2020 Democratic Candidates Tracker

[Darat]

You're forgetting about the Republican party's limitless ability to engage in hypocrisy. (Remember, the party that contemned Clinton for sexual misconduct now doesn't care about such things when Trump did them.) I'm sure if Biden became the candidate, any time he sneezes it would result in hours of coverage on Fox news suggesting that he's at death's door and that we need to stick with Trump because his doc said he was so healthy.





Sadly, given the underlying racism that seems to be evident in a large part of the electorate, "old white men" may be the best way to beat Trump.

If you remember on this very forum we had folks who knew before the rest of us that Clinton was on her last legs, her fatal illnesses were a reason not to vote for her. If only we'd listened to them we wouldn't have been so surprised by her continued lack of dying, that woman has no integrity!

 

[Brainster]

Warrens' starting to roll out the proposals that the base will need to see from their candidate:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has proposed a “wealth tax” on some of the richest Americans.

The new tax from Warren, who recently announced her bid to challenge President Donald Trump in 2020, would only apply to Americans with more than $50 million in assets.

 

[Brainster]

Beto's still on the fence and indicating it could be months before he makes a decision.

I missed that Kamala Harris announced somehow; or maybe she just announced that she's going to announce on Sunday? Oddball factoid: the Democrats have never nominated a Presidential or VP candidate from West of the Rockies.

 

[varwoche]

Oddball factoid: the Democrats have never nominated a Presidential or VP candidate from West of the Rockies.

Alas Gary Hart.

 

[Trebuchet]

Alas Gary Hart.

Not really west of the Rockies either. Western Colorado is kind of the middle of the Rockies, eastern Colorado is really West Nebraska.

 

[Trebuchet]

Beto's still on the fence and indicating it could be months before he makes a decision.

That shouldn't be a bad thing. When I'm King of the World, there'll still be elections but anyone who expresses the slightest interest in running more than two months prior will be disqualified for life.

 

[theprestige]

Alas Gary Hart.

Poor Gary Hart. Working the Kennedy playbook in a post-Nixon era.

 

[Tero]

As long as you own the resort where you keep you mistresses it’s OK.

”The Herald published a story on May 3 that Hart had spent Friday night and most of Saturday with a young woman in his Washington, D.C. townhouse. (Snip) In October 2018, Raymond Strother claimed that Lee Atwater, the head of the Republican National Committee, confessed to him that he orchestrated a photo where Rice was shown to be sitting on Hart's lap, as part of an attempt to bring Hart down.”

But at least he was not Mike Dukakis with the alcoholic wife whot tried to drink rubbing alcohol. We had some real winners then.

 

[SezMe]

The thing about Trump... he has certainly put all the cards on the table. What had been thinly veiled racism is now out in the open, and the Democratic party has to deal with emphasize it.

That's what I think they should do.

 

[Brainster]

That shouldn't be a bad thing. When I'm King of the World, there'll still be elections but anyone who expresses the slightest interest in running more than two months prior will be disqualified for life.

Every now and then I like to crack open my tattered copy of The Making of the President 1960 and remind myself that the book starts with JFK's announcement in late January of that year.

It's a tough situation. If we assume that Beto jumps into the top tier of candidates, then he has to spend the next year of his life trying to win the presidency, and yet he could end up destroyed after Iowa and New Hampshire like Howard Dean.

But if he doesn't run, he risks becoming the forgotten guy. What platform does he have as a former congressman six years down the road?

 

[Brainster]

Richard Ojeda gets out in front of the crowd; he becomes the first declared candidate to drop out of the race. He's a state senator from West Virginia who has a rather odd distinction: he's (I assume) the only Democratic candidate for President who voted for Trump in 2016.

 

[Venom]

I'm glad Ojeda's out.

He's always been more of a niche candidate anyway. He doesn't have much to say about climate or foreign policy and his voting for Donald Trump in 2016 as the "lesser of two evils" reflects his poor decision making at the margin, imo.

The last thing we need right now is multiple progressive factions within the Democratic Party.

 

[WilliamSeger]

Not really west of the Rockies either. Western Colorado is kind of the middle of the Rockies, eastern Colorado is really West Nebraska.

When we came house shopping in Colorado Springs, the agent called the eastern side of the city West Kansas. Denver is also just at the edge of the Rockies, not in them.

 

[acbytesla]

Every now and then I like to crack open my tattered copy of The Making of the President 1960 and remind myself that the book starts with JFK's announcement in late January of that year.

It's a tough situation. If we assume that Beto jumps into the top tier of candidates, then he has to spend the next year of his life trying to win the presidency, and yet he could end up destroyed after Iowa and New Hampshire like Howard Dean.

But if he doesn't run, he risks becoming the forgotten guy. What platform does he have as a former congressman six years down the road?

You can sort of blame Jimmy Carter for this. He was roaming around Iowa and New Hampshire gathering support 8 months before the other candidates. He was close to unheard of outside of Georgia. But he shocked everyone by winning the Iowa Caucus (Actually came in second to uncommitted) and then won the New Hampshire primary.

After that, the pressure to win early led to a longer and longer election process.

 

[Brainster]

You can sort of blame Jimmy Carter for this. He was roaming around Iowa and New Hampshire gathering support 8 months before the other candidates. He was close to unheard of outside of Georgia. But he shocked everyone by winning the Iowa Caucus (Actually came in second to uncommitted) and then won the New Hampshire primary.

After that, the pressure to win early led to a longer and longer election process.

Carter used his win in Iowa to build recognition in a way that nobody had before. Iowa was nowhere on the map, and indeed it is not the greatest barometer in open elections since. IIRC Dick Gephardt and Mike Huckabee have both won the Iowa caucuses.

ETA: IIRC there was also a cover of Time Magazine where it looked like they had tried to make Carter look like JFK.

 

[angrysoba]

Richard Ojeda gets out in front of the crowd; he becomes the first declared candidate to drop out of the race. He's a state senator from West Virginia who has a rather odd distinction: he's (I assume) the only Democratic candidate for President who voted for Trump in 2016.

I'm glad Ojeda's out.

He's always been more of a niche candidate anyway. He doesn't have much to say about climate or foreign policy and his voting for Donald Trump in 2016 as the "lesser of two evils" reflects his poor decision making at the margin, imo.

The last thing we need right now is multiple progressive factions within the Democratic Party.

Voting for Trump probably makes him beyond the pale, but from what I can see, he clearly represents the type of people who feel disenfranchised from the Democratic Party, and these are people who feel that the Democratic Party should be their natural home. If the Democrats don't know how to connect with them then they could lose the next presidential election. And they probably will NOT win votes on climate and foreign policy.

It's the economy, stoopid!

 

[Firestone]

Loved Kamala's mischievous smile when she mentioned Frederick Douglass.

 

[dudalb]

That shouldn't be a bad thing. When I'm King of the World, there'll still be elections but anyone who expresses the slightest interest in running more than two months prior will be disqualified for life.

I will join you on that in a New York Minute.

The Two Year long campaign media driven campaign cycle it hurting American Democracy. Oh, for the days when you only starting hearing about candidates big time in the November of the year before the election year,ie. a couple of months before the Iowa caucuses.

 

[dudalb]

Not really west of the Rockies either. Western Colorado is kind of the middle of the Rockies, eastern Colorado is really West Nebraska.

People forest that two thirds of Colorado are on the Great Plains.
BTW I just rewatched the mini series Centennial, from the James Michenir novel about the history of a small town in Colarado. IMHO one of the best of the American miniseries from the 70's and 80;s.

 

[Venom]

Voting for Trump probably makes him beyond the pale, but from what I can see, he clearly represents the type of people who feel disenfranchised from the Democratic Party, and these are people who feel that the Democratic Party should be their natural home. If the Democrats don't know how to connect with them then they could lose the next presidential election. And they probably will NOT win votes on climate and foreign policy.

It's the economy, stoopid!

Sure. I respect his fighting spirit. There are other, more well-known and versatile progressives out there who I think can flip the Democratic Party and beat the Republicans.

Ojeda felt that the odds were too against him, and reasonably so; he didn't have a strong start.