# 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:** 13
**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, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/241 "2020-03-04T14:15:24Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > 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. Way back when Biden announced his intention to run, I said, “Biden may not be the president we want, but he’s the president we need”. I then counted him out multiple times and thought that Mayor Pete was the best candidate in the field. An while I am in support of virtually every Sanders platform policy, I am realistic about what can be actually achieved and by whom. Warren, IMO, had a far better chance of accomplishing that which Sanders cannot. But she too is about to pass the torch, to Biden, I hope. > [@BobLibDem](#): > > 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. Good. Fuck that overgrown frat boy. ---
**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, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/242 "2020-03-04T14:20:10Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Roy Moore didn’t make it out of the Republican primary for Senate in Alabama. He was very disappointed by his single-digit percentage of the vote – he’d really hoped he’d be able to get into the teens. ---
**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, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/243 "2020-03-04T14:35:36Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > He was very disappointed by his single-digit percentage of the vote – he’d really hoped he’d be able to get into the teens. But no more than 14, 15% tops. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/244 "2020-03-04T14:39:51Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > He was very disappointed by his single-digit percentage of the vote – he’d really hoped he’d be able to get into the teens. **golf clap** ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/245 "2020-03-04T14:39:57Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > He was very disappointed by his single-digit percentage of the vote – he’d really hoped he’d be able to get into the teens. Ha! Good one! ---
**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, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/246 "2020-03-04T14:40:13Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > 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). I understand what you’re saying, but winning over swing voters is not the only path to victory. Getting black turnout, latino turnout, single mother turnout, youth turnout, etc. up will also allow the democrats to win the northern midwest states. However, how to do that, I don’t know. My worry is Biden will be a terrible campaigner. Maybe he needs to stay off the stage and just let Bloomberg spend a billion dollars buying mailers for him. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/247 "2020-03-04T15:05:47Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > In other news, Jill Biden is impressively fierce–but where is the Bidens’ security detail? What security detail? VPs receive Secret Service protection for 6 months after leaving office. It can be extended if there is a specific reason. There wasn’t and it wasn’t. Major presidential candidates do receive protection 120 days before the general election unless the turn it down. We are not there yet. Protection can be extended to presidential candidates before that. Biden would seem to fit the usual factors considered. Campaigns have to request protection though. Some request it. Some don’t, for a reason. Having a heavily armed, highly trained, professional paranoid with a wire growing out of their ear hovering nearby can make retail level politics difficult. Biden does not currently have a government provided security detail. ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/248 "2020-03-04T15:18:45Z")
Just heard on MSNBC that Bloomberg is ending his run and endorsing Biden. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/249 "2020-03-04T15:44:53Z")
> [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](#): > > Don’t give me that crap about Biden’s verbal gaffes and incoherence making a damned bit of difference after W and Trump. It sure as hell didn['t hurt either of them and we can go back to second term Reagan for that matter who was already suffering from alzheimers. You can make bold statements but current history doesn’t jive with your position. It makes less difference now. But the fact Biden has lost more than a step mentally at the best makes it harder to press that issue against Trump. At worst he could show up a lot less on the ball _than Trump_ later in the campaign or debates as he tires. Among the things Trump has in his favor, and people who want to defeat him should not ignore his strengths, is that he just doesn’t GAS on the same level a lot of politicians do. Besides his vanity wrt ‘people who say nasty things about me’, that is. He’s basically happy and relaxed watching lots of TV in the WH. And he loves riffing in front of the big crowds he draws everywhere he chooses to go (places where he wouldn’t draw them…he wouldn’t go). The campaign is not very tiring and stressful for Trump IMO, just as the idea the responsibilities of the WH would make him melt down turned out a misguided notion. For Biden OTOH the campaign is obviously hard work for an already tired old man. And that could show up even more starkly later in the campaign. That said I believe Trump would rather run against Sanders than Biden. Although he’s not necessarily right. Anyway there’s no law saying anyone has to support any candidate just based on uncertain (they almost always are) assessments of his or her electability. ---
**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, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/250 "2020-03-04T15:52:07Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > He was very disappointed by his single-digit percentage of the vote – he’d really hoped he’d be able to get into the teens. Thread winner! ---
**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, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/251 "2020-03-04T15:56:32Z")
Bloomberg out, Warren discussing her future. The writing is on the wall. This is now a two man race. Bernie’s 30% share of the vote looks great when there’s 5-10 people in the race, not so much when it’s only two. He’s great at firing up people who aren’t voting in the primaries and won’t vote in November. Time to unite behind Biden and save the rest of our gunpowder for November. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/252 "2020-03-04T16:02:56Z")
Great. Not only have we shot ourselves in the head, we’re congratulating ourselves for getting it on the first try. :smack: Trump is going to get on the debate stage and have Biden for lunch, steak sauce provided by the press. I hope to God I’m wrong but I don’t think so. ---
**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, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/253 "2020-03-04T16:09:54Z")
I think you’re giving Donnie Two Scoops way too much credit. Biden’s performances have improved over the course of this campaign. Honestly, does anyone vote based on debate performance? We vote our tribes. ---
**Author:** ![BorgHunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@BorgHunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorgHunter)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/254 "2020-03-04T16:10:25Z")
> [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](#): > > He had disappointed me at the beginning of the race so I was going with my second choice which was Warren but the foot is on the other hand now as she’s flamed out and he’s risen. Running a campaign is no different than riding a bicycle, it’s just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes. I’m in a similar boat in that I think both Bernie and Biden are seriously flawed and I’m not crazy about either. Warren is the “just right” to Bernie’s too hot and Biden’s too cold. But she’s probably going to drop out before my mail-in ballot even arrives, so, I get to hold my nose and vote for somebody I don’t fully believe in. So just like 2016, I guess. Hope the general goes different this time. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/255 "2020-03-04T16:17:28Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > … > I don’t care if Biden makes verbal missteps. I do care that he comes across as an authentic caring person. … This. It won’t take a “revolutionary” to beat trump. It will take a decent, normal, principled human being with a heart, a brain, and courage. THAT’s what’s been missing from the White House! Some of you are old enough to remember the sigh of relief that swept over the country when Gerald Ford took over from Nixon. Ford wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box, he wasn’t a revolutionary, or an intellectual. (After all, he did try to eat the corn husk on a tamale when he visited Texas one time. :smack: The joke of the day was, “What kind of birth control does Betty Ford use?” “She gives Gerry a stick of gum before they go to bed.” If you need that explained, I’ll explain it.) But he was a decent, normal guy, not a scheming, tortured psycho. And he was savvy in the ways of Congress-- very important and something Biden shares. The country doesn’t need more change RIGHT NOW-- we need a return to normalcy, a return to faith in the government. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/256 "2020-03-04T16:17:40Z")
Two old white guys vs. one old orange guy. Jeez, what a country we have. ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/257 "2020-03-04T16:38:20Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > It makes less difference now. But the fact Biden has lost more than a step mentally at the best makes it harder to press that issue against Trump. At worst he could show up a lot less on the ball _than Trump_ later in the campaign or debates as he tires. > > Among the things Trump has in his favor, and people who want to defeat him should not ignore his strengths, is that he just doesn’t GAS on the same level a lot of politicians do. Besides his vanity wrt ‘people who say nasty things about me’, that is. He’s basically happy and relaxed watching lots of TV in the WH. And he loves riffing in front of the big crowds he draws everywhere he chooses to go (places where he wouldn’t draw them…he wouldn’t go). The campaign is not very tiring and stressful for Trump IMO, just as the idea the responsibilities of the WH would make him melt down turned out a misguided notion. For Biden OTOH the campaign is obviously hard work for an already tired old man. And that could show up even more starkly later in the campaign. > > That said I believe Trump would rather run against Sanders than Biden. Although he’s not necessarily right. Anyway there’s no law saying anyone has to support any candidate just based on uncertain (they almost always are) assessments of his or her electability. I can respect this take but I don’t necessarily believe it. It presumes that the massive turnout that showed up yesterday for a primary is going to not show up to stop Trump but did to stop Bernie. At best the Bernie supporters don’t vote but contrast that with the majority of the never Bernies who showed up yesterday not voting and either way if these groups either one don’t vote in mass the country’s screwed either way. In that scenario though Biden does give us the better chance to win because I believe that there are more never Trumpers who could vote for a Biden but not a Bernie than there are Trump Basers who would peel off to support a Bernie over a Biden. There really isn’t any incentive for them to do that. Bernie has been fantastic in his current role. He has pushed the line of acceptable progressive thought in this country and that’s fantastic. I heard ideas from the non Bernie candidates that would have been unheard of 4 years ago. The revolution has planted the seeds and once the Bernie backers actually grow old enough to care to vote it’s going to be more likely that the revolution comes to fruition. Last night they didn’t do it and there’s really no compelling reason to believe that they’d bother to show up in November either. They like the ideas but not enough to do anything productive about it en mass. I also reject that Biden’s gaffes and performance are indicative of mental deterioration. He’s always been gaffe prone and never a great campaigner. Saturday was the first time he’s ever one a single primary in three bites at the apple. Like with Trump, Joe’s weaknesses are already baked into the cake and the public knows what they’ve been voting for. It’s true that Trump may be wrong to want to face Bernie but his team pulled off a victory that no one outside of his campaign gave him a chance to achieve. I really tend to respect the opinion of the team savvy enough to pull that off to the opinion of those that failed to see it coming. Time will tell. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/258 "2020-03-04T16:38:25Z")
With all but one of the precincts reporting (but not all of the mail or provisional ballots counted), here’s what I get for the California delegate counts: (assuming I’m using the right method - I use “round to the nearest delegate, and if there are too many/too few, the candidate that was rounded by the largest value loses/gains one”) Sanders, 221 Biden, 162 Bloomberg, 24 Warren, 7 and, thanks to 8281 voters in the Palm Springs/Joshua Tree area, 1 delegate for Buttigieg ---
**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, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/259 "2020-03-04T16:38:29Z")
Well put, ThelmaLou. Omar Little, true enough. One recalls the African American housekeeper’s line in the 1969 film _Being There_, when she sees her former colleague Chance the Gardener on TV, now as a close advisor to the President of the US. ---
**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, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741/260 "2020-03-04T16:44:41Z")
1979 film, I meant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-tuesday-primary-discussion/848741.md?page=14)