I don’t see anything gained by doing so right now. Granted, I don’t see any real harm, either, as the Trump Republicans will still go after Clinton anyways, and may not even believe her. But I don’t think it matters at this point. All that matters is that they aren’t running when the campaigns actually get started.
I was hoping to be convinced otherwise, but I don’t really see anything in this thread indicating so. And, if dalej42 is correct, one of them has already bowed out anyways.
Biden may be filling that role, sure. But he’s also keeping his options open for a run. He’d be a fool not to at this point. With the prospect of him running he has to have a seat at the table. Without that he’s one more retired politician that no one has to pay attention to.
Ditto for Sanders, of course. He built this group - my youngest brother is quite the annoying advocate - but should he surrender leadership of it he loses control and relevance. I don’t know if Sanders has the stones to do so or an heir apparent.
I think Biden and Warren should also. We need someone younger and with less baggage.
Don’t be fooled, however, into thinking that a fresh face with less baggage wouldn’t be subject to “instant smear” by the GOP propaganda machine.
If Biden can appeal to working class whites while still being progressive enough to energize the democratic base, that’d be fine.
On the issues though, is Biden someone who will actually fight for reforms like higher taxes on the rich, expanded public health care, medical transparency, rule of law, etc?
I agree, and it’s not because I have anything against either one of them in comparison with the creature that now inhabits the White House. It’s just that the Democratic Party desperately needs some fresh leadership.
I realize they will attempt anything they can, but it will not be as effective as it would with Clinton, Warren or Biden. And Bernie’s got his wife’s troubles to contend with.
Fresh leadership, more youthful than 70+, energetic, and less baggage.
You mean the GOP/NeoSoviet propaganda machine.
I’d like Bernie to rule out a run. He’s going to turn 79 before the next election. Plus you’d have his face next to the hammer and sickle on every Republican ad.
Warren would be acceptable to me, but it isn’t about who’s acceptable to me, it’s who is acceptable to the electorate. Kamala Harris, Corey Booker, Biden, O’Malley, Warner… they could all win. I’m not sure about Warren. She, too, was born to be the voice of liberal America in the Senate.
I find Booker to be the most politically viable, by far.
He will get black people to the polls. He can speak authoritatively and articulately and he could stand up to Trump’s bluster in a debate without sounding weak.
His VP pick will matter a lot. In my opinion, it should be a veteran, from the Midwest, with the absolute minimum amount of "SJW"ism possible. The VP should be someone the Rust Belt voters would want to go fishing with. Booker will be the guy who can explain why Trump is fucking us over.
I think a lot of white voters will see Booker or Harris as “imitation Obama;” that might be enough to beat Trump on a November day, but I don’t think either of them really have much credibility as party leaders past that. Martin “mass arrests” O’Malley will never get through the primaries.
I don’t know that there is a unifying Democratic candidate. Hillary may have thought she was, but she was catastrophically wrong.
I have a feeling Bernie won’t unless he is convinced there is someone else (a) who is electable, and (b) who will stand up for all of the things he supports, right down to the 0.3% load on stock-based 401(k)s - er, uh, the 0.3% “speculation tax” on all stock trades.
It also remains to be seen what the youth vote does, especially now as they have a more pressing reason to turn out in June - to elect gun control candidates. For that matter, get enough progressives into both houses of Congress, and it doesn’t really matter who the Democrats nominate, unless a Democrat elected President would be willing to veto a progressive budget.
Speaking of youth vote, there’s another wild card; how many Republicans in high schools now (yes, they exist, and not just in red states) will become active and support a candidate besides Trump for the Republican nomination?
Face it, Clinton, Sanders, and Biden are just too damned old.
I thought you guys should have let Warren run in 2016. IMHO, she’d have won, considering a good chunk of the GOP turnout was anti-Clinton, not pro-Trump. Now? She’ll be 70 in 2020. Is that too old, given what we’ve seen with Trump?
I think y’all are going to end up running Harris, and given the woman is to the left of Feinstein, I don’t think it’ll go well for you. Booker and Castro are interesting, albeit probably in the same camp as Harris, politically.
Oprah frankly scares the crap out of me as a candidate. Absent some meltdown in a debate, or a graveyard’s worth of skeletons in her house, I think she crushes Trump. To boot, and I’m too lazy to look it up, I’m guessing her commercial empire probably is more profitable than Trump’s. Can’t complain about a lack of political experience, and not having strong known political views is probably a plus in this day and age.
A dark horse, assuming the Democratic Party still runs white guys for President, is Hickenlooper from CO. By 2020, he’ll be term limited out of the Governor’s seat, and the former Mayor of Denver, he at least has Executive Branch experience. Plenty of cross-aisle appeal. Similarly, I can see maybe Mark Dayton tossing his hat in the ring?
Trump’s vulnerable, even with the improved economy. (Hell, he only won by less than a 100k votes in three states. Or, basically because the Dems a la 2000, couldn’t keep their third parties in line. Give Stein’s votes to Hillary, and Clinton wins.) Plus, Florida just gained itself a huge chunk of new voters from Puerto Rico, and I doubt that they’re either moving back to PR, or voting Republican.
Still way early for handicapping, of course. (But not for fund-raising!)
Trump is vulnerable in the general, but not in the primary. No one will be able to overcome his overwhelmingly Republican base, who will believe anything he says. Of course, that’s barring a meltdown of proportions enough to beggar the multiple scandals that are already in the offing which would have disqualified anyone else. And even in that case it’s doubtful.
Warren is too far to the left.
I won’t vote for any SF politician, they are all corrupt. Newsome also defines the word “smarmy”.
So very true.
Well, sure. My job as a substitute teacher is more profitable than Trump’s empire. Any positive number is greater than any negative number. But you’re engaging in projection: Just because the Republicans are dumb enough to run Trump doesn’t mean that Democrats are dumb enough to run Oprah.
I think he’s more of a favorite than a dark horse, and his time as mayor is hardly relevant when judging his executive experience, given that he’s currently governor.
Agreed on Hickenlooper. The idea that Warren could win just gets a head shake form me. The Democrats have to stop running liberals from Massachusetts. That hasn’t worked since 1960. Midwest or South is the way to go for them. Does no one learn from the last 5 decades?
Warren is my senator and I’m happy with her in that role, but I don’t want her to run for President. Besides all the Republican smears she’ll face, there’s this: To those who agree with her, her impassioned speeches are right on, yeh! But to a neutral observer there’s a school-marmish scolding vibe to them that I fear would be offputting to a significant fraction of the squishy middle the Democrats need to win over. That kind of superficiality shouldn’t matter, but I’m afraid it does; add that on top of the Eastern elite egghead image (never mind the Oklahoma origins) and the fraction of the electorate that simply will not accept a woman as President, and I think she’d face significant hurdles.
first of all, there is no such thing as a neutral observer - women with any kind of power are going to be seen as shrill or whatever when our society doesn’t value women in positions of power.
we are clearly a deeply racist country and yet we managed to elect a man who was Not White - I’ll bet we could also elect a woman.
you know, assuming our votes all get counted. :mad: