September 2020 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

Request for biographies
by David Walden 07 Sep '20

07 Sep '20

Severo Ornstein's memoir "Computing in the Middle Ages -- A view from the trenches, 1955-1983". Available publicly at the Computer History Museum. https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102785079 His journey goes from Whirlwind to TX-2 to LINC to ARPANET to Durado to Mockingbird. At least look at the annotated Table of Contents and read the Preface to see what you'd be missing to not read his well written story.

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Request for biographies
by Troy Astarte 07 Sep '20

07 Sep '20

Dear SIG-CIS, What is your favourite biography of a scientist or mathematician? I’m particularly interested in modern subjects and those who worked in computing/computer science. Ideally the book would cover the subject’s work in a reasonable level of technical detail as well as their life and the broader context in which they lived and worked. I ask because I am considering applying for funding for an essentially biographical project on a computer scientist and I would like to read some (more) biographies first. Best, Troy Astarte School of Computing Newcastle University

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Request for biographies (Lovelace in the humanities)
by Barbara B Walker 05 Sep '20

05 Sep '20

Oops, sorry, I just saw Paul Ceruzzi’s reference to Betty Alexandra’s work on Ada Lovelace, and Aristotle Tympas’ to Brittain on Edith Clarke, so there are a few. My own favorite biography of Lovelace is in video form: “To Dream Tomorrow.” It’s very good indeed, and goes into detail about some of the issues that have held up women the world over – bad health, especially as related to childbirth, little if any financial control, etc. A nice description of the video is to be found at: https://computerhistory.org/events/dream-tomorrow/ My female students have especially appreciated this movie as it reveals both the challenges to women and the persistence of one very talented woman. I have shown it in a humanities course just after teaching Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s “Emile,” which argues that girls’ education is to be very different from boys’, preparing them for the household rather than the strain of mental activity; and Mary Wollstonecraft’s later “A Vindication of the Rights of Women,” in which she argues that it is precisely the education of women to be obedient, emotional, and unable to use their minds that makes them less capable citizens. (Her argument for better female education is in part that this will make them better wives! – I guess she knew her audience…) Ada Lovelace’s mother, Lady Annabella Byron, was a follower of Wollstonecraft and educated her daughter fiercely for the life of the mind; Ada’s childhood illness and a strong inclination to math and invention led her into such 19th-century intellectual circles as that of Michael Faraday; somewhere in those circles she also met Babbage. If I have time I have even had my students declaim a poem or two by Ada’s father, the Romantic cult figure Lord Byron (“mad, bad, and dangerous to know”)! Not that she ever really knew her father… The story of Ada and female education also dovetails nicely with a class meeting on Faraday and the Royal Institution – I have them read some of his Christmas Lectures for that. Usually the ones on gravity and electro-magnetism. He must have been an excellent speaker – the simplicity and clarity of those lectures amazes and delights my students. Barbara Walker Associate Professor Department of History/308 University of Nevada, Reno Reno NV 89557 From: Members <members-bounces(a)lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Jeffrey Mathias <jm2499(a)cornell.edu> Date: Friday, September 4, 2020 at 10:49 AM To: "Ceruzzi, Paul" <CeruzziP(a)si.edu> Cc: members <members(a)sigcis.org> Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Request for biographies Not to throw yet another title at an already overflowing list but Tara Abraham's biography of Warren McCulloch "Rebel Genius" is quite excellent and well worth a read. Also, Helene Mialet's "Hawking Incorporated" can be read really usefully as a new method for doing biography. Jeff On Fri, Sep 4, 2020 at 1:25 PM Ceruzzi, Paul <CeruzziP(a)si.edu<mailto:CeruzziP@si.edu>> wrote: Sorry if this response is too much. There are a lot of biographies about computer pioneers, but less so "computer scientists." I've left off autobiographies & memoirs but can supply a list if you wish. The following biographies tend to skew older, which is fine with me. Warning: the quality does vary: Paul Ceruzzi ______________________________ Aspray William John von Neumann and the Origins of Modern Computing Austrian Geoffrey Herman Hollerith: Forgotten Giant of Information Processing Belden, Thomas and Marva Lengthening Shadow, the: the life of Thomas J, Watson Berlin Leslie Man behind the microchip, the: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley Buxton H.W. Memoir of the Life and Labours of the Late Charles Babbage ESQ. F.R.S. Cohen I. Bernard Howard Aiken: Portrait of a Computer Pioneer Berg Christian Heinz Nixdorf: Eine Biographie [in German] Hodges Andrew Alan Turing: The enigma: the extraordinary story of the brilliant scientist… Hyman Anthony Charles Babbage: Pioneer of the Computer Macrae Norman John von Neumann: The Scientific Genius Who Pioneered the Modern Computer, Game Theory, Nuclear Deterrence, and Much More Manes Stephen Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry - and Made Himself the Richest Man in America Mollenhoff Clark R. Atanasoff: Forgotten Father of the Computer Reid Constance Hilbert Rodgers William Think: A Biography of the Watsons and IBM Smiley Jane The Man Who Invented the Computer: The Biography of John Atanasoff, Digital Pioneer Toole Betty Alexandra Ada: The Enchantress of Numbers - Prophet of the Computer Age Van Dormael Armand Heinz Nixdorf: A German Computer Pioneer Wallace James Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire Zachary G. Pascal Endless Frontier: Vannevar Bush, Engineer of the American Century ________________________________ From: Members <members-bounces(a)lists.sigcis.org<mailto:members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org>> on behalf of Troy Astarte <Troy.Astarte(a)newcastle.ac.uk<mailto:Troy.Astarte@newcastle.ac.uk>> Sent: Friday, September 4, 2020 9:06 AM To: members <members(a)sigcis.org<mailto:members@sigcis.org>> Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Request for biographies External Email - Exercise Caution Dear all, Very many thanks to everyone who has sent suggestions, I’ve got a great reading list! I’ve already had a look at a few of them, and there’s some high quality work indeed. The only further question I would have is whether there are biographies with a higher technical content? Perhaps that just isn’t common in biographies? Best, Troy Astarte School of Computing Newcastle University On 3 Sep 2020, at 12:31, Troy Astarte <Troy.Astarte(a)newcastle.ac.uk<mailto:Troy.Astarte@newcastle.ac.uk>> wrote: Dear SIG-CIS, What is your favourite biography of a scientist or mathematician? I’m particularly interested in modern subjects and those who worked in computing/computer science. Ideally the book would cover the subject’s work in a reasonable level of technical detail as well as their life and the broader context in which they lived and worked. I ask because I am considering applying for funding for an essentially biographical project on a computer scientist and I would like to read some (more) biographies first. Best, Troy Astarte School of Computing Newcastle University _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsigcis.org…>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.sigc…> and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.sigc…> -- Jeffrey Mathias AHA/NASA History of Space Technology Fellow PhD Candidate Department of Science and Technology Studies Cornell University jeffreymathias.info<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fjeffreymat…>

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FW: Request for biographies
by Irish, Sharon Lee 03 Sep '20

03 Sep '20

For some reason the post by Morten Bay didn’t go through, so I am re-sending to the list. ~Listserv Moderator (Sharon Irish) From: Morten Bay <mortenbay(a)live.com> Date: Thursday, September 3, 2020 at 12:16 PM To: Marc Weber <marc(a)webhistory.org>, Troy Astarte <Troy.Astarte(a)newcastle.ac.uk> Cc: members <members(a)sigcis.org> Subject: RE: [SIGCIS-Members] Request for biographies +1 for The Dream Machine. I have yet to read a better trade book on a historical person from that era…or on the era, for that matter. Morten From: Marc Weber<mailto:marc@webhistory.org> Sent: Thursday, September 3, 2020 10:11 AM To: Troy Astarte<mailto:Troy.Astarte@newcastle.ac.uk> Cc: members<mailto:members@sigcis.org> Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Request for biographies The Dream Machine by Mitch Waldrop on J.C.R. Licklider is a real classic. It is also an important history of his entire milieu, and of early work in timesharing, networking, Web-like online systems, etc. It’s a trade book but deeply researched and referenced. Best, Marc On Sep 3, 2020, at 04:31, Troy Astarte <Troy.Astarte(a)newcastle.ac.uk<mailto:Troy.Astarte@newcastle.ac.uk>> wrote: Dear SIG-CIS, What is your favourite biography of a scientist or mathematician? I’m particularly interested in modern subjects and those who worked in computing/computer science. Ideally the book would cover the subject’s work in a reasonable level of technical detail as well as their life and the broader context in which they lived and worked. I ask because I am considering applying for funding for an essentially biographical project on a computer scientist and I would like to read some (more) biographies first. Best, Troy Astarte School of Computing Newcastle University _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsigcis.org…>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.sigc…> and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.sigc…> Marc Weber<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comput…> | marc(a)webhistory.org<mailto:marc@webhistory.org> | +1 415 282 6868 Internet History Program Curatorial Director, Computer History Museum 1401 N Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View CA 94043 computerhistory.org/nethistory<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcomputerhi…> Co-founder, Web History Center and Project, webhistory.org<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwebhistory…>

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Postdoctoral opportunity in STS and cybersecurity
by Rebecca Slayton 02 Sep '20

02 Sep '20

Dear Colleagues, I’m pleased to announce a postdoctoral opening at Cornell, focused on STS approaches to cybersecurity. The full description is below. Please distribute widely, and feel free to direct any questions to me. Thank you! Best, Rebecca Rebecca Slayton Associate Professor, Department of Science & Technology Studies Director, Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies Cornell University, Ithaca NY 14853 Postdoctoral Research Position in Cybersecurity and STS at Cornell University The Department of Science & Technology Studies (STS), jointly with the Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, invite applications for a postdoctoral research position focused on STS approaches to cybersecurity. Anticipated start date is in July 2021, for a one-year appointment with possibility of renewal contingent on performance and funding availability. This position is funded by National Science Foundation grant 1553069, “Enacting Cybersecurity Expertise,” and is supervised by Principal Investigator Rebecca Slayton. The postdoctoral researcher will be expected to pursue research that contributes to achieving project goals, but will have considerable latitude in defining specific areas of empirical focus. Responsibilities will include developing and refining research questions, identifying appropriate research sites, establishing relationships with informants, conducting interviews and observational research, gathering documentary evidence, analyzing results, publishing research in peer-reviewed journals, and presenting findings at professional conferences. The postdoctoral researcher will be expected to demonstrate leadership and independence, while also working collaboratively with the principal investigator. Required qualifications: Applicants should have earned a Ph.D. in a relevant field such as science & technology studies, anthropology, sociology, history, or information science, between August 2017 and June 2021. Competitive candidates will have successful record of empirical social scientific research in a topic relevant to critical infrastructure and/or information security, including publications and presentations and professional conferences. Application process: The following application materials should be submitted to Academic Jobs Online at https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/16775: * A cover letter articulating your proposed research focus and plan, its relation to the NSF project, and relevant qualifications; * A curriculum vita; * A brief (less than 10,000 words) writing sample; * Names and contact information for three references. Review of applications will begin on November 1, 2020, and will continue until the position is filled. Due to pandemic restrictions, visa sponsorship is not available for this position. Until pandemic restrictions are lifted, work must be done remotely, so relocation to the Ithaca area is not required. Cornell University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and educator, committed to a diverse faculty, staff, and student body. Women and members of under-represented minority groups are strongly encouraged to apply. Diversity and inclusion are a part of Cornell University’s heritage. We are a recognized employer and educator valuing AA/EEO, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities.

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Shiva Ayyadurai - busy in Massachusetts but not in tech
by Jonathan Coopersmith 01 Sep '20

01 Sep '20

Stay sane, keep washing those hands, and practice social solidarity as well as physical distancing, Jonathan Jonathan Coopersmith Professor Department of History Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-4236 979.291.2925 (cell) 979.862.4314 (fax) *October 5 is the last day to register to vote in Texas: http://brazosvotes.org/ <http://brazosvotes.org/>* Racial disparities in waiting to vote: https://theconversation.com/it-takes-a-long-time-to-vote-141267 To teach or not to teach: https://www.tact.org/post/to-teach-in-person-or-not-that-is-the-question *FAXED. The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine* (Johns Hopkins University Press) is the co-recipient of the 2016 Business History Conference Hagley Prize for best book in business history. ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: The Washington Post <email(a)washingtonpost.com> Date: Tue, Sep 1, 2020 at 4:16 PM Subject: The Trailer: Markey got the memes. Will he get the win? To: <j-coopersmith(a)tamu.edu> In this edition: The battle for Massachusetts, the downballot races that could change Congress, and 48 hours of presidential campaigning focus on social unrest. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://li.washingtonpost.com/click?s=680543&li=…> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://li.washingtonpost.com/click?s=680544&li=…> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://li.washingtonpost.com/click?s=680546&li=…> Sign up for this newsletter <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/1e185d8/5f4eb9b09…> Read online <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/09…> [image: The Washington Post] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/1e185d9/5f4eb9b09…> [image: The Trailer] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/1e185da/5f4eb9b09…> 435 districts, 50 states, one campaign newsletter. [image: David Weigel] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/1d202d2/5f4eb9b09…> By David Weigel <david.weigel@washpost.com?subject=The%20Trailer%20feedback&utm_campaign=wp_the_trailer&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_thetrailer> Email <david.weigel@washpost.com?subject=The%20Trailer%20feedback&utm_campaign=wp_the_trailer&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_thetrailer> *In this edition: The battle for Massachusetts, the downballot races that could change Congress, and 48 hours of presidential campaigning focus on social unrest.* Yes, there's already a joke PAC <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/2b5118a/5f4eb9b09…> for antifa plane warriors, and this is The Trailer. [image: Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) speaks to the media in Boston on Tuesday. (Steven Senne/AP)] Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) speaks to the media in Boston on Tuesday. (Steven Senne/AP) MALDEN, Mass. ― It was a ritual for Sen. Edward J. Markey, whenever the timing worked out. His campaign bus, wrapped with an image of the senator with Green New Deal activists, stopped at Spadafora Slush Co., where Markey could buy a lemon ice. He walked the few blocks home, in well-worn Nikes that have become, to the surprise of almost everybody, Internet famous. “My interest in high-quality basketball shoes goes way back,” Markey said on a recent Saturday here, as he turned the corner toward his home. “We couldn't afford Chucks, which were made by Converse. But they had a second store, where they'd sell anything that had a slight defect. So we could go over there when we were 10, with a buck, and go buy a pair.” ADVERTISEMENT <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://li.washingtonpost.com/click?s=680547&li=…> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://li.washingtonpost.com/click?s=680548&li=…> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://li.washingtonpost.com/click?s=680550&li=…> Markey, 74, began this Senate primary as a slight underdog, a journeyman liberal Democrat who never sought the national spotlight. Rep. Joe Kennedy, 39, had been talked up as a future leader for the party for much of his adult life, and in September 2019, he announced a challenge to Markey by saying it was “not the time for waiting” or for “playing by rules that don't work anymore.” Voters had no problem with Markey, according to the polls <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/2b5118b/5f4eb9b09…>; they just didn't think much about him. In the year since then, Markey's image has been transformed — from the senator from Massachusetts who isn't Elizabeth Warren into a working-class pugilist in basketball shoes. He headed into Tuesday's primary as a slight favorite, boosted by the young voters and college-educated liberals that the Kennedy family had never struggled to win. There are Markey clubs at every major college, Markey memes splattered across social media and phone banks around the country organized by the Sunrise Movement, the youth climate-change activists who coined the Green New Deal shortly before Markey endorsed it. “As soon as we realized there might be a credible threat to Markey’s reelection we wanted to make sure we were doing everything we could,” said Evan Weber, the political director of the Sunrise Movement. “We didn’t want to wake up to a bunch of headlines saying Edward J. Markey lost, and voters rejected the Green New Deal.” There's no confusion about which candidate is younger. Kennedy, who won his House seat at age 31, worked early on to brand Markey as a Washington insider who was not immediately responsive to his state. That theme had been devastatingly effective for other challengers this state, and few candidates pushed it like Kennedy, racing between meetings and campaign rallies and, initially, locking up key local labor support. ADVERTISEMENT <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://li.washingtonpost.com/click?s=680551&li=…> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://li.washingtonpost.com/click?s=680552&li=…> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://li.washingtonpost.com/click?s=680554&li=…> Kennedy and Markey met in seven debates, and in the campaign's final stretch, Kennedy made a 27-hour nonstop campaign swing — talking to voters at diners, greeting workers as they finished their shifts, grabbing bullhorns and jumping on soap boxes. At a stop in Gloucester, he talked to struggling fishermen as the sun came up, asking what sort of regulatory reforms they needed to cut costs and boost their industry. The hard-to-miss message: He was there, and Markey wasn't. “When they say, Joe, we need you to be our champion, it's heartfelt,” said state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, who had accompanied Kennedy there, as he paused for a picture with fishermen. “If you're not meeting with these guys, and you're just saying, oh, I'll get you money, you're missing the essence of what their issues are.” By design, Kennedy never focused on a single, defining campaign issue, arguing instead that he'd be a hyper-responsive and visible senator. “That’s why I got into this race,” Kennedy said in an interview. “Not for generational change, per se. Not as a primary from the left, per se. It’s straight up that you can’t tell me that the planet is on fire, that this is the most urgent moment of our lifetime, and then not be here in Massachusetts.” Kennedy's case against Markey, like the case for his own candidacy, was also broad. He focused less on a single issue than on the votes he'd never been challenged on from the left: support for the Iraq War, a vote for the Patriot Act, and his initial opposition to forced busing as a way of integrating schools. But any fight about records ended up as a draw, as Kennedy, too, had moved left since joining Congress, and during that period he'd never been more liberal than Markey, leading to some awkward debate moments <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/2b5118c/5f4eb9b09…> when the younger candidate regretted votes he'd taken just a few years ago. The race did not become a referendum on the Kennedy family. One of Markey's few arguable blunders came when he seemed to make fun <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/2b5118d/5f4eb9b09…>of the Kennedy family's clout and wealth; the congressman pounced <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/2b5118e/5f4eb9b09…>, saying he knew that a “legacy is earned.” And there's evidence that the Kennedy family's powerful appeal to Black voters has helped the challenger, whose closing ads emphasized civil rights. But among the white liberals who have swung the polling in this race, Markey built a lead and never looked back. Endorsing the Green New Deal may have been crucial. Markey had come within a few of votes of passing landmark cap-and-trade climate legislation in 2010. It passed in the House, where he was still serving, but was killed by a Senate Republican filibuster. That was exactly the strategy modern environmental activists had ditched, arguing that an inspiring catchall framework — a Green New Deal to rebuild the economy and save the climate — could shift the public debate. Markey reached out to Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after her 2018 election, a decision that would eventually reinvent his image. And although Kennedy's traditional style of grass-roots campaigning was hampered by the pandemic, Markey's alliance with the new left gave him armies of digital organizers. “Not one single reporter asked Hillary or Trump a question about the in climate 2016,” Markey recalled. “My goal was to change that dynamic. And we see the results in the politics of 2020. And Massachusetts is an epicenter for science, and of the desire to see something big happen, to deal with the climate crisis. So, it's injected itself in a very significant way into this primary. The Green New Deal is on the ballot.” A victory by either Democrat today won't affect the party's power in the Senate. The winner of the GOP primary will be either Kevin O'Connor, a largely unknown attorney running as a bipartisan problem-solver, or Shiva Ayyadurai, a gadfly scientist who won 4 percent of the vote in 2018 as an independent Senate candidate. Both Democrats spent more than $10 million on the race, giving Republicans a little hope for an opening, once they know the nominee. “There is no question that when Republicans focus on common sense and Democrats move too far to the left — and that’s exactly the case this year — that Republicans can win,” O'Connor told <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/2b5118f/5f4eb9b09…> the Boston Herald last week. But President Trump's overwhelming unpopularity in Massachusetts has allowed Democrats to move more confidently to the left, with popular Republican Gov. Charlie Baker's takes on national politics usually pitting him against Trump. In interviews last week, voters had little to say about where they disagreed with Kennedy or Markey. Kennedy's supporters praised his family, and his constant presence; Markey's supporters said that the candidates seemed to agree on most issues but that the senator had earned his job and done nothing to deserve forced retirement. “I just think it's unnecessary,” said Sean Dacey, a 44-year-old chef whose restaurant job was eliminated by the pandemic, after seeing Markey speak about the threats to the U.S. Postal Service at a rally last week. “I think it might have a bit to do with ambition and looking and seeing an opportunity than with a chance to distinguish himself on the issues. They're pretty close on the issues. So, why bother?” Reading list *“Powerful House committee chairman faces liberal primary challenger in race that could reshape Congress,”* <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/2b51190/5f4eb9b09…>* by David Weigel, Erica Werner and Jeff Stein* The stakes in Massachusetts's 1st District. *“Trump’s popularity slips in latest Military Times poll — and more troops say they’ll vote for Biden,”* <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/2b51191/5f4eb9b09…>* by Leo Shane II* A look at whether members of the military are having second thoughts about the president. *“Biden calls Trump ‘a toxic presence’ who is encouraging violence in America,”* <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/2b51192/5f4eb9b09…>* by Matt Viser and Ashley Parker* The meaning of the Democrat's Pittsburgh speech. *“A GOP election dilemma: Twitter Trump keeps boxing out humanized Trump,”* <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/2b51193/5f4eb9b09…>* by Meridith McGraw* Can the president stick to the image crafted by the Republic National Convention? *“Citizenship applicants caught in backlog distraught over inability to vote this year: ‘I feel like my voice is not going to count,’ ” * <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/2b51194/5f4eb9b09…>*by Michelle Ye Hee Lee* Hundreds of thousands of could-be voters are stuck in naturalization limbo. In the states [image: Williams College senior Niku Darafshi sanitizes voting booths in Williamstown, Mass., on Tuesday. (Gillian Jones/Berkshire Eagle/AP)] Williams College senior Niku Darafshi sanitizes voting booths in Williamstown, Mass., on Tuesday. (Gillian Jones/Berkshire Eagle/AP) The Kennedy-Markey primary is the highest-profile race in Massachusetts today, but it may not be the most important. In the *1st District*, Rep. Richard E. Neal is trying to fend off Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse, and defeat would create a scramble for the most powerful committee chairmanship in the House. In the *4th District*, which Kennedy vacated to run for Senate, seven Democrats are in a tight race where the winner may get less than one-third of the vote. And in the *8th District*, Rep. Stephen F. Lynch is facing the latest and best-organized left-wing challenge of his 19-year career in the House. The Neal-Morse race was rocked last month by a scandal that fell apart <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/2b3d339/5f4eb9b09…>, as members of the state's College Democrats made vague accusations of misbehavior by Morse that were later retracted. (The 31-year-old mayor has taught some classes in the district's branch of the state university system.) Although some of Morse's endorsers initially recoiled at the accusation, they returned to help him, his fundraising surged and he brought the campaign's focus back to his original message: Replace a Washington insider with a liberal mayor who supported Medicare-for-all and the Green New Deal. “These last two weeks have been the best two weeks of fundraising in this entire campaign,” Morse told volunteers in northwestern Massachusetts last week, during a campaign swing to promote early voting. “I have trusted the people of this district to come to their own conclusions: That there was no coincidence that this happened three weeks before the most competitive primary in Congressman Neal's entire life.” Neal faced a primary challenge in 2018, too, and won it handily, but those results offer some insight into how a close race would go. Around 70,000 votes were cast overall, and Neal won by around 29,000. Much of that came from the district's three biggest towns: Springfield, Pittsfield and Chicopee, which he won by nearly 13,000 votes. He did worse in the district's college towns, but he carried many of them, such as Holyoke. The race for the 4th won't be so simple. Polling has found the highest support for three very different candidates: Newton City Councilor Jake Auchincloss, nonprofit organization leader and former gubernatorial aide Jesse Mermell, and Newton City Councilor Becky Grossman. Auchincloss quickly established himself as a favorite, emphasizing his service as a Marine, touting endorsements from the sometimes-ignored coastal part of the district, and leaning into his work with Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican who is popular with Democrats. “People here want somebody who has the ability to build coalitions for the day after Donald Trump leaves office,” Auchincloss said in an interview last week. “I’ve led Americans from all walks of life as a Marine officer. I have built coalitions as a city councilor.” Auchincloss's opponents were running, to varying degrees, to his left, on everything from Medicare-for-all (which he doesn't support as is) to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (he is a steadfast supporter of Israel). The Boston Globe's support for Auchincloss helped him, while giving opponents openings to attack his record. Mermell, who is backed by Rep. Ayanna Pressley, won the biggest range of liberal endorsements but did not clear the field ― though she benefited when an eighth candidate quit the race last week and endorsed her. Grossman, who's also a corporate attorney, is the most moderate non-Auchincloss candidate in the field, emphasizing her support for gun safety laws over other ideological priorities. But other Democrats may split the liberal vote. Former regulator Ihssane Leckey, an immigrant from Morocco, said in an interview she was inspired to run by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and her focus on taking corporate influence out of politics was unmatched by any other candidates. “You have so many people talking about these amazing progressive policies and have absolutely no clue about the corporations that we’re up against,” she said in an interview. Three other candidates have pitched themselves as insurgents, too: attorney Ben Sigel, physician Natalia Linos and City Year founder Alan Khazei, who is making his third run for office. The commonwealth's Democratic-friendly gerrymander put four big liberal suburbs of Boston in the district: Newton, Brookline, Needham and Wellesley. Half the vote may come from there, with the rest coming from towns no candidate has competed in before this race, such as Attleboro, Taunton and Fall River. The race in the 8th more closely resembles the Morse-Neal contest, though it has attracted a fraction of the spending. It starts in Boston and cuts through traditionally working-class towns down the highway, such as Quincy. Lynch faced two challengers in 2018, and they won a third of the Boston vote, but he dominated elsewhere. Challenger Robbie Goldstein has outspent Lynch on the air and has bet that informing reliable Democratic voters that their congressman opposed the Affordable Care Act and the legalization of marijuana can change the dynamics. “He doesn't have friends in Washington,” Goldstein said of Lynch. “So they're not coming in on their horses to save him in the last days of this election.” None of these races are expected to be competitive in November, and Republicans are not even contesting the races in the 1st and 8th districts. Ad watch *Jake Auchincloss, **“Lead in Crisis.”* <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/2b51195/5f4eb9b09…> The Democratic congressional candidate's campaign has heavily emphasized his military service, branding him as the candidate who can work best with anybody — a strategic choice in a Democratic primary that independents get to vote in. “The Marines train you to lead in crisis,” he says here. “I'm running for Congress because we're in a crisis of Donald Trump's making.” *Justice Democrats, **“Morse.”* <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/2b51196/5f4eb9b09…> The final ad that the left-leaning group may run this year, this casts the primary between Rep. Richard E. Neal and Alex Morse as a chance to remove an outsider and make “health care a human right.” The ad's language shows just how much the left's political tactics have evolved across two years of primary challenges: always focused on the working class, but with messaging that translates the rhetoric of street organizing (“a better world is possible”) without buzzwords. *Tom Cotton, **“Liberal mob grows more violent.”* <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/2b51197/5f4eb9b09…> For the third time, the senator from Arkansas has used his reelection fund to buy ads attacking Joe Biden in a swing state, this time in Minnesota and Wisconsin. (His lone Democratic challenger pulled out of the race because of a late-breaking scandal, giving Cotton no challenger this year.) This follows the themes of recent Trump campaign messaging but goes even further, warning that “the liberal mob” is “coming for your homes” and insisting that Democrats would unleash violent protesters if the president isn't reelected. You are reading The Trailer, the newsletter that brings the campaign trail to your inbox. Sign up now <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/1e185d8/5f4eb9b09…> Poll watch It's the question more and more people are asking: Where are the polling updates in this newsletter? The true and unexciting answer is that no polls have been released since the Republican National Convention that meet the standards of The Washington Post. That leaves out some national tracking polls that get a lot of coverage elsewhere, such as the rolling Morning Consult poll or the USC Dornsife-Los Angeles Times poll. When will we know the effects of the conventions, and the rest of this unsettling news cycle? Sometime this week. Averages of national polls found the president trailing Joe Biden by seven to nine points ahead of the conventions, and no president has been reelected who did not lead in the polls in the week after his acceptance speech. Past isn't prologue, and Democrats will freely, nervously admit that the president could win 270 electoral votes again even if he loses the popular vote decisively. Any lead for Trump would be the first since Biden became the nominee. So we'll soon be looking closer at movement in state polls. The first reactions to the unrest in Kenosha were colored not by any new data, but by an Aug. 11 poll <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/2af2dc3/5f4eb9b09…>from Marquette Law School that showed public support for the Black Lives Matter movement falling from a clear majority to 50-50, as Republicans soured again on BLM activism. Private data has found Republicans generally doing better at the end of August than they did one month earlier. But it's not clear yet what happened because of the usual convention bounce, and what trends from earlier in the year may be reversed. Candidate tracker The first half of this week was dominated by the events in Kenosha, Wis., with *President Trump* visiting the city to survey damage and talk to law enforcement and *Joe Biden *delivering a speech in Pittsburgh to link the president to rising crime and unrest. “I want to be clear about this: Rioting is not protesting,” Biden said. “Looting is not protesting. Setting fires is not protesting. None of this is protesting. It’s lawlessness, plain and simple. And those who do it should be prosecuted. Violence will not bring change, only destruction. It's wrong in every way.” It was the second set of public remarks Biden had made that condemned violence while defending the right to protest, and it ended a somewhat surreal news cycle for the campaign, where Biden's decision not to mention violence at the Democratic convention was touted, by Republicans, as evidence that was not condemning radicals on the left. Biden is approaching the issue differently from how he did in the 1990s but similarly to how he did in the Obama administration: arguing that racial reconciliation and criminal justice restructuring would lead to healing. Trump derided the speech and went to Kenosha on Tuesday, briefly surveying damage from the looting and getting a report on the safety situation. (Protests in the city since Wednesday have been peaceful.) Before that, he gave an interview to Fox News host Laura Ingraham where his law-and-order focus sometimes careened into conspiracy theory, as when he suggested that antifa rioters had been seen arriving in airports. “We had somebody get on a plane from a certain city this weekend, and in the plane it was almost completely loaded with thugs, wearing these dark uniforms,” Trump said. Biden's Pittsburgh trip, which included a stop to deliver pizzas to firefighters and a local news interview, was planned in a hurry ahead of a more intentional campaign strategy: to get him out into swing states next week. Trump would return to Pennsylvania on Thursday, with a stop in Latrobe, while *Vice President Pence* is in the Scranton area today. *Kamala D. Harris *called <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/2b51198/5f4eb9b09…> into an online voting telethon on Monday and is also expected to head back onto the trail. Countdown … three days until North Carolina begins sending out absentee ballots … seven days until primaries in New Hampshire and Rhode Island … 14 days until the Delaware primary … 19 days until early voting begins (in Minnesota) … 28 days until the first presidential debate … 63 days until the general election <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/1e18752/5f4eb9b09…> We think you’ll like this newsletter <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/1e18752/5f4eb9b09…> Check out The Daily 202 for for PowerPost's must-read morning briefing for decision-makers, by national political correspondent James Hohmann, every Monday through Friday. <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/1e18752/5f4eb9b09…> Sign up » <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/1e18752/5f4eb9b09…> [image: The Washington Post] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/1d202ce/5f4eb9b09…> Manage my email newsletters and alerts <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/1d202ef/5f4eb9b09…> | Unsubscribe from The Trailer <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/wp-unsubscribe/un…> | Privacy Policy <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/1d202f0/5f4eb9b09…> | Help <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://s2.washingtonpost.com/1d202f1/5f4eb9b09…> You received this email because you signed up for The Trailer or because it is included in your subscription. ©2020 The Washington Post | 1301 K St NW, Washington DC 20071

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