2020 Democratic Candidates Tracker

[Brainster]

Biden is apparently considering announcing a running mate at the time he rolls out his campaign:

Close advisers to former Vice President Joe Biden are debating the idea of packaging his presidential campaign announcement with a pledge to choose Stacey Abrams as his vice president.

Assuming she's been thoroughly vetted, the idea seems brilliant. Biden's big problem is that he's an old, white man. Abrams balances that with young (45 is young politically), black and female. If nothing else, it would certainly take a lot of the wind out of Kamala Harris' sails.

 

[Mumbles]

Having a public option in the ACA would be a good stepping stone.

Keeping the public option better than just competitive with private insurance should not be discouraged and should not be difficult.

Eventually private insurers will pull out of marginal marketplaces (rural areas) and having the public option will begin to be seen as the smart choice for rural Americans. Aka: The Base of the GOP.

Not that they'd approve even then, but it's the best way that I can think of - it's not wildly disruptive like switching to Medicare for all would be. The other option I think would work well (from what I understand, which is...much less than that of an actuary) would be to transition to the German model.

I'd say that a swap to Medicare for all would at least insulate it from having the GOP simply run up and destroy it, but they showed us in 2017-2018 that they're perfectly willing to outright ruin health insurance, the State department, medicare, medicaid, our influence with other countries, and quite a few other important things.

The only reason people trust their health insurance company more than their government is because most people have spent more time in the post office or DMV than they have on the phone with a health insurance company that is denying your claim.

Agreed.

 

[dudalb]

CNN is getting silly with proclaiming a new candidate the "Hot" one every day.

 

[Donal]

It's worth noting that the ACA passed be because it promised you could keep your current insurance. That should be instructive to all those on a MEDICARE for all platform.

Instruction 1) Don't negotiate away some of the best provisions like government option or negotiating drug prices

Instruction 2) don't trust the Republicans. No matter what you give them, no matter what they agree to, no matter how you sweeten the pot, they will renege and and dismantle it at every opportunity

 

[angrysoba]

CNN is getting silly with proclaiming a new candidate the "Hot" one every day.

CNN? Is that still around?

 

[Craig4]

Biden is apparently considering announcing a running mate at the time he rolls out his campaign:



Assuming she's been thoroughly vetted, the idea seems brilliant. Biden's big problem is that he's an old, white man. Abrams balances that with young (45 is young politically), black and female. If nothing else, it would certainly take a lot of the wind out of Kamala Harris' sails.

And this is why he's the candidate to come out of the primary and **** up Donald Trump.

 

[Craig4]

Having a public option in the ACA would be a good stepping stone.

Keeping the public option better than just competitive with private insurance should not be discouraged and should not be difficult.

Eventually private insurers will pull out of marginal marketplaces (rural areas) and having the public option will begin to be seen as the smart choice for rural Americans. Aka: The Base of the GOP.

The only reason people trust their health insurance company more than their government is because most people have spent more time in the post office or DMV than they have on the phone with a health insurance company that is denying your claim.

MEDICARE for some is a great plank in a Democratic platform. Having it as an option for people where there are no private insurance companies in the ACA market place is a good, moderate position.

 

[The Atheist]

And this is why he's the candidate to come out of the primary and **** up Donald Trump.

Yep, the Russian Troll Farms are making sure everyone has good .gif files to splatter all over the internet when Joe gets picked.

The 2020 campaign should produce even more LULZ than '16.

 

[theprestige]

Honestly, I never understood why she was this awful candidate. Particularly compared to Sanders, who was praising the Soviet Union's "prosperity" before they completely collapsed. She pulled off a wonderful convention, she left all three debates looking calm and rational while Dolt 45 sputtering in an ignorant rage. And all four events left her up in the polls. The only things I remember from the GOP convention was Melania's plagiarism, Ted Cruz refusing to endorse, and Laura Ingham's nazi salute.



No, what killed her was Comey's letter, lovingly handed to congressional Republicans, and the media's absolute refusal to discuss anything but her emails and how Dolt 45 supposedly knew how to thrill crowds.She looked poised, confident, and prepared, while Dolt 45 looked like exactly the destructive, hateful conman he...well, that he always has been.

Maybe the debates and the party conventions don't say as much about electability as you think they do?

 

[theprestige]

And this is why he's the candidate to come out of the primary and **** up Donald Trump.

I can see the "alt-right" finding something to like in an old white man giving a black woman a token position in his government. Vice President House Negro. Might as well promise to put one of those jockey statues on the North Lawn.

 

[Venom]

Biden's a Democrat gatekeeper anyway. He'll fizzle out rather quickly, as always.

 

[Regnad Kcin]

Honestly, I never understood why she was this awful candidate. Particularly compared to Sanders, who was praising the Soviet Union's "prosperity" before they completely collapsed. She pulled off a wonderful convention, she left all three debates looking calm and rational while Dolt 45 sputtering in an ignorant rage. And all four events left her up in the polls. The only things I remember from the GOP convention was Melania's plagiarism, Ted Cruz refusing to endorse, and Laura Ingham's nazi salute.

No, what killed her was Comey's letter, lovingly handed to congressional Republicans, and the media's absolute refusal to discuss anything but her emails and how Dolt 45 supposedly knew how to thrill crowds.She looked poised, confident, and prepared, while Dolt 45 looked like exactly the destructive, hateful conman he...well, that he always has been.

Agreed.

 

[theprestige]

Agreed.

She wasn't an awful candidate. For Democrats.

But yeah: Not understanding this, is exactly why she lost.

 

[Regnad Kcin]

“Exactly.”

 

[Brainster]

Well, he is a former US Senator:

Thanks to some 'acerbic' teens who are managing his Twitter account, Mike Gravel seems to be positioning himself to run for president.

Gravel last was a Senator from Alaska when Jimmy Carter was president. He would easily be the oldest candidate in the field; he would be about 6 months shy of being a nonagenarian on election day 2020.

He got some attention by running in 2008 as the 9-11 Truth candidate. He put out what might be the single greatest ad by somebody running for President of all time:



And yes, this is a joke candidacy; more on those "acerbic teens":

Managing the campaign are David Oks, 17, and Henry Williams, 18. Elijah Emery, 18, handles the finances.

Their goal is to get the doddering old fool on the stage for the debates:

Their ultimate goal wasn’t to win the election but rather to qualify him for the Democratic debates, so that he could use that platform to “issue a critique of American militarism, plutocracy, and inaction on climate,” as his newly-created website states.

Like that lane isn't filed already? The funny thing is that if those kids have any internet savvy at all they should be able to get a fair amount of donations. I could see Gravel (pronounced gruh-VELL) qualifying via that poorly-designed gate.

 

[BobTheCoward]

MEDICARE for some is a great plank in a Democratic platform. Having it as an option for people where there are no private insurance companies in the ACA market place is a good, moderate position.

That sounds terrible. The per member per month premium for Medicare is over 800 bucks. That is unaffordable.

 

[The_Animus]

Biden is apparently considering announcing a running mate at the time he rolls out his campaign:



Assuming she's been thoroughly vetted, the idea seems brilliant. Biden's big problem is that he's an old, white man. Abrams balances that with young (45 is young politically), black and female. If nothing else, it would certainly take a lot of the wind out of Kamala Harris' sails.

It's unfortunate that things like age, gender, and race factor into the decision for POTUS/VP at all.

 

[Lambchops]

I don't know if you're both wrong or you're both right. But my guess is neither of you actually have a crystal ball. Anyone's GUESS is likely to be as good as the next person. Remember, virtually no one in either party thought Trump would or could win the GOP nomination let alone the election.

I like Biden, but I don't see him winning. He may seem too old to people. Hell, he's older than the orange turd himself. A contrast to the doddering old fool would be nice.

I also believe MEDICARE for ALL is a winning issue. As for free college education, no. But a Democrat must run on making a college education more affordable. If you're going to run representing the middle and lower economic classes, do it!

This idea that another Republican light candidate is what the people want is absurd and obscene.

A couple of questions, if you don't mind:

-Why do you like Biden? As far as I know, he hasn't even said that he will run yet, so you don't even know what issues he will be running on.

-Free college education. Why are you opposed to this? I am not a huge fan of capitalism, but I'm thinking that even within the system of capitalism, a well educated workforce should be a good thing, right? If you want to maximize profit, you would want as many people who are knowledgeable in their fields as possible. So providing free higher education to anyone who wants it should be good for the bottom line? I mean, how could it not be?
Also, what if the guy or gal who could potentially find a cure for cancer, if they could afford a higher education, will be stuck working as burgerflippers because they did not have the money to go to college?

 

[angrysoba]

Apparently Mike Gravel is running again for president, although it seems three teenagers are doing the heavy lifting, by having him tweet attacks on other Democrats.

I wonder if Gravel will follow up that amazing campaign ad he had back in 2008:



Be sure to tell us your favourite bit.

Apparently this new group of kids only want to get Gravel in the debates and are calling themselves the GravelGang, which sounds like a copy of that other long shot, Andrew Yang who FiveThirtyEight have warmed up to slightly by writing up their own account of how he could get the nomination.

It's not looking likely, they say.

As Mike Gravel once said in the 2008 debates, "I feel like a potted plant here..."

Well, he is a former US Senator:



Gravel last was a Senator from Alaska when Jimmy Carter was president. He would easily be the oldest candidate in the field; he would be about 6 months shy of being a nonagenarian on election day 2020.

He got some attention by running in 2008 as the 9-11 Truth candidate. He put out what might be the single greatest ad by somebody running for President of all time:



And yes, this is a joke candidacy; more on those "acerbic teens":



Their goal is to get the doddering old fool on the stage for the debates:



Like that lane isn't filed already? The funny thing is that if those kids have any internet savvy at all they should be able to get a fair amount of donations. I could see Gravel (pronounced gruh-VELL) qualifying via that poorly-designed gate.

Am I on ignore?

 

[angrysoba]

But here is something that can't be ignored:

Democratic presidential long shot Andrew Yang agreed on Twitter to be interviewed by conservative radio host Ben Shapiro on Wednesday about Yang's stance against circumcision.

Keep your eyes peeled.