost an election. But we started a movement in Rhode Island politics. That, in my humble, polyanna-ish opinion, is the point of electoral politics. Call me naive for believing that electoral politics is worth more than just winning. Call me a loser for supporting a candidate in whom I believed to be the best, not merely the most popular. Beware, I’ll probably do it again. But, what I will not do is swallow my inspiration and fear my fellowship with those who might not win. Just as I am always willing to make amends for and admit when I am wrong, I will not fold in the face of fear of being right simply because standing up for what I believe in as a left leaning Democrat might result in an electoral loss. This is not the last election. I, too, can take a punch. And, through the courage of my conviction, I can stand, raise my hands, and fight again with honor.

Whichever way you view this debacle, one thing was always clear: Clay Pell could never win. But winning was never the point with Pell. Pell’s political raison d’être was to ensure a Taveras loss. (And please, Pellies, just don’t even…)

So let me put this on the record. Your Frymaster will tolerate absolutely ZERO whining about the wretchedness that will characterize the Raimondo administration. My response will be uniform and unyielding:

“Blame yourself!”

This game is called “politics”

I get it, Lefty. Progressives championed Taveras, but Taveras never really championed progressives. And ultimately, he turned on us to go with political insiders. Yeah, it stung. Yeah, it stunk.

But guess what…it’s politics. And in politics, your friends are the people who stab you in the front.

Taveras’s early appointments showed that he had little stomach for controversy or radical new ideas. I mean, have you met Mike D’Amico? Given the city’s fiscal situation in January 2011, a “steady-on” approach may not have been the worst decision.

So there’s nothing new in the notion that Taveras is not the most progressive politician in RI. What’s news is the idea that Gina Raimondo is a progressive. Her primary messaging made liberal use of the word, so to say, almost certainly because it’s completely untrue. Now that she’s won the nod, we can expect her to lurch sharply to the right, where she’s more comfortable. And in office, she’ll be free to go full venture capitalist all over what’s left of our economy.

It didn’t have to be this way. Taveras plus Pell would have CRUSHED Raimondo and eliminated her from state government as a bonus.

Except, reality. To have prevented a Raimondo administration, Lefty would have had to take the whack Taveras dealt and still accept the idea that he would be a better governor than Raimondo.

But that’s not how Lefty plays it. Lefty needs purity. Lefty holds grudges. And Lefty definitely can’t take a punch.

So, Lefty…do you have your ticket to the inauguration yet?

The ad in question was an attack on Taveras, paid for by the Providence Fraternal Order of Police. Marion included it in this letter.

“It is my opinion that the advertising does indeed violate the terms of the Pledge,” said Marion, in an email. “I am not yet able to determine the cost of the advertising buy, and subsequently determine how much must be donated to charity.”

The Taveras campaign has asked the other two campaigns to donate to the Federal Hill House. “Federal Hill House is dedicated to enabling people from throughout the Greater Providence area achieve their potential by removing obstacles that hinder them,” according to its website.

Marion said this has been the only violation of the People’s Pledge in a letter to the candidates. “If this is the only violation of the Pledge we see in this primary election it will be a great success and something I think you should all be proud of having taken part in.”

After a summer of spending millions to attack and fact check each other in TV commercials, the three leading Democrats running for governor took the opportunity to do so once more at their last debate before the primary.

“My campaign alone has created more jobs in Rhode Island than Narragansett Beer,” Clay Pell quipped of Gina Raimondo’s pseudo-claim in a TV ad that her venture capital investment in Narragansett Brewery helped create more than 1,000 jobs in Rhode Island.

This was the line of the night. But a close second was when moderator Tim White pushed back about Pell’s talking point about not taking any money from lobbyists or PACs. White pointed out that Pell is independently wealthy and that several high level NEARI employees are volunteering their time for him. Rarely does a debate moderator win applause, but this was a question begging to be asked that was unlikely to be addressed by any candidate.

The big lie of the evening came courtesy of Raimondo when she was accused of standing with Wall Street. She replied, “I’m from Smithfield, I’ve never worked on Wall Street.” Wall Street, of course, in this context, is not a physical address.

Angel Taveras’ watershed moment may have been when he asked the TV camera “would you hire someone who has had nine jobs in eight years?” He spent much of the debate on the attack against both Pell and Raimondo, but did not  – notably – dispute Pell’s claim to be the “progressive Democrat” in the race.

The surprise of the evening, for me, was that all three pledged to support the primary winner. It may be a good exercise for all Democrats to spend a few minutes each day until the primary envisioning their preferred candidate campaigning for the others, and vice versa.

On Friday, Brett Smiley dropped out of the Democratic primary and backed fellow liberal Jorge Elorza so that the more conservative Democrat, Michael Solomon, would not have the advantage of the liberal vote being divided.

“Jorge Elorza shares my values and my vision for our city, and I’m proud to give my full-throated support to his campaign. I know Jorge is our best chance of defeating both Solomon and Cianci, and I look forward to working together to make it happen,” Smiley said in a prepared statement.

It’s been a different story between the two liberal Democrats running for governor.

Angel Taveras and Clay Pell continue to beat each other up. The Taveras campaign says Pell lacks experience and overstates the experience he has. The Pell campaign accuses Taveras of stretching the truth and smearing his opponents.

Before Friday, both the mayor’s and governor’s Democratic primaries were three-way races featuring two liberals and a moderate. Raimondo and Solomon are seen as solid Democrats on many issues, with some foul-smelling political baggage. For Raimondo it’s her connections to Wall Street and Solomon is a city Council incumbent facing a complaint in front of the Ethics Commission.

Conventional wisdom says that Taveras and Pell may prevent each other from besting Gina Raimondo, who leads in the latest public polling. Conventional wisdom also says that Elorza increased greatly his chances of overcoming Michael Solomon by winning Smiley’s support.

In the mayor’s race, the left improved its chances of winning office by working together. In the governor’s race, the left greatly diminished its chances of winning by being a house divided.

If such speculations prove true, the big takeaway for the local progressive movement from the 2014 election cycle may be: united we stand, divided we fall. Learning that lesson may well be more valuable than winning either or both the governor and/or mayor’s office.

“It was abundantly clear to the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats that Clay Pell is the progressive choice for governor in the Democratic primary, said RIPDA State Coordinator Sam Bell in an email from the Pell campaign.

“From his strong commitment to public education and educators, his opposition cutting a property tax relief program for low-income Rhode Islanders in order to raise the estate tax exemption for the wealthiest in our state, and his call to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 immediately, Clay is the candidate who has consistently stood on the side of working Rhode Islanders and embodied our progressive values,” Bell said. “We were also impressed by his comprehensive plan to revive our struggling economy through investment – with his Infrastructure Replacement and Rehabilitation program, his commitment to Health Source RI, and his belief that state government can be a force for good in the lives of Rhode Islanders.”

Said Pell, in the email:

“I am honored to have earned the endorsement of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats. To me, being a Democrat means two things – opportunity and justice. The Rhode Island Progressive Democrats are a strong voice for a progressive vision for our state that embodies those twin aspirations. I am committed to being a champion for a more equitable future for Rhode Island, and to ensuring working families in our state have access to a world-class education and an economy built to last.”

Taveras’ campaign declined to comment.

The release comes one day after a WPRI / Providence Journal poll shows Pell’s popularity surging. He’s still in third place, with 26 percent compared to Taveras’ 27 percent and Raimondo’s 32 percent, but his campaign operatives have been adamant that he can pull ahead with less than three weeks before the primary.

While NEARI, the state’s suburban teachers’ union, is vociferously backing Pell, a diverse group of public and private sector unions launched today calling itself “Working Families for Angel.”

In a press release the group said: “Angel Taveras is the only Democratic candidate in this race who knows the stresses working families are under.  Angel was raised by a single mother; his first job was a unionized bagger and cashier at a grocery store; worked his way through law school; and as Mayor has collaboratively solved problems with his employees to move Providence forward. We will convey this message to our members and their families, utilizing every communication avenue possible and look forward to the Democratic Primary Election on September 9th.  We are confident that come Election Day our members’ voices will be heard.”

The group plans on making contact with 16,000 union households, it said in the press release. “A coalition this size could represent more than 30% of this year’s Democratic gubernatorial primary voters, and provide a massive boost to Angel Taveras’ campaign,” it said.

The group includes, according to the press statement:

…the Rhode Island State Association of Firefighters, International Association of Firefighters, AFL-CIO; RI Council 94, American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO;  United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 328; United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 791; International Brotherhood of Police Officers, National Association of Government Employees, SEIU, AFL-CIO;  Service Employees International Union, Local 580, AFL-CIO; Brotherhood of Utility Workers Council, Local 310, United Utility Workers of America, AFL-CIO; and International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 400, AFL-CIO.

In this picture, from just north of the Narragansett Town Beach on 1A, there seems to be an adamant Angel Taveras supporter living right across the street from an adamant Gina Raimondo supporter:

What’s interesting to me is combinations of yard signs, like this Gina Raimondo supporter who also supports Republican Catherine Taylor for lt. governor. I wonder if the owner of these signs is planning on voting in the Democratic or Republican primary?

On Route 1 in Charlestown I saw this driveway with a Clay Pell and Seth Magaziner sign.

I suspect this person won’t be the only one to vote for both Clay Pell and Seth Magaziner in the Democratic primary. Both are young, new to elected politics and are banking on the belief that Rhode Islanders are ready for new leaders.

Have you seen any interesting multi-sign yards? If so email them to progress@rifuture.org and tell us what trend you think they indicate.

Watch the commercial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMtyoqV1lbc

Pell’s campaign, in response, tacked away from what I called it’s positive campaign strategy, saying in an email:

For weeks now, Mayor Taveras and Treasurer Raimondo have been lobbing negative attacks at one another. At the same time, Clay has been focused on one thing — talking with Rhode Islanders about the new ideas and fresh approach he’ll bring as Governor, and his real plan to get our state back on course.

Because of the growing momentum of our grassroots campaign, Mayor Taveras has now turned his mudslinging in our direction. We, however, firmly reject the politics of attack and innuendo. Clay learned from his grandfather that campaigns shouldn’t be about tearing people down, but should be about ideas for the future.

I also wrote that Pell was playing the role of spoiler in this three-way battle. Several respected progressive voices chimed in to correct me. In a comment on that post, Will Collette, publisher of the Progressive Charlestown blog, wrote: