2020 Democratic presidential primary

Not sure why we'd expect the media to specifically boost them and not Biden.

The thing that haunts me with Biden is when my Indian American, MSNBC-watching mother-in-law told me how much she "likes" him without saying anything about his politics. Obviously not much of a data point, but I flash back to it whenever these polls come out.

I think I already mentioned my shock when my sister-in-law told me she was hoping for a Biden/Beto ticket.

This is the thing, once he starts having to speak, he'll surely fade, the energy isn't there. Also, doesn't he run every time and the same thing happens. Front runner then fades?

I mean, hopefully you are right, but it's a big assumption right now.

run Joe run, and bury your generation of invertebrates

Polls this early mean next to nothing.

As for Biden, at least he has competition for the voters who want safety, reassurance and calm... packaged as a white man. I think he'll fade away, largely because as a campaigner he is vapid at best and notoriously error prone, but not as quickly as he should. He still might be the last white man standing by next April.

I think Beto is a flash in the pan, fool's gold who'll be exposed as such. The grueling length of a national campaign is at least good for weeding out that kind of pretender.

Buttigieg has easily the longest road to travel if he's going to claim the mantle of The Middle Man. He has excellent campaigning chops for attracting white, college-educated middle-class voters, along with some crossover appeal to other groups, such as youth, women. He's clearly the dark horse who could surprise everyone by a strong showing in Iowa & NH, then making it to the convention with a good bloc of delegates and be a real force. I greatly doubt his ceiling is high enough to be the nominee.

Do those numbers actually show a lot of Sanders voters moving to Buttigieg? I thought Sanders was polling closer to Biden earlier?

dunno but I'm a 2016 Sanders primary voter who will most likely be voting for Buttigieg this time around.

do you not worry about his prioritization of "philosophy" (or vague mush) over policy positions?

yeah akm what gives

When you can pin down something resembling an actual political ideology to Buttigieg, it's not good so he's probably start to keep up the vagueness as long as possible.

feel like mayor pete could either blow up big or fade substantially once it's a matter of debates, or any other forum where any other candidate can land a "where's the beef?" or christie-vs-rubio-style punch. like...ok, yes, there are tons of people who are not going to be bothered at all by the centrist vacuity behind the fresh face, but there are going to be other people projecting more substantive hopes and excitements onto him and they will be able to see that image deflate when a bernie or warren is hammering him: what, sir, IS your actual commitment when it comes to everyone getting health care?...

likely a more telegenic Paul Tsongas

Mayor Pete seems pretty smart and thoughtful and could be pushed left but he also seems to actually believe what he says about wanting to unite the country and we just don’t have time to waste on that shit any more.

that's a good point

let's not unite with the third of the country that wants to kill us all

as someone who was born and raised in a red state and now lives in an even redder state, i do sincerely wish that that 1/3 would see the light somehow.

Elizabeth Warren: "I’m proposing a big new idea: the Real Corporate Profits Tax"

https://medium.com/@teamwarren/im-proposing-a-big-new-idea-the-real-corporate-profits-tax-29dde7c960d

Seems legit. If corporations are persons they can pay AMT.

<3 liz

Style update: https://t.co/Vs61vEBJmE pic.twitter.com/R98jpoUpIQ

— Matt Pearce 🦅 (@mattdpearce) April 12, 2019

i suspect homophonic errors are happening on side or the other of that "helpful" pronunciation guide

Buttigieg was on the Ellen Show and her followers obviously support LGBTQ personalities, so he definitely gained some extra followers after that.

It's pretty wild that her show gets over 3 million views. Her viewerships' demographics are mostly women between 25 to 54, probably the most progressive people in America (women in their 20s).

I had a great time talking with Mayor @PeteButtigieg and his husband @Chas10Buttigieg. https://t.co/q3TrMMtUFZ

— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) April 12, 2019

People will often be polite to you in person, while advancing policies that harm you and your family. You will be polite to them in turn, but you need not stand for such harms. Instead, you push back, honestly and emphatically. So it goes, in the public square.

— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) April 9, 2019

finally, a candidate with a tweeting style more annoying than Trump's

that seems a tad hyperbolic :)

Hey it’s just the way I get by https://t.co/t2mtDxNTkl

— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) April 12, 2019

still lobbying for the Soto vote I see

is he quoting bad pop lyrics?

not gonna vote for him til he busts out 'Tarkus'

lol tru story last week my partner was annoyed with me and said “you speak like someone from the 1930s, it’s too much, you sound like your mom.”

now, mother is still going, and was born... in that era. anyhow, i can assure this entire board that i sound nothing AT ALL like that fine lady. additionally, i do appreciate how that gentleman with the german-looking name addresses the public via the twitter, it is splendid.

is he quoting bad pop lyrics?

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, April 12, 2019

fp'd tbh that's one of the great tracks of the 2000s

Beto jumps up on counter, "I WAS INTO ALIEN BEATS WAY BEFORE PETE EVEN HEARD OF SPOON..."

Yeah, I know. That was basically the Liquid Swords joke.

Spoon-off between Beto & Buttigieg

Buttigieg is basically the Spoon of the race - initially pleasant but you're left wishing for something more substantial.

Her viewerships' demographics are mostly women between 25 to 54, probably the most progressive people in America (women in their 20s).

This sentence has a lot of layers to work through.

imo most Spoon records reveal their pleasures by repeat listening, both of these guys for different reasons nope

I like that Buttigieg likes Spoon

with that name, obv the little Spoon

Beto getting his mid-Gen X cred in, Buttigieg late-X/early-millennial - who shall speak for the early Xers?

can't believe spoon beat fugazi in the primary D:

wtf music do you think warren would say she listened to if anyone bothered to ask her?

Gillibrand and Booker are the only Gen X candidates older than Beto. Harris being just slightly too old to count. Buttigieg is Gen Y.

I know warren loves the HBO show ballers starring the rock so her listening might be surprising.

that’s some disqualifying shit right there ballers is terrible

acc to the Harvard Center, Buttigieg still counts as Gen X (he's '82, their cutoff is '84)

xp I am more comfortable with her Reagan/Bush/Dole support than this, scandalized

The candidates' responses to Trump smearing Omar are quite telling.

We are stronger than this president’s hatred and Islamophobia. Do not let him drive us apart or make us afraid.

— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) April 13, 2019

i do not understand o'rourke's appeal in this field at all. how many dems are just looking to be anesthetized by their president?