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2020 Democratic Presidential Nominees

Bloomberg is way better than Biden long term. Just smarter, more focused, fresher, better able to take a fight to Trump on pretty much any level. He is 77 and Biden is 76, but I tend to doubt that their intellects, relative health conditions, and the like would play out as if Bloomberg is older than Biden. That being said, I was surprised and disappointed by watching Mueller testify - he is 75 - simply because the buildup was that he was terribly smart, focused, competent, etc. There is little doubt in my mind that he is feeling every bit his age. And Bloomberg could be exposed the same way, but I would be very surprised to see him willfully enter the race just to be embarrassed on that level. Mueller really wanted to avoid testifying for a reason, and I think a large part of that is because people around him knew he wouldn't hold up well.

Warren and Bernie will have one helluva time winning electoral college, and even a harder time implementing any of their big ideas should they actually win. The odds of a 3rd party candidacy from Bloomberg or other billionaires is very high should either get nominated. I support a modest "wealth-tax" on the ultra-wealthy, but there is little denying it is a slippery slope and that billionaires aren't in the business of giving away their billions to the government. Even Bill Gates won't commit to voting for Warren ahead of Trump, and he pretty much loathes Trump. That may not be right, but it is a fact, and any Warren/Bernie supporter needs to recognize it.

Pete is a 37 year old mayor of a college town with no other political experience who happens to also be gay. There is no real reason to believe that he is experienced enough to justify being POTUS. He seems well-liked, smart, relatively-centrist, and probably would make an excellent POTUS (particularly relative to the competition). That being said, the anti-sentiment/anti-marketing to rubes writes itself based on just stating the plain and simple facts in the first sentence of this paragraph. He is a very risky play against Trump.

Most likely to win if nominated in my opinion:

Bloomberg (unlikely to win nomination)
Biden (feels like he is fading fast and no real reason to believe that an energetic turnaround is coming)
Trump
Pete
Warren
Bernie
Others
 
ABCDeac said:
Pete is a 37 year old mayor of a college town with no other political experience who happens to also be gay. There is no real reason to believe that he is experienced enough to justify being POTUS.
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For about 45% of the population, "experienced enough to justify being POTUS" can't be a deciding factor anymore.
 
bym051d said:
For about 45% of the population, "experienced enough to justify being POTUS" can't be a deciding factor anymore.
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Agreed that ship has seemingly sailed with Trump but he could argue "I am a businessman/billionaire and we need a change." Pete can only really say "I am a politician, just not very experienced, but would like to jump straight to the presidency." Obama took a lot of shit for this, but he was a fucking senator and was 10 years older than Pete when he was elected. That is a significant difference. Pete is a cycle too soon, at least, for lots of people.
 
ABCDeac said:
Agreed that ship has seemingly sailed with Trump but he could argue "I am a businessman/billionaire and we need a change." Pete can only really say "I am a politician, just not very experienced, but would like to jump straight to the presidency." Obama took a lot of shit for this, but he was a fucking senator and was 10 years older than Pete when he was elected. That is a significant difference. Pete is a cycle too soon, at least, for lots of people.
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Rhodes scholar soldier helps too.
 
ABC, I wouldn't necessarily disagree with your order, especially considering establishment Pubs would get on a Bloomberg train before any of the other Dems. But you correctly say "if nominated". Biden, Warren, Buttigieg and Sanders all have an arguable path to the nomination. I mean, I don't dislike Bloomberg and would tend to agree with you that his mental faculties at this point are stronger than Biden's. That said, what path does he have to the nomination? He's essentially a carpet bagger with no real constituency in the Dem party.
 
ImTheCaptain said:
we tried "old corporate executive" why can't we try "young, energetic person"?
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We can and we might, but 45 or even 55 would be really young compared to most of the front runners. And I don't think you can really compare Trump and Bloomberg as "old corporate executives." No doubt that will be the messaging though. I just find it difficult to believe that a 72-year-old lifelong moderate democrat in a swing state is gonna be champing at the bit to get out in bad weather and vote for a 37 year old. Maybe I am wrong, and certainly would hope so if he is the nominee. But it is naive to ignore the low-hanging fruit problems that Mayor Pete has in a one-on-one race against someone who is willing to play dirty, call names - particularly someone who has already ridden that approach to a victory.
 
ABCDeac said:
We can and we might, but 45 or even 55 would be really young compared to most of the front runners. And I don't think you can really compare Trump and Bloomberg as "old corporate executives." No doubt that will be the messaging though. I just find it difficult to believe that a 72-year-old lifelong moderate democrat in a swing state is gonna be champing at the bit to get out in bad weather and vote for a 37 year old. Maybe I am wrong, and certainly would hope so if he is the nominee. But it is naive to ignore the low-hanging fruit problems that Mayor Pete has in a one-on-one race against someone who is willing to play dirty, call names - particularly someone who has already ridden that approach to a victory.
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frankly, as a person who works with a lot of 60+ clients, it's hard to imagine getting excited about any of them
 
cville deac said:
ABC, I wouldn't necessarily disagree with your order, especially considering establishment Pubs would get on a Bloomberg train before any of the other Dems. But you correctly say "if nominated". Biden, Warren, Buttigieg and Sanders all have an arguable path to the nomination. I mean, I don't dislike Bloomberg and would tend to agree with you that his mental faculties at this point are stronger than Biden's. That said, what path does he have to the nomination? He's essentially a carpet bagger with no real constituency in the Dem party.
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I think Bloomberg is a cycle too late just as Pete is a cycle too soon. I don't see how he can win the nomination, but he either has done that research or he is just getting in to expose concerns about the wealth tax. I find the second issue unlikely, as the wealth tax is years from being implemented even if Warren/Sanders get elected (may never be) and he has plenty of time and resources to protect his assets. Bloomberg has also signed the Giving Pledge, so at least on paper he is prepared to give up a huge amount of his fortune - just not to the government.

Bloomberg's research must show that Biden is weak and getting weaker, Pete is not ready, there are no other viable centrists, etc. If he comes out with some huge overarching plan on climate change and gun rights and gets some of the far-lefters to pay attention to him on those select causes, he could do it. He has serious warts, but in my opinion, fewer than the other real candidates at this point.
 
ABCDeac said:
We can and we might, but 45 or even 55 would be really young compared to most of the front runners. And I don't think you can really compare Trump and Bloomberg as "old corporate executives." No doubt that will be the messaging though. I just find it difficult to believe that a 72-year-old lifelong moderate democrat in a swing state is gonna be champing at the bit to get out in bad weather and vote for a 37 year old. Maybe I am wrong, and certainly would hope so if he is the nominee. But it is naive to ignore the low-hanging fruit problems that Mayor Pete has in a one-on-one race against someone who is willing to play dirty, call names - particularly someone who has already ridden that approach to a victory.
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I’m not sure that 72 year olds should be the target demographic for this election...18-35 year olds need to be enticed out by the millions to vote for a rational and compassionate future.
 
ImTheCaptain said:
frankly, as a person who works with a lot of 60+ clients, it's hard to imagine getting excited about any of them
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Might be good for their health to not get excited about much of anything.

ABCDeac said:
We can and we might, but 45 or even 55 would be really young compared to most of the front runners. And I don't think you can really compare Trump and Bloomberg as "old corporate executives." No doubt that will be the messaging though. I just find it difficult to believe that a 72-year-old lifelong moderate democrat in a swing state is gonna be champing at the bit to get out in bad weather and vote for a 37 year old. Maybe I am wrong, and certainly would hope so if he is the nominee. But it is naive to ignore the low-hanging fruit problems that Mayor Pete has in a one-on-one race against someone who is willing to play dirty, call names - particularly someone who has already ridden that approach to a victory.
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Doesn't Pete do well with the older folks?

Im not concerned with him fighting back against Trump.
 
pete seems like the kind of guy who gets along with olds very well - one of those gay guys who's not so gay about it, amirite?
 
Trying to think of a better way to suppress the black vote than nominating the Stop and Frisk mayor.
 
birdman said:
I’m not sure that 72 year olds should be the target demographic for this election...18-35 year olds need to be enticed out by the millions to vote for a rational and compassionate future.
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You are gonna need both I think. 18-35 year olds have a poor track record of voting. 72 year olds not so much. 18-35s are passionate about getting Trump the eff out of there I think. Bloomberg could be couched as "just another Trump" but that certainly wouldn't be the messaging if he got the nomination. 70+ year olds (who are left-leaning) want Trump out of there, but really just want stability and peace of mind and maintaining the status quo for the most part. I am in neither age group, so I am really just going with gut and based on talking with folks in both age ranges, but I think this is right.
 
birdman said:
I’m not sure that 72 year olds should be the target demographic for this election...18-35 year olds need to be enticed out by the millions to vote for a rational and compassionate future.
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This. Too many Democrats are trying to figure out who will appeal to 60+ year old white people and not minority voters under 40 who make up the present and future of the party.
 
PhDeac said:
This. Too many Democrats are trying to figure out who will appeal to 60+ year old white people and not minority voters under 40 who make up the present and future of the party.
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If you want to win JUST this election above all else, you better pay attention to the 60+ year old white people. There may not be a future of the party at all if Trump gets 4 more years. I am no democrat and the only real concern I have in the upcoming election is no more Trump. I live in NC. I will vote for any dem if the polls say NC is truly going to be close. I happen to not think it will be close if Bernie or Warren is the nominee, and am therefore unlikely to vote for either of them at this point. I am skeptical that Pete can keep it close. If it is not close, I will vote 3rd party because I think the real future of the country is dependent on breaking up the two-party system.
 
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