I'm a little peeved with Don Samuels

To be clear, he's been generally a good guy, worked hard for a lot of people, and I always thought I could easily vote for him if he ran against a Republican, I vote Omar because, while she had a couple missteps during her first term (as anyone would, including him; it's a learning curve), she's settled in nicely, does a good job and represents our district well.

So, we were up last night following the returns and saw Samuels give a short interview after he conceded. I didn't get to see the concession speech and will have to see if I can find it online tonight. I hope it was better than the interview.

What he said was that he'd managed to get five times the number of volunteers than he had last time and that "if they'd worked a little harder, we'd have won." Actual quote.

You don't do that. The talking points after a loss are practically boilerplate and shouldn't even have to be written down. 1) Thank your supporters and voters. 2) Thank your workers. Thank them again. Recognize publicly that they went wayyy out of their way for you for little recognition and no money. Thank them again. 3) Congratulate your opponent on a successful campaign. If it's a primary, as this was, promise to support them and the party in the months to come, while looking forward to the continued discussion on the best ways to support the party, the district and our country. 4) Vow to continue to fight for the cause. Thank you! On to November!

And you have to do all this while sounding spontaneous, original, and sincere, under bright lights and in front of cameras and microphones, at a point when you are completely exhausted and pissed as hell. This is not easy. In fact, it's damned hard. But you don't leave your workers with the message "Thanks a lot, you lazy bastards". I doubt that some of them will be back next time.

He's also been tone-deaf re: Omar. I thought the statement a few months ago that she wasn't cute enough and didn't dress pretty enough to 'get away with' the job she was doing. A) A childless cat lady would like a few words. B) Do I want him on a federal level, which is actually on the world stage if you think about it, dealing with female officials from the US and abroad?

It comes down to something I've heard mothers say. The context is usually during a chewing out about some public offense, often sandwiched between renditions of 'What is wrong with you???". The statement is some variation of "How're you gonna act when you get somewhere?"

He wants a position on the world stage and keeps interviewing (running) for the position. If I'm going to vote for him, I need some indication of how he's gonna act when he gets there. And he keeps giving it to me.

I'd still vote for him against a Republican because, well, no way in hell am I either voting Republican or staying home. But I'm not sure what it would take for me to vote for him against another Democrat. You should be able to be your authentic self without being ungracious or downright rude. If you can't, you may be in the wrong party.