Funding is a big part of it. And she’s very telegenic, and her experience as a prosecutor serves her pretty well when it comes to connecting with an audience. So that’s all good.
But I also think that if you’re scouting the Democratic horse race, you have to look at how dominating women candidates were in the 2018 mid-terms. I mean, they kicked ass and took names.
And so I think you have to be cognizant of that in the Democratic primaries, where the voting demographic is heavily made up of non-whites and women. And with that in mind, you look at the women who have declared so far – Warren, Harris,and Gillibrand, and the women who are very likely to get in (Gabbard – yes I know, but she hasn’t officially announced – and Klobuchar)…and Harris comes out pretty well in comparison with that group.
We’ll see. I think she’s got some repair work to do on her career as AG and as a prosecutor still. But her ability to embrace some progressive positions without making it seem like she’s grounded could help her a lot if she plays it well to draw from both progressive voters and more moderate ones. Of course, that could also backfire, if progressives end up seeing her as too centrist, and moderates see her as too out there.
BTW, one thing to keep in mind in all of this early on at least: as they kept bringing up at the Harris Town Hall in Iowa last night, the #1 issue for Democratic voters in primary season so far: “Can the candidate beat Trump?” That overrides everything else, including all specific and general policy endeavors.
It’ll be interesting to see how that aspect plays out in the coming year.
Like @MrGrumpy I had hoped that Senator Jon Tester would give it a go, and like him, I am now suspecting he will not.
But more than that, I have qualities that I am looking for.
I want a candidate who has successful experience in running in tough campaigns, preferably against hostile people. People tend to overlook the extent to which Hillary did not. She’d seen political campaigns, but that’s different. Of course, I want someone who agrees with me on the issues, and who has the skills to lead a large, complex nation. But you can’t get there without well honed skills at running for office, and those skills are different… Trump got away with a lot of rookie mistakes running for office because he faced a candidate with only marginally more experience at it. Given that Trump really does not learn, he will probably make just as many rookie mistakes again. This time, we need someone who can take advantage.
I want a candidate who is savvy with the media that exists today. In my opinion, this was Trump’s biggest strength. His television experience benefitted him in that, for all his other idiocy, he had a knack for using controversy to suck up all the oxygen, and, probably more important, he used social media to communicate with followers in such a way that media figures could not frame his comments. For all the crazy theories as to what the Trump upset signified, I believe this fact is the proverbial elephant in the room. No presidential candidate in memory managed to tell millions of people his version of things without someone leading in and out of his words with context as to motivation, background facts, opposing viewpoints, etc. I don’t want a candidate who runs on all the accumulated wisdom of how to win elections on network television, I want someone who has a clear idea how to do this in the media of 2019 and 2020.
I want a candidate who is squeaky clean and knows how to keep his/her inner circle equally clean. Not because I am a moralist, but because Republicans will be out to impeach any Democratic winner from day 1. Actually, from Election Day on. From the perspective of their base, Dems have done all in their power to steal the election 2016 though impeachment, and so even if no impeachment of Trump ever occurs, they will feel it is their right to go this route. The Clinton style of playing loose with the rules… this cannot be the way things are done. Aggressive attacks, sure. Shady business arrangements or campaign financing, etc. no way.
Back in the day, Amy Klobuchar was the Hennepin County attorney, and my wife and I were active in local DFL politics. So she called our house before the SD60 convention to try and get us to back her for the endorsement. We had the usual conversation about what we wanted and why she was running, and then I mentioned that we had a very good experience with one of the attorneys in her office when they were charging someone with crimes related to a burglary. It would have been entirely reasonable for her to say something like “I’ll fight for you in Washington just like I did here.” She was, after all, explicitly calling to convince me to support her run for senate.
She did not do that. Instead, she stopped the whole conversation about the senate endorsement, asked me who the attorney was, asked me what happened, and told me she would pass the positive feedback along. She didn’t try to claim credit, she was a good boss, and she cared about the details. That’s stuck with me.
Also, when she was a brand new senator we ran into her at the state fair and she was down for embracing the cliche of politicians holding babies, so I have a great picture of her and my daughter.
Predictions about anyone running against Trump in the primaries from the center? Is Romney eyeing the prize? John Kasich is almost definitely going to try, right? Nikki Haley, with pull in the early primary state of South Carolina?
