Democratic Party Presidential Candidates for 2020

[Cristalle]

Oy vey! This is getting ridiculous! I mean, I'm all for having a wide range of choices available, but it's quickly getting to the point where whoever wins the primary will only need 30 percent of the vote to do so, and that person won't stand a chance against Trump. We really need a sanity check in this process.

Sadly, that is precisely the point.

 

[Pamela]

Fox News Poll: Biden up by double digits in Democratic race

Former Vice President Joe Biden leads the race for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president, according to the latest Fox News Poll.

www.foxnews.com

“Conducted May 11-14, 2019 under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with 1,008 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide who spoke with live interviewers on both landlines and cellphones. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters, and 4.5 points for Democratic primary voters (469).”

Biden would not be my first choice but I am just praying for someone, anyone, who can beat Trump.

 

[Grandma Bates]

Fox News Poll: Biden up by double digits in Democratic race

Former Vice President Joe Biden leads the race for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president, according to the latest Fox News Poll.

www.foxnews.com

“Conducted May 11-14, 2019 under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with 1,008 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide who spoke with live interviewers on both landlines and cellphones. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters, and 4.5 points for Democratic primary voters (469).”

Biden would not be my first choice but I am just praying for someone, anyone, who can beat Trump.

When Stacey Abrams entered the race to be governor of Georgia many complaints were raised. She is an unabashedly liberal, black woman. People said there was no way she could win, and it was folly to nominate someone so clearly at odds with the Georgia electorate. She came close to winning, and the last Democrat to come close to her final percentage total was in 1994. All the moderate, milquetoast white men since then lost by larger margins, and in the last 8 years got clobbered by huge margins. Ms. Abrams, on the other hand energized the base and added thousands of new people to the voting rolls. She came close to winning, and Republican voting suppression efforts played a significant role in the election.

On the national stage the Democratic party continues to push this bizarre narrative that they should ignore their base and push for someone with broad appeal and a mixed record. This only feeds into the narrative of wishy washy, spineless Democrats. Over the last two years a new group of people, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have found the backbone to stand up and change the national discussion. We need people who will clearly and consistently state basic progressive ideas and shift the Overton window back from its current extreme. The next President is going to be elected by a motivated and aggressive base. Right now the Republicans have that, and as usual the Democrats are doing everything they can to squander an incredible opportunity.

 

[Pamela]

When Stacey Abrams entered the race to be governor of Georgia many complaints were raised. She is an unabashedly liberal, black woman. People said there was no way she could win, and it was folly to nominate someone so clearly at odds with the Georgia electorate. She came close to winning, and the last Democrat to come close to her final percentage total was in 1994. All the moderate, milquetoast white men since then lost by larger margins, and in the last 8 years got clobbered by huge margins. Ms. Abrams, on the other hand energized the base and added thousands of new people to the voting rolls. She came close to winning, and Republican voting suppression efforts played a significant role in the election.

On the national stage the Democratic party continues to push this bizarre narrative that they should ignore their base and push for someone with broad appeal and a mixed record. This only feeds into the narrative of wishy washy, spineless Democrats. Over the last two years a new group of people, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have found the backbone to stand up and change the national discussion. We need people who will clearly and consistently state basic progressive ideas and shift the Overton window back from its current extreme. The next President is going to be elected by a motivated and aggressive base. Right now the Republicans have that, and as usual the Democrats are doing everything they can to squander an incredible opportunity.

I love AOC and would crown her if I could. But this is for many of us (73%) not about whose policies we like best but primarily who can beat Trump.

I would take issue about the next president being elected by a motivated base. At this point with R and D bases close to equal it looks like the Independents will decide.

 

[Kaimi Kyomoon]

I want the Democrats to return to their roots as the party for workers. I want them to take us back to 90% income tax on the top tax bracket. More than that I want them to seriously address making women and poc equal in all opportunity for real. I want an end to homelessness. True health care and mental health care for all. Free drugs and safe places for drug addicts and as much help as they want to get well. I want billions of dollars spent on working for peace, not huge financial incentives for war. I'm not going to vote for whomever the polls say can beat Trump because if I don't get a serious progressive candidate I might as well have Trump. I wish everyone would vote for the candidate who they secretly wish could win so we could see how many of us there are and maybe send a message to the politics as usual crowd.
Of course I'll vote for anyone who is my only choice against Trump.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Pamela]

Just kill me now.

Opinion | Trump’s Formidable 2020 Tailwind (Published 2019)

The economy and incumbency drive presidential election outcomes.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

All quiet on the Western front. Or in other words: we all do know that it's hard to prevent a second term of a reigning, American president. This is absolutely nothing new, nor shocking or earthshattering.

And since it is undecided yet who's going to run against him, all of those predictions are in muddy waters at best.

The NY Times on the Democratic competition field:

With the 2020 Democratic Field Set, Candidates Begin the Races Within the Race (Published 2019)

The competitive lanes are set as candidates vie for black voters, women, younger voters — but they are fluid. One thing seems sure: Joseph R. Biden’s lead will be tested.

www.nytimes.com

Quote: "My party doesn’t like front-runners,” said Paul Begala, the former top adviser to former President Bill Clinton, noting that nearly every Democratic favorite in recent history either lost the nomination or suffered a scare along the way. “It’s going to tighten no matter what."

Democrats say that is in part because much of the party’s energy is coming from younger, female and progressive activists, making it unlikely that a 76-year-old, establishment-aligned white male will simply march to the nomination. And while Mr. Biden has benefited so far from the sprawling field, which has split the opposition, there are already signs that he could face stiffer competition.

 

[Pamela]

But there is something a little different about this particular incumbent. Something out of the ordinary. Something few of us could have ever imagined in an American President.

Plus the model predicted he would win 2016 by an even greater margin than he did, and he was not an incumbent.

 

[Aeon Jiminy]

It's interesting that one of the big concerns of the 2016 election was "hacking". The hacking exposed "rigging". I just don't see how any of this has changed. The voting system is still hackable and completely unverifiable. Superdelegates are alive and well and their necessity is being constructed right before our eyes with a field of candidates designed to divide the primary into tiny pieces. In 2016, the media was on board with Clinton in painting the progressive Sanders campaign as "Bernie Bros" for challenging a woman. Now the field with many progressive women is supposedly being led by establishment Biden and there hasn't been a mention of "Joe Bro" by the media. The DNC leadership is stacked with establishment tools. There were no consequences to the blatant 2016 rigging. Does anyone really believe there's a choice to be made by voting? How could you possibly know that your vote is even counted when it falls into an electronic stew that will never be audited and is managed by a system and media that is bought and paid for by those that have an agenda that is openly against your best interests?

 

[Anya Ristow]

In 2016, the media was on board with Clinton in painting the progressive Sanders campaign as "Bernie Bros" for challenging a woman. Now the field with many progressive women is supposedly being led by establishment Biden and there hasn't been a mention of "Joe Bro" by the media.

Before there were Bernie Bros there were Obama Boys. They both came from the same place. There won't be Joe Bros until there is a candidate that coins the term. Or a candidate's supporters. I doubt it will happen. "Bernie Bros" and "Obama Boys" both came from the presumption that Clinton was the obvious nominee and her challengers were tapping into unfair male privilege and sexism. Biden isn't the challenger, he is the presumed obvious nominee, so he won't face this problem. His success won't be challenged as illegitimate.

That is, before there was What Happened?, the blame tour, and Russiagate to explain away Clinton's losses, there were Obama Boys, Bernie Bros and Deplorables to explain away why she wasn't already 50 points ahead. I see no evidence we'll have this problem with, say, Warren or Harris.

 

[Han Held]

Sadly, that is precisely the point.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

How's things with that Avenatti guy?


lol

 

[Han Held]

There is hard data that shows that a centrist Democrat would be a losing candidate

Economist Thomas Piketty wrote a paper about this in 2018, though the Democrats paid no attention

www.salon.com

tldr from the article:

Now, why hasn't the Democratic Party heeded Piketty's warning? I think you already know why. To quote Upton Sinclair: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." The donor base of the Democratic Party consists of a lot of pretty rich people who prefer the Democratic Party to be left on social issues but right on economic issues. The party elite see these wealthy folks as part of the party, and don't want to nominate a candidate who accurately sees them as class enemies.

 

[Cristiano]

People haven't gotten over a man rudely storming Kamala Harris's stage

We have to be better.

mashable.com

 

[Lady Darnk Juniorette]

Can't wait to see right wing doucheboys suddenly become animal rights activists to defend this dork.

And on a sidenote I'm offically sick of beards.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

So close, but so far away! Pete Buttigieg was in Fresno today at the Fresno State campus. I, unfortunately, was at work and could not attend. Oh, so close!

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

But that Avenatti guy!

Whoops.

 

[Pamela]

Loved Warren’s town hall today,. Then saw this.

Don’t Look Now, but Joe Biden Is Beating Trump in Texas

Quinnipiac shows Biden edging out the president—and Elizabeth Warren isn’t far behind. Is this the year Democrats finally turn the Lone Star State blue?

www.vanityfair.com

 

[Beebo Brink]

Loved Warren’s town hall today,. Then saw this.

Don’t Look Now, but Joe Biden Is Beating Trump in Texas

Quinnipiac shows Biden edging out the president—and Elizabeth Warren isn’t far behind. Is this the year Democrats finally turn the Lone Star State blue?

www.vanityfair.com

I love this. We have over a year to go and more than one Democratic candidate may end up in a stronger position than Trump. If Warren keeps on with her Town Halls, she's going to build a solid base of supporters who are deeply invested in her campaign. She knows how to make it close and personal.