11/08/2022, The Midterms, aka build on 2020 aka The Election Thread

[GulDukat]

Biden is the frontrunner:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/30/polit...nce/index.html

Iowa is nine months away and a lot can happen, but I'd be surprised if Biden isn't the nominee. Sanders is Johnny-one-note and the rest of the nominees aren't picking up a lot of traction (and I like them all, pretty much).

[ltrandazzo]

A lot can happen, like in this poll where Joe Biden only gets 13% of support when voters had to name a candidate off the top of their heads. 54% of respondents have no preference yet - https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...=.0cb91a42c8e7

Biden tops the field with 13 percent among Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults, followed by Sanders at 9 percent and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 5 percent. Sens. Kamala D. Harris (Calif.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) are at 4 percent, while former congressman Beto O’Rourke of Texas is at 3 percent. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Cory Booker (N.J.) are at 1 percent each.

[GulDukat]

A lot can happen, like in this poll where Joe Biden only gets 13% of support when voters had to name a candidate off the top of their heads. 54% of respondents have no preference yet - https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...=.0cb91a42c8e7

I saw that. I think 2020 is anyone's guess, anything can happen. I just have a hunch Biden will win the nomination and election. Then again, I thought Clinton would win. I thought "Trump actually winning in 2016? You're nuts, will never happen..."

[ryanmcfly]

Biden's record on Cannabis reform makes him a hard pass in the primaries for me. Who knows what's going to happen though. It is still early.

[Jinsai]

Biden's record on Cannabis reform makes him a hard pass in the primaries for me. Who knows what's going to happen though. It is still early.

he’ll officially flip on that as soon as he’s asked to comment. He’s a cardboard cutout politician; which sounds refreshing af after Trump

[Sarah K]

Rumor has it that Mayor Tall is announcing next week.

[bobbie solo]

I love De Blasio as mayor, but dude is out to lunch if he thinks he's gonna get any traction with a presidential run. I get that he's realy just angling for a cabinet position, but he's really going to piss off NY'ers, including those that don't hate him yet, with this nonsense. He needs to be here running NYC, not wasting his time running arounf NH, Iowa & SC for the next year. Really annoying.

[Sarah K]

I agree, btw. I don't think it is a good idea at all. I think that if these rumors are true and he is running, it will be more to establish name recognition outside of NY in order to make a serious run in 2024 or beyond.

Imagine the fit that Cuomo will throw if BDB is out on the road campaigning and not running NYC.

[ickyvicky]

De Blasio should NOT run at all.

[ltrandazzo]

Cory Booker lays out gun control plan that would limit firearms purchases - https://medium.com/@corybooker/corys...c-ab377d9fb112

[allegro]

Cory Booker lays out gun control plan that would limit firearms purchases - https://medium.com/@corybooker/corys...c-ab377d9fb112

A lot of that will never happen, some of it already did (bump stocks were already Federally banned), but in the very LEAST the portion about banning online gun sales should happen. Now.

[thelastdisciple]

Just putting this here for whoever it might interest. This is her second time on Joe's podcast but first since her candidacy announcement.

[Cookster426]

Montana Governor Steve Bullock enters the race:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/u...lock-2020.html

[bobbie solo]

Cool, another person who can poll at 0-1% and make no noise. All these zero %'ers need to drop out asap and run for races in their states where they can hold or expand the Dem winning streak next November. I'm looking at you Beto.

[allegro]

Yeah, I wonder how much of this is just ego for a lot of these people, now. It does a greater service to run for the Senate. To help make changes locally. To work for your constituents for real change. Vs. just that great big Presidential ego job.

[theimage13]

And Bill de Blahblahblah has officially entered.

I can't wait to just vote for whoever ends up on the ballot, since I don't get a say in primaries anyway (yay, closed voting in my state!)

[Jinsai]

Gotta love Trump’s tweet claiming NYC hates De Blasio. Yeah... ok, “Mr New York,” I guess the irony’s lost on you...

[ltrandazzo]

Nothing but respect for my personal front runner.

[allegro]

Sen. Elizabeth Warren in Oakland CA yesterday

https://www.rollingstone.com/politic...-rally-843278/

“It’s not just the mass shootings. It’s the ones that never make the headlines. It’s the kids who are shot at the playground, on the sidewalk, in their own homes. Gun violence touches families every day,” she said. “On the question of gun violence, I will be fearless. We will be side by side and we will protect our children.”

She also talked about the corrupting power of money in politics and government, one of her big issues: “Here’s the deal: When you’ve got a government that works great for those with money, works great for those who can hire an army of lobbyists and lawyers, works great for those at the top, but isn’t working for the rest of the people, that is corruption pure and simple and we need to call it out,” she told the crowd.

[Jinsai]

I think Warren can win this. I'd like that. Pick a good running mate and this should be a lock.

And it would be incredible to see Elizabeth Warren topple Trump. That, on some level, would undo some of the damage that's been done... but again, if she loses to him... I seriously can't process it. I have cheerier times contemplating some end-of-the-fucking-world scenario like the conclusion of Melancholia.

[allegro]

I think Warren can win this. I'd like that. Pick a good running mate and this should be a lock.

And it would be incredible to see Elizabeth Warren topple Trump. That, on some level, would undo some of the damage that's been done... but again, if she loses to him... I seriously can't process it. I have cheerier times contemplating some end-of-the-fucking-world scenario like the conclusion of Melancholia.

Yeah well ... I’d like it if she picked either Stacy Abrams or Michelle Obama as a VP.

I still don’t dig Harris.

But, as I’ve been saying on Twitter (taking my hint from you, @Jinsai ): I’d vote for the animated corpse of Richard Nixon instead of Trump.

[Jinsai]

if Warren ran with Michelle Obama as running mate, I'd throw some cents into a Vegas bet in Trump's favor just to possibly luck out and pay for my kid's college... if I ever have kids.

He will have no chance of winning that... it could feel like pandering, and maybe on some level it is, fuck it of course it would be, but then Trump would no longer be president and I'd have a party. Everyone associated with our short memory of a good president is a sure bet. It's why Biden doesn't even have to work for his approval.

[allegro]

It's why Biden doesn't even have to work for his approval.

Bingo.

My husband and I were just arguing about that at dinner.

He thinks Biden polls show Biden as popular with blacks because Biden is a “safe bet” to beat Trump.

Bullshit; Biden is viewed as “Obama Bro, Obama Part 2.”

Except Biden IS NOT Obama Part 2. Biden is a 90s conservative.

Michelle Obama?

Holy shit, THAT is a safe bet AND Obama Part 2.

(She’d never do it, though.)

[allegro]

[bobbie solo]

I'm still behind Bernie all the way, but man I would have no problem with Warren. She's great & getting better. The key is that her & Bernie need to go after Biden hard in the debates & on the trail. They have carved out the progressive niche firmly amongst all 514 candidates. None of the rest of the progressive candidates will be able to touch them (Gabbard, Yang, etc.). They are friends & share almost all the same policy views (Warren was one of the progressives Bernie asked to run against Hillary in 2016 but she & others all said no so he jumped in himself). So now they have to make sure to tear down Biden's large lead in the polls. They will benefit a bit as the joke candidates bail out after they get no traction in the debates, but so will Biden. They have to expose him for what a terrible president he would be for working people & for his god awful voting record.

[allegro]

I see people on Twitter who seem to assume that Warren has been in the Senate forever.

What they don’t realize is that Warren first ran for the Senate in 2012, and won. Warren was serving her first term in elected office during the 2016 Presidential election; she had won a hard-earned battle in Massachusetts; she needed to accomplish what she was elected to accomplish by her constituents in 2012 and to gain more experience as a junior Senator.

Warren is now serving her 2nd term.

She also has the experience of having been appointed as a member of the TARP Congressional Oversight Panel in 2008, and was instrumental in the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

[Jinsai]

I wonder if a Warren/Sanders ticket would be a sure lock, or a little TOO progressive for centrist voters... or if the combined age thing would sink it. I hate having to consider pragmatically who the best option would be, without feeling like I'm sacrificing my personal inclinations and impulses to support whomever I feel is simply best. It's a head fuck for sure.

[allegro]

I wonder if a Warren/Sanders ticket would be a sure lock, or a little TOO progressive for centrist voters... or if the combined age thing would sink it. I hate having to consider pragmatically who the best option would be, without feeling like I'm sacrificing my personal inclinations and impulses to support whomever I feel is simply best. It's a head fuck for sure.

I doubt that Sanders would accept the VP role. He’s only a Democrat when he runs for a particular office, then switches back to registered Independent. He wouldn’t be able to do that as VP to a Democrat President.

(Note that he COULD switch as President. Which I’m assuming he would.)

I’m assuming, at this point, that any candidate will choose a POC as VP.

(Unless the candidate is a POC.)

[Jinsai]

I think if Sanders would accept the invitation to be VP on the ticket, it would be w/ Warren. They're peas in a pod.

That said, I doubt she would put him in that position... it'd be "weird" for sure. But if Sanders proposes the idea, I doubt she'd reject it.

And why would he? I think he could grant more legitimacy to his democratic-socialist platform that way, and it would in general give him a larger pulpit. He could change his party affiliation right after being sworn in, and it would be an historic inclusion and a change of precedent, and that alone would make headway towards getting rid of this two-party nonsense.

[Wretchedest]

I'm at this point abdicating fro picking a horse in the race. Part of not getting sucked up into the bullshit from last time is figuring out what people will actually vote for and listening without bias