It appears that the 2018 midterm election is, in fact, not yet over and it might just finish with Rep. David Valadao losing his race or coming within a hair’s breadth of doing so  in the end. Rep. David Valadao or Valada’oh? Valadao is currently only 1,000 votes ahead of Democrat TJ Cox. That actually puts him in a slightly better position than before the last batch of ballots came in from Tulare County, which voted more heavily for Valadao than Cox. However, the 1,000 vote margin is insanely slim for a district that should by right have stayed red easily, even in a “Blue Wave” year. In the last session of Congress, Valadao shied away from staking out equally strong pro-immigration stances as Rep. Jeff Denham at a time when voters in his district who would normally reliably vote Republican were starting to bail on the party. Many of…

Uh-oh… The 2018 midterms are over, the 2020 presidential cycle has begun, Sen. Kamala Harris will almost certainly run and– boom!– Ryan Grim at The Intercept spots her copycatting Michael Avenatti’s dubious fundraising ploys to bring in cash for her own political committee. Check out the photos, via Ryan’s Twitter feed. Here’s Kamala’s email: And here’s what the email directs to: Help Stacey Abrams by giving me your cash! Ryan’s followers, who are mostly hardcore progressives like the ones Kamala needs to win over to, um, win, seem none too happy about this. Some choice quotes: “Call her out. She’s being sleazy & has done nothing in 2 years but write platitude twitter posts every day – as if “problems” she complains about is someone else’s job to fix. F*** these people thinking they can do nothing, have no record of accomplishment & run for prez.” “Seems like a grift…

Remember Montel Williams? It turns out he’s been in a bit of legal trouble in the Golden State due to his advertising on behalf of a payday lender. But in a twist in the case, a federal judge based in Oakland has let Montel off the hook, determining that his marketing activity does not qualify as “racketeering” as alleged in the lawsuit. Montel Williams: Not the new John Gotti Here’s the dirt: Borrowers claimed that Montel and the lender coordinated to “defraud” them and sued under the U.S. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”). RICO has typically been used in going after organized criminal entities, including the mafia (infamous mafia “don” John Gotti was ultimately convicted under RICO). However, members of the plaintiff bar have recently been pursuing RICO claims against financial services providers as part of class action lawsuits. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White ruled last week from an Oakland…