Way too early - Possible 2020 Democratic Candidates

I thought we had a thread for this, but apparently not. I could put this is the ‘whither’ thread, but thought it might deserve its own even if it is too early.

Of course, I’ve no idea who will be the frontrunner (assuming the older-than-dirt white guys don’t run, i.e. Biden, Brown or Sanders.) That said, if CA holds an early primary, I’d expect Kamala Harris to join Kirsten Gillibrand among the frontrunners. I don’t know who else will be on that list, but I’d expect a centrist candidate to be there, too.

But the real reason I’m posting:

I can’t imagine he has a shot in hell but I would love it if Merkley ran.

I’ll just leave this here, from Saturday Night Live in 1991. Note that Bill Clinton wasn’t even on this stage!

CAMPAIGN '92: THE RACE TO AVOID BEING THE GUY WHO LOSES TO BUSH

At that point, we had just facerolled Iraq, and America felt awesome.

Yeah, it was a totally different situation for sure. I’m just pointing out that there’s no way to really know right now how things will shake out in the next two years, and someone can even come in late in the process.

It does seem like voters like “dark horse” candidates, ones that come from nowhere and “shouldn’t win.” Clinton in '92, Obama in '08, and even Howard Dean and Bernie Sanders had their moments.

In an era where talking first and saying inappropriate stuff is no longer a barrier to being president, Joe Biden looking very strong as a candidate at this snapshot in time, even as a one-term placeholder president.

Killer Mike not doing Bernie any favors in this shifting political landscape yesterday.

If Biden is the dem candidiate, we might actually get a cage match instead of a debate.

Biden/Warren would be my currently favored combination.

BIDEN IS TOO OLD

Seriously. He’d take office at almost 80. Jesus.

Hopefully the Democratic bench isn’t quite so short that we need to keep nominating these antediluvians.

I’m just reporting the polling. People like Grampa Joe.

I think that’s because he has two qualities that have come to hold high currency of a sudden:

  1. He’s pretty much unfettered and also says things without filtration, and constantly, which apparently is something people like. I dunno why, but white people in blue collar areas of the country seem to equate that with honesty I guess.

  2. He’s actually a competent politician too, despite the nonsense he says.

And so, If you’re eager for a President who combines Trump’s affinity for shooting off one’s mouth (and there are a lot of people who seem to be eager for that) with far less systemic and institutional chaos…well, there’s Joe Biden.

Biden’s age is an issue.

That said,

49,322 votes and 2,821 comments so far on Reddit

Please, no Bernie this time.

Barring a health issue, there is zero chance that Bernie sits 2020 out. Bernie Bros and Russia won’t allow it.

We need young politicians.
On some real level, being under 50 is a major voting issue for me.

The issue that Bernie may have in 2020 is the success Bernie had in 2016. Kudos to him for pushing the Democratic Party platform to the left. Populist issues he championed before anyone else – like $15 minimum wage, free community college, etc. – have become part of the mainstream party platform now. Which may hurt him on differentiation.

So you take that, and then remove a lightning rod for loyal opposition on the left in Hillary Clinton, and Bernie may have his work cut out.

Also, it’s still unclear to me how Candidate Sanders attracts women and African American voters enough to win in the primaries.

Minor success, much the same as the recent successes had against the NRA recently. We’re thankful for it, but it is only a small step forward, not the end. Also in both situations, if people step back for one moment the DNC/NRA will claw that hard fought success back and go back to their old ways.

That said, if what you said is true, and the DNC has adopted Bernie’s platform in a lot of ways, i don’t think Bernie will run, which will be a move that I will support. However, i don’t think this will be true. The DNC will pick someone who is slightly more left, but they will support money in politics, they will be pro big business, they won’t support any real health care reform, etc etc. I hope i am wrong, but the Democratic mainstream doesnt even realize they have an issue and instead are going to be wondering why young people don’t vote.

The same way anyone else does? What did he actually do to alienate these groups?

The only things i can think of is a reasonably successful swift boats vets style campaign against him by the Clinton campaign.

A lot of it was fear though I suppose. Fear that having anything on the platform other than social justice would dilute that agenda (I actually saw someone on CNN saying exactly this after Trump won). This is not true. Women and African Americans face economic justice problems as well, it isn’t like that is a young white male problem. Bernie fought for the same social justice positions any other Democrat did as well, more so.

I really fear for the Democratic party. I think a lot of people are going to hold their nose and vote for the DNC pick in 2020 because “But Trump!” but what will happen next time if the republican candidate isn’t quite so bad? The democrats need to be more than just Republicans that aren’t racist/sexist.

FYI: The DNC did not “pick” Obama. Nor did it pick John Kerry.

Both won their nominations by winning primaries, a novel concept.

And given the super-delegate reforms after 2016, the DNC will be doing even less picking. God knows what the Bernie-bros will find to be discontented about next.

Yeah, there’s still plenty of fighting about superdelegates, even with those fairly sensible rules changes, which keep 2/3rds of them unaffiliated until the first ballot of the convention. (the other third would be governors and members of congress who would be bound to the candidate who won their state primary.)

I mean, for all the talk of unfairness to be founded, if someone’s not also talking about eliminating the caucus system…I’m pretty much tuning that person out as a shill for a specific candidate.

Jesus fucking christ, let’s do this again