4230

We’ll have this to contend with:

4231

The Democrats would be shooting themselves in the feet with twin gatling guns if they even allow a billionaire with no political experience to enter the primaries, much less nominate one. They have always been stupid about such things, however, so I don’t put it past them.

4232

How do you stop someone from entering a primary?

4233

You have the united leadership of the party tell him they will never support him. And then if he persists they come up with some rule that excludes him that he won’t be able to fight because he has no political organization of his own. The GOP could have done that to Trump, but of course they assumed he would lose. The Dems would just have to sacrifice his gigadonor dollars.

But the thing is I expect they won’t exclude him at all, allowing every right-wing opponent to point out the shocking irony while supporting an alt-right whispering campaign about some stupid conspiracy theory.

4234

I don’t understand what this means. Pick a state, tell me how the Democrats keep someone off the primary ballot in that state.

4235

Both the state and national committees can draft any rules they like to make it difficult or impossible for him to come up with appropriate organization in the state. It’s been done many times before in both parties. Don’t you remember the big kerfuffle about cutting out Sanders from various sources of funding and support during his campaign against Clinton? It can be done either grossly by disallowing petitions and banning local representatives and so on or more subtly if you let the guy run but just want him to lose.

Of course it’s anti-plutocratic to do this, and hence anti-American, but when you join a political party, you normally have to play by their rules.

4236

What I remember is that Sanders was on the ballot in every state and got a lot of votes. Neither the Democratic State or National committees can keep a person off e.g. California’s ballot, to pick one state. The rules for getting on the ballot are a matter of state law, not party rules. I imagine this is true in virtually every state, though I don’t know that for sure.

4237

I very much doubt that a billion will have the same impact on my the Democratic party as it does the GOP. The Dems, especially at the floor level, have a different set of standards from the GOP.

4238

I didn’t say he wouldn’t be able to get on some ballots. But imagine what happens if the local well-loved Democrats in a state say on camera and in their town halls that they don’t want another wealthy asshole buying the presidency? His local representatives will all be investigated for ethics violations, his money sources will be scrutinized, etc. etc. etc. They wouldn’t do that if he played by party rules. If he developed a conventional political base over time and gained the support of at least a few Democrat leaders he’d be fine. But if he flouts the leadership, they will feel free to use every dirty trick in the book. At least Sanders was a Senator with a long-time political history, which lets him into the collegium of pols. Assuming the Dems didn’t want him, this guy would be a cipher for the average American without active Democrat party support.

But this is the hypothetical and probably counterfactual situation in which the Democrats are smart enough to realize an unknown mystery billionaire is exactly the wrong person to nominate for president. Half of them are probably on his payroll as it is.

4239

At the end of the day they don’t have to let anyone on the ballot. It’s sort of the purpose of a political party: to get people who share similar ideals and try to get them elected. If Mike Pence wants to run as a Democrat, they can tell him “no thanks” quite easily. Same goes if Michelle Obama decides to run as a Republican.

Political parties are private clubs for lack of a better term. They have freedom of association. Now some states might have laws that get around that, but most don’t.

4240
4241

I agree for primaries the parties have a lot of power. Hell, they don’t even have to have primaries (and many don’t). If they want to require candidates to have been members for 10 years, and receive the blessing of 3 state party officer it is perfectly fine.

4242

True story: Despite living in Colorado 50% of the time and moving toward 100%, I kept my Wisconsin residency just so I can vote in November’s election. I’m encouraging everyone I know to make sure to vote. With how close the 2016 election was, I’m not going to miss my very important vote.

4243

I think it is the case that at least some states have state laws that govern the process of determining the candidates on a primary ballot and party approval isn’t one of the factors — this seems to be true of California and Arizona — but I don’t know if it is the case that most states don’t.

4244

This is true; in some states the party can’t control who runs if they get enough signatures and claim membership. But in those states they can always torpedo the candidate if they want to in other ways. Which is why when you get a nazi running in Illinois, it’s not that the poor local GOP had their hands tied and had to accept him. They could easily have found someone else to run and supported that candidate to the extent that they would win while hamstringing the nazi. But they chose not to.

4245

Uh, no. Democrats have not always been stupid about such things. Democrats, in the past several elections have nominated:

  • A former Governor who grew up farming peanuts off a dirt road in a small impoverished Georgia town, and served as a Naval officer
  • A former Senator who attended public schools growing up and paid for law school by enlisting in the Army
  • A former Governor and son of immigrant parents who attended public schools and served in Korea.
  • A former Governor and son of a single mother who grew up in poverty, got his undergraduate degree through scholarships and his law degree as a Rhodes Scholar.
  • A former Senator who, yes finally, grew up wealthy, but nevertheless enlisted in the Army to serve in Vietnam.
  • A Senator who grew up an army brat and is a decorated veteran of the Vietnam war.
  • A former Senator who grew up the son of a single mother, attended schools on scholarships, and edited the Harvard Law Review
  • A former Senator and Secretary of State, daughter of a textile business manager, who attended public schools and edited the Yale Review of Law and Social Action.

These are mostly people from working or middle class backgrounds, with bright academic careers, and long and distinguished careers in public service prior to being nominated. Democrats nominate statesmen. That’s not an insignificant part of why I’m a Democrat.

4247

And yet he was doing it. I am not sure I believe them, but he certainly wasn’t supposed to make national headlines I’m sure.

4248

And her opponent will turn her run into a single-issue decision: Is she a big fat liar about a made-up heritage in order to glean unequal benefits and considerations afforded to people who didn’t personally earn them in the first place.

It’s gonna be another birther movement.

Time to replace Hillary’s face in all the hate-memes.

4249

If ‘Pocahontas’ succeeds in sinking a Warren presidential bid, then sorry, but the American public deserves what it gets*. At some point you have to accept that the backstop of a functioning republic must be an electorate with more than two brain cells to rub together.

The GOP will dig up shit on every candidate put forth. In '04 I thought Kerry was bulletproof on his Vietnam service because he was both a decorated veteran and a respected voice of protest.

How very, very, very naive I was.

*Assuming a free and fair election, which is increasingly something difficult to assume

4250

Agreed. I strongly suspect it’s the headlines which got him in hot water. A consultant doesn’t typically run around with unsupervised authority, in my experience.