It's time to have a 2020 Presidential Election thread

Sanders has a very loyal core, and he bounced right back from the heart attack. He has a firm floor. I think he has a firm ceiling, too, but that’s more a guess.

I know folks really love Warren, but would anyone actually be upset if Pete was the nominee? I know that the hard core Warren/Bernie supporters like to rage about how he’s some super moderate dude, and just another white guy, but lets be real.

The guy is actually smart and thoughtful when he speaks. He actually seems to give a shit about people, and thinks about the questions they ask him, rather than just repeating a stump speech.

And he’s not a million years old. I know that I seem to care more about that than most folks here, but man… I REALLY want to elect someone who isn’t crazy old.

There definitely will be people who will make it seem like they’d never switch their vote, but that all seems to be part of their stages of grief when their favored candidate fails. Don’t we have research that, by and large, Dems will vote for Dems, even if they were Bernie Bros or Warren fans?

I just imagine the absurd contrast that we’d see between Trump and Pete on stage in a debate. A young, super smart guy, up against an old imbecile.

In fairness, Warren would certainly contrast him as well, since she’s so much smarter than he is. But she’s also old (although not AS old).

Don’t get me wrong though, I will totally vote for Warren. I’ll vote for literally anyone over Trump.

I strongly prefer Warren to Mayor Pete, but strongly prefer Pete to Biden or Sanders. The age thing is a big factor in that, but I also like Mayor Pete in general. That said, if you are looking to beat Trump, it’s far from clear that he’s a better option than Warren.

At least one person.

I think it is good question and I imagine he is probably acceptable to most everyone on the forum. My best friend is gay and as much as loves Mayor Pete, his view is that there is still lots of homophobia in the country especially among older voters. Older voters can reasonably justify to themselves (and pollster). " I think he is too young and inexperienced to President." But what really bothers them is having gay sex in the White House. I don’t see any Democrat voting for Trump, but will they stay home? possibly.

I wouldn’t. M4AWWI is leftier than most of what we’ve seen in my life on health care, and he has at least mouthed the right things on my top issue, climate (I hope his youth will be a factor there as well).

He might get slammed in the general on the small-town-mayor thing. Trump attacking anyone for lack of political experience would be, of course, absurd; but every single thing that comes out of Trump’s mouth is absurd, so…

Who wrote that?

Also, it just seems so weird to call Pete a centrist. I mean, he’d be further left than… any president ever? What kind of centrist policies is he promoting?

P. Z. Myers. On his blog, Pharyngula. I stopped reading it a long time ago, but I was curious and went there just now.

This is my take as well.

Would Pete be my first pick? Eh, probably not. But his intelligence and communication skills are excellent, and I would be happy to see him as President.

Warren has more qualification and past success, the CFPB in particular, that reccomend her to me. But Pete? I would be plenty happy for him to get the pick.

Just not Joe Biden please?

Myers is a bit of a curmudgeon and is reflexively leftist in a way that is typical of former activists from the 60’s. Those folks are absolutely good folks–movement elders with lots to teach us whippersnappers–and god love 'em, but their ideology has calcified just a bit and it’s difficult to bring up nuance and context with them.

He’s a better science communicator than political activist, but he’s good peeps and his blog is still worth reading.

One thing to make a point on Mayor Pete: he’s likeable. People just like the guy. He comes off as obviously smart, but self-deprecating and relatable. And he has a good way of explaining policy positions that has the feel of common-sense stuff.

I’d be happy to support Buttigieg. His polling among African Americans terrifies me but I’m a big fan, personally.

In 2016, I was happy for the Republican field. I liked Kaisch and Christie, Rubio and Bush were perfectly acceptable, and Carly Fiorina had her moments. I honestly can’t imagine what magic white knight, the Republican donors could have introduced that would have saved the party from Trump. At least the Republican donor class was smart enough to back existing candidate instead of these two. I had to Google to remind myself who Deval Patrick is. He is no Barrack Obama, that’s for sure.

This is true. He is a superb communicator, probably the best of the lot. And that is actually saying something!

Also true.

I consider him a Macron/Trudeau wannabe, I’d be upset, but I’d be willing to give him a chance if he was President.

This is our best chance for good revolutionary change, I want to win it. I would take him over Biden, Harris, or Tulsi easily.

I would go for Pete, based on what I know at this point, easily.

Tulsi? I thought she was struggling to make the debate stage?

Pete had me at “Pornstar Presidency” so I’m still totes gay for the Buttiman and will definitely vote for him if he’s still on the ballot here in Virginia.