# Super Tuesday Primary Discussion **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 1, 2020, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741 "2020-03-01T05:33:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/221 "2020-03-04T10:43:02Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > I realize that Biden is a moderate and that he may SEEM like a “safe bet” to someone like you who’s a centrist. And I don’t consider the word “centrist” to be an insult, unlike so many other people. But I look at Biden and all I can see, and hear, is a man whose faculties are in decline. I do consider ‘centrist’ to be, well, at least _more_ of an insult than ‘moderate’. ‘Centrist’ implies a naivete about a nonexistent concord between the two sides that, if it ever existed, has been impossible since 2008. Biden cannot work with someone who doesn’t want to work with him. I think that would be his biggest flaw as a President (as opposed to a candidate): like Obama, he will shift what he is asking for to the right, and will still be refused, and will get a ludicrous charge of ‘why won’t he even negotiate with us?’ in the bargain. These days, we need someone who will recognize this situation for what it is and fight for achievable progress. We don’t need a ‘centrist’, we need a ‘radical moderate’. The time for cooperation with the swamp creatures is over, but the solution doesn’t _have_ to be huge wealth taxes and elimination of private insurance, although that would of course be preferable to the elimination of democracy. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/222 "2020-03-04T11:22:26Z")
Maine @ 12:22 EST is 33.9 Biden, 32.9 Sanders, 91% reporting. Shit that’s close. I voted in CA around 10 hours ago. We’ll have our result in July. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/223 "2020-03-04T12:24:37Z")
> [@Unreconstructed\_Man](#): > > Bernie’s supporters are energetic, highly motivated Just not quite energetic and motivated enough to schlep their butts to the polls yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/224 "2020-03-04T12:39:35Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > I don’t give a fuck what you CALL his position. I believe it’s the morally correct position. And I think it’d be possible to sell it to America with the right marketing, just like any other goddamn thing on God’s earth. > > I started out as a libertarian. Sanders successfully sold me on his ideas. I say “his ideas” because they’re more than “SOCIALISM.” The rapacious healthcare and insurance industries need to be smacked down. That’s more important to me than anything else, and he’s the only one who’s going to get it done. But YOU. ARE. NOT. THE. PERSON. WE. MUST. CONVINCE. TO. NOT. VOTE. FOR. TRUMP. I am not that person either. I live in a small Wisconsin city. So, as it happens, there are twenty people living on my block (of seventy people total) who ARE that person. That’s unusual. Not many Dopers live close to such a high proportion of the ONLY. VOTERS. THAT. MATTER. when you or I choose between Bernie and Joe during our primary or caucus. I don’t care what YOU want. I don’t care what I want. I only care what THEY want. Because, if Trump is re-elected, I won’t know what to say to my child, and the world will be measurably worse for millions of people deep into the future. (I agree with you that Biden’s declining faculties scare me, both in how he would perform as a candidate, and as president. But it’s what we’re stuck with now). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/225 "2020-03-04T12:49:19Z")
UnreconstructedMan, I agreed with your earlier list of how Biden is weak and flawed. But your more recent post is just wrong. The “socialist” label really does matter to the twenty people in MY neighborhood (not in yours — correct me if you DO live in a particular swath of Wisconsin, Michigan, or Pennsylvania) who are the ONLY. VOTERS. THAT. MATTER. Only five of those seventy will vote for someone labeled a “socialist,” but forty of them will vote for Biden. That’s the ONLY statistic that matters. MY neighbors, and the neighbors of a few other Dopers. Get over yourselves, people! ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/226 "2020-03-04T12:56:17Z")
Wrong thread ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/227 "2020-03-04T12:59:14Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > 1. He’s not Trump. > 2. He will follow the rule of law. > 3. He will follow the Constitution. > 4. He will nominate moderate judges (and not nominate wacko right wing ideologue judges) > 5. He will protect and expand Obamacare - flawed though it may be is much better than what existed before and expanded coverage. > 6. He will allow asylum seekers and immigrants to go through the normal process. > 7. He won’t put immigrants in cages. > 8. He will put competent people in positions of power > 9. He will try to increase taxes for the rich and keep taxation moderate for everyone else > 10. He will protect the LGBTQ community. > 11. Probably a lot of other shit. > > I’d rather have 10-15 issues that are achieveable than 3 “signatures” that don’t have shit chance of passing. You forgot “he will prioritize maintaining an arcane Senate tradition over passing badly needed legislation.” Of course, the same is true of Bernie. ☹ Giant meteor, take me now. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/228 "2020-03-04T13:00:23Z")
Correction: My second post should read “seventy votes in my neighborhood,” not twenty. I’m thinking a three-block area. I can give you names, if you don’t believe me, of who: 1. Voted for Trump, 2. Will vote for Biden, 3. Will not vote for a Socialist like Bernie, and 4. REALLY WILL VOTE. I’m not saying I’m special because of any reason other than where I happen to live at this time. I happen to have neighbors whose votes matter, and most of you do not. It sucks. I hate this system as much as anyone. But these are the FACTS. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/229 "2020-03-04T13:22:05Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Just not quite energetic and motivated enough to schlep their butts to the polls yesterday. As I had posited before, yesterday would be a test of one of the main pillars of the Sanders theory of electability, that he excites unlikely voters to show up. If they did Sanders would have won Texas by a huge margin, and had overall a very good night. Instead it seems turnout _was_ up, but in the demographics that do not lean Sanders’ way, both by race/ethnicity and age, same as in the other primaries to date. That pillar of Sanders’ electability is pretty much falsified. Bloomberg appears to be flirting near the edge of viability in California. If he ends up below that could make _some_ positive news for Team Sanders. Of course we may wait a while before we know. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/230 "2020-03-04T13:32:33Z")
POLITICO put it even more starkly, saying Biden “made a mockery of [Bernie’s] main argument for his campaign”. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/231 "2020-03-04T13:33:26Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > That pillar of Sanders’ electability is pretty much falsified. This is the main result for me. I was fully willing to listen to the argument that the party had passed my centrist positions by, and that the new wave of voters would carry Bernie to victory both in the primary and in November. But they didn’t show up. The old-school voters did. Does Biden’s age, some of his past gaffes, and the high possibility of him making new ones scare me? Of course it does. I think if he wins the nomination he goes into the general election at least as a 40/60 underdog. But I think yesterday should have made it clear that in states that are likely in play (WI, MI, PA, NC, possibly FL) Biden has a stronger chance at beating Trump than Sanders because there is a very large group of voters (like the ones that **JKellyMap** talks about) that really want to vote out Trump, and will drag themselves to polling stations to do it, but that will not vote for Bernie Sanders. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/232 "2020-03-04T13:36:56Z")
> [@Unreconstructed\_Man](#): > > I’m sorry, but this strikes me as being just more of the same paternalistic liberal out of touch fear mongering we got with Obama and Buttigieg. “Of course, _I’d_ vote for a black man. But what about _them_? The shoeless rubes in tornado alley…sorry, ‘Real America’ aren’t evolved enough to do that. Best play it safe and go with Hillary”. “Of course, _I’d_ vote for a gay candidate. But if you think a gay POTUS and his First Gentleman will play in Peoria then you’ve got another think coming, bucko! Best play it safe and nominate Biden. ‘Real America’ isn’t ready for anyone else”. “Of course, _I’d_ vote for a Democratic Socialist, but…etc” > > Middle-class liberals, I _implore_ you. Stop trying to guess what ‘Real America’ wants. You’re objectively terrible at it. You always get it wrong. > > This is the problem with Democrats. About half of them are regular people who just want a candidate who’ll work for them. The other half are effete liberals, untouched by economic anxiety, who think they’re way smarter than they are, and who pick their candidates based on what _they think_ the rest of the country will accept. But they look down their noses at the rest of the country so they always get it wrong. > > Your post is a prime example. You genuinely seem to believe that half your countrymen are basically Pavlovian dogs who’ll piss themselves every time they hear the word ‘Socialism’. They won’t try to understand what Bernie’s selling, even though many of them need it, because they’re just too stupid. They’ll hear the word ‘Socialism’ and just shut down like 60 million broken computers. They’re so hypnotised by those four magic syllables that all the arguments for M4A, student debt relief, and Wall Street reform - all of which enjoy broad bipartisan support - will simply bounce off them. There are no words for how condescending that is. > > Tell you what, re-read your post and replace every incidence of the word ‘Socialism’ with the words ‘WASHINGTON INSIDER’. Then you’ll have a more-or-less accurate summary of what actually happened in 2016. And now, thanks in large part to the attitudes of people like you, the Democrats are poised to nominate not just _another_ Washington Insider, but a Washington Insider who is clearly losing his damn mind on live TV. Did you see his victory speech last night? He got his wife confused with his sister, and then promised an actual cure for cancer. It was pitiful. Trump’s going to flatten him. > > Sorry for the rant, but it’s so plain to me that Democrats haven’t learn the lessons of 2016 and I’m truly worried that you’ve just bought the world another four years of Trump. This is just Democratic bed wetting. OMG, if we don’t pick a genuine revolutionary candidate, Trump will win again. If anybody needs to have learned a lesson here it’s the revolutionaries who turned their noses up at HRC and stayed home because the smart lady in the pant suit was too establishment for them. That’s how we got Trump. Also, numbers indicate that the “revolutionaries” talk a big game but stay home more than the more moderates. So maybe they need to actually vote more than they whine. Keep in mind that about half of the electorate that votes (63M at last count) did not have a socialist boogieman to fear and they still voted for Trump. Perhaps (we can hope) some of them have a bad taste in their mouth 4 years later. Perhaps they will consider voting for a traditional moderate Democrat like Biden who doesn’t scare the bejeezus out of them. Perhaps they will just stay home. But they are less likely to do that if they think OMGSOCIALISTSARECOMING! ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/233 "2020-03-04T13:43:36Z")
Did it turn out that the Democratic Party is like what Churchill thought of the United States in general? Always does the right thing after exhausting every other possible alternative? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/234 "2020-03-04T13:43:55Z")
An interesting sidelight: > [@](#): > > [Dow futures jump 700 points as Biden scored big wins on Super Tuesday](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/03/04/dow-markets-biden-super-tuesday-coronavirus/4950498002/) ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/235 "2020-03-04T13:46:01Z")
So maybe some of the previous plunge was not just coronavirus but fears of Bernie. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/236 "2020-03-04T13:48:55Z")
I’ve been following politics since the 1960s and this has been the most remarkable 3 days that I can ever remember. Everybody was ready to embalm Biden and put him in the ground. Now I dare say he is the prohibitive leader and odds on favorite for the nomination. All without spending much money and winning three states with a total of one field office between them. A lot of it was Clyburn’s endorsement, a lot of it was the well timed exits of Klobuchar and Buttigieg. But I think most of it was the Democratic electorate suddenly coming to the realization that they were in serious danger of nominating a self-described socialist. We may agree with a lot of what Sanders wants to do, but I’ll be damned if I want to saddle every downballot Democrat with a socialist at the head of the ticket. I don’t care if Biden makes verbal missteps. I do care that he comes across as an authentic caring person. I like some of what Sanders proposes, but he comes across as an angry old coot who can’t work with anyone. Last night he seemed bitter and frustrated. Time for him to pack it in. He will not be president this time, he will never be president. One bit of schadenfreude: Cenk Uygur won’t make the cut in his run for a House seat. If you ever watch The Young Turks, they’re become unwatchable shills for Sanders. Nice to see them cry in their beers today. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/237 "2020-03-04T13:49:53Z")
**Unreconstructed Man** is not American. His thoughts on how Americans think, what they want, or what they need are a mix of idle speculation and wild assed guess. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/238 "2020-03-04T13:51:57Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Just not quite energetic and motivated enough to schlep their butts to the polls yesterday. > **[Many young voters sat out Super Tuesday, contributing to Bernie Sanders' losses](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/03/04/super-tuesday-bernie-sanders-youth-votes-fell-short-compared-2016/4947795002/)** > > Exit polls for Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia found young voters aren't showing up at the polls as much as 2016. Young voters didn’t show up which really bites into Sanders electability argument. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/239 "2020-03-04T13:54:26Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > So maybe some of the previous plunge was not just coronavirus but fears of Bernie. If you mean “fears of Bernie becoming President”, the timing doesn’t fit that theory – Bernie was perceived as the frontrunner well before last week’s Trump Slump, which was clearly triggered by Schuck l’Orange’s headless-chicken response to the news that coronavirus was definitely going pandemic. If you mean “fears of Bernie getting the nomination and going down in flames”, that might be true. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/240 "2020-03-04T13:59:33Z")
At least Bloomberg didn’t win very many delegates, which is nice. Shows you can’t just walk in and buy the election. Hopefully Bloomberg drops out and throws his wealth behind Biden now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741.md?page=13)