2020 Democratic presidential primary

I was actually heyo-ing the previous post but I think Alfred is acknowledging “power vacuum” as something akin to a power bottom

Kind of hilarious that at this point the great hope of the major Dem donors is the mayor of the forth largest city in Indiana.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) November 2, 2019

xp oh yeah i didn't consider that connotation sorry. i was being serious!

I'm actually warming to Mayor Pete. If he still has a chance by the time the primary reaches my state, I might vote for him.

would mayor pete be polling higher or lower if he were straight

I don't know. Honestly though I think the people who absolutely wouldn't vote for a gay man were never going to vote for anybody but Trump anyway.

liberal urban moneyed types, or people who fashion themselves as a combination of the above, like the guy

It feels like pure branding, and the people who see themselves as his base seem like socially/politically-striving types who feel identity is more important than policy

he’s a mckinsey type who took advice on which advisors to hire from facebook

having lived through many mckinsey and mckinsey-type corporate restructurings, none of which were saudi arabian (thankfully), don’t trust him

It's not that I don't care about policy. But at the end of the day, what any of these candidates is going to be able to accomplish in office is a lot different than the policies they would support in a vacuum.

Buttigieg was there to fill it.

Yes, he's very ambitious, but the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana does not embark on a national campaign for the presidency just because he woke up one morning and said to himself, "By god, the nation needs me and I'm going to do it!", then start cold-calling all the billionaires on his rolodex to pitch his innovative ideas about the Supreme Court.

America’s fascination with ex-soldiers politicians will forever elude me.

fwiw, I’m currently taking part in a corporate initiative prioritization process called “execute to win”

note that mckinsey was advising the saudis on image strategy *directly* before the khashoggi affair, and they still are selling a corporate strategy with that name

I get it, but Buttigieg was at McKinsey for like 3 years. I don't really see him as the candidate from McKinsey.

Yes, he's very ambitious, but the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana does not embark on a national campaign for the presidency just because he woke up one morning and said to himself, "By god, the nation needs me and I'm going to do it!", then start cold-calling all the billionaires on his rolodex to pitch his innovative ideas about the Supreme Court.

Feels to me that one thing does not exclude the other, it just seems interests have aligned. As it often happens.

xxxp that’s fair, but the approach to policy and how people adapt to the election landscape is important, because it shows the compromise strategy that might happen in legislation

Clinton’s campaign and past policy basically stated “a good compromise is the best victory” and it gave us all kinds of bullshit because sometimes the best victory is just tabling things

America’s fascination with ex-soldiers politicians will forever elude me.

it's actually been quite a long time since a military 'hero' had any success in a presidential campaign

Think I read somewhere that Pete has never gotten more than 8,000 people to vote for him in an election.

I don't really see him as the candidate from McKinsey.

i absolutely do

I love Warren's ambition when it comes to policy, but at this point, I feel like the deciding factor for me is who I think is most likely to be able to beat Trump. Not that I have any special insight into that, but that's really what I think most about.

it's actually been quite a long time since a military 'hero' had any success in a presidential campaign

― mookieproof, Friday, November 1, 2019 9:24 PM (twenty-eight seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

I was thinking of McCain and Kerry who have been successful/are having successful political careers.

Xpost I’m not crazy about Pete but he might be the most electable, he at least seems to have the least baggage, which is obviously mostly a function of being half the age of the other front runners

Mayor Pete probably has the Dem 'anybody but a boomer' vote locked down.

i'd obviously vote for pete over trump but it is astonishing to me that a cybernetically created and not even particularly successful mayor of a small city -- who is gay! -- is considered more 'electable' than various senators/governors/etc of various genders

I’ll wait for him to be firmly in double digits in polling to call him the most electable. So far he is closer to Beto than he is to Biden.

I kind of hate him tbh

The only reasons Buttigieg is more electable than Harris are racism and sexism.

I actually dont think being a young mayor of a small town is adequate preparation for being president

if bernie's major shortcoming is that he can't turn out the black vote, where in hell does that leave pete

Buttigieg moving into Morbs' Target Number 1 spot in the last week or two validates all of the above.

It is a deep fundamental flaw with primary politics that the first two are in such ridiculously lily white states.

3 years is a long time imho

if bernie's major shortcoming is that he can't turn out the black vote, where in hell does that leave pete

Given supporter demos, I don't think this is a credible accusation against Bernie anymore (unless you're comparing him to Biden)

I love Warren's ambition when it comes to policy, but at this point, I feel like the deciding factor for me is who I think is most likely to be able to beat Trump. Not that I have any special insight into that, but that's really what I think most about.

― o. nate, Friday, November 1, 2019 9

Reagan might iirc

(i don't think that's a credible accusation against bernie either, just that's it's been going on for years)

liberal urban moneyed types, or people who fashion themselves as a combination of the above, like the guy

It feels like pure branding, and the people who see themselves as his base seem like socially/politically-striving types who feel identity is more important than policy

― mh, Friday, November 1, 2019 8:16 PM (fifty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

he’s a mckinsey type who took advice on which advisors to hire from facebook

having lived through many mckinsey and mckinsey-type corporate restructurings, none of which were saudi arabian (thankfully), don’t trust him

― mh, Friday, November 1, 2019 8:18 PM (fifty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm. the youngest candidate is basically running to be biden's grandson taking over the family business.

Is he really a threat to the top 3 candidates?

Perhaps in a Kerry-in-November-2003 sort of way should Biden falter and Mindy Moderates need a white hero.

he seems like a worst-case scenario in the general

That's Biden.

Look folks, here’s the deal. Ol’ Joe has failed everybsinhle time he’s run for president. Every. Single.Time. And if he is the Democratic nominee Trump will beat him like a drum. Like a DRUM!

i think biden does much better with black voters than buttigieg

The only reasons Buttigieg is more electable than Harris are racism and sexism.

There's a good case to be made that the only reasons Trump was more electable than Hillary were racism and sexism.

watching buttigieg try to debate trump with smoothly delivered mckinsey wisdom sounds like living hell

I would rather vote for Hunter Biden than Joe or Pete.

What's Hunter Biden ever shown you?

People sure hate McKinsey here.

its bad

last week, the buttigieg suggested its poor oerformance in south carolina was the result of black homophobia, a conclusion derived from a single 25-person focus group.

anyway, yeah, looking forward to the unity https://t.co/nZYjpHuf3M

— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) November 2, 2019

given that he's shorter than trump, i'd like to think that buttigieg has been preparing lo these nearly 40 years to break out the jujitsu on the debate stage

what could possibly maga more than trial by combat

great idea! let's drive a wedge between gay men and blacks!