Pick one of these 2 contenders:
Kirsten Gillibrand has the lowest voted with Trump total of any of the announced Democratic Congressional candidates. She voted with Trump 12.4% of the time. Compare to Klobuchar who stands with Trump 31.5% of the time. Buttigieg, of course, has no track record.
Everyone stop bitching about the seedings. No one’s forcing you to vote.
Let it be a fun distraction during the doldrums. We could do one every quarter or so until things get serious in January.
Senator beats mayor of a mid-sized city. This one’s as simple as that.
Buttigieg. Gilibrand can’t be forgiven for the knifing of Franken.
I’m with you on this, plus I like Buttugieg (pronounced Boot -a -judge)
If the Democrats are going to run as the moral party (and I’m all for that), then Franken had to go. Sorry to see it, but there it was.
And he was replaced by another Democrat (who I believe who election in her own right?), so not that big a loss.
Ditto, and I’m a NYer; frankly (no pun intended) I wasn’t a big fan of hers even before she opportunistically targeted the guy she saw as competition.
So Gillibrand gets my vote only after you pry my copy of Lying Liars out of my cold dead hands. (Um… and since I’m presumably dead in this scenario, I wouldn’t really be able to vote, so… um, yeah, okay, so it’s kind of a bad analogy. You get the drift.)
TL;DR: Screw her.
Edited to add: Franken deserved an investigation, just as he asked for. But no, that wasn’t enough for us, because we can’t help circular firing squads to virtue signal.
Sorry to double-post but I only just noticed the last line here.
Wow is that ever a debatable point! Franken is a HUGE loss to the Senate. He was consistently the sharpest, most determined questioner on various hearings. The guy knew his shit and wouldn’t let up on the Republicans’ mendacity, willing and able to go toe-to-toe with those across the aisle… and yet, he was also able to work with certain GOP politicians too. If he weren’t so valuable in the Senate, I would’ve wanted him to run for president. (Oh God, the debates he’d have had with Trump! Franken is so quick-witted and able to discuss weighty topics in understandable language… it would’ve been deliciously brutal.)
It was very, very clear he used his idol, Paul Wellstone, as a guide, though Franken was modest enough not to want to be compared to Wellstone. His replacement is decent (like most Minnesota liberals) but Franken’s shoes aren’t close to being filled.
Anyway, back to the OP: as I said, Gilibrand hasn’t impressed me as one of my senators, so I’m hoping Pete gets the nod in this round, although that’s dubious considering he’s really an unknown quantity.
I have really warmed up to KG these last two years. She may not be the natural leader of the party, but I think she makes a lot of sense as President. A big part of this is her willingness to just admit she’s been wrong and change positions. Presidents need to be adaptable.
Buttigieg doesn’t have the national experience yet.
I lost a great deal of respect for Gillibrand with her handling of the Franken issue, but even if I hadn’t, I am really liking Pete so far.
He gets my vote.
Pete was just interviewed on PBS NewsHour…nailed it; I thought it was flawless. Other than his youth and inexperience there isn’t much not to like about him.
I haven’t really been payy attention to Pete, but I heard some clips of him from a town hall on the Don’t Worry About the Government podcast, and the dude is a really exceptional public speaker. He seems to be in his element just answering questions from people in Iowa. He could really end up surprising people.
Maybe not an ideal choice for president, but as a a running mate for one of the female candidates he’d be a slamdunk. And imagine the VP debate… Two hoosiers… one gay, and one very anti-gay… one representing the future, and one the past. It would be a memorable event, at least.
Also, just want to add that Gillibrand has the squeeky voice of a 13-year-old girl. If you think Americans would elect a woman with that voice to be Commander in Chief… well then I dunno, I guess I applaud your optimism.
Came here to post about this.
It’s crushingly too bad that he’s such a compete and total nano-blip on the horizon, because after taking the seven minutes to check out the Judy Woodruff i-view I have come away so utterly, so officially, convinced that this guy would make {{{ uh, yeah, BY FAR }}} the best Democratic Presidential Candidate for 2020.
By a long-shot.
He covers the common party platforms like concern over the tax rates of the very wealthy compared to the rest of us; emphasizing climate and cyber security over президент Trump’s trumped-up border crisis; pointing out the stupidity of a misguidedly declared national emergency; and other concerns, in a way that was more straight-forward and comprehensively explained than any other democratic candidate, so far.
Just from this one, single i-view, alone, I would heartily wager that in a debate, despite his non-flashy demeanor, he would trounce, um, anyone.
Yes.
Anyone.
(I challenge anyone to name me anyone who could challenge him in a debate.)
He’s COMPLETELY without affectation, which is nice for a change, optically, what with too many vaguely melodramatic, sometimes-hard-to-look-at contenders already in the running.
And being from the mid-west, if he became a candidate, I think that would be an unquestionable boon for the D’s.
This guy REALLY REALLY needs some kind of media blast: the sooner people get an idea of who he is, it’ll be wildfire: Ima not gonna go with the lay-down-and-play-dead call that his currently miniscule profile will get him nowhere in the next year.
Definitely Gillibrand. I like Buttigieg, and it sucks that as a Democrat in Indiana, he might not really have any other path to greater service, but I’m not convinced that the mayor of a not-that-big city should really parachute into the White House. And even though I liked Al Franken, she and her colleagues did the right thing.
OK, so he goes nowhere this year, but builds up some name recognition from his abortive run, uses that to build up a run for senator, governor, or at least representative, and then, from there, runs for President in, say, 2028. That’s a realistic career path.
Just because Buttigieg completely lacks any senate or gubernatorial experience should not, at all, detract from the possibility that outliers can succeed, especially if we’re dealing with someone as sharp, coherent, forthright, and statesmanlike as he is.
Sure, he’s the darkest of the dark horses, but I think it would be gravely unfortunate if he isn’t ABSOLUTELY CATAPULTED into the race, and, like, NOW.
(Goddamit Al why did you have to screw up like you did. You were our best chance.)
Do you think “runs for VP in 2020” is realistic?
Yes, because nobody can ever run for VP. If you mean that the eventual Democratic nominee chooses him as their running mate, well, that’s possible, but still not very realistic, given all the other more-qualified people they could choose instead.