Politics: 2020 Dem POTUS candidate catch all discussion thread
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Democratic candidates flooded a New York conference room for a chance to stand out among a crowded field. Twelve of the 17 2020 hopefuls stopped at Al Sharpton's National Action Network annual convention, a gathering of black leaders and voters, listening closely for how these candidates plan to look out for them. CNN's MJ Lee reports, meanwhile Jake Tapper discusses with the Lead panel.
Sen Kamala Harris (Calif)
Sen Kirsten Gillibrand (N Y)
Sen Elizabeth Warren (Mass)
Julian Castro (Fmr HUD secretary)
Rep Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii)
John Delaney (Fmr MD congressman)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (South Bend)
Marianne Williamson (Author, Oprah's spiritual counselor)
Sen Cory Booker (N J)
Sen Amy Klobuchar (MN)
Sen Bernie Sanders (VT)
Gov Jay Inslee (WA)
John Hickenlooper (Fmr CO Gov)
Beto O'Rourke (Fmr TX congressman)
Andrew Yang (Entrepreneur)
Mayor Wayne Messam (Miramar Fla)
Rep Tim Ryan (Ohio)
Rep Eric Swalwell (Calif)
Eighteen candidates left on this list. There are obviously quite a few pretenders who are fishing for name recognition in order to run for a higher office at a later date and, benefit financially from writing a book and making public appearances. The candidates whose names I have bolded will likely be around when the campaign season and major debates get underway. The only other candidate I would add to this group would be Joe Biden. Any thoughts?
Sen Kirsten Gillibrand (N Y)
Sen Elizabeth Warren (Mass)
Julian Castro (Fmr HUD secretary)
Rep Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii)
John Delaney (Fmr MD congressman)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (South Bend)
Marianne Williamson (Author, Oprah's spiritual counselor)
Sen Cory Booker (N J)
Sen Amy Klobuchar (MN)
Sen Bernie Sanders (VT)
Gov Jay Inslee (WA)
John Hickenlooper (Fmr CO Gov)
Beto O'Rourke (Fmr TX congressman)
Andrew Yang (Entrepreneur)
Mayor Wayne Messam (Miramar Fla)
Rep Tim Ryan (Ohio)
Rep Eric Swalwell (Calif)
Eighteen candidates left on this list. There are obviously quite a few pretenders who are fishing for name recognition in order to run for a higher office at a later date and, benefit financially from writing a book and making public appearances. The candidates whose names I have bolded will likely be around when the campaign season and major debates get underway. The only other candidate I would add to this group would be Joe Biden. Any thoughts?
Not 100% sure yet but I think Buttigieg will be around for a while. He's getting some blow back now but he still seems to be appealing to a lot of people.
I don't think Yang will be around too long but he is someone I could see surprising a little.
Buttigieg is recently polling higher than Booker and Klobuchar, and he raised more money than either of them in Q1. So I agree.
Yang seems to have some kind of viral/social media support. It'll be interesting to see if that fizzles. I think a few others -- Castro, Inslee, Gillibrand, Hickenlooper -- have qualified for the debates in June. But I don't expect them to gain much support.
My first thought was that the US finds itself in a similar position as the UK where the conservative government lacks a coalition to govern the country and the labor party lacks leadership that could win a general election. Here the Pubs have gone about building their state operations to the point that they are practically unassailable in the traditional red states, that is, without serious soap dropping as occurred in Alabama. The fact that Congress is so unpopular among the voters, it doesn't seem to me to offer a good springboard to compete against an incumbent. Without a favorite son emerging from the Governorship of a key state like Florida or Texas it is similar challenge to climbing K2 for the Dems to take out even the most unpopular President in history considering the Electoral College system. After six more years of Trump will the country be governable at all?
I really think that Biden, Harris, Sanders and Warren are the only legitimate candidates...everyone else is just widening the field to better assure something like the 2016 GOP primaries happens. Sanders getting the DNP nomination is better served by this overlarge field though.
He's popping up everywhere and he makes a LOT of sense. I suspect most independents - even those who have historically voted republican - will vote for him before just about anyone else on that list.
I think he's got a real shot.
The problem with our primary system is that independents don't always get heard, or choose not to participate in states where they can. In such a large field, we saw what happens when the loudest fringe minority gets to pick who represents their party. Primary voters != general election voters.
I think his 2 biggest struggles (for winning a primary) are hardcore progressives(Bernie Supporters) and minority voters.
I would have thought his age would have been an issue but he's seemed to play that off pretty well with his intergenerational justice idea. Plus it has allowed him to talk about the deficit more than any other democrat really can.
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I just don't know if the country is ready for a gay male president. Of course, I wasn't ready for a gay daughter, either. I know one thing - if we elect a black man, Trump and a gay man in succession, the rest of the world with be convinced that we are certifiably crazy...
I don't like Buttigieg because he talks like another Obama horoscope campaigner who says things that can mean just about anything to anybody. The things he says are just vague enough that he's not pinned on a specific policy agenda.
To add, I think his problem is going to be the blue collar heartland, which Trump co-opted. They went into the voting booth, pulled the figurative curtain, and voted their prejudices. The anti-gay sentiment is still widespread, just like racial prejudice is, just hidden more, not PC to show...I just don't know if the country is ready for a gay male president. Of course, I wasn't ready for a gay daughter, either. I know one thing - if we elect a black man, Trump and a gay man in succession, the rest of the world with be convinced that we are certifiably crazy...
I'm not so sure about that. I thought so too at first and that may be proven correct but I've seen some anecdotal evidence of people who supported Bernie last time finding a new candidate this time around. He's obviously kept some of his support but I think some voted for him because he was the only real alternative to HRC who many didn't like. This time there are plenty of options and a wide variety.
Idk though, I'm far from an expert on voters behaviors. So, I guess we'll find out.
Cynically, Buttigieg's rise feels like another attempt to drum up something like Obama but "with a gay" this time. Guy who talks sweepingly, has a thin resume and a thinner voting record, and has a specific identity that young [sub]urbanists can get their woke credentials by supporting. Some of the things he's said makes me think he's just another guy cloaked in identity that will actually govern right of center. And I ain't got time for that (literally, right of center to right wing politics is going to kill us all).
Yah, you're probably right, it's just refreshing hearing someone who seems to be able to speak very clearly about lots of issues. Better than Obama in that regard, from what little I've heard. But while I still believe he makes a lot of sense, you are also correct in that it's easier to do that when you're making very general comments.
And like Earle, I'm not convinced that his homosexuality won't be an issue for many, though I suspect a vast majority of those who wouldn't vote him based on that wouldn't vote for any democrat.
But dangit, it's nice to hear someone speak clearly and intelligently at this point.
He doesn't seem like a bad candidate per se but I'm skeptical of his rise because the DNP is pretty egregious when it comes to cynical identity exploitation. Obama under-delivering PTSD I guess.
Yeah. His current website is pretty empty, and I hope that his official announcement this weekend is accompanied by a revamp that clearly lists policy positions and starts listing white papers.
I'll push back a little on this idea that he makes exclusively vague generalities, at least compared to most anyone else in the field right now (apart from Warren). I think the big criticism that you hear from (mostly) Bernie supporters is not that he's vague, but that they simply disagree with him. Which is just as valid, but it's not the same criticism. Frankly, the reason Bernie isn't my first choice now or in 2016 is because he tends to live exclusively in the big picture, and doesn't ever seem to have a realistic plan to get things done. I agree with him more than I disagree, but I don't think he presents a pragmatic vision. He makes promises the way Trump does, and like Trump, I'm skeptical that he'll be able to keep them. Now I'd absolutely vote for him over Trump, but I'd vote for a patch of grass caked with defecation over Trump.
If Bernie had his way, he would snap his fingers and make the entire private insurance industry disappear. Not only is that unrealistic, IMO, but that would actually suck for me. It turns out that one of the perks of working for a nice hospital is (in my case) a very nice, cheap employer-sponsored health plan that I would like to keep. Pete has repeatedly said that he supports universal coverage and feels a public option is the most pragmatic way to accomplish this without (1) putting an entire industry out of work overnight, and (2) ....ing off people who actually like and want to keep their private insurance. When folks say Buttigieg "doesn't have a plan," I feel like they're not actually holding Bernie's finger-snapping to the same standard, because that outline sounds like a definite policy position to me. The M4A-now-or-bust proponents just disagree with it, which is a different criticism.
Same with college tuition costs. Bernie would like to snap his fingers and make (nearly) all college tuition-free. Buttigieg argues that doing something so radical is actually quite regressive, as it uses tax money from those who don't go to college and make less money to pay the cost for those who do go to college and make more money. He definitely needs to add some flesh to that skeleton of an answer re: the student debt crisis, but I don't think his response is much more of a sweeping generality devoid of detail than Bernie's.
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