Your next 2020 Democratic presidential primary thread: Now we're serious

Citation needed

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/2020_democratic_presidential_nomination-6730.html

Bret Stephens: To say Sanders is unelectable is indefensible

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/436/943/93f.jpg

never get tired of hearing white guys point out that women should just endorse bernie

lol at the idea that Sanders being the nominee would make the Dems a "socialist party". how much fuckin money does this guy get paid again

in other news, Yang apparently did not make the cut for the next debate (though - sigh - Steyer did)

As NPR just pointed out, the timing of the impeachment trial is "a gift" to the non-senators in the race.

Seeing how the leading candidates have been campaigning in Iowa and NH for, oh, ten months or more, you'd think the voters there would have some clues about them already. That is, if they cared to clue themselves in at all.

This is a big story.

Former vice president Joe Biden is far and away the favored candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination among black Americans, boosted by his personal popularity, his service in the Obama administration and perceptions that he is best equipped to defeat President Trump, according to a national Washington Post-Ipsos poll.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) occupies second place in the Democratic field among African American voters, easily outdistancing the remaining candidates in the race. Sanders is leading among black voters under age 35, replicating his success with younger white voters in other national polls. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) runs third.

The survey finds meager support for former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg, who is among the leaders in polls in the predominantly white states of Iowa and New Hampshire but stands at 2 percent among Democratic black voters nationally. A lack of familiarity with him and concerns about his experience and sexual orientation appear to be contributing to his current standing. Buttigieg has said that as African Americans get to know him, he will gain more support, but the poll undercuts that assertion. He receives only 3 percent support among black voters who are familiar with him.

Worth stressing:

Many younger African Americans, however, are drawn to Sanders rather than to Biden. Terrell Askew, 33, a community organizer in Baltimore, said that in 2016, he believed Sanders was the candidate with the best policies but felt then that the Democratic Party wasn’t ready for someone like Sanders. Today, Sanders is his preferred choice.

“I prefer his track record, particularly around housing, which is a major issue,” Askew said. “And the conversations that he’s had around debt, student debt and things like that. And addressing the economic disparities between the poor and wealthy individuals in our country.”

He sees problems that weren’t addressed aggressively enough by Obama and wonders whether Biden would be more of a status quo candidate, rather than someone who would take on conditions in the country that he thinks contributed to Trump’s victory four years ago.

hasn't most of this been known for months?

Bernie campaign is going after Warren: https://www.politico.com/amp/news/2020/01/11/bernie-quietly-goes-negative-on-warren-097594?__twitter_impression=true

Bernie Sanders volunteer hits back:

Here’s what actually happened. A random user who’s only ever posted once before posted that document in the Sanders volunteer Slack group. A moderator promptly removed it and stated that it was NOT a campaign source. https://t.co/gt2xSvQNX5

— eric isaac (@ericisaac) January 12, 2020

From Politico:

Fwiw, this popular thread is not true. Attacking reporting and pushing misinformation is not just a right-wing phenomenon. I provided all the info to Bernie's camp before publishing & they didn't deny its authenticity. The doc had "Paid for by Bernie 2020"https://t.co/IAL9UXlJ8j

— Alex Thompson (@AlxThomp) January 12, 2020

"The doc had "Paid for by Bernie 2020""

Cool cool must be true.

The document also instructs to tell voters who are favorable toward Pete Buttigieg that he lacks support among African Americans and young people and to tell voters sympathetic to former Vice President Joe Biden that “he doesn’t really have any volunteers” and that “no one is really excited about him.” All of the attacks relate to the electability of Sanders' top rivals.

Sounds like this vicious piece of propaganda was, uh, just telling the truth?

Yes, this thing that absolutely didn't exist, and if it existed it was definitely just a volunteer and not anyone from the campaign, is actually very good and accurate.

Your posts are definitely not paid for by Bernie 2020.

Unlike mine.

A Bernie volunteer just called me and asked if I was voting for warren and when I said yes they asked me if my refrigerator was running and I told them it was and they said “better go catch it!” and hung up on me. I’m shaking and crying rn.

— pokey pup (@Whatapityonyou) January 13, 2020

seems like Sanders' Green New Deal doesn't have much for moving usa away from cars, which is a drag. but none of the competitors have any better plan. ugh. ban cars.

I for one am shocked that the Bernie campaign would stoop to criticizing his political rivals. What do they think this is, some kind of contest where only one campaign wins?!

ugh. ban cars.

Bernie would almost certainly want every American to be able to travel locally on trams or intercity on a big choo-choo while wearing a conductor's hat and smiling out the window, but given the current state of American infrastructure this is absolutely not a votewinner, and major steps toward it could not be achieved* in a four-year term

* without cancelling the Pentagon's entire budget and committing it towards loads of new jobs for rail construction and operation, which the fantasy Bernie in my head would do by executive order on his second day in office, u love to see it

the not a votewinner thing is real though.

I don't think this would put off the voters if it's sold properly as a structured plan.

Simon H otfm

I don't think this would put off the voters if it's sold properly as a structured plan.

I don't think it would put off a constituency if it's sold etc etc. And winning votes is more urgent than not putting off votes. Energy spent on explaining policies to voters who don't understand how the policies benefit them is energy wasted, given the attention span assigned to voters by the US media. "LOCK HER UP" and "BUILD THE WALL" connected, and "MEDICARE 4 ALL" gets its point across in nearly as compact a delivery.

Even "the top 1% of the top 1%" sounds like homework to the lumpenvoter: Warren is folksying it pretty well with "the first $50 million is yours to keep, then we take 2c out of every dollar on top of that, and we turn it into education and housing and etc etc" but it still gets turned into a "YOU'RE RAISING TAXES" cudgel.

Explaining how America's insane dependence on cars & guzzoline & construction of freeways & devaluing of trains is the result of deliberate anti-worker conspiracies by oligarchs a century ago, and that commuting & downtowns & neighbourhoods & parks are all improved by public transport, is more effectively done when you have a few years to message, rather than three seconds.

Booker's out. Formal announcement coming later today. The only remaining question is how long he continues "dating" Rosario Dawson.

Eric Andre has been canvassing for Bernie, so this is bound to put an extra spring in his step.

nyt is announcing their endorsement on 1/19, and they've started publishing the transcripts of long interviews between the candidates and the editorial board, something they've never published before (to my knowledge). those interviews are being published this week, starting with sanders and steyer today.

for those with a subscription: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/01/13/opinion/election-nytimes-the-choice.html

I'd expect them to go w/ Warren

I would love to see their reasoning if they pick Biden.

Eric Andre has been canvassing for Bernie, so this is bound to put an extra spring in his step.

― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Monday, January 13, 2020 11:10 AM (twenty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

happy to see the endorsement, sad to see eric andre split with his good friend vulture capitalist hannibal buress

xp simon

that was my first thought as well. warren or biden. i wrote in a long comment about warren and sanders. hopefully they will publish my comment and it will singlehandedly swing the primary toward them

if anyone can do it Karl, it's you!

“I like Elizabeth Warren. [optional]” the script begins. “In fact, she’s my second choice. But here’s my concern about her.”

This is brutal, don't see how she could recover from such nasty personal attacks

thanks calzino! see, what the NYT and the WORLD doesn't understand is that of the candidates left, only sanders and warren really GET climate change. you can't incrementally tackle climate change now. maybe back in the 1990s and 80s when tons of people were already sounding the alarms about it, but not now. and they GET it, see???

that was the gist of my comment. get ready for the new age of taurus everyone, the zeitgeist is coming

This is brutal, don't see how she could recover from such nasty personal attacks

It's hilarious what ppl interpret as "toxic" now. Apparently no one remembers....every previous, far worse Dem primary cycle

warren should hit back twice as hard by instructing her outreach team to let everyone know that sanders is her second pick and that she also doesn't completely agree with him on everything

then, just to freak the hell out of everyone, they should give a joint press conference where they both reaffirm that they are their own top choices for president, and that they don't agree on everything. maybe they could even talk a little about what they disagree about, and why, so voters could make an informed choice between them. they could call this night a Democratic Debate and do on tv, it would be incredible

https://youtu.be/kddX7LqgCvc

that's a good idea too - instead of scheduling the debate, structure it takes place as a series of unexpected phone calls at 3:00am. candidates won't know when they'll get the call or what the topic will be. they have to pick up the phone and give the best answer they can, to whatever it is. these calls take place over a month or two, on an unpredictable schedule.

if that freaks people out, there's an incremental version: candidates must answer questions and debate while preparing a 4-course meal for a panel of culinary experts. at the end of thing, they are rated 50% on their political acumen, 50% on cooking skills

because that's pretty much what being president is like, along with occasionally thinking and praying about people who die in mass shootings

I like Warren better than Sanders but come on, that call script is extremely milquetoast "Look we both like them both but here's my argument for why my candidate is incrementally better and you should vote for him," it's not exactly scorched-earth shit.

I think people are marinating themselves in Twitter accounts by a small number of very loud "Warren is a WAR PIG" people, somehow convincing themselves that is the Official View of The Left, and then seeing that subtext everywhere

because that's pretty much what being president is like, along with occasionally thinking and praying about people who die in mass shootings

― But guess what? Nobody gives a toot!😂 (Karl Malone)

and offering Happy Meals to fire fighters.

the idea that Sanders will bring in people that Warren wouldn't is pretty compelling though

I like them both but Sanders' hardline stance on war makes me favor him

I'm sad about Booker being out. I was sad about Harris being out too. Even though I probably wouldn't have ended up voting for either of them. There are just a lot of people who would make fine Presidents who won't get to be.

Erik Loomis: "When the left supports white candidates and liberals support white candidates and centrists support white candidates and whites support white candidates and blacks support white candidates and Latinos support white candidates, a white candidate field is what you get!"

I mean, he's not wrong but

I think people are marinating themselves in Twitter accounts by a small number of very loud "Warren is a WAR PIG" people, somehow convincing themselves that is the Official View of The Left, and then seeing that subtext everywhere

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Monday, January 13, 2020 12:22 PM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

at this point I am substantially-to-heavily leaning Bernie, but given that some of those people have harassed my friends who support Warren (including comments on their physical appearance, weight, and other things of that nature) I'm not sure "marinating" is the correct word

OK fair point. I don't do intra-Dem politics on Twitter and I am not a member of the gender whose physical appearance tends to get derided on Twitter so I was not really thinking about this.