# Where are the young Democrats? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 20, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275 "2015-10-20T20:46:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/21 "2015-10-21T15:32:49Z")
_Response_. Okay, missed that, sorry. ---
**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:** [October 21, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/22 "2015-10-21T15:54:34Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Care to make it interesting? In order to win, I’d have to dead first. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/23 "2015-10-21T17:17:21Z")
**EH** , are you proposing a tontine? I thought they were illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/24 "2015-10-21T17:20:22Z")
Don’t dead, open inside! ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/25 "2015-10-21T18:20:23Z")
Kevin Johnson’s career just ended, so my comment about him above no longer applies. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/26 "2015-10-22T04:30:47Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > _Response_. Okay, missed that, sorry. Ah, so did I. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/27 "2015-10-22T10:50:01Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > A Democrat will never again give the SOTU response in our lifetime. In democracies all political parties in power sow the seeds of their own demise. It’s a matter of time not if. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/28 "2015-10-22T14:29:19Z")
We will certainly see a party other than the Democrats holding the Presidency in our lifetimes. That party may or may not be the Republicans, and they may or may not call themselves Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/29 "2015-10-22T14:33:01Z")
Given what the batshit caucus is saying about Paul Ryan right now, \*he \*might end up being the future of the Democratic Party. ---
**Author:** ![KaleMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@KaleMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KaleMan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/30 "2015-10-22T19:46:38Z")
Common guys your still believe in democracy? Like a Batman? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/31 "2015-10-22T19:48:54Z")
> [@KaleMan](#): > > Common guys your still believe in democracy? Like a Batman? I’m not sure about common guys (I think I’m pretty uncommon myself), but my [still](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Still) prefers socio-anarchic communes itself, at least when it’s not fully occupied making moonshine. My still is kind of an airhead, though, so I wouldn’t take anything too seriously from it. I don’t know about Batman’s still, but I am intensely curious. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/32 "2015-10-22T20:24:26Z")
And are you… prepared? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/33 "2015-10-22T20:44:43Z")
_Like a Batman, Fightin’ evil for the very first time Like a Ba-aa-t-man, Leave your cowl next to mine_ ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/34 "2015-10-22T23:31:18Z")
What they said. The ® victories downballot in 2010-2014 depleted the “bench” of sitting office holders (and BTW so did the current President himself drafting Dem elected officials to his cabinet, which as mentioned is not a favorable direct step) except for the older establishment liberals; the next (D) generation already leapfrogged the sequence (Barack Obama is 54) but _did not clear the deck of the born-before-Heartbreak-Hotel-hit-#1 crowd_ (because why would they, that group were needed) and going back to the prior point many who did come up in the 06 and 08 “winning” years then lost in 2010 and 12; and the Clinton machine, after 2008’s upset, got right back on to building itself up early in the cycle into something to think \*more \*than twice about challenging. Also, the succesful rise of the more ideologically hardline factions culled the Republican herd of many of their \*own \*older figures, who would be too compromising for the new generation anyway, and made room for new prospects. Consider this: Obama was age 47 when elected, _ **Bill** Clinton was 46_ when he was. A new generation _ **did** _ show up on cue, but the 1945-1955 cohort feels “heck, we’re just catching our third wind”. ---
**Author:** ![KaleMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@KaleMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KaleMan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/35 "2015-10-23T13:35:15Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > _Like a Batman, > Fightin’ evil for the very first time > Like a Ba-aa-t-man, > Leave your cowl next to mine_ 😃 nice! ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/36 "2015-10-23T13:41:30Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Eh? No, he’s predicting that Democrats will hold the White House for a very long time, meaning Republicans will be giving every SOTU response. Or he could mean that is going to kill us all off Jim Jones-style in the next 8-16 years. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/37 "2015-10-23T13:46:10Z")
Obviously there are young Democrats, they just don’t get the press because, basically Obama and Hillary suck up all the coverage. It was kind of like that in 2008 for instance, when Bush / Cheney had been soaking up all of the attention for 8 years, there wasn’t a lot of young Republican contenders, and old John McCain got the nomination. Then when Obama / Biden won that opened up space for young Republicans to be heard. If the Republicans win this time, you can bet there will be a surge of young Democrats getting press coverage. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/38 "2015-10-23T13:52:41Z")
You get young officeholders by electing them downballot. Bonus points if you can elect them in swing states or hostile territory. The Democrats only have bright young future stars in blue states. In the GOP field, nearly all of the contenders who are officeholders come from blue or purple states: Rubio, Bush, Kasich, Christie, and prior to his exit, Scott Walker. Such candidates have a better shot because they are used to campaigning for the votes of people who might not normally vote for their party. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/39 "2015-10-23T13:57:24Z")
Well, that’s certainly not true of Rubio. He’s always run as a hardliner in Florida (other than his immigration stance) and crossed his fingers that enough conservatives would turn out to elect him. But that’s a good point about the others. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275/40 "2015-10-23T14:23:36Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > You get young officeholders by electing them downballot. Bonus points if you can elect them in swing states or hostile territory. The Democrats only have bright young future stars in blue states. Nixon, Hickenlooper, Bullock (govs), Bennet, Brown, Heinrich, Tester (sens). Purple-state Democrats exist, they just don’t get very much exposure because Obama and now Hillary so dominate the national scene. I agree with the posters above - if Hillary loses (actually, even if she doesn’t), you will see a whole host of new young faces (some from Blue states, some from Purple ones) vying for national attention. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-young-democrats/735275.md?page=3)