Category: 2020 Presidential Election

Deval Patrick Is Actually Doing It

It’s official.

Deval Patrick is running for President.  While Mike Bloomberg continues to dither around, filing for primaries while claiming that he hasn’t decided whether he’s actually running yet, Patrick has jumped right in.  Personally, I have to admire Patrick’s direct approach.  No Hillary Clinton-style listening tour bullshit.  No Mike Bloomgberg-style begging people to “spontaneously” draft him.  Deval Patrick thinks that he sees an opening and he’s going for it.

Of course, he probably won’t succeed.  Most people in this country don’t have the slightest idea who Deval Patrick is and the fact that he was, until yesterday, an executive at Bain will probably disqualify him in the eyes of many Democrat primary voters.  Former President Obama has reportedly encouraged Patrick to run in the past and there’s been some speculation that he may have encouraged Patrick to jump in this year.  If Obama endorses Patrick, that’ll change things but Obama seems to be pretty intent on sitting out the primaries.

There are currently 6 living Massachusetts governors, including the current one.  With Patrick’s announcement, four of them have run for President.  Mike Dukakis was the Democratic nominee in 1988.  Mitt Romney was the Republican nominee in 2012.  Bill Weld is currently challenging Trump.  All we need now is for Jane Swift and Charlie Baker to jump on in and it’ll be a complete set.  For all the talk about every politician from Texas eventually trying to run for president, they’ve got nothing on Massachusetts.

Sanford’s Out and Bloomberg’s A Little More In

That was quick.

Mark Sanford has suspended his presidential campaign.

Sanford was a presidential candidate for 65 days and never got any traction. Sanford tried to run on the issues, overlooking that politics today is all about personality and resentment.

Sanford, of course, was once taken very seriously as a presidential candidate.  That was before he “hiked the Appalachian Trail” and all the rest of that.  His career never recovered from the scandal and he really doesn’t have anyone to blame but himself.  Infidelity is one thing.  Abandoning your job so you can sneak down to South America to visit your mistress is something else all together.

While Mark Sanford’s campaign comes to an end, Mike Bloomberg’s now includes Arkansas.  He has filed for the Arkansas Democratic Presidential Primary but he still says he’s undecided on whether or not he’s actually running.  Bloomberg does this every four years.  I get the feeling that Bloomberg doesn’t want to run for president as much as he wants there to be some sort of national movement that will declare, “Only Bloomberg can save us!”

Bloomberg has said that, if he does run for President, he’ll ignore Iowa and New Hampshire and concentrate on the later contests.  I guess he’s assuming that none of their current candidates will come out of Iowa or New Hampshire with a convincing mandate.  That may be true.  Warren’s momentum seems to have momentarily stalled and Biden is Biden.  Buttigieg seems like he could do very well in Iowa but there’s doubts about how he’ll do in the rest of the country.  Still, it’s hard to imagine desperate Democrats turning to a 77 year-old billionaire who most people associate with soda bans and stop and frisk.

It’s hard to say what will happen for sure.  For now, all we know is that we won’t have Mark Sanford to kick around anymore.

Deval Patrick For President?

Just in case you thought the U.S. presidential election couldn’t get any stranger, now Deval Patrick is considering getting back into the race.  The former governor of Massachusetts previously announced that he would not be running.

Mike Bloomberg’s late entry (assuming that he actually goes through with it) is understandable.  He’s old, he’s arrogant, and he’s rich.  This might be his last chance to run for president.  It’s less obvious what Deval Patrick has to gain or prove from a last minute presidential campaign but it doesn’t say much about the Biden, Warren, and Sanders campaigns that, even this late in the game, there are Democrats that are still looking for other candidates.  I get the feeling that Democrats have faith that Biden could beat Trump but they don’t necessarily feel that he’s going to get the nomination.  At the same time, Warren and Sanders both seem like they could win the nomination and then go on to lose the general election.

Patrick is usually described as being a moderate.  He’s also “only” 63 years old, which is young compared to the Democratic front runners.  And in a race that has so far been dominated by elderly white people, he would be a black candidate with a more impressive record as an executive than either Kamala Harris or Cory Booker.  On paper, Patrick seems like he would have been a strong candidate if he had entered the race a few months ago.  I get the feeling that it’s probably too late now, though.

 

 

Bloomberg’s In (Maybe)

After previously saying that he would not run for President in 2020 and would instead devote his efforts and money to supporting whoever the Democrats did nominate to run against Trump, Michael Bloomberg has filed for the Alabama Democratic Presidential Primary.

Alabama has an early filing deadline so it’s possible that Bloomberg only filed to keep his options open.  He may not have yet officially decided to run for president but, by filing, he can make sure that he appears on the ballot just in case he does decide to make it official.  When you’ve got as much money as Mike Bloomberg, a wasted filing fee or two is not going to set you back.

According to the New York Times, Bloomberg’s reconsidering his decision not to run because he doesn’t think any of the current Democrat contenders would be strong candidates in the general.  He may be right but I don’t know that Michael Bloomberg would be much better.  Joe Biden may be too old but he’s actually a year younger than Bloomberg.  Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg might be out-of-touch elitists but Michael Bloomberg hardly speaks the language of blue collar populism.  Bernie Sanders might be preaching the politics of authoritarianism but Michael Bloomberg is best known for banning large sodas in New York City.  It may be that Michael Bloomberg took a look in the mirror and realized that, at his age, this is probably his last chance to run.

Could Bloomberg, if he somehow won the Democratic nomination, beat Trump?  At this point, I feel like only Trump can beat Trump and that often seems to be exactly what Trump seems to be intent on doing.  Bloomberg could very well could be our next president but first he’d have to win the nomination and that would mean convincing the increasingly pro-Socialist Democratic grassroots to support a  billionaire.  (That’s not even taking into consideration the disturbing strain of antisemitism that has been growing on the Left like a cancer.)

Bloomberg is not the only one rethinking an earlier decision.  Apparently, Eric Holder is thinking about jumping into the race as well.  Just when you thought the field was getting winnowed down, it’s starting to fill up again.

Beto’s Out

Beto O’Rourke announced that he was ending his floundering presidential campaign today.  The joke that I keep hearing is, “Who is going to get Beto’s 2% of the primary vote now?”

2% seems to be an overestimation.  Most polls that I’ve seen had him at 1% or under.  While everyone’s making jokes about Beto, let’s not forget that, until he actually declared, he was one of the front runners.  He was polling in the double digits.  He was the man who the national press called a rock star.  Let’s not forget the cover of Vanity Fair and the fawning coverage of his travel blog.  Let’s not forget “I was born for this.”

Beto’s mistake was that he assumed the hype he got when he was challenging Ted Cruz would continue once he started standing on lunch counters in Iowa.  It’s not a surprise that Beto’s campaign collapsed.  He was the type of vacuous political huckster who might make it as the star of an Aaron Sorkin-penned political drama but who had no place on the national stage, dealing with real issues and real voters.  Instead, the only thing interesting about Beto’s campaign was comparing the coverage he got in 2018 compared to 2019 and witnessing just how little respect the other Democratic candidates had for him.  Who will ever forget Cory Booker staring with mouth agape as Beto rambled his way through the first debate?

Beto’s gone and seems certain to end up another former politician making a living by analyzing the news for CNN or MSNBC.  While the collapse of his former front runner status has been dramatic, it’s nothing compared to what’s happening with Kamala Harris’s campaign.  Even when it comes to picking the most spectacular political implosion of the Democratic primaries, Beto seems destined to be remembered as an also-ran.

Tim Ryan’s Out

As of today, Tim Ryan is no longer running for president.  The Ohio Democrat has ended his campaign and is instead running for reelection to the House.  For the Democrats, that’s one down and 18 left to go.

(Just last night, I was thinking that it had been a while since anyone dropped out of the 2020 presidential election.)

I can’t say that I’m shocked to see Tim Ryan go.  Most people responded to him dropping out by expressing shock that he was even in the race.  Ryan tried to run as Joe Biden without all of the Bidenisms but, as a member of the House, Ryan never had the name recognition necessary to compete in a crowded primary field.

In a general election, Tim Ryan probably would have been a stronger candidate than either Warren, Sanders, or Biden.  He has Biden’s working class appeal without being demonstrably senile.  Of course, with Trump’s current approval numbers, it’s possible that the Democrats could nominate anyone and win.  That’s why it’s all the more the shame that competent contenders, like Tim Ryan, are struggling to gain a foothold in this year’s Democratic primary.

Over the past few days, there have been rumors of Michael Bloomberg, Eric Holder, Sherrod Brown, and even Hillary Clinton jumping into the race.  I doubt it will happen, though you know Hillary has to be fantasizing about a deadlocked convention turning to her.  For now, it seems like Elizabeth Warren is the front runner but I’m not as sold on the strength of her campaign as some members of the media.  As for Biden, he seems to be in a fog most of the time.  Buttigieg is the one who I’m expecting to prove himself to be stronger than anyone realizes.  If he can beat Warren in Iowa, the whole game changes.

People Are Buying More Guns

Monthly Gun Sales Up 10 Percent Since Last September

This isn’t surprising news.  One of the most interesting things about America is that, whenever there’s a strong push for gun control, it always leads to people buying more guns.  It’s not just that the news is constantly filled with reports of increasing danger and violence.  It’s also that there’s a very good chance that a Democrat will be elected in 2020 and, right now, all of the Democrats are running to the left on gun control.

The argument for gun ownership is that everyone has the right to protect themselves.  Gun control advocates regularly ridicule people for being paranoid about the government but it’s easy to be paranoid when someone like Botham Jean can end up dead just because an off-duty cop entered the wrong apartment.  Beto O’Rourke even used the 1970 shooting at Kent State — in which the national guard opened fire on unarmed protesters — to push his gun control agenda, proving that he just doesn’t get it.

Right now, the Democrats are the most effective gun salesmen in America.  For some reason, I doubt that the same people who are stocking up before someone like Elizabeth Warren is elected president are going to want to take part in a “mandatory buyback.”  It’s just a feeling.

The AARP Election

Bernie Sanders had a heart attack and there’s been a lot of talk about whether or not he should get out of the race as a result.

I don’t have any opinion about whether or not Bernie should keep running for President.  That’s really up to Bernie.  What I will say is that Bernie does have a firm base of supporters who believe in him and who will probably stick with him no matter what.  At the same time, Bernie having a heart attack is not going to help him with the people who were trying to pick between him and Elizabeth Warren.  It doesn’t help that Bernie’s style of campaigning involves a lot of yelling and a lot of pointing and a lot of other things that usually inspire people to reply, “Don’t have a heart attack, mister.”

The main takeaway from Bernie’s heart attack is that all of the presidential front runners are really, really old.  Bernie and Biden are in their late 70s.  (Biden, meanwhile, looks like he’s in his 90s.)  Donald Trump is 73.  Elizabeth Warren will be 71 on election day.  It’s not just that they’re old.  It’s also that they all often come across as being more like the cranky inhabitants of a retirement home instead of as potential leaders of the free world.  It sometimes feels like we’re watching an election for the next president of AARP instead of a world super power.

We keep hearing about how the young people are America’s future but you wouldn’t know that looking at the leading presidential candidates.

 

Nobody Puts Spartacus In The Corner

Up until yesterday, it looked like today was going to be the day that Cory Booker finally ended his floundering presidential campaign.  However, on Monday, Booker announced that he had met his fundraising goal and would be sticking around for at least another month or two.

Cory Booker would probably be better off if he had never been elected to the Senate.  Before he ran for the Senate, he was known for being a pragmatic mayor who defeated a corrupt political machine and fought to save a city in decline.  After he was elected to the Senate, he became known as the type of blowhard who declared that he was having a real “I am Spartacus moment” during the Kavanaugh hearings.

I think that Booker’s Spartacus moment was the time that even Democrats stopped taking him seriously.  It was just too obviously calculated and it didn’t even make any sense.  Booker was threatening to release documents that 1) had already been unclassified and 2) actually supported Kavanaugh’s claim that he had opposed racial profiling in the wake of 9/11.  How any of this was the equivalent of being a crucified slave, the senator from New Jersey could not explain.  If Booker’s goal was to get people to start calling him Spartacus, he succeeded but perhaps not in the way that he hoped.

At best, it made Booker look like a showboat.

At worst, it reminded people of George “T-Bone” Constanza.

I sometimes wonder if Booker would be having more success as a presidential candidate if he had stayed in Newark instead of moving up to the Senate.  When Booker first ran, in 2013, it was just common sense that, if you had presidential ambitions, you had to run for either governor or for the Senate first.  But, with the recent rise of both Donald Trump and Pete Buttigieg, it’s debatable whether that rule still applies.

As a presidential candidate, Booker has had his moments.  As strange as he may act in the Senate, he’s a good campaigner and he’s held his own in the debates.  I imagine he’s staying in the race with the hope that he’ll pick up some of Biden’s supporters when and if the Vice President’s campaign collapses.  But I don’t think, as a presidential candidate, Booker is ever going to live down his I Am Spartacus moment.

At least, not this year.