2020 Democratic Candidates Tracker

[Distracted1]

another + for Biden: he might be fine with just serving for only one term.

I think that likely if he gets elected.
Democrats are not in love with him, they are in love with the idea of taking the White House back.
He is clearly too old, but so are Warren and Sanders.
Other contenders can use the four years of a Biden administration to gain a little recognition.

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

-Biden is unlikely to appoint another conservative Supreme Court Justice.
-Biden is unlikely to attempt to block or slow legislation pushed by the Democrats in Congress
-Biden is unlikely to attempt to further erode the ACA
-Biden will generate the least amount of Republican blowback, perhaps creating a less panicked right-wing voter base than other Democratic candidates

These actually answer the question in a useful way.

And, perhaps most importantly, Biden currently seems to have the best chance of getting elected.

This is kind of circular though. If the reasons you just presented aren't the reasons then that leaves this question unanswered. Why do people want to vote for him? Only your third item above ("blowback") is somewhat unique to Biden. How can this be the most important reason? There have to be other reasons that really explain why people want to vote for him over the others.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

Can anyone explain why Democrats like Biden? A whole field of candidates ranging from stellar to Delaney, and they seem determined to coalesce behind the one who's even older, whiter and touchier than Trump.

Large constituencies of the democratic party are fairly conservative. Biden is appealing to them as someone who is conservative, but doesn't have the racist/reactionary baggage of the RNC.

 

[Delvo]

This idea that the narrative requires a non-white, non-male, non-old candidate to defeat Trump bothers me.

Good thing nobody's claiming it, then

-Biden is unlikely to appoint another conservative Supreme Court Justice.
-Biden is unlikely to attempt to block or slow legislation pushed by the Democrats in Congress
-Biden is unlikely to attempt to further erode the ACA
-Biden will generate the least amount of Republican blowback, perhaps creating a less panicked right-wing voter base than other Democratic candidates

Even if there were any real sign that any of those are true, they would not distinguish him from any other Democrat (at least not any "Democrat" who isn't just a Republican puppet).

 

[JoeMorgue]

Good thing nobody's claiming it, then

The exact complaint of Trump that Beelzebub made that I was referring to was that he was "even older and whiter" then Trump. I didn't pull the complaint from the aether.

 

[The_Animus]

Another negative is that Biden thinks marijuana is a gateway drug and shouldn't be legalized.

The only real argument I hear why he should be picked is because he's most likely to win but never anything about the actual policies and positions he supports compared to other candidates. It's just sad that Biden has this much support given how many higher quality candidates are running. It makes me wonder how many people support him solely because they hear him constantly talked about as the most likely to beat Trump

It's like the Overton window now not only applies to liberal/ conservative ideology but also good/bad candidates. The Republicans have lowered the bar so far into awful politicians territory that Democrats are fine with bad candidates because at least they aren't evil incarnate.

 

[Segnosaur]

another + for Biden: he might be fine with just serving for only one term.

That can be good or bad for the democrats.

Sometimes a sitting president has an advantage when it comes to getting re-elected. Assuming the Dems want to get at least a couple of terms in, they may want a candidate who will be around for 2 terms.

The last thing they would want is to have Biden serve one term (where he starts to repair the damage caused by the republicans), only to have him retire in 2024. Then, in 2024 (after a brutal Democratic primary), the Republicans manage to sneak back into office.

 

[TragicMonkey]

Biden supports the Hyde amendment and tried to get contraception coverage out of the ACA. Even if he wasn't creepytouching the ladies I think he's still got a problem with left-leaning women.

 

[Segnosaur]

Another negative is that Biden thinks marijuana is a gateway drug and shouldn't be legalized.

On the other hand, he has called for it to be decriminalized (and thinks that decisions about legalization should be left up to the states.) He also thinks that those convicted of possession should automatically have their records expunged and would re-classify it to allow more medical research.

"Nobody should be in jail for smoking marijuana" - Joe Biden

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/16/politics/joe-biden-marijuana-decriminalization/index.html

On the other hand, Trump has at one point claimed to be for medical use/state decisions on legalization, but with Sessions his administration has decided to crack down on federal drug laws.

 

[Belz...]

Biden supports the Hyde amendment and tried to get contraception coverage out of the ACA. Even if he wasn't creepytouching the ladies I think he's still got a problem with left-leaning women.

One way or another you probably won't find a perfect candidate.

 

[Segnosaur]

-Biden is unlikely to appoint another conservative Supreme Court Justice.
-Biden is unlikely to attempt to block or slow legislation pushed by the Democrats in Congress
-Biden is unlikely to attempt to further erode the ACA
-Biden will generate the least amount of Republican blowback, perhaps creating a less panicked right-wing voter base than other Democratic candidates

These actually answer the question in a useful way.

There does seem to be a rather unfortunate trend among democrats in that everyone seems to be pushing for a 'race to the left', where if a candidate isn't suggesting the most extreme political positions they will get pilloried by democrats and other supporters.

Biden may not be an 'extreme' candidate, but he is to the left of the political center. Even if he's not going to give everything that someone like Sanders might, he will still do most of what the left wants. (Nominating non-conservative judges and allowing Democratic-favored legislation to be passed is actually a pretty big thing.)

And if you're going to get a left-of-center candidate regardless of who is nominated, the fact that they are more electable should be considered a good thing.

 

[TragicMonkey]

One way or another you probably won't find a perfect candidate.

One must choose which flaws to excuse. I think Biden's got more flaws that are harder to excuse than several of his competitors.

 

[Segnosaur]

Some interesting poll results:

From: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/05/biden-beating-trump-texas-poll-1355285
A new poll out Wednesday spells danger for President Donald Trump’s reelection chances in one of the unlikeliest of places: Texas. The Quinnipiac University poll shows that Joe Biden would top Trump by four points — 48 percent to 44 percent — in a general election matchup there...the poll signals trouble for the president there in that it found five other candidates within the poll’s margin of error, including home-state politicians Beto O’Rourke and Julián Castro. Perhaps surprisingly, the next strongest candidate in the state was Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren...Next was South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg...

 

[Belz...]

That can be good or bad for the democrats.

Sometimes a sitting president has an advantage when it comes to getting re-elected. Assuming the Dems want to get at least a couple of terms in, they may want a candidate who will be around for 2 terms.

The last thing they would want is to have Biden serve one term (where he starts to repair the damage caused by the republicans), only to have him retire in 2024. Then, in 2024 (after a brutal Democratic primary), the Republicans manage to sneak back into office.

American politics are really screwed up. On top of the interminable election cycles and the fractal elections of almost every public office imaginable, the two-party, super-partisan system is ridiculous. Here in Canada I'd rather not have the conservatives in power for now, but if it happens I don't consider it a threat to my way of life. It wouldn't be such a huge change from the liberals.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

1) Don't let the GOP define us as racing to the left. It's projection because they've become extreme right wing and it's a planned talking point to tear down candidates whether they are far left or not.

2) Remember Biden's lead is against all the others divided. If it were read as 30-70 it would not look so good.

3)Trump is still winning Trump TV. That's fine at this point in time, but the media is acting like a gatekeeper not allowing one or more of the other candidates to break out. They keep reminding us Biden is ahead and he's favored over Trump. Keep that in mind because you/we need to seek information on the other candidates out to properly evaluate them.

4) We need one or more of them to break out of the pack. Look at their actual positions, not the little thing the media picks out as newsworthy.


IMO, Biden is a hold-your-nose-and-vote candidate for many of the reasons pointed out in this thread. We can do better, we just need one or two of those other candidates to break out.

 

[carlitos]

I literally don’t know if that is parody or real.

It's real, baby. The perfect item for pride month - a Joe Biden aviator sunglasses rainbow tank top.

[IMGw=450]https://i.imgur.com/30tfqFT.jpg[/IMGw]

 

[theprestige]

1) Don't let the GOP define us as racing to the left. It's projection because they've become extreme right wing and it's a planned talking point to tear down candidates whether they are far left or not.

I might be thinking of someone else, but I'm pretty sure you're one of the folks here who's been saying Democrats need to move leftward in this campaign.

 

[Belz...]

I might be thinking of someone else, but I'm pretty sure you're one of the folks here who's been saying Democrats need to move leftward in this campaign.

For myself, in all honesty I have no idea whether moving to the left or towards the center would be the best, most electable move, either at the primaries or the general.

 

[theprestige]

For myself, in all honesty I have no idea whether moving to the left or towards the center would be the best, most electable move, either at the primaries or the general.

I mean, I have some idea, but is it a good idea? I don't know.

The conventional wisdom seems to be that you need to go towards your party's extreme during the primaries, so that your core constituency will nominate you over the others. And then shed all that extremist rhetoric in the general to pick up the moderate votes on both sides.

 

[portlandatheist]

https://www.salon.com/2019/06/02/there-is-hard-data-that-shows-that-a-centrist-democrat-would-be-a-losing-candidate/



I'd say this trend extends further than just the U.S., U.K., and France, but they are among the most significant examples.

This argument does not resonate with me at all. From what I can gather, is it is saying that the best answer to right wing populism is left wing populism and from my perspective, populism, whether right, left or center, is a political disaster.
from article:

in other words, a class-conscience platform that recognizes that rich people are not on the same side as the rest of us, and have different interests and are eager to exploit us.

Populism: a need to separate the authentic citizen from the inauthentic, but instead of based on ethnicity, lets do it by class instead.
instead of solving the difficult challenges that face us, lets find a scapegoat for those troubles.
populism is reflexively anti establishment, even when established institutions serve the greatest good.
It reminds me of this article about Conflict Vs Mistake theory:
https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/01/24/conflict-vs-mistake/

To massively oversimplify:

Mistake theorists treat politics as science, engineering, or medicine. The State is diseased. We’re all doctors, standing around arguing over the best diagnosis and cure. Some of us have good ideas, others have bad ideas that wouldn’t help, or that would cause too many side effects.

Conflict theorists treat politics as war. Different blocs with different interests are forever fighting to determine whether the State exists to enrich the Elites or to help the People.

What we need in the next election on the Democratic ticket ins't another populist. We need somebody that is willing to take on tough problems with pragmatism and determination.