Warren? Disaster. She is too light in accomplishments, less in gravitas and so hated by everyone outside of the 128 beltway she proves that even Democrats are hostile to a woman outranking them. She would be a wasted effort. Pleae dont ever imagine the US will elect a Jew as President. Are all Demcrats suicidal in the face of a ridiculous opponent?
45
It looks like the Democrats will need the wings of an air force and the prayers of an entire nation if they are to save us from the death of the republic (assuming 2020 isn’t too late). Joe Biden would be 77 if he ran for president. If he does, he’s a selfish fool. The last president we had who was that age had Alzheimer’s long before he was 77, and the American people know it. If you think a self-aggrandizing con artist like Kamala Harris can get elected, bravo to you! If you leave aside her sordid climb to the top, you may be right, although in an America engaged in an orgy of racism putting her on the ticket might not be the best idea. But gosh, if you want a self-aggrandizing con artist why not go the full Monty and get the best around, Gillibrand, who has the political instincts of a piranha, though after what she did to Franken she’s on the wrong side of major Democratic money. Unless somebody emerges from the shadows the Democrats may pull off the magnificent feat of losing to the only certified traitor in modern presidential history. With leaders as bubble-encased, arrogant, sclerotic, and incompetent as Chuck and Nancy, I wouldn’t put it past them.
30
Wake up fellow liberals. Only a white male can beat trump. This is not the time for symbols or feeling good about yourselves for "doing the right thing". There is only ONE consideration, get this madman out of the White House!
57
Trial lawyers. Yes. That's what we need. Ha
6
I would prefer a younger candidate, but Biden, Warren or Sanders will still win if Dems, libs and progs remain united. These candidates should not be discounted simply on age- remember Trump will be 74 in the the 2020 election, and after this complete and epic disaster voters may well want someone with decades of experience who actually knows something.
6
I have voted Democrat my whole life. If the Democrats can’t put a moderate in - I’ll be voting moderate Republican.
Booker, Sanders, Warren and Harris won’t cut it. Bernie Sanders needs to back out and not let his ego get the best of him like Nader did.
26
Tulsi Gabbard could win, but since she's an honest, and not yet corrupt politician, she'll never be allowed to run.
8
A Warren vs. Trump race is distasteful to a politically moderate person like me. That would be yet another election where we have to decide which horrible candidate will do the least damage to our society.
20
Battle of the septuagenarians?
You have got to be kidding me!
and while we're at it, if Bernie had any courage he wouldn't leech $ off the democratic party, he'd run third party and see how little support he really has.
19
Warren has zero chance. America is not ready for an ultra liberal woman president.
24
Oh please not Elizabeth Warren. She'll never win. Please Hillary come back.
11
I'm a life long liberal, now aging, who would love to see the demise of the GOP before I die. But I often find my liberal friends to be unrealistic. I tired of hearing how you wish it would be. It will never be until we win. To do that you have to fool the minions of ignorant poor-of spirit people who are more persuaded by the appearance of power in a person. Clinton, being a politically correct nice woman, appeared weak compared to boisterous Trump. Keep in mind that Clinton lost all whites, even women, and especially white Christians who overwhelmingly voted for Trump. (Think about that!) So, I'd think several times before endorsing any woman, especially a black one, for president. I've long thought that Biden has an electable personality. But, does he still have the stamina? Young Joe Kennedy doesn't seem to have what it takes. Please! Are there no exceptional young white liberal men? Your country and the world needs you now.
19
If this is the Dem roster for 2020, be very afraid.
26
I don't think Elizabeth "Pocahontas" Warren has the appeal to win over voters nationally. She's too much of a screecher and a scold. And she does have to solve her American Indian problem. She's not one, was never raised as one, and needs to stop claiming that she is one.
Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are too old. Kamala Harris and Corey Booker are too lightweight. Nobody else comes to mind as being much better.
Still, it's got to be somebody. So who? I just don't know. Maybe I'm wrong and it will be Elizabeth Warren, the first American Indian candidate for president. Wouldn't that be something?
12
Question 1 "What's your plan on immigration? Still favor open borders?"
After blank stares and radio silence (except from Bernie Sanders who will say yes), you will see Trump in the white house again.
Someone explain to all of how how open borders and "free" college work together. Also, if the borders are open, how can we tell who is a killer, drug smuggler or MS-13 gang member?
Maybe Bernie can answer me.
18
I am really impressed with Rep. Tim Ryan (D, Ohio), who is fluent in the language of traditional Democratic-working class-populism, and can attack and defend against Trump and the Republicans with an easy confidence. He would have my vote over any of the others mentioned in the article, who make big, easy targets for Republican attacks.
10
Undermining Bernie Sanders already? He's to extreme to win, obviously, because Americans want moderates like Donald Trump. Then again, who will take this article seriously when it doesn't even mention that there is a Democrat who actually has announced he's running for President (Delaney of MD.)
12
It escapes me why young Kamala Harris is listed as a potential president. Have we not learned that presidents need experience? She is a former city district attorney (San Francisco), so she has managed some people. Then she had a term as Attorney General, an agency hardly on the scope of the US government. She has no foreign policy experience. Her main claim to fame is her relationship with the powerful Willie Brown.
18
I disagree, Joe Biden is an excellent candidate for President, he stands head and shoulders above the rest.
"Back in the day," we valued the kind of experience and character a leader like Biden provided us. He is knowledgeable, connected to real life, deeply committed to this nation, a man of integrity and sincerity - and maturity - and a moderate (which this paper's own statistics say most Democratic & Independent voters are seeking).
I strongly supported Biden in 2016 and couldn't get a major newspaper in this country to print my letters to the editor supporting his candidacy. (That was back when the press thought they were in the entertainment business...before the Trump reality call.)
Had Biden been able to run in 2016, we would have a very different leader in the White House. And, we would perhaps be able to help lead the world back to reason...to the priceless value of our nation's founding principles and our shared humanity.
We've lost sight of the wisdom - and benefit - that "middle of the road," "moderate," and "compromise" can offer us...
...instead, we're choosing to be caught up in the media, marketing, advertising, technology - and drama - inundating our daily lives. Biden/Harris has my vote.
12
@Kelly Grace Smith Oh my, I really hope Biden runs. You have absolutely no idea how dirty he is, but it will certainly come out if he's the primary candidate the DNC (not the voters) selects.
9
As a fellow Democrat and with with all due respect, Mr Biden and Mr Sanders, please don’t. Please.
17
I like them all.
Biden, gave money to Warren, and Sanders Voted for him in the primary) but please get off the stage and let the next couple of the younger generations have a crack and running this country!
Hang around in the Senate; it was designed to house the Elders.
9
Joe Biden! Why is Joe Biden too old? The Bernie Bros don't seem to think sanders is too old. Trump will also be re-running and he's a hair younger and way more demented than Biden. Jerry Brown is 80 right now and he doesn't seem so feeble!
Run Biden with a younger VP if you want younger blood.
No to Kamala, Booker, Gillibrand, DeVal -- what's the difference between their messages. They and Warren and Bernie will all collide on the left anyway when there's nowhere left to go. Dems won the popular vote but we lost the electoral due to a few key swing states. Either a bunch of Dems move to these states and vote or choose someone who has a chance of winning these voters! It's that simple.
I'm in my early 40s. I've voted Democrat my entire life. Have donated quite a bit to Obama 2X; less to Hillary but still voted for both of them. I'm not one of those mythical givers and voters you're hoping to get out of their houses (I realize we need to do this too) but if you push a Prez candidate on me running on O-Cortez's platform, kiss a lot of people goodbye.
I'm a liberal and a woman and a minority but I agree with a few comments I have seen already -- we need a white male until the country calms down and backs off this precipice.
18
In my opinion, it seems unique that this year, being the 100 birthday of JFK, the Democrats need another younger Senator, perhaps a veteran too. And most importantly, that candidate needs to give JFK-type speeches. Ones in which voters remember the unique words and phrases the candidate uses to compel voters to elect him/her. Reagan, an actor, used that approach. His words are still remembered. Trump uses his t.v. experience to give speeches and evoke audience support.
The democrats need someone who can make voters regain domestic and international pride in America.
7
Ten years ago, the Dems had a deep bench. Most of those people are too old, out of politics, or not going to be running. Shame about the thousand seats Obama lost, that was the Democratic minor league.
6
Might as well take this list, throw it out, and start over.
Dems lost their best 'middle of the country', charismatic, smart, informed, candidate when they threw Al Franken under the bus.
I will vote a straight Democratic ticket no matter what. But. . . . I have few hopes the Dems will win in 2020.
19
Sorry, but Warren has had multiple chances:
1) Two years ago she was hot and many were begging her to run, but she declined;
2) when it still mattered, she failed to endorse Bernie, and instead sat quietly on the sidelines while the DNC Establishment was crowning Hillary; and
3) she originally said the primaries were rigged against Bernie and then within days changed her tune.
She blew it every time.
Sorry, People, but this ship sailed long ago.
25
Please stop including Bernie Sanders in with potential Democratic candidates for President.
Bernie Sanders isn't a Democrat. Wasn't, isn't and will never be. He is an Independent who only ran as a Democrat in 2016 to avail himself of the Party's resources. And then he proceeded to trash the Party and its official nominee every step of the way.
In fact, he's running for re-election to the Senate as an Independent this year.
20
Can we get real for one minute. Hievery white male out there. First she beat Bernie by 4 million vote when he had the Russians and the Republicans working for him. Then she beat Trump by 3 million votes even though he had the Russians and the FBI working for him. She was by far the strongest candidate out there. Give her another chance for the fair election and she win by 5 million votes this time or more. Putin would be shaking in his boots.
8
These political warriors better hope there is a real election and have a plan if Trump,the Republicans and the now Trump packed courts decide to subvert the process.After todays outrageous episode of our Presidents treason in action all things are now,most unfortunately, within the realm of possibilities
6
Someone needs to tell Bernie that it's time to retire. He spoiled the last election and we are paying dearly for a man whose ability to deliver was no better than Trump's.
19
God help us all!
12
Can Mitch Landrieu please run?
8
Any Democrat at all is better than the Trumpster.
11
@DSS. It’s true that any Democrat is preferable to Trump. The only problem is, all of those candidates are so dreadful, so tin-eared, so terrible on the stump, and so ostentatiously morally bankrupt that none of them can be elected. Republicans vote for the morally bankrupt. Democrats don’t. We had better get ourselves some new candidates or we’re finished, and so is the country.
6
@DSS That's what the excuse was last time, and it didn't turn out well, did it? That's one very low bar.
Same old messages, slightly different messengers. Changing hats doesn’t change what’s under it. Since the Democrats became simply the Anti-Trump with no ideas other than saying no and complaining, inspirational is the last thing I think when I think of one. Obama spoiled us with his perfect teeth. I hardly see how a new one can top what’s already come and gone.
16
@John Doe. That’s right, there are no new ideas with any of those people. They’re all old ideas and Europe has already implemented all of them; only here would free higher education for all seem new. Then there are some old ideas the Republicans had that they seem to have forgotten; a Republican named Richard Nixon favored universal healthcare. You know, the thing the man with the great smile tried to get rolling, only to have Republicans threaten to eliminate healthcare for 9 million children. As it turns out there are a lot of reasons to be anti-Trump, which Americans are going to find out quickly when their jobs disappear to satisfy a lunatic’s ego. But a lot of you folks will vote for him anyway, even if he causes you to lose your jobs. Some people think it’s a mystery, the reasons you vote for him. But we’ve all seen the statistics and we know exactly why you voted for him. Because you didn’t like the man with a great smile and great teeth, and the reason you didn’t like him was the color of his skin. How do we know this? Because you told pollsters day after day that you think all black people are lazy and are getting advantages at your expense. Keep it up, and you’ll wake up one morning to discover you don’t have Medicare and Social Security when you’re old and your children won’t have jobs. Good luck with your President, whom even some Republicans today were awfully close to calling a traitor. They noticed. You haven’t. You might regret that.
16
Biden and Sanders, you two are too old, period.
20
Thank you. The fact that those two haven’t noticed doesn’t say good things about them. Worse, the Democrats seem determined to lose and lose and lose. With a little help from the Russians and a few suppressed and stolen votes here and there, Trump can beat any of those named as the possible nominee because they’ll all turn off anybody who would be motivated to go to the polls and vote for a Democrat. What a sorry bunch. How sad for those chasing the prize, how sad for the leaders of the Democratic Party, and how sad for the rest of us.
8
@merchantofchaos. Have you objected to 85 year-old Supreme court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg being"too old" to effectively do her job ? I didn't think so. I think Sanders is a safe bet: he has a solid support base, many new converts of many ethniicities, and the conviction and know-how to raise money without corporate money and it's potential influence. He also cares deeply about his fellow citizen's struggles. He has also mostly not supported dangerous interventionist wars that kill innocent people, pave the way for militant takeover, cost U.S. taxpayers the programs that could help alleviate poverty and fund health care and public college for all citizens
5
I hate to say this, but since Obama and Hillary, the monsters of racism and misogyny have come to full throttle and destroyed the remaining shreds of any veils of politeness, courtesy and respect that encouraged civil discourse among those with different views. These monsters are being lovingly cultivated by Trump and his followers, and although many people might say they are not racist or misogynist, the fires of hatred are so pervasive right now that people might feel free to reject a reasonable, middle-of-the-road candidate because of race or gender.
Democrats, I’m afraid we need to front a white male candidate for 2020, preferably someone under 60. A candidate with humor, charisma and compassion would be a terrific contrast against Trump and the cynical, craven Republicans. Paging Governor Hickenlooper . . .
20
Agree. I don’t see any of thes folks on a winning ticket. We need to get off the coasts. My ticket would be Sherrod Brown/ Amy Klobuchar. If both have solid victories in their upcoming re-election contests, I hope they will start running for 2020.
3
Rethink your strategy. It was impossible for anyone to criticize Obama or Clinton without being labeled a racist or sexist. That worked wonders..
7
Sen Jeff Merkley of Oregon
7
Warren... Bernie... and Biden. Been there, done that. Harris is inexperienced. Booker is no better than a VP. But all are too left. The Dems lost the middle and lost the election. 2020 is the race for the middle.
32
@marrtyy correct. This will not even get us voters in Ohio to turn out. Even those who held our noses and did vote in 2016. We do not need progressives. We need some serious moderate who has a real plan for the middle class in the middle of the country, not the rich on both coasts.
4
Bernie Sanders is not a democrat, and I think his rhetoric hurt Hillary Clinton. Warren, like Sanders,comes across as too far to the left. Both have a role in the Senate that they should cultivate toward seniority.
22
@Kathleen - Warren is definitely not too far to the left. Hillary Clinton was too far to the right. I did vote for Obama for president but early in the process, there were other Democrats running for president that were more appropriate in not running so far to the right as Obama was.
11
OK, you're right: Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat.
But then again, Hillary IS a "real Democrat, and she lost (to the worst candidate ever). So maybe being a "real" Democrat isn't such a good thing after all?
16
@GMooG Hillary did NOT lose to the 'worst candidate ever'. She collected 2.8 million more votes than he did. He won in the Electoral College because of a grand total of 77,000 votes in 3 states.
To this day, we don't know the level of interference from Russia that led to that vote count. And we probably never will.
And being a 'real Democrat' is a good thing when you're running for the Democratic nomination for national office.
New elections, same mistakes. The "Old" Guard should be assuming the role of Statesmen, not thinking that only they can lead. That is hubris. New blood should be supported and nurtured by those with experience.
10
If Bernie Sanders had any integrity and cared for anything besides his own ego, he would run as and Independent. He is not a Democrat, and clearly does not want to be unless it suits him.
19
Don’t forget Maxine Waters. She just came back from New Hampshire and will travel to Iowa at the end of the months.
4
@Mustafa Maxine Waters a candidate for president? That would be hilarious. She's the one who thought the Russians had invaded Korea (instead of Crimea). She would crash and burn immediately after take-off. Might as well run Nancy Pelosi or Patty Murray.
12
It is distressing to me to watch people on the left crow about "young" candidates because we need "fresh new voices." You know what? We don't. We need people who can bring in votes. We're not casting the remake of The Blue Lagoon. We're trying to win an election. Trump won because of a handful of voters in swing states were mad about Bernie. The Obama coalition was strong, threatening and powerful. Hillary Clinton captured much of it. Why would our side choose to throw all of that away JUST because of those swing state voters? What we need to do is fill the gap. We have to figure out how to lure both the Obama coalition and the angry forgotten white working class in swing states. Biden can do that. He can probably serve just one term but if it's Biden and Kennedy, Kennedy can then run and win and serve. But I know the democrats will blow it. We'll pull too far to the left and alienate the middle. A big dumb mistake.
17
@Sasha Stone, a Biden/Kennedy ticket...not bad.
4
Forget the “angry forgotten white working class” who used to be Democrats. They don’t exist. The notion that they elected Trump is a meme created by the media. If you need the numbers, go to 538. The Democrats need to bring out the vote that didn’t come out. Then they can win. The answer to Republican vote-stealing and vote-suppressing is what it’s always been, and when will the Democrats learn? The word is turnout. When turnout falls, Democrats lose. When turnout rises, Republicans lose. It is now as it has ever been.
13
Kamala Harris has the smarts and the charisma to pull it off.
6
Dave, why do you make getting elected president sound like robbing a bank? The irony is that they really are the same, these days.
7
@Dave Beemon maybe she does, but just not in the Midwest. So write it off - again.
6
@John Doe
that's true. but I like her.
Great...... so long as too many cooks do not spoil the broth!
2
Don't discount Andrew Yang and his Humanity First campaign. As a tech leader who see's what's coming and has written several books about it, His UBI platform may resonate with a lot of people. A capitalist who is also a humanist.
3
I am a Massachusetts resident, but am afraid that Warren would be a weak candidate to help win those crucial swing states.
16
@Ronnie Lane - I strongly disagree, Warren is by far the most appropriate candidate.
3
@ Michael Schmidt. Have you ever been to a Warren rally? She could put a tractor to sleep. That’s because she has the charisma of a tractor. One of the dullest and least convincing public speakers in the history of American politics. It would be a rout.
8
Dems'only focus right now must be the mid-terms: they have now lost any hope of taking the Senate and their chances to take back the House is eroding every day. But as usual, the Clinton legacy lives on, focusing on the only election that matters for them, the General one.
November 2018 is once again, exactly like 2016, theirs to lose.
6
Really, it's time for some younger blood. There are many qualified people in their 40s and 50s. Let's look at some of them. And for heaven's sake, the DNC needs to stay out of the process and not attempt to pick winners. That didn't work out well. And to all candidates and their handlers, do not use email - ever.
8
The last thing this country needs in 2020 is candidates who will be over 65 years old when they take the oath of office. The seniors need to step aside and mentor the next generation instead of hanging on for personal glory.
13
@arusso
Amen. And people like Ruth Ginsburg on the Supreme Court and John McCain in the Senate need to step down and let someone else take a turn who can do the job. (You too, Queen Elizabeth. Give Charles a chance before he's too old to do it too. Take a hint from the Emperor of Japan.)
3
I think it is a disaster for Biden to run. He is a great man but that doesn't make him presidential stuff. Let's just not dilute the vote too much. Folks have difficulty when it comes to many choices.
Vote folks. Our lives depend on it.
9
Dr M says, "Wanna beat Trump? You need a Doug Jones with charisma. A centrist Democrat who can beat a Republican in a Republican State. None of the lefties mentioned will appeal to centrist Democrats and independents, which is where this race is won."
That is exactly what the Republican establishment thought in 2016. They considered Trump unelectable. They thought "middle America" meant middle-of-the-road politics. But Americans are clearly fed up with our political parties and representatives. I don't think any of these candidates is the winner in 2020, but I'm not sure putting up a centrist is a winning strategy either. People want hope, they want something to believe in. It got Obama elected and, misguided as it was, Trump too.
10
Quite a lineup! In what country do they plan to seek office?
37
Classic. Made me laugh out loud. So true so true.
9
This is a really weak field. I'd say Trump has about a 75% chance of being reelected against any one of these people. I am somewhat impressed by the commenters here who by and large actually seem to grasp this inconvenient reality, which is a welcome change from what I usually observe in these forums.
A vast portion of the country is not voting for Elizabeth Warren; she spends her days pointing fingers at other people, which only riles up a small subset of the population, and she seems like a phony to me (most people who point their fingers are). Sanders may have been electable if he were 5 years younger. Entering office as a 79 year old is going to be a tough pill for voters to swallow, and there is this little thing about him being a socialist. Most people probably think they pay just about enough taxes and care a great deal more about providing for their own families than handing over their hard earned cash to pay for someone else's kids' education (not sure if you heard, but people are quite selfish by nature). Yeah, his numbers were impressive during the primaries and he got people fired up; Trump never went to work on him though, and Trump is incredibly effective at taking people down. Biden is the only one I could see winning, but even he's really too old (entering office as a 78 year old). Obviously the main contender is old as well (only a few years younger) but he's already a known commodity as commander in chief, so I wouldn't expect that to hurt him as much
14
The only one electable is Biden.
The ONLY one.
Good grief. We have a nation to save people.
11
That's a bit much. I like Kamala Harris, but her geography is wrong. If only she were from Ohio or Wisconsin or Kansas.
2
Its good that this article notes the several notable Democrats (exclude Bernie Sanders who is NOT a Democrat) who will help get out the vote in the mid-term elections. However, in my opinion Senator Warren can best serve Democrats in the Senate. Her passionate ultra liberal demeanor will not win her votes for president. And, as noted above, Bernie Sanders finger pointing bombast on extreme liberal issues, will only detract from real Democratic candidates. He is not a Democrat, and he failed to support Hillary in 2016. I ex[ect
7
Senator Warren is one of the worst choices the dems could put up in 2020 unless the goal is to lose. If she were to secure the nomination, she would be utterly dismantled by Trump. The whole bit about her pretending to be a Native American in order to get special treatment would provide some of the best political ad campaigns in history, and they would work. I know the story of the day is that going hard left is a winning strategy. It isn’t. Yeah maybe a candidate like Ocasio-Cortez can win a democratic primary in New York but a national election is quite a different matter. People like to cite to the excitement of Sanders 2016 as evidence that someone with his message can win. Of course they seem to conveniently forget that Sanders not only didn’t win the election, he didn’t even get enough votes to win the primary and lost to a candidate who also couldn’t get the job done.
16
Pretty weak group of candidates
11
Warren has about as much chance becoming President as Nancy Pelosi. Zero.
15
@BO Krause
These candidates are jokes
8
Elizabeth Warren had her chance to run with Bernie Sanders but she blew it. She should have endorsed Bernie with the arrangement of Bernie running for only one term but she was too coy about that. I am more inclined to vote for Kamala Harris or Cory Booker. Another alternative might be Patrick Deval.
4
Deval Patrick might be a good choice, also.
@Adeyemo
Isn't Cory Booker the guy who was President Obama's anger translator at the White House Correspondent's Dinner?
2
Out of all the people mentioned, Joe Biden and Mitch Landrieu are the only Democrats who stand a chance of getting Trump out of office. Who knows, perhaps there is a person who has not yet surfaced who would be a better bet. Warren, Harris, Booker and Sanders would create a landslide reelection of Trump due to their extreme politics. Democrats should move back to bread-and-butter issues affecting all Americans (jobs, livable wages, reasonably-priced health care, respect for our borders, justice for all Americans, etc) and stop focusing on open borders, free college tuition for all, guaranteed Federal jobs for all and other pie in the sky ideas. The goal is to get Trump out of office and appeal to as many people as possible to do that.
17
As a constituent who voted for him, let me say that Booker is a lightweight. Go back and look at his speech at the last convention. Devoid of passion or conviction. Great pedigree, lousy candidate.
Biden, had he taken on Hillary in 2016, may have gained the nomination and would have won the election. He's a goofball, but a lovable one. This time...past his sell-by date.
I agree that a sober-minded centrist like Hickenlooper has a much better chance than a left-leaning firebrand like Elizabeth Warren.
12
One has to hope that any one of them can defeat Benedict Donald.
8
@Dnain wishful thinking and hoping that "anyone of them" will do is precisely why Trump is the president.
4
Oh dear - Trump must be licking his chops thinking about tearing into any of these flawed, lightweight candidates.
21
Michele Obama
10
@Douglas
You're right. Exactly what we need is another wife of an ex-president giving 6-figure speeches and partying on yachts with billionaires.
20
Do us a favor Elizabeth and Talk Hillary Clinton to run again. She beat every Republican in the field and beat every Democrat in the field including Bernie Sanders by 4 million votes even though Bernie and Trump had the Republicans and the Russians working for him. And you stood silently on the sidelines not jumping on Hillary’s bandwagon until Bernie stepped aside which was way too late. You were playing politics because you knew your constituency supported Bernie you were too concerned about your own career to speak out. That doesn’t sound like presidential material to me. Hillary could be you and Bernie together and beat you both by 5 million votes if the Russians and the Republicans don’t interfere.
5
@Mick This "reasoning" is why it's likely the Democrats, and the nation, will lose in 2020.
21
Oh yes, please. Please do talk Hillary into running again.
Thank you,
Every Republican,
Everywhere
12
Oh, you agree with the republicans and Russians in their support of Bernie?
2
None of the candidates mentioned here have the right stuff. I will write in Governor Jerry Brown. He stands out as a leader tempered by long experience governing the world's 6th largest economy. His administration has made the golden state a guiding light for leadership on relevant environmental and social issues facing our nation.
10
@das stuek Jerry Brown? He isn't running. This is the kind of foolishness that gave us trump.
10
Yes, OK, fine. Please stand over there with the Jill Stein supporters, and other Republican-lites.
4
Joe Manchin but didn’t realize that he is 70. Nothing against that generation but someone younger to appeal to youth.
4
Warren has stated again and again that she does not wish to run for President. There is a word for people who cannot take a woman's "no" for an answer, and it is not a nice word. It's interesting to me that most of the people not taking Warren's repeated "no" are male. And as to another commenter's plea for a new JFK: Expecting one branch of the federal government to solve all our problems is exactly how we got here. We need to end gerrymandering, we need to repeal the Electoral College, we need to pay a lot more attention to Congress and to state and local governments, and people need to start researching candidates and issues well before they vote. Because we don't need more voters. We need better voters. That is ultimately what will save us. Learn, or stay home on Election Day.
7
Way to lead with your chin, Democratic Party. Most all of the candidates mentioned present a significant problem: electability.
Several are retreads. Several are stuck in bubbles.
A Democratic candidate won't win by chirping to a myopic progressive base. Look at who swung the tide in the Rust Belt to see what the task is - they need to be brought back to democratic values, and the party must focus on them (and it can do that without turning off the young, minorities and progressives). And, from a practical standpoint, 2016 exposed a get-out-the-vote-of-your-base strategy as tunnel-visioned.
No mention of Amy Klobuchar. Good, as this is all a bit of frontrunning prematurity. Note that in her home state of Minnesota, her political party is formally the Democratic-Farm-Labor Party. A clue as to what needs to be done, and not just for political reasons, inclusion reasons, etc., but for simple inclusion in what is touted as a big tent but in the Clinton-Obama years went too bicoastal, identity politics, Wall Street-cozy, Hamptons- and Vineyard-elite, and money-rich, and, yes, blind in gender bias at the last stop. All that is not democratic, and is not a winner.
Klobuchar is a tad conservative for my personal taste, but maybe that's the point. This is not a time for personal druthers, but for unity in the cause of saving the American Experiment. Klobuchar can do more to unify than any other candidate mentioned. And she can win.
Amy Klobuchar, your country needs you.
7
I like her. But Hillary could beat her by more than 4 million votes. People like you can’t get it through your minds that she is the most popular democrat in the party by FAR!!! It’s called democracy and she would win even if you don’t like her because the republicans or Russians influenced your weak mind. It doesn’t change the fact that she beat everybody, every white man in the world, she beat the FBI, Republicans, Bernie, and you, all by millions of votes.
Talk about a mindset. Ha!
You act like a deplorable.
4
Must read Mitch Landrieu's May 31st speech on removing Confederate statues. Moving, inspiring and knowledgable of what makes us Americans. Interesting voice and should be considered.
4
Good luck with any in this group, Trump will be laughing his way as a second term President.
What's their message going to be anyone but Trump?
That is not a message that's a lazy excuse.
We might see a 25% midterm turn out
MIGHT.
The problem is the one party system pretending to be two.
8
Elizabeth Warren, Sanders and Biden need to step aside. We need a strong democratic candidate with a strong, clear message other than just spewing anti-trump sentiments. We might even need to get behind a liberal republican for that matter. If we go with the same people as last time we're gonna be looking at 4 more years of Trump. What haven't the democrats organized behind a NEW LEADER?!
10
Throw in Pelosi, Hoyer, Clymer and Feinstein as part of the fossils in the Democratic Party Politburo who need to go. The Democratic "leadership" looks like the top of the Kremlin wall at a state funeral.
10
Republicans out-played the Democrats because they had a long game strategy that included building up an infrastructure of think tanks, mass media, university programs, etc. Looking for the election to swing their way is not enough for the Democrats. They need to start looking down the road 20 years, building organizations with currently low-participation Hispanics and Asian Americans, among other things.
11
I want to see Michael Bloomberg run. A serious, incorruptible, sensible, viable candidate.
27
" A serious, incorruptible, sensible, viable candidate."
Yes. But not a Democrat.
2
@MIKEinNYC
If he runs, Bloomberg wins in a landslide.
4
@GMooG
Bloomie is a Democrat and when he discussed this re entry he said he'd run as a Dem.
Biden is not up to it. The others are so far left they might as well be on the payroll of the Trump 2020 re-election committee.
21
Please democrats, please pick a candidate that appeals to a wide audience vs the far left. Warren is not that person, neither is Sanders. Please, for the sake of the country do not pick an extremist.
28
The only way for liberal democrats to win in 2020 is to adopt the republican’s platform. More jobs, improving economy, build the wall, eliminate chain migration, cut taxes, eliminate red tape, make government accountable to the voters. Anything less will ensure a Trump second term. It’s the economy......
13
@prettyinpink That's a lot of gloating for a single election victory.
More jobs/improving economy: look at the charts and see what happened in the 6 years prior to Trump. You'll find that the trend line was the same or better as it is now, 44 just didn't brag about it on Twitter every time there was an uptick.
Build the wall: not actually a popular policy at all (supported only by 37%).
Eliminate chain migration: were your ancestors allowed to come to the US as family, by any chance?
Cut taxes, eliminate red tape: if this has been so very effective, why hasn't there been a massive economic improvement/uptick, rather than a continuation? Does engaging in a trade war that hurts a great many American companies count in this scheme?
Make the government accountable to voters: has this happened in any way, especially given the massive corruption of people like Pruitt and Price? Does that also include Trump's denial of Russian involvement in the election today?
This whole comment thread is a pity party, but all would do well to remember the buffoon still only has a 42% approval rating. See you in November!
1
I like Sen. Warren, but there is no way that she, or Booker, or Harris will win a presidential election in this climate. Better look to a centrist like John Hickenlooper (CO) if Democrats want a serious shot.
15
Biden, Warren, and Sanders are irresponsible. If they truly cared about this country, they would put their heads together and find a young unknown with talent to support. They are too old to be president. As for Booker and Harris, not a win against Trump.
9
Sen. Elizabeth Warren has it ALL. She's smart, sane, articulate, highly-informed, and has great ideas, plus, she's a real fighter. I can't wait till her hat's in the ring so I can volunteer locally to help her win the election...which may well be a landslide.
And it would be nice to see Sen. Sanders as her running mate - what a team to help make the U.S. a progressive country once again.
4
@KJR When was this country progressive? Do you think free healthcare and college is coming in a country that couldn't embrace the metric system?
And volunteering "locally" in NYC isn't what wins national presidential elections. The swing states that Hillary took for granted - and lost - are what matters.
16
I've no doubt Warren and Sanders would win Manhattan.
12
Xcubbies,
You are obviously not from NY - warren and sanders would, thankfully, never win in Manhattan. Greenpoint, Brooklyn maybe. Manhattan, Staten Island and queens, never.
3
Don't hold your breath. "I don't belong to any organized political party. I'm a Democrat." - Will Rogers
6
Fresh blood is needed. DEMS are going to have to come up with someone really special to run against Trump - if Trump survives to run again. The people who are currently thinking of running aren't going to cut it against Trump's hellacious campaign/debate (using that word tongue in cheek) style. His belittling and demeaning techniques are hard to counter. Sanders maybe, but Warren is done and Booker will be subjected to Trump's blatant racism. Taking the high road isn't enough. Trump will need to be flattened - every tweet demolished. It will be an all-out war, the likes of which we have not yet seen in our lifetimes. There must be a DEM out there somewhere who is tougher than Trump who will give as good and better than what he gets.
7
It will be fun to watch the Dems push each other left in the 2020 primary.
11
I hope voters don’t choose their candidate based on race or gender. . The quality of the candidate and his or her agenda should be decisive.
9
No, no, no, no, and no.
Not a one on this list can pack the wallop that will send Trump out of the White House and flat on his tuchus. No.
For the most part, these are good politicians, and in theory, I'd be happy to see them as President. Unfortunately, they are not good candidates, whether by dint of age or polarization or being in the closet. We need a solid, tough campaigner to oust Trump, and given recent events, I think it has to be a young, white man with a backbone of steel and a willingness to call Trump on his nonsense (he's been lying, unchecked, for too long now).
This pool of five does not give me hope.
22
I think the Democrats have a better chance with Mitt Romney than with any of clear losers listed in the article. Biden? Oh come on. It’s as if the list of candidates was chosen by Bannon and Miller. You may as well put them in costumes and start a circus. Or send them off to see the Wizard. It’s so frustrating to have Trump as president and watch the Democrats pander to the disillusioned delusional few screeching from the shoulder. Get back on the road and head for the middle where the voters are. Or get ready for four more years of reading Charles Blow’s weekly reiteration of other reports on the latest Trump outrage. The only truth Trump has revealed is just how pathetic the Democratic Party is. It’s hard to believe that the effectiveness of the democrats is inversely proportional to size of the republican target. Can’t hit that? You may as well buy your MAGA hat and join the NRA.
20
Curious to know who'd Bloomberg would put his $$$ behind?
5
Hillary! No doubt about it.
What a sad situation. Biden would have been a great candidate last time around but couldn’t understandably after losing his wonderful son. Now he’s too old and not viable. Sanders, love his brilliance but too socialist and too old now. Booker I can’t really comment in depth and that’s my problem right there. He doesn’t have the right presence. Harris is great but will never be elected. Warren is so fine but too old for the challenge. The “cat is out of the bag” or “the horse has left the barn” with the crazy Trump world we are in amdthe Democrats can’t win without a secure border and control of illegal immigration and defined plan of vetting for asylum. Everyone who’s arriving knows to say “we are in danger in our country” but that’s not enough. Mexico is slamming us you letting more and more people arrive at the border. We can’t take in the world of every corrupt impoverished nation. Mexico is rich with natural resources, tourism, industry and yet they couldn’t build their own country.
Every central and South American country is a mess. We didn’t create it. Democrats can’t have a hint of open border and will pay for the illegal immigration for decades. Trying for the women’s vote as CA lieutenant gov Eleni did with “Eleni is for women” huh? What’s that mean?
Or her “Eleni supports immigrants” huh? What’s that mean? Catch phrases for the Latino vote sympathetic to the illegal immigrants and unevolved and unknowing young voters both make and female won’t work. It’s dismal.
11
What about Joseph P. Kennedy III as Avenatti's running mate?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Kennedy_III
Fluent Spanish speaker, handsome, smart, cultured, polite, unintimidated by swamp critters like Donald, able to appear on the world stage without making us sick with embarrassment, etc.
6
Ridiculous. LA Mayor Garcetti is better.
3
@Pecan Yes, that's the trick. Another wealthy political dynasty's scion from Boston. "Handsome, cultured - and wait for it - a fluent Spanish speaker - is just what's needed to unseat Trump.
I can see the swing state voters swooning now.
11
There is NOTHING honest about Trump.
4
I really like all of these folks but they've got about as much chance of getting elected as Nancy Pelosi (who I also really like).
Yes, it would be great to have a woman, a person of color, a Muslim or any other minority in the White House but what the Democrats need to WIN in 2020 (absent Michelle Obama) is a SOUTHERN WHITE GUY with no existing Trump label and no hair. Someone like ......
MITCH LANDRIEU
6
That Sanders, a Democratic Socialist, which by the way doesn't even exist in this country, thinks he will be allowed to play his game again is disgusting. Then you have two minorities who think they can get elected just because of that. Then there is Warren who is just loud, and poor Biden. Where is our John F Kennedy!?
11
"a Democratic Socialist, which by the way doesn't even exist in this country,"
How do you figure? There are many tens of millions of us. (Not all of us call ourselves precisely that, but a rose by any other name...)
6
Agreed—losing Al Franken was a huge loss.
9
Not to contradict the chorus of navel-gazing Democratic self doubt here, but perhaps the prior election has some lessons to offer.
Love him or hate him, remember that Sanders polled vastly better than Trump in a head to head matchup. Even assuming that would have diminished somewhat had he made it further, the lead was substantial. Against an outsider candidate on the Republican side, perhaps the best strategy is to maintain strong principles and field a candidate that actually represents something (rather than propping up the blandest moderate in a 50-state radius). So much of this talk seems to be fear-based hand wringing about what will play in Peoria -- if you capture fickle swing voters but fail to energize your own base, you've still lost an election. I have some sympathy for those who are still hurting over McGovern, but those were different times and rather different circumstances. Trump didn't win* by moderating his views, that's for darn sure.
Similarly, to all those focused on age, remember that Sanders had quite the cohort of young people behind him (not that they bothered to turn out a bunch). On the other side, Ron Paul once enjoyed similar support. It would seem that the hearts and minds of the young are drawn by ideas, not youth. The Ocasio-Cortez story is a great one, but let's not extrapolate too much from one instance.
*The usual qualifiers of Russian assistance and a popular vote loss apply here.
9
I'm liberal and a big fan of Warren and Sanders. That said, for the democrats to have a majority in the senate, they need some senators from red states. That's the math. The Dems will need a center left candidate that can win enough purple states to take the electoral college and give the red state senate candidates enough ideological space to win as well.
I don't intend this to be sexist, but the reality is that a white male is the safe choice. Going for broke with a candidate focused on identity politics is a good way to turn over Souter's and Ginsberg's SC seats to the right. I don't want to take that gamble.
Biden is old, but the best of this list. Adam Schiff would be strong as others have mentioned. Mitch Landrieu has that 'it' factor. Sherrod Brown could also be a strong candidate.
7
I’m guessing you mean Justice Breyer, not Justice Souter, who retired about ten years ago.
3
It was her turn! Wasn't that as obvious to you as it was to her, and everyone else?
6
I understand how so many people are so mortified by what's going on that the swing to the hard left feels justified. However, you put a Warren or a Sanders on that ballot, and you might as well sign up now for 4 more years of Trump. He's PRAYING that happens. Yes, they will have their devoted fans, but they will never get the majority of this country to swing their way (esp. those in the middle). They'd rather hold their nose and vote for Trump given that choice.
I agree with the earlier comment. Best odds? Biden with Kamala Harris or other "a little more left, not a lot" (female, minority great for VP) candidate. Trump's gotta go, and we cannot fail.
14
Biden’s time came and went. Warren can’t do it. Harris is unelectable. Booker no chance. Sanders socialism is untenable. Love them all but none good enough. Illegal immigration is the weight that will sink them along with ads like in California “... is for women” and “... supports immigrants”. What? More details? Nothing. The Democrats are doomed with playing for the Latino vote because their sympathetic to illegals. Without a secure border plan clearly stated we don’t have a chance. We could use a brilliant constitutional lawyer with charisma and intelligence, humanity, strength and warmth. Oh wait that’s Obama. Too bad at 56 he couldn’t lead again.
Starbucks ceo - no way. Sports team billionaire - no way. Rapper - no way.
We had a terrible win in a run for Congress on the basis of having been a Sanders worker and Puerto Rican however she hasn’t a clue d was elected in a i like you, you’re Puerto Rican basis displacing a person who was great.
3
the one guy who won the midwest and all the states hilary lost in the election was sanders, and he would easily do it again in an election vs trump. he's the most respected politician in america. nice scare tactic though
4
I am not a fan of Sen. Warren, but I will vote for and support anyone running against Trump.
5
Can we please consider a governor of a Western state like Montana (Steve Bullock) or Colorado (John Hickenlooper)? Both of these men are Democrats who govern over states that are either red (Montana) or purple (Colorado), so they are not considered radicals by people in the middle of the country or in the south. They know how to bring Democrats, moderate Republicans and Independents into the fold. That is what we need to make Trump exit the White House in defeat.
27
@Karen Craddock Would love to see Hickenlooper in the mix.
1
Sanders offered to debate Trump and was refused. Maybe he is one of the few people that Trump is afraid of and could not easily knock out with insults about weakness or corruption? People know that Sanders is honest. I have talked to Trump supporters who like Sanders too. I assume many of them want someone who cares about working people and acts strong, and Sanders does that, but at the same time is not going to fight unnecessary wars just out of enthusiasm for military adventures or the need to look strong. He voted no on the war in Iraq. If, as Ted Reynolds already pointed out, we are considering Biden, we may as well also consider Sanders. He is nowhere near as extreme as the Clinton camp pretends.
10
With these choices, it will be a guarantee that Trump will be staying at the white house for 4 more years.
Suburbs in swings states do not vote progressive and/or socialist, if they can't understand that it will be to their own detriment.
19
Once consequence of the democrats' electoral impotence: they have a very small bench. Because the democrats' message is competitive in so few places, the fresh blood that would otherwise be out there gaining experience wining elections and gaining experience governing isn't given a chance to emerge.
I vote straight democratic and I have very little confidence in the party's ability to actually be competitive ever again. Not unless it changes its focus and message to the needs of the 90% of this country who are not happy with the status quo. Of course, the rich New Yorkers and Californians wouldn't like that one bit, and so here we are, arguing about which dinosaur or which super-liberal would best lead the party to defeat in 2020. It's aggravating.
17
A plumber in Detroit is simply not going to vote for Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris when the platform is based on identity politics or abolishing ICE. A winning candidate would be talking constantly about something relevant to this voter: wages, taxes and social security; not trans recruits in the Army, not alternative energy, and definitely not public transportation.
27
A lot will change in the next year. I hope a charismatic populist can emerge. While I like Mr. Biden, I think it's too late for him. Ms. Warren is too shrill, although, she could be a good VP, as would Booker. And, Bernie, just no.
Who else is out there? I wish it could be a woman, but this time around, we need a man.Whoever it is has to be able to reach the voters who felt forgotten by the Dems in 2016. So, Mitch Landrieu? Al Franken? Jon Tester? Sherrod Brown?
4
Hillary actually won more votes than Trump. She is the only Democrat who has done that. Now that the email issue is behind her, she should run against Trump in a rematch. Hillary vs. Trump, Round II.
3
NO, Just NO to Hillary. Her time came and went. No dynasty not another Clinton.
21
I'm really holding out hope for Senator Kamala Harris; she's smart, she's charismatic, and she speaks her mind fearlessly/forcefully.
I really don't get Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti's bid.
Being the mayor of a city with the largest homeless population in the nation isn't much of a selling point . . .
4
As a liberal Democrat over 70, I welcome the young blood.
With that said, I am deeply depressed. In my opinion, none of these candidates (with the exception of Biden and he's too old) are electable, except in CA, NY, MA, CT and other liberal strongholds. The President is selected by the Electoral College, based on results from a handful of "battleground states" in the Midwest and the Confederacy. . . . . and they don't vote for "socialists."
11
The core of the Dem parties charter calls for strict quotas on gender and as far as possible on race and sexual orientation as well.
Therefore by degrees and over many years the party - looking through glasses that see everything as stemming from race, etc. has thrown out directly or indirectly the merit system in favor of quotas and affirmative action within and sought to do the same outside the party.
From my perspective given this core orientation this lifelong Democrat would possibly for the 1st time in my life vote for a Republican.
Warren unfortunately emphasizes quotas - some say it is how she became a Harvard professor - based on a false claim of native American heritage.
I assume she is for sanctuary cities - this makes her and any other democrat who supports that position unacceptable to me- I believe just enough other former Dem's feel the same way I do - that it could lead to another Republican win -
8
Wouldn't it be nice if you checked the veracity of what "some say" about Senator Warren, instead of passing it along as established fact?
9
Especially since Harvard has stated that her heritage had no impact on their decision to hire her.
@Annie
Yes! Harvard has a lot of credibility when it comes to admission/hiring standards and diversity.
2
Seth Moulton, Young, smart, ex marine, fiscally responsible. Was backed by Bloomberg and other ex service members. Motivated by serving the country. I think he's got a message and a good chance.
4
Many of these comments make me shudder. People saying that they won't vote for any Democrat over 60 for President; wanting to clear out the middle moderate Democrats; complaints that Democrats do not present progressive policy positions. Did any of these people read that 2016 Democratic Platform? Many thanks to Bernie Sanders and his busters, Jill Stein voters, and "progressives" who just couldn't vote for "evil" Hillary for helping, along with the Russian government and Jim Comey, to elect Donald Trump and set back progressive causes for a long time. We can't stand another fractured Democratic Party in the coming elections.
11
I hope the Democrats don't cannibalize their own in a slash-and-burn effort to take the lead.
Perhaps they can examine their own strengths and, uncharacteristically, divvy up their strengths and decide where they are the most effective, in roles where they can help this country heal. God knows, we're going to need healing on many fronts after Trump.
Maybe the point should be an ethical, experienced, well-known candidate who can bring a team of talent that can carry the baton in later years.
Some promising people need more time to develop. It would be a shame to put them through the grueling nomination process that ends up only damaging them.
Please bring back the Fairness Doctrine and overturn Citizens United.
5
We need someone NEW. NOT Warren. and the Dems in general need to figure out what their message is. There isn't a clear platform that they're running on. Who can we possibly get behind who actually has a solid chance?!
6
If any of these become the Democratic nominee, we’ll have 4 more years of Trump.
Maybe that’s what it’s going to take until Dems figure out that America isn’t buying what they’ve selling.
16
Because he's NOT a democrat! I wish he'd run as a socialist and leave a party that isn't his alone.
3
@Much Ado How did the 'Official Democrat' losing help? Party bona fides hardly matters when Hillary couldn't even win swing states.
1
We won’t be fooled again? Simply put, PLATFORM OVER PERSONALITY! Platform over demographics. Platform, platform, platform! All the mainstream Democratic hopefuls are loathe to articulate their visions and beliefs! Biden represents no change. Warren, Harris, and Booker take turns being the flavors of the month. Medicare for all, student debt forgiveness, banking regulations/consumer protections, strengthening unions, infrastructure/jobs programs, criminal justice reform, revoking Citizens United/election reform, humane immigration reform, military spending reductions, re-examined foreign policy, and Congressional re-examination of War powers authority are what the electorate needs to hear. Identity politics has no place here. Obvious character issues need to be weeded out (Biden). Bernie is the obvious choice but the Democrats will not allow him to pass. Maybe we can all write him in. Otherwise, this will be a dismal dog-and-pony show that will award Trump a second term as the country continues to circle the bowl. The Democrats say a lot of nothing lately but this time they don’t have a flashy guy to put it over on us. Just as well. What is said matters much more than who says it.
7
@Richard Mays
No need for a write in, Bernie could always run as the Independent that he is, instead of the Democrat that he isn't. Especially now that the Dems vetoed all non-Dems running as one. I suspect he'd get an awful lot of votes, he'd surely have mine. While the Dems try to move even more center right to grab whatever Republicans they can catch, Sanders could surely get some portion of those 100 million tails that stayed on couches in '16.
1
Huge mistake for Warren, Sanders or anyone else left of center to run. The one and only objective is to defeat Trump so completely that he becomes part of the dust bin of history.
8
If the Democrats nominate Warren they will lose. She's my senator and I agree with her platform but she would be political poison nationally.
16
It seems to combat the far right, the left is going further left. They are doomed for failure with that approach yet they don't seem to see it.
11
Forget 2020 for now. First things first - let's focus on November.
8
I like a lot of people on this list but think Biden is the one most likely to win. Maybe a creative ticket like Biden/Booker or if you really want to throw out a curve ball, Biden/Kasich. Most importantly, Democrats, listen to me this time since you didn't last time: Winning ugly is better than losing pretty. Think about a ticket that can WIN, not just a ticket you like.
7
Dems seem lost on a cohesive strategy so hear is one voter's advice. Please Please Please think about this. Focus on who can win in the swing states. Go out and speak to actual people who will vote and get out of your bubbles. Go to the Midwest and South blue collar and rural farm areas. I hate to say it but California and New York are a given. Also Focus on a message everyday people can relate to. Add a message other than "Not Trump". Last ....STOP being polite and wimpy. Get someone other than Pelosi and Schumer to be the lead spokesperson-again maybe someone from the midwest. Call Trump out on his policies. And Don't stab people in the back that do (ie Maxine)
9
Our Democratic Party has a chance as evidenced by Bill Clinton and President Obama. Sanders I my opinion is responsible for this mess by splitting the party in ‘16. Since I’m a double minority, I’ll say the only shot of all these people is Biden, and even then a long-shot. We need a young no baggage male with a military background strong enough to go against Trump’s antics. Why is this so hard to understand?
13
As much as I hate to say this, the Dems CANNOT have any candidate who is female, not white, or a democratic socialist. Trumpsters will eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The few remaining "moderate" republicans (who we will need!!) will not vote for a democrat who shouts for paid college for all, medicare for all, blah, blah,blah.
The objective is to take back the Presidency and Congress to save this country from becoming the next annexation of Russia.
Political correctness is out. The gloves HAVE to come off and the candidate has to be able to not only swing a punch but land it square in the Don's face.
Enough with the niceties and politeness. Enough with all the rhetoric of equality, blah, blah, blah. That ship has sailed and that message is not getting through to anyone who needs to hear it. Need proof? Look no further than the Supreme Court. Conservatives will have the ability to take our country backwards a century or more now. And, as for all the equality that most of us desire and have worked for in this country...well, maybe we can read about it in a book someday if they haven't all been burned.
8
Elizabeth Warren for President, Joe Biden for Vice President or vice versa. No one else stands a chance.
2
So many comments on here are so disheartening. People still regurgitating the nonsense that Bernie Sanders (or Elizabeth Warren lol) are "too far left." Seriously? The president is a billionaire fascist ... the Republican Party is willing to sacrifice the human species (via climate change) for corporate profits ... that's not "too far right" yet? Bernie 2020 is the only way to evict the billionaires from power AND institute progressive policy. Are there seriously Democrats here who aren't demanding Single-Payer right now? Corporate Democratism (Clinton and Obama) is what produced Trump, what produced Republican domination at all levels of government, both federal and state. So let's double-down on yet another pro-war corporate Democrat? We have the one candidate who passionately serves the interests of regular people instead of billionaires, Bernie Sanders, and people are looking for any weak and cliched reason not to support him and the progressive movement. It really is as if Democrats want to keep losing to literal billionaire fascism instead of embracing an unambiguous people's push-back against the oligarchy, personified by the billionaire president. What has Kamala Harris, for example, done to hold a candle to Bernie Sanders' 50-plus year record of progressive democratic struggle? Biden and Chuck Schumer voted for the Iraq War. How is that not an instant disqualification from either running for president or leading Democrats? Bernie won 23 states in 2016!
11
Warren, Booker, and Harris are probably not serious about 2020. Rather they are likely trying to position themselves for 2024.
6
@Amy
Warren will be too old for 2024. She's kinda too old for '20 even.
My goodness - if these people are our 2020 candidates, let's just skip to the Trump Second Inaugural.
16
Democrats do best with "new." People like Carter, Bill Clinton and Obama - all unknown nationally 4 years before being nominated. The Dems need faces that haven't burned themselves into the television screen.
The Republicans are now a cult of personality built around an unfit, immoral man from a gold-plated NYC tower. It can't hurt to look toward the media's beloved "heartland."
What's Montana Governor Steve Bullock doing?
4
Please, God, if you can do me just one favor, make the Democratic candidate someone under 70.
16
@I.P. Freeley - Don't vote for anyone over 70? I remember when the rallying cry was "Don't trust anyone over 30." The march of time......
3
Let the horse race begin! Discuss issues? Nah. Journalists have better things to do. Talk about which corporations are funding which candidates? Nah. How boring! Who's got the pole position? Who's coming up on the outside? Go NYT Go! Daily play-by-play here in the paper of record.
12
What's that sound?? Oh, it's the collective back-slapping of the GOP as they celebtate the news of their 2020 victory. :(
15
If these are the people who will be on the Democratic ticket in 2020, then there is no question about it: Trump will be a two-term nightmare (I mean, President). The only thing worse than Republicans (all of them) are the left-wing kooks in the Democratic party. Booker is an anti-semite - if he is the candidate I will vote for Trump - that's how bad that will be.
11
so does the other side...badly.
take my word for it.
Sanders is from Vermont.
Warren is from Massachusetts.
Booker is from New Jersey.
Gillibrand is from New York.
Biden is from Delaware.
Harris is from California.
All coastal states (except technically Vermont).
The last three Democrats to win the Presidency were from Georgia, Arkansas, and Illinois.
Discuss.....
28
Great observation. Too bad the Dems won't figure this out:)
9
After 2 years of constant whining, the Democrats offer nothing new or innovative with this list of potential 2020 candidates. I am looking forward to some new nicknames, however.
12
Adam Schiff it is! It should also be noted that his wife is "Eve Schiff". We can't miss with "Let's begin again with Adam and Eve." Even the Evangelicals will love it.
6
Seriously? Adam Schiff?!! How about a cardboard cutout of George Washington instead? Much more interesting & charismatic.
1
The funny thing about all of these people--except Sanders--is that they're phoneys. Trump would destroy them in two seconds. That's why his seemingly puerile epithets ("Low Energy" Jeb, "Little" Marco, "Pocahontas") are so lethal: they encapsulate, in only one or two words, a rival's essential hypocrisy. Trump is definitely a jerk and a liar, but about politics he's weirdly honest. An honest racist. An honest nationalist. That emotional honesty would crush anyone who shoehorned himself into some focus-group-acceptable persona. Only Sanders could withstand Trump, but he really is too far to the left and too physiologically old to win the presidency.
16
Well, at least SOMEONE is preparing for 2020. Because the DNC isn't.
Where are the planks, the platform, the news catching announcements about what the Democrats want to achieved on behalf of US citizens? Mid-terms are four months away.
Do you hear that Democratic silence?
That's Perez and Ellison spinning their wheels, churning dust.
Do you hear Water's, Gillibrand and Schumer making a stir over trump, ICE and Kavanagh?
That's our Democratic party in disarray, without direction, and expecting people to go to the DNC website to learn the typical "beliefs."
All the DNC needs to do is read the comments to know what to do.
trump: $35 million in the bank and 24 months to go.
DNC: How much? What? I can't hear you!
12
If Democrats are smart, none of these will be the Democrat nominee.
16
The so-called summit in Hilinski is over in all the world saw Donald Trump capitulate to Vladimir Putin. Donald Trump wilts around so-called strong men. Trump is the weakest president in the history of the United States. He is so totally up Russian puppet it is sickening anybody who watches it. The Russians worked on both the Trump campaign and the Bernie campaign against Hillary Clinton. Those of the facts that the so-called progressives cannot face. There boy was also compromise. Bernie unwittingly helped Republicans and the Russians defeat Hillary Clinton and now look where we are. But he was told that he was it for trade and he said nothing because it benefited him. He was a very small man to let his ego overtake him like that.
7
Please, please, please can we get a non-boomer? The DNC is starting to look like a gerontocracy. Cannot win with a bunch of septuagenarians arguing the same old stuff. to anyone under the age of 50 one looks just as good as another so why change?
10
This is a joke right? Elizabeth Warren? A left wing east coast joke. She has zero chance. None of them do. Harris? Right. A left wing Californian joke.
Not one centrist in the bunch. Trump is going to win in a landslide if one of these politicians run. There is not one person in Congress on either side of the aisle that the majority of Americans would vote for. Where do they get the ego to think they can win? Last time I checked Congress' approval rating was 19%.
15
Old Bernie will be even older in 2020.
Just say neigh.
7
What a depressing article. If Gillibrand is really talking to ex-Hillary campaign people her campaign is already DOA; for the record, anyone associated with Hillary's fiasco should be shunned by any Democratic Presidential hopeful since they are already proven losers. To call Booker a lightweight is actually an insult to the real lightweights; besides, if anyone digs deep into his tenure as Mayor of Newark he's toast. Biden didn't have what it took twice; history has moved on and left him behind but his endorsement might be valuable. Can't say the same for either Obama's or either Clinton's endorsement; they should both sit this one out. Clearly, it is time for a major overhaul of the Democratic Party and its message.
I hope they stop playing their self-defeating identity politics, focus on lines of attack that highlight the damage that Trump and his spineless Republican enablers are doing every day, day in and day out, and come together around someone who can win and win and win and win big. And I hope they ditch the "if they go low we go high" magical thinking. Unless of course one is sliding into home plate, in which case your spikes should be really high!
Time to fight to win. Moral victories are failures. And failure can't be an option.
12
Can we get real? Hillary won by 3 million votes during a political hurricane by Bernie, Trump, FBI, and the Russians, they all tried to beat her and she beat them all, and they cheated too. Let’s just clear the air, have a fair election, and no one will beat Hillary.
4
What a depressing roster.
Elizabeth Warren is about as electable as Eugene V. Debs.
Corey Booker is a suave opportunist with few accomplishments and beholden to Wall Street.
Biden and Sanders are too old for the job.
This list makes me think that the unthinkable is possibly the probable: Trump reelected.
37
I'm black but I don't think there's one chance of a black person/any woman being elected president in 2020; that's how fractured the U.S. is right now. So I'm already Eric Garcetti 2020. He was re-elected as Los Angeles mayor with 81 percent of the vote (that's not an error; it was his winning percentage in 2017, with 10 challengers for the job).
https://www.dailynews.com/2017/03/08/mayor-garcettis-landslide-victory-c...
He and his wife are Rhodes Scholars; he was an active duty Naval Reserve Lt. from 2005-2013. He's a 47 year old white male but he's Jewish (on his mother's side from Russia), his great-grandfather was Italian & his paternal grandfather was born in Mexico (Mayor Garcetti speaks Spanish).
Quite frankly, IMO that's about all the diversity America can handle right now because a good chunk of it has gone stark raving mad/tribal. We need a big tent person; Republican columnist George Will even (kinda grudgingly) wrote Mayor Garcetti would be a good candidate.
With the red state influence still intact in the Electoral College, a black president just isn't happening in two years - and right now a white female one isn't either. If I survive Donald Trump, I'll gladly vote for Kamala Harris one day. But my survival under Donald Trump calls for pragmatism. (Read the news lately? I don't think I'm exaggerating.)
So two white, youngish, moderate Democratic males (one of them Eric Garcetti) in 2020 is IMO the ticket. Literally.
27
Couldn’t agree more, Erica. Appeal to mainstream America now with a solid candidate unlikely to be undermined by race, gender or other, and cleanly move ahead. Avoid feeding toxic myths like Obama’s birtherism etc.
3
Erika
I like Garcetti a lot too, but come on. This is for President of the US, not California.
Only Bernie for me!!!!!!!! He can win; the others are establishment attempts to block him. I will ONLY vote for Bernie, period.
7
@Hedgiemom Hello, second term!
2
Booker is the only winner in that crowd
1
I want Kirsten Gillibrand. She is a fighter.
1
Please find a tall, white male, who served in the armed forces and should have an English vocabulary of at least 160 words(heel spurs need not apply).
16
An outsider needs to come forward and leave the DNC, its idiotic platform, and all their establishment candidates (Bernie included!) in shambles. That outsider needs to have enough of his own money to ignore the big donors, and the stones to tell the corporate media where to go.
5
@Danno
In other words, the Dems need a Trump. Ironic how everyone puts him down 24/7 but in the end, he's exactly what was needed to win.
There are some astute comments here about what the DNC needs to do to pull its act together (stop focusing on gender/identity issues, get a clear message, remember the heartland, etc). Trump understood these things. They won him the job. Not Russia. Enough of that stupidity.
3
Wait a minute, wait a minute, the article has one glaring omission; the telephone rang in the bull pen, and Hillary is taking her jacket ready to warm-up and come in as the starting pitcher.
I kid you not, maybe the third time is the charm. Just sayin'.
3
Just stop.
2
Sadly, Dems need to nominate a white male to siphon off betrayed Trumpsters. Biden is the guy. Kamala Harris for his VP.
5
Biden should have run in 2016 instead we got Hillary.
6
The cognitive dissonance here in the NYT comment section is astonishing: are you insinuating Hillary Clinton was not in the so-called political center?
8
It is astonishing to me, the number of "I would NEVER vote for that candidate" comments on here....from the same people who blame Bernie Sanders for Trump's victory in 2016.
If getting Trump out of office is important to you, you need to accept the fact that the Democratic nominee may be one of those dreaded "progressives." This might mean that they actually have a platform as opposed to the wishy-washy, middle of the road, Clintonesque status quo. I know, a scary thought. It's probably why we learn in school about what a colossal failure the New Deal was.
It is far too early to make a decision on the nominee. We haven't seen their platforms, watched any debates, or seem which coalitions start to form around them. But my God, the number of apocalyptic proclamations about what a disaster Candidate X will be sounds like a great way to keep Trump in the White House for another 4 years, with the diplomatic, environmental, economic, and judicial havoc he will continue to bring.
Deep breath people. Let's not make perfect be the enemy of the good.
8
Warren will be a sure way to lose any election. She needs to back out after all the controversy with trump. She needs to let whatever votes & support she might have go to Biden or Booker or Sanders. I am not against Ms. Harris but she is a she & relatively new. The Democrats are facing so much controversy over their inaction & responses to trump & his policies. They really do need to put everything behind someone with experience & even mindedness. Bernie Sanders may be ideal but he always looked like he was going to have a stroke on the campaign trail. I am very concerned that trump seems to be counting on Russia to keep him in power & get him re-elected. The smirk on Putin's face is classic "What a jerk this guy is" look when he is with trump. Democrats, please, get out to talk to the voters & listen to their concerns & forget about trashing trump. Get in office first, then do whatever it takes to take him down. Listen to the voters. Warren take the damn DNA test (only $69 - $99). You may be just another white person whose family had the old "my great-grandma was a Cherokee princess" story. P.S. Cherokees did not have princesses per se. You may have 2% Native American which shows you have Native American & trump can make his donation.
9
The NERVE of anybody, including Trump or you, to suggest that Warren (or anybody else) take a DNA test. She does not have to prove her heritage to Trump or anybody else. And what do you care if she has native american blood in her veins or not. Why would she have to prove her heritage to Trump, of all people.
(Why don't you ask Trump to take an IQ test. It's only about $100. I'll pay.)
And Obama doesn't need to prove he is an American. This is all Trump noncense. What an incredible nerve.
3
Please not Booker. He's ben in office 10 minutes and is not proven.
7
I would love to see Bloomberg run though he sold New Yorkers to his development friends. Anyone but Trump.
What is wrong with the Democrats? Do they want four more years of Trumpian lies and deceit? Another opportunity to snatch defeat out of the hands of victory? Are Russian operatives now working both the Democrats and Republicans to the disadvantage of the United States?
9
Prepare all you want my leftist friends. None of the present candidates stand a chance. You simply will not win.
13
This is a moderate's worst nightmare.
Three white people, two men, all over 70.
Two people of color, one man, one woman.
All with substantial political experience, except for the woman of color.
All doctrinaire, lock-step, identity-politics, dogma-spouting progressives, any of whom would be eaten alive by the worst president in living memory.
Let's face facts here, unpleasant though they may be: The Democratic candidate most likely to pry away enough Trump voters to win will be a moderate to progressive white male from the heartland. There is no shortage of qualified people, will one or more of them please run!
I'm talking to you, Michael Bennett, Sherrod Brown, Tim Kaine, Martin Heinrich, Jon Tester. And once you send your opponent Cruzing into retirement, especially you, Beto O'Rourke.
Dan Kravitz
19
Have long hoped Sherrod Brown would put himself more out there as a presidential candidate. Very simple in his approach, good communicator, very strong on legislation and can appeal to all sides. It will indeed take someone like him or similar to win.
8
We need to clear out the middle moderate Democrats. We also need to remove the dead wood. Nobody over 60 will get my vote. They have had their chance and blew it. Let us go with the next generation.
Also this is going to be a massive Democratic win. This next generation isn't a bunch of losers. They know they are in a knife fight, which is something the Pelosi, Hilary, Feinstein crowd doesn't have a clue about.
8
Great idea. Shrink the Democratic Party to its core of progressives in California and New York.
6
Good luck with that approach; 4 more years of Trump guaranteed
6
The Democratic party establishment has learned nothing from the past. I am utterly gobsmacked that I've received Democratic mailings signed by the likes of Donna Brazile--despite the fact that her reputation had been so thoroughly sullied by Wikileaks. The likes of her and Wasserman Schultz and Claire McCaskill etc should really just do us all a favor and disappear from public view.
Elizabeth Warren has every right to attempt to win the nomination. But my gut feeling is that she is not a viable candidate against Trump. I think Kamala Harris or Amy Klobuchar would be stronger contenders--but I hate to say it...the misogyny gap in the last election was extreme. I fear a woman cannot win in 2020 as retrograde as that sounds to most of us on the NYT comment board.
Biden and Bernie are quite simply too old. But I do wonder about Mitch Landrieu or Eric Garcetti. I think either of them may have a real shot.
16
Aanii,
Elizabeth is by far the most intelligent and capable candidate, First and formost she understands the economy and banking, and yes it is the economy.
Econ 101
"The truth is that we must above all see there the consequence of exacerbated competition with no political guidance and excessive wage stagnation "
Thomas Piketty 7/10/2018
To win, the Democratic Party must formulate a workable plan to address the problem of the American middle class and lower caused by exacerbated competition from low wage countries and immigration of those willing to work for less.
As Clinton campaign formulated "It is the economy stupid"
6
I'm not ready for Bernie Sanders' socialist nation
It's easy to promise free everything and watch the younger generations come out in droves
We're increasingly fragmented as a country and there are many shades of red and blue that make up America's voting demographic. Too far left and you'll miss crucial voters (it can come down to thousands of them, as we witnessed in 2016)
Democrats need to choose wisely.
16
"Too old." "Too liberal." "Too establishment." "We need this." "We need that."
The only thing we truly need is to show up and vote, no matter who wins the primaries.
17
One thing's for certain: predictions of certain doom among many longtime Democrats and close observers of the party remain common as sunburns in July. The feeling seems to be that any candidate who comes out with clearly stated progressive priorities is sure to go down in defeat. These depressive party members bring to mind the behavior of repeatedly abused dogs.
There are many arguments in favor of the younger generation of Democrats rising in influence as we speak, but their fearlessness and outspokenness are among their most refreshing attributes. They should ignore the anxieties and self-defeatism of older and supposedly wiser Dems and pundits with similarly dire outlooks. The Dems have spent 30 years attempting to avoid any specificity of policy. Time for something new.
5
Like them all but don't want any of them to be the dem candidate. They all will energize the Republican base. Desperately want Bloomberg to run. He is more centrist and is well positioned to combat Trump.
9
Because he's done such a great job of running things in his own state? No thank you.
2
You do realize that Bloomberg and Coumo are two different people, right?
i have to say none of those mentioned excite me. I know it's ageist, but if you are over 65, please take a pass. Gillibrand is too much like Hillary. The Democrats have some good talent im sure. please find it before it's too late. But more importantly focus on state houses and Congress. without those, the Presidency is nealy meaningless as evidenced by what happened to Obama.
11
Odd that this article spends so little time discussing the chances of Bernie Sanders, the most popular politician in the United States.
11
Hate to say it but Americans just cannot abide a female president. My sister and brother have been liberals all their lives and voted for Trump just to avoid voting for a woman. They will not admit it but I know it's true because of their great regret and shame now of that vote. Corey Booker (too controversial) and Bernie Sanders (too old) cannot win so currently Joe Biden is the only possibility.
6
Sanders at 76 is too old, so Biden at 75 is the only possibility?
5
That's why progressives in New York and New Jersey refused to vote for the woman candidate in the 2017 New York City mayor's race and the 2017 New Jersey governor's race.
2
If only two words matter from the debacle of the 2016 election they are: Swing States. Living in CA, my vote for president isn't worth the ink used to print my ballot; the Democrats need to keep their eyes on the prize and I cannot see Warren Harris Booker Biden or any of the princes/esses of this party winning those Swing States.
8
Elizabeth Warren would be a find candidate but she had better be well prepared for the onslaught of "Pocahontas" that she will be receiving. The insult game is one that by and large puts women at a disadvantage. If Warren, like Hillary Clinton previously, is intimidated and allows Donald Trump to bash her night after night on national TV then for all her bona fides she will likely lose
6
Have we learned absolutely nothing? Like it or not, the only way a Democrat will get enough votes in 2020 is if the candidate is a middle aged white man....think Bill Clinton-type without the sex drive. The country is not ready for another person of color or woman. Sad but true. Strategy is what will win back the White House. Look at democratic governors for our field. Jay Inslee, Washington state, for instance.
10
Rahm Emmanuel, mayor of Chicago. a real pit bull that could take on T.
So John Kerry or Al Gore then? Full disclosure - i voted for both. To no avail.
While you're at it though, my candidate of choice is Jeff Merkley. I suspect he hasn't got a ghost of a chance, but stranger things have happened.
1
Open primaries, ranked voting. Unfortunately it will probably never happen.
Lots of money hanging around Ms Harris neck.
Can we have someone less wealthy running for President please ?
7
Taking lessons on how to related to the flyover states will not a president make. Spare us Warren please. Remember when Obama got folksy? Droppin' those "g's" sounded as phony as a $3 bill.
2
I think it would be great if the Democrats run Warren.
3
no one on that list will ever be president. dems are delusional if they think otherwise.
22
"...none would be as effective or competitive as Al Franken, former D senator from MN. Yet he was crucified and sidelined by his own party."
He was "crucified" by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who evidently wanted Franken out of the way so she could pursue her own presidential ambitions.
41
You'll get much fresher ideas out of the old guys like Sanders, Sherrod Brown or Dennis Kucinich than from some factory-assembled young face like Corey Booker.
Are we really so shallow that we think age matters?
What it really comes down to is anger. Trump won because he's a jerk and the voters were and still are angry. Get someone up there is who is angry, which will connect with the electorate and also neutralize the trope that Democrats are wimps.
Sanders and Warren are the only ones who come across as genuine when they're angry.
13
There is only one Democrat who can beat Trump in 2020.
That person is Al Gore.
2
Interesting (and satisfying) to see that the democratic base is as divided and confused as their party......
5
so do Trump supporters...badly.
take my word for it.
I totally agree with the Adam Schiff suggestions here!
4
First thing Trump will do is make sly remarks about Cory Booker sexual preference. Good bye Cory
3
These people are wasting our time and giving us false hopes unless they actually go down south and win hearts in Texas, Mississippi and Alabama etc .
Unless we can win these places down south .. these are just PR stints with no political value..
6
@weary traveller Never mind solid red states like Texas Mississippi or Alabama; focus on Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to win the election.
4
Where are the fresh faces, new ideas?
6
Avenatti.
Young, handsome, very smart, polite, manly, unintimidated by Donald and other bullies and liars, etc., etc., etc.
Would bring us back from the foul grave Donald and his toadies are burying us in.
2
I am sadly bemused that Bernie Sanders, at 76, is always portrayed as pudhing 80, while Joe Biden, at 75, is promoited for his comparative youthfulness.
15
To defeat Trump, it's paramount to have someone who can excite crowds, and shows impressive television mojo. Most of these contenders fit the bill.
Former university professor Warren is even managing to pepper her speaking style with plenty of folksy expressions, lest she sound like an aloof academic. Good reasons for optimism all around.
1
or maybe it is exhaustion with the old guard
2
I hope Al Franken runs. He's smart, vastly entertaining, and I might even donate. The others are just obnoxious or too old. I don't want to hear about the wonders of sanctuary cities or nebulous billions that need to be spent on lgbtq acceptance. Just stop. I want good things for the people in this country. Healthcare for all, prescription coverage for all, good education for everyone or at least free trade school for children who aren't academic. I want crazy people off the streets and into safe places where they can be treated. I want science taught to every child and religion and abstinence education kicked out of public school for good. And get rid of Citizens United while we're at it! How really difficult can these things be?
37
Why can people not happy with GOP or Democrats start an American Party? This party would have to have the little people of this country, no matter color, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, as their only concern. Healthcare, wages, jobs, education -- for all should be number 1. They should have some idea of commitment to allies & peace initiatives. Trade is important but should not be the only way to run policies. I want a party concerned about us little people & not with career politics. Get anyone out who has served more that 8 years (Roy Blunt needs to go) & can not see past their own career & pocketbooks. When they start talking party agenda they need to go. They need to stay focused on the peoples' agenda of life & liberty.
4
We don't need leftist firebrands like Warren and Sanders, old guard leftovers like Biden or unqualified newbies like Kamala Harris. We a need a center-left candidate - intelligent, self-confident and younger - that will appeal to the vast majority of Americans, not just those on either coast, the big northern cities or in the universities. Otherwise, we're never going to win.
22
I don't want to agree with you. But I do.
4
THis is a dismal candidate list from the Democrats (excepting Biden). Warren et consortes are precisely the reason why the white middle class has voted against Clinton - are there really no reasonable common sense candidates around? Sherrod Brown? Udall?
12
I admire Elizabeth Warren but she's too intense and Trump berating her about her heritage has already provided him with a 'birther' type conspiracy to batter her with. If she's the nominee, we'll never hear the end of "Pocahontas." Further, Warren saying last week "Donald Trump is trying to shut me up! That will never happen, baby" is an example of Warren already taking the bait and framing a race between her and Trump as nothing but personal attacks and shouting. We desperately need a cooler candidate who won't rise to Trump's bait and spend all their time jumping on him instead of focusing on the electorate. If we nominate a candidate who let's Trump set the agenda for the race, we will lose again. Trump drowned out Hillary in 2016, while she focused on "vote for me, Trump's bad, it's my turn, I represent identity groups.." Do we really want to set ourselves up to lose again?
Or do we want a cooler candidate who will focus on policy and resist being in a noisy exhausting mud slinging contest with Trump? I'd love to see Amy Klobuchar run. I love how calm and reasonable she is. Trump is a screaming abusive nut. We can't beat him by running a nominee who's going to spend the race shouting back at him. Right now, Warren looks like the person most likely to spend the race shouting back at Trump.
That roads leads to Trump's re-election. By election day, expect the population to be exhausted and apathetic after a race like that. And that won't benefit the Democrats.
1
I am a northern California extreme liberal. We do not need an extreme liberal in the office of the president. Elizabeth Warren will kill any chance for the dems to wrest the presidency away from an unqualified, unfit, creep. The 40% base of the trump party will never vote for any woman for president, and Warren needs to stay in the senate where she can do some good. The time for a woman president is coming but it wasn't Hillary and it won't be Warren. Biden/Booker perhaps. Biden is the only one outside of Warren to be able to trade blows with trump.
15
Warren is too old. Biden is too old. Sanders is WAY too old. I would love to have Harris or Booker, but the racist and misogynist tidal wave in the U.S. is so fevered right now, I'm not sure they could win until demographics shift a bit more. How about Mitch Landrieu? He may not have national political chops, but that doesn't seem to matter anymore. He's a legit political talent, and has charisma to spare.
6
Whatever the Dems decide, do not, I repeat, do NOT run Deval Patrick. Our former MA governor was really bad for our state.
He's a 100% limousine liberal material. Republicans Mitt Romney and current gov Charlie Baker have actually improved Massachusetts and Baker will soon be re-elected.
11
This may seem odd, but what if rod Rosenstein were to change parties and run as a Democrat? He'a shown me a lot in thee way he has managed this sorted affair. If not him I'm all in for Adam Schiff.
2
The old dogs need to bone up and get behind the new dogs, that's where their service, ideas and wisdom is best served. Thats how they'll better serve the party. I love Bernie, but his time has come and gone and his persona is not appealing. Same with Warren, love her ideas, but she comes across school marmy and shrill. And Biden, ah if only he were younger, but he too has had his time in the sun. As a NJ resident I love Corey Booker, and am glad he's coming up to the fore, he's smart, energetic, direct and loaded with integrity. Old dog Dems need to put their egos aside and step out of the limelight, unless they are plugging the younger (under) dogs. We need strength, vigor and energy to carry us past this period and hopefully into a better future. We need the power of youth.
7
Time to settle down and become single minded about how to replace Trump. Stop the fringe "Progressives", "Liberals", "Leftists", the self promoting: Harris, the myopic: Warren, the one-race-wonders: Booker, the ideologues: Sanders.
Focus on a candidate with integrity and working class chops and a broad Democratic and likely traditional Republican appeal. Someone who can win. Biden.
Democrats are uniquely suicidal... hence Trump
13
No matter who is the Democratic nominee.
They will lose badly as 1984.If Sanders ,Harris,Warren
or other extreme left won the nomination,he or she will
be defeated just like McGovern(1972) or Mondale(1984)
. Both Nixon 1972 and Reagan won swept 49 states and
2020 will be similar to those.
9
Warren should not run. I am a supporter of hers but she is just too good at the most important aspect of public service, making rules, regulations and designing agencies to enforce them, that we cannot afford the loss of her to leadership. She is right now one of the last of a formerly common kind of public servant.
Ms Harris on the other hand should not run for the same reason Obama should not have run, lack of experience which will make her feckless regardless of her many skills and intelligence just like it did Obama. She needs at least two more terms as a Senator to have the necessary experience a time span in which she might demonstrate skills like Ms Warren has which would give her real gravitas as a candidate for president in 8 or 12 even 16 years.
Cory Booker, sorry man I'm an Essex County boy too but you just have not shown the necessary skills which I hope will be even more important than they have ever been in the next cycle based on the performance of this president.
Biden. I like you, you are a good guy but before El Trumpo became a "politician" You were the guy who said the wrong thing at the worst possible moment. Enjoy your retirement and don't run.
Bernie is the right guy. I would only advise that he finally state clearly that we need to reinstate "FDR's Deal" and properly regulate the economy to keep it stable and more honest again. Maybe even start seriously promoting the "New Bill of Rights" FDR proposed.
15
That last paragraph should read; FDR's "New Deal"
1
Bernie with Warren as his running mate carries the only possibility of defeating Trump. Booker and a Kamala Harris are way to much of the monied elite, for some reason I can’t get the image of Kamala driving around San Francisco in her $100,000 Range Rover. Kamala and Booker are both very attractive clients but neither have President Obama’s intellect or oratorical powers. Ms. Warren forfeited her position of flag bearer of the working class when she went along with Wasserman Schultz and the DNC in backing such a flawed candidate as Hillary but I believe she still has enough bonafides left to run as Bernie’s Vice President, the scenario that should have unfolded in 2016, we wouldn’t be agonizing over the Trump election had that been allowed to happen.
9
We can not afford to lose the midterms and we can not afford to lose the 20/20 elections. Booker, Harris and the rest of the political do nothing crew don't have an outstanding track record or a message that people are going to run to the voting booths to cast a ballot for either one of the. Candidates need to be aware that the progressive democrats who are knocking on doors, registering people to vote and getting the voters to the polls are in no mood for candidates who think they are chosen for some reason.
A branded ticket so that the media and the do nothing swamp GOP know that we stand for Americans and our way of life, not the Russia's and dictatorships.
After this Trump performance today, I know exactly why I and so many others are doing the ground work helping people to understand the issues.
Today Trump threw America under the bus and tried to destroy us but we are not giving up ,because America is not going to be let down.
Where are those three thousand children?
2
I myself will, I hope, be voting for Joe Biden. What we need now--desperately—is a healer, a peacemaker, a caretaker, a moderate, someone who can reach out to everyone, someone without an agenda or a cause. Someone who is not polarizing, someone who has nothing to prove, someone who won’t draw fire, someone who can preside over the incredibly tricky business of restoring our country’s almost irreparably damaged reputation without worrying about his own. Someone kind and comfortable and universally liked and admired. Someone decent. Someone whose only job will be to help us get over the anguish and the despair and the corruption and the hopelessness and the nightmare of the Trump years.
The idea of Bernie Sanders, or Elizabeth Warren (who actually seems to want to remain a senator for now, and should, as she is an excellent one) or any of the others with ego issues and absolutely no hope of bringing together a mortally divided country chills my blood. I’m old enough that it doesn’t really matter to me what happens in the long run, though the prospective Supreme Court makes me sick to my stomach with fear and rage and visceral hatred for the soulless, power-hungry Republican machine that has brought this travesty about. But I do love my country and the life it has given me, and I do care deeply about the people to come who may not ever know the loving peace and laughing prosperity—to say nothing of the truth, the goodness and the fairness--it used to stand for. Pax.
4
What saddens me most is of all the names floated as Democratic contenders in this article, none would be as effective or competitive as Al Franken, former D senator from MN.
Yet he was crucified and sidelined by his own party for actions that occurred before he was even elected to office ... while touring on behalf of the USO, entertaining our troops abroad.
Franken's behavior was sophomoric and uncalled for, yet his actions pale in comparison to what many active and former members in the GOP and White House routinely do / did ... and are usually met with a mere shrug by their constituents.
A senate rebuke and public apology were in order, but for the sake of idealogical purity, Franken was shown the door.
I see this as huge, lost opportunity for the Democrats.
Al, if you run as an independent, you'll have my vote.
46
This is exactly why Roger Stone and company took Him down. Repubs are totally unscrupulous and they don't miss a trick.
1
This is exactly why Roger Stone and company took Him down. Repubs are totally unscrupulous and they don't miss a trick.
3
Totally agree. The Dems are doomed now. None of these candidates have the charisma to stir the passion of people needed to win in 2020. Republicans want one party rule and Trump wants to be a dictator. We're almost there.
Democratic leadership needs to redefine their platform before individuals hit the trail. What does the party stand for?
14
Unless the economy dramatically collapses President Trump will be reelected in 2020. The GOP could not have been given a better set of circumstances with the Democrats moving to the far left with proposals to abolish ICE and other leftist proposals. The personal wealth of many Americans has increased significantly since President Trump took office—that is if they had stock investments. Unemployment for blacks and Hispanics is much better, so those groups while they might not vote for President Trump will not go to the polls for the Democrats. If you look at the history of one-term Presidents they all lost because the economy was weak. The Democrats ran Clinton on the “we hate Trump” platform and lost. What do the Democrats have to offer—more Socialism—hardly a winning platform.
10
Elizabeth Warren has not yet adequately answered the questions of whether she does or does not have American Indian heritage AND if she has benefited by claiming that she does have such heritage in obtaining any of the many teaching jobs she has obtained since 1977.
Most of Senator Warren's supporters think this is either a non-issue or the questions have been adequately addressed.
Hillary's supporters felt the same way about her e-mails.
If Senator Warren wants to compete for white working class votes in PA,OH,MI and WI she HAS to give voters respect by producing documentation and adding clarity on this issue and, if she cannot she should apologize for misleading voters thus far in her electoral career.
Eastern liberal democrats have an "authenticity" problem in fly-over country. When Hillary kept hiding behind Colin Powell on her e-mail problem and took $675,000 for three speeches
from Goldman Sachs while claiming it would not affect her judgement she lost people like me who had been with Obama twice.
12
I've voted for and contributed to Warren. If she runs and wins the nomination I will do the same. BUT I felt the same about Hillary, given her opponent's insanity. I fear the result would be the same, given Warren's persona, which would be a real turn off to too many males. She's every husband's worst nightmare.
And, like Hillary's emails, the Pocahontas thing would be a constant drumbeat, as insignificant an item I consider to be. I considered H's emails insignificant as well, but they were fodder for Tumpistas and others.
I am 100% for Amy Klobuchar (if she would run). Midwestern, smart, personable, good at rustling up votes, a serious candidate. About 6 months ago I wrote a piece predicting the 2020 election (http://www.imaginaryplanet.net/weblogs/idiotprogrammer/2017/11/who-will-... ) , and I ended up deciding that the winner would have a name starting with the letter "K". I think all the candidates mentioned here are great, but I think we need a candidate to help America heal the wounds from the Trump years.
2
I admit to amusement that the alternative to Warren is a group of "fresher faced" Democrats. Not fresh, exactly, but maybe better than stale.
Warren would be an amazing President who actually put the well-being of everyday Americans first, and made smart, evidence-based opinions to guide policy. But she probably can't win, because "Pocahontas". Frankly we don't deserve her. All she's ever done is fight for consumer financial protections and in return she's been tarred and feathered at every turn.
Unfortunately the Democrats need to trot out the most charismatic people in the world every election cycle to stand a chance against the media smear machine.
4
So she made a dumb unverified claim about her heritage, and you're willing to overlook everything she accomplished in terms of protecting your financial future. Got it.
Meanwhile the President is basically a traitor, gallivanting about and sowing the seeds of economic implosion, a serial abuser of women (if we want to talk about character issues) and enjoys 40%+ approval, but I'm the one living in an echo chamber. Got it.
What precisely is their platform? We need details.
5
Sorry, Times, but "incrementalism" is not an accurate word for the Democrats who sold out the working class ideals of the New Deal over the last forty years. "Incrementalism" implies slow, steady, measurable progress, toward an actual, well-understood goal. Doing absolutely nothing while the country lost 7,231,000 manufacturing jobs since 1979 is not "incrementalism." Assisting in making employment more temporary, less secure, and less lucrative is not "incrementalism."
Perhaps you should use the word "accommodationism." That, at least, would be accurate.
24
Trump won the election on the issue of jobs: falsely claiming that outsourced jobs are the fault of foreign governments and immigrants, as opposed to being the fault of american companies and trade deals designed to facilitate outsourcing. So far none of the people on the list, other than Sanders, has proposed any meaningful legislation to penalize outsourcing. (After the election Sanders proposed an outsourcing bill, which is exactly what the Dems should be promoting, if they really have any interest in driving a wedge between Trump and the working class voters deluded by him). Our side will lose if we don't take back ownership of the most basic issue in American politics: jobs. It's okay for a Dem not to be a total immigration hawk, as long as we get a candidate who has a plans to bring back jobs to the huge portion of the country that has lost them, and doesn't pretend that wages in industries like meatpacking, or tech, are not driven down by immigration. In other words, we need to show that we inhabit the real world that the Obama-Obama-Trump voters inhabit, and not some fairyland where "america is already great" and the loss of over seven million jobs, and the epidemic of overdoses, suicides and dependency that comes with it, isn't real.
3
All votes for the next few cycles need to be for Democrats or Progressives. The GOP sold us all out and need some time in the penalty box.
5
I greatly respect Senator Warren. However, her full-on high dudgeon persona is a turn-off.
12
Agree.
Avenatti is calm.
I see all the comments here attacking the progressive candidates. It’s easy to see where these comments are coming from. They are not coming from the heartland... I’m very confident.
I don’t believe in labels (left/far left / progressive...). They are simplistic. Meant for simple minds who can’t make the effort to understand why this is such a consequential election. That deserves thoughtfulness and time because it’s our future. We need to look at and evaluate the candidate and his/her policies.
Elizabeth Warren is Trump’s worst nightmare and that’s why most comments attacking her.
She’s everything Trump is not: Smart. Passionate. Authentic. Principled.
She knows what it means to be in debt and what ordinary Americans go through in debt (Trump is unfettered by debt as is clear from his six bankruptcies)
She Fights for the 99% not the 1% (whom Trump helped with his tax cuts). She Fights the corrupt and those in power (unlike Trump who has created his own swamp).
Elizabeth Warren is a fighter who will fight for Americans.
Don The Con is a Russian asset.
4
I agree that Elizabeth Warren is smart and tough in a way most Democrats aren't, and I think she would be a respectable, dignified president who would be completely stymied by Congress and unable to pass any meaningful legislation.
But why would a pipefitter in Pittsburgh even consider voting for her? She can't win these states, period.
3
@Zen Dad
We will see in the primaries. She stands for average Americans. They will see that when they hear her speak.
What about Tulsi Gabbard. She was a Bernie Sanders supporter and she is very well-spoken, anti-war etc
6
So far, the only Democrat who has emerged so far who could give Trump a run for his money in 2020 (provided Trump doesn't screw-up) is Joe Biden, and he's three years OLDER than Trump. Most of the rest of the Dems who have emerged are entertaining, possible contenders for later elections -- such as Harris and Booker. Warren, if she were nominated, would be an epochal electoral disaster for Democrats. Come to think of it, she'd be a GrrrrrrEAT contender. Bernie had his chance, and he's no kid. Hillary also had her chance, and she probably won't have the energy -- with the Supreme Court secure for now, and should both Ginsburg and Breyer retire during Trump's second term, I'd first nominate another conservative, then either Hillary or Merrick Garland.
Mario Cuomo blows them all out of the game if 1) he gets beyond all the corruption swirling around his office, 2) he's re-elected governor of NY (he will CRUSH both Miranda Hobbs AND in the general election in November), and 3) whatever kept his father, Mario, from declaring back in the day hasn't also tarred him (Governor, if it has it WILL come out).
But you know whom I consider to be the BIGGEST threat on the left? If you want to go for the super-aged, it's gotta be Jerry Brown, who's still super-fit at 80, physically AND mentally … and the guy is one scary liberal.
2
The Democrats have no chance until there is a substantive change in leadership and outlook. Nancy Pelosi represents a point of view that is mired in old-time politics. We have all seen what happens when someone is handed the nomination because it's "her turn." We need young, inspiring candidates with fresh ideas and the ability to convince people who are either sitting on the fence or totally off the fence at this point to vote Democratic. Face it, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are way too far to the left to win in this climate. The negatives will outweigh the positives when they run.
6
We need people who know how to get things done properly.
1
What did happen? Oh yea the Russians helped him win the EC, but he still lost the popular vote by more than 3 million.
if only people had stopped the GOP changing the EC under reagan it could have done the job it was designed to and HRC would be our president.
They knew even then that their new methods would end up in this place with candidates like El Trumpo so they changed the law to force the electors to vote with their state majority instead of exercising their judgment and not allowing the people to install an unfit person in the office.
2
Warren is a priggish scold. Men won’t vote for her.
8
Old geezers won't stand a chance to win in 2020, and neither will any women. Dems better get on the hottie train, and they better get up to date with the social media game. Only above average good-looking men, who are not any older than 55, with a great social media presence, will have a chance. Anything beyond good looks won't matter, Americans are shallow.
9
Warren.......lol
That's a good one. She'd last about 30 seconds in the ring with trump.
She's half of what Hillary is and look what happened there
4
What did happen? Oh yea the Russians helped him win the EC, but he still lost the popular vote by more than 3 million.
If only people had stopped the GOP changing the EC under reagan it could have done the job it was designed to and HRC would be our president.
They knew even then that their new methods would end up in this place with candidates like El Trumpo so they changed the law to take away the electors choice so that instead of being able to exercising their judgment and not allowing the people to install an unfit person in the office which is what the EC was intended to do
3
Elizabeth Warren has done a great job of working on behalf of ordinary Americans, & consequently has been vilified by the right, & even by so-called centrist Democrats who are as beholden to big money as any Republican, & who are only distinguishable from them because they pay lip service to compassion & donate to good causes. But both rich Democrats & rich Republicans are scared to death of economic change, which is the number one thing that must happen in this country, if we truly want to make life better for everyone. This fear is palpable, reading the comments here in the Times.
It looks like it's time for much younger blood & far fresher ideas about the economy. The ridiculously wealthy are going to have to give up some of their excesses & pay higher taxes if we are to build a more equitable society, & that's the bottom line. Sorry, folks. Economic inequality is killing democracy, & you are going to have to sacrifice a fraction if you want to keep living in a just nation. Social democracy is not free, but it's the only thing that is going to put this country back on track to prosperity for ALL, not merely the privileged few. We all need healthcare, we all need good schools, we all need affordable higher education, we all need affordable housing, & we all need modern infrastructure. Other countries know how to do this, & it comes by taxing wealth. You're going to have to suck it up & make the sacrifice. Unless you love fascism, which is what the other side is offering.
6
These so called democrat (candidates) preparing for 2020 begs the question. Just what is it they are preparing for? What is it they want? They are not democrats, but rather, radical left ideologues hell bent on reducing citizens to submissive automatons. Truly, they need to be ignored, consigned to failed history. They should frighten anyone, One the brighter side, it is excellent news for Republican politicians like beloved President Trump and his efforts to restore a land once known as America..
4
Lets get real, just because you have 100K in the bank, the GOP does not care a lick about you.
Face it.....
Trump will go down as the worse president in the history of this country by a mile.
W looks like a rocket scientist
4
Is this what a Russian hack post looks like? I have not seen an American use the word beloved outside of literature, and never in relation to a politician.
3
Another potential presidential hopeful is Julian Castro, the former HUD secretary and very popular 3-time mayor of San Antonio. He has charisma, superb academic credentials and as a southern Latino represents an increasing and valued voting segment. At an age of nearly 45, and 47 in 2020, he would provide a younger, yet experienced alternative to the older candidates now vying for the nominations. In the least, he should again be considered as a VP candidate, providing the needed geographic, diverse and emotional balance to the ticket.
3
None of these candidates (except maybe Biden or Sanders) has a chance against Trump, and Sanders is far too risky. I agree with others who say we need a pragmatic, centrist democrat who will appeal to swing voters who voted for Trump.
11
Is variations on the theme that cost them the election in 2016 really the best Democrats can do? Trump's unpopularity and his evisceration of the Republican party is a gift Democrats had no right to expect, and the party still can not find its back end with both hands. It's just painful to watch.
27
Deciding who will be the Democratic nominee is putting the cart before the horse. The first thing the Democrats need to do is decide, as a party, on a coherent message of what exactly the party stands for besides opposing the current administration.
35
A left-wing candidate will just make conservatives double down on Trump. We need a center-left candidate who can pull in moderate voters; the continually widening divide between parties is only making things worse.
9
This discussion is hugely premature. The world we will be living in two years from now (if, in deed, we are still living) will, in all probability, be immensely different from the one we live in now. We need to get a grip. Work to stop what Trump is doing to undermine our nation right now, today. Put serious pressure on your elected officials, if possible. Our future depends on it.
8
No Bernie "I am not a Democrat" Sanders, Kristen "kick out a smart Democrat" Gillibrand or Joe "I love Clarence Thomas"Biden. I don't like Warren (joining Gillibrand in kicking out Smart Democrat) but I can support just about any other real Democrat. And let's be clear there are many Democrats who need to up their profile and start showing their faces. No one is stopping younger Ds from appearing on the talk shows and making appearances that will give them exposure.
4
The left needs to stop worrying about disaffected white guys and playing to the middle. They've been making this same mistake for decades out of tradition and fear.
Mimic Republican tactics and swing into far left populism without apology. The only thing that stopped Sanders was the DNC/ Clinton stranglehold on the party.
I agree with the comment about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She's exactly what the left needs more of, and if her "surprise" win isn't thoroughly analyzed and used as a starting point for a new strategy - a rebranding of the Democratic party as a whole - America will be lost to fascism.
Most Americans voted for an extreme candidate because we face extreme challenges. The American dream is taking its last breaths, and we're desperate. We want real representation and ideas that strengthen Americans, not corporations or politicians.
Trump won so many votes because he conned desperate people into taking extreme measures. The left must produce a candidate that promises - and delivers - an extreme house cleaning and a return the dream.
9
I have to disagree with the Elizabeth Warren naysayers.
Warren has several advantages. Number one in my book is that the more lies and insults the infant Donnie throws at her, the better she throws back with facts and chutzpah. HRC was sometimes left speechless or dumbfounded by Trump's crudeness, but that will not happen with Warren.
Secondly and just as important, she knows the working class and can speak directly to their challenges. She can speak to and relate to many Trump supporters. She did extensive research into middle class bankruptcy, knows how our health care system fails them, and is able to communicate that to workers.
As a Californian and Sacramentan, I like Harris well enough but she is long known here for naked ambition. I prefer to see more years in the Senate for both her and Booker.
Biden --- the old guard. Let's not make that mistake again of thinking it's his "due."
I will wholeheartedly support Warren for president should she run.
7
I'm a progressive socialist liberal (like half the people in Western Europe identify themselves as) who loves Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden but they are too old to be president. We need a youngish progressive Democrat that's doesn't talk 90 percent of the time about the Dreamers and protecting illegal immigrants from deportation. Immigration is terrible issues to run a campaign on and many Democrats I speak to privately, do not want millions of people entering our country illegally and staying here.
My ideal democratic candidate is running on building a REAL national healthcare system like they have in most Western countries, protecting our environment, and providing a education and job training programs for citizens in case you are laid off, and providing affordable housing, and not about saving illegal immigrants.
The Democrat's haven't had strong coherent leadership in decades and if we end up with Warren, Biden, Harris, Bernie (who isn't even a Democrat), we'll lose again. I followed Kamala Harris on Twitter for months and all she talks about is about stopping illegal immigrants from being deportated. Enough already!
53
I agree, while we're right to focus on the barbaric treatment of refugees under the Trump administration, it seems like all democrats do is say the opposite of whatever Trump says, hoping to court the people that hate him. That was Hillary's whole campaign, talking about diversity and how rude Trump is. Trump does a good enough job of displaying how horrible he is on his own, social progressives paying any attention already hate him. We need challengers to ignore him and articulate a positive plan for all Americans, especially the widening income gap and the lack of high paying and satisfying jobs. The jobs numbers are excellent, but many people are stuck working multiple low paying dead end service jobs.
3
I absolutely agree! Neither abortion nor immigration is going to get the job done. Is there NO ONE out there who can drive this train??
2
The article sheds light on this early state of the Dem field, thank you.
One criticism: "Yet absent, at least so far, is either an obvious political phenom like former President Barack Obama or an establishment-backed juggernaut in the mold of Hillary Clinton."
It seems difficult to argue that in 2015-16 Bernie Sanders was not an "obvious political phenom." Agree or disagree with his message, love him or hate him, Sanders went from being a nationally unknown Senator from a small state polling at 3% when he started in Spring 2015 to being neck and neck with a household established name, Hillary Clinton. He did this in less than 9 months (!) and he did it by building a whole new model of campaign financing that no one thought possible, without corporate money ("$27 average donation amount!"). He did this in spite of media coverage that the NY Times public editor herself agreed was derogatory and unfair. Seems quite phenomenal.
11
At this stage, voting for a Democrat is about survival. The GOP has abandoned reality based thinking and reality based policy making, so we are left with the Democrats. There are objective observable facts e.g. more extreme weather patterns, that need to be addressed by policies grounded in reality so we SURVIVE as a species.
When President Obama said that climate change was the greatest threat to future generations, he was not being hyperbolic. This pale blue dot is all that we've got.
If this electorate splits hairs on the "purity" of the Democratic candidate, as opposed to voting D no matter who is on the ballot, then the bacteria will indeed deserve to inherit the earth!
12
Any of these mentioned candidates running against Trump would be akin to watching the Con shoot fish in a barrel.
Perhaps Booker might prevail but that too unlikely. Harris is too much too soon.
Give the worst shot to Bernie who should op out real soon and back a winner otherwise he'll spoil again.
Next largest wipeout would be Ms. Warren who just can't overcome her own image. Sadly enough we got to have someone with real sand and street fighting experience cause this is gonna get real ugly fast.
Joe oozes uncertainty when we must have someone certain and sure of him/herself.
Scary to say but if this is the field, we are lost. If the Dems hesitate again and fail to unify quickly around our best bet, it will be over before it begins.
Our only hope is that Dems win big in November and the real next president of the USA steps out in great showman/womanship and vociferous style ready to go head to head with the dirtiest fighter US politics has ever seen. As yet I do not see that person.
Come out, come out wherever you are.
6
Is this really the best the Democrats have to offer? If they nominate someone as shrill and frankly repulsive as Elizabeth Warren, we'll all be stuck Trump for another four years because the party felt that it had to "move left."
8
This is a dismal candidate list from the Democrats (excepting Biden). Warren et consortes are precisely the reason why the white middle class has voted against Clinton - are there really no reasonable common sense candidates around? Sherrod Brown? Udall?
I initially saw Harris as the next Presidenta but her performances in the Senate have been dismal - short on substance, long on style. Trump would run circles around her.
11
Trump running anywhere or anything is a great joke. Good one!
Kamala Harris is my senator and before that, was our AG in California. She’s got a great mix of being tough on crime when she needs to be but also can see the human side of things, like with the immigration issue, and student debt. She certainly hasn’t always made the calls I would have but listens to the needs of her constituents and brings that to the Senate floor, which is a damned sight more than I can say for a lot of other senators and representatives I’ve had throughout my lifetime. I can not speak to how well the other candidates represent their constituents but I know that Harris is doing California, and specifically the Bay Area, a lot of good.
2
I'll be voting for the Democrat that favors the elimination of a citizenship question on our CENSUS form and for the abolition of ICE. I hope all 2020 candidates will be on record on these two issues. That's the candidate for me!
I'm hoping the US will be ready for a female president, as our last election proved otherwise. I'd be happy with Warren or Harris, for sure!
Democrats do need to work on taking the high road, to a degree, and not delving to the Trumpian level of fabricated insults - yet they will also need to call Trump and his supporters (in the populace and industry) to task for his lies, failed policy, human rights record, support of meddling Russia, and disruption of our international allies. We can't allow more of this.
1
I think we should no longer have closed primaries. I understand there is some risk to doing so; however, nearly 50% of registered voters are not affiliated with either the Democratic or Republican parties. If you were to get 100% voter turnout for a primary, which we don't, then less than 25% of the voting population gets to pick the D or R candidate. It's a recipe for polarization as the primary candidates must pander to their "base" of most energized and engaged voters, which are not accurate representations of the rest of the country. I believe that closed primaries are mostly responsible for the political polarization in this country. Another alternative is to truly allow a 3rd or even 4th party to appeal to people that truly don't want anything to do with the Ds or Rs.
2
every mainstream corporate media article always, to some degree, tries to dampen enthusiasm for Bernie Sanders ... Kamala Harris and Cory Booker will be opposed in the same fashion that the progressive left opposed the Wall Street candidate Mrs. Clinton ... Booker destroyed his own credibility with his vote against drug importation from Canada ... Harris is a cop, a prosecutor, a spokesperson for I.C.E. ...
Elizabeth Warren has zero charisma, has zero appeal compared to Bernie Sanders ... Bernie put Single Payer on the agenda, free college, Wall Street regulation and heavy progressive taxation ... Warren is just a watered down version of Sanders ... why nominate her when you can nominate the real thing, when you can nominate the very person that younger Americans love and will turn out for?
Biden? Voted for the Iraq War ... basically put Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court ... any Biden candidacy is dead on arrival (just like his previous runs for the presidency)
Bernie Sanders is the clear choice here ... we have a billionaire fascist in office ... the appropriate response to that is the democratic socialist ... and the primaries, if free and open, will make that abundantly clear.
36
I consider myself very liberal but if it’s a choice between Bernie and Trump, I’m staying home. Do you want to know how many will do the same? Count 49 states going for Trump. Socialism destroyed the country where I was born. I don’t want the same to happen here and a handful of millennials notwithstanding, neither do most Americans.
2
I think what you're wishing for is the kind of purity that only comes with making no compromises. It's the kind of purity that could work if Democrats were organized enough to continually capture mid-term elections instead of always squandering them to great consequence.
Bernie did not put universal healthcare on the agenda. That would be Hillary Clinton in 1993, where she got roundly defeated for the effort in 1994 in a mid-term election that liberals did not show up for. (The same thing can be said for Obama's liberal push and his 2010 defeat.) Biden didn't vote for Thomas, and though he can be criticized for his handling of Anita Hill and other witnesses, he wasn't exactly for Justice Thomas.
Progressives can get more progressive things done if they vote. They don't vote in mid-terms and many aren't a part of the party. Bernie is not a Democrat. I don't know what organization you think will allow you to not even be a member but be a big part of dictating the rules of the organization.
Bernie's followers can bend the Democratic party left, as Bernie has shown, but you can't do that while spitting in the face of people who are actually Democrats, who knock on doors and campaign and rally for all Democrats across the board. We need a team, not a cult.
5
Elizabeth Warren has zero charisma? Uh, no.
2
HAHA BRING THEM ON!
Not a single democrat has announced yet.
NONE want to be the first to get SCALDED by Trump. Maybe they should do a "group" announcement...you know - strength in numbers. But that would make it TOO easy for the President. So far there isn't a challenger (esp in politics) who can hold a candle to him. Opra might, but he'd scald her too. And Michelle? Please.
Warren or Hillary would be a GIFT.
Biden or Bernie...not a chance.
Donald Trump will win by a LANDSLIDE in 2020, mark my words.
24
@Eyes Wide Open
And that makes you happy? He's destroying America and you literally sit back and laugh. Shameful.
2
If Elizabeth Warren ends up running against Trump I will shut off the TV and stop reading the newspaper. I mean it. The 10% on the far right and the 10% on the far left will dictate the conversation. To people outside the US we will appear to be as dumb as farm animals. We have to figure out how to get long with other people without immediately identifying them as either friend or foe and then shutting them out of our conversation.
41
Warren isn't actually that far left. That's how she gets painted because she's a woman and she's assertive. But her policies (like reining in Wall Street to prevent another crash) are ones that 90% of America agrees with.
I'm not saying Warren should be the candidate. But it irritates me that we have accepted that someone is "far-left" when literally 90% of the country agrees with the policies they are proposing (e.g. getting money out of politics, etc).
5
Sorry, but Warren, Sanders, and Biden are uninspiring re-treads, Harris and Booker are meh.....how about that Avenatti guy? If nothing else, judging by Trump's tweets, or lack there of, he's the one guy Trump seems afraid of! Avenatti's a charismatic populist who would appeal to cross over voters....I'm actually being serious here!
12
Yes, another person completely unqualified to lead a country is *exactly* who we need to have running against Trump. Brilliant!
2
Who said he's not qualified? Maybe you should read the NYT profile on him, he's certainly no less qualified than Warren!
Let the Democrats run Warren, Harris, or another far Left candidate. When will they learn that such prople do not appeal to the brad spectrum of Americans. Biden is tainted bu Obama. America is not a nation of Leftists, it is not swayed to Communism, bends in the direction of Donald J Trump.
11
Michael Avenatti for President!
(The four Democrats mentioned in the headline don't stand a chance!)
8
I'm astonished -- floored actually -- to see a couple "Hillary 2020" posts on this thread. Forget that she has already lost the two most winnable elections in American history - against an unknown African-American junior senator with a Muslim name and against a TV-huckster with zero political experience.
Read the accounts of Anthony Bourdain's last interview circulating today. In the #MeToo era Hillary would be a pinata for both sides. Her close association with Harvey Weinstein (well, his money at least) should disqualify her.
87
actually Hillary won more popular votes and then the thing in the White House
3
I hope the democrats think long and hard about who they will elect come the primaries. While there are certainly some hard-line party member favorites, they should probably look to that candidate who will have the widest appeal. There is far too much to lose in 2020–remember: if the democrats aren’t pragmatic about this...the result could be four more years of Trump and Russia dividing our country and destabilizing our democracy.
6
Elizabeth Warren would be a wonderful candidate, and I do hope she runs.
2
Here is my experience with Warren: I have written her office several emails and made a couple of phone calls regarding concerns I had as a Massachusetts resident. No response. However, when she comes to do a fund-raiser in Western MA, she is very happy to speak with me if I give a $5,000 donation.
12
It really has to do with whether you can get the apathetic youth out. So few people vote that if you can get them excited, it will run the table. Anyone over 60 is a bad idea. Bernie had his chance and should be president but alas. Kamala Harris may be the best option. Her conserative presentation is unobtrusive to the midwest and social media and her charming face will work well on front pages of newspapers. Tragically, in 2018, with every minute news-cycles image is more important than substance. Fortunately, Harris IS qualified, well-read, smart and a person of substance.
6
As a political moderate, I strongly dislike Trump and feel he is unqualified for office. I would be happy to vote for a Democrat to replace him. But Democrats be warned - you will not get my vote if you put forward an extremely liberal candidate who wants 70% marginal tax rates and centers their campaign exclusively around identity politics. I would be very quick to support a younger Joe Biden, but these Democratic Socialist candidates who are popular only in New York City and San Francisco will not get my vote. Choose your nominee carefully, please.
44
You really need to pay more attention. Identity politics is what Republicans are doing, denying people the right to vote, marry, serve in the military, make their own healthcare decisions etc. based on their gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation. Democrats simply demand that everyone be treated equally which is how it's supposed to be in the U.S.
5
I admire Senator Warren & agree with her on policy issues. But I don't want her to be the Democratic nominee in 2020. Nor do I want Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden. It's my hope the nominee won't be someone who'll be over 70 yrs old when they're inaugurated.
Kamala Harris, Corey Booker, Deval Patrick, John Warner & other younger politicians are smart possibilities for the Democratic nomination. We can't beat Trump by running a candidate in their 70s. The Democratic Party desperately needs younger candidates with a fresh perspective. It's my prayer the DNC & old line Democratic politicians who had a hammerlock on the 2016 nomination will stand aside & allow the American voters to determine the 2020. Because of the party bosses choice of Hillary Clinton last time, who was forced on voters after rigging the nominating process, we lost the most crucial election of our lifetimes to a traitor. If we want to get rid of Trump, we must nominate a younger fresher candidate who voters won't perceive as representing the Democratic Party machinery. We lost the last election because the DNC was too corrupt to understand an old line machine candidate widely perceived as financially corrupt was the wrong way to go.
Please can we nominate a young candidate with no hint of financial corruption in 2020? Someone who appeals to a wide swath of voters, not a candidate "tailored" to certain identity groups - some of which shocked the party by not turning out in large numbers for Clinton?
15
We Democrats were rudely reminded in 2016 that we don't have a national popular vote for president (Hillary won that big time); we have a series of state elections under the electoral college system. So I want a Democratic nominee with a PROVEN record of winning in the states we don't already know we will win. So I'm not so interested in officials from New York, Massachusetts, California, or Vermont.
We should nominate Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, if he wins re-election this fall. He's a proven progressive with a long record of opposing defective trade agreements. He is the Trump re-election campaign's nightmare. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar would be a great running mate (would love to see her shred Pence in debate).
I'll be voting for the Democratic nominee in 2020; but then I voted for Mondale, Dukakis, and Kerry. In the primaries I had supported other candidates with a better chance of winning. I was an early supporter of Bill Clinton in 1991 and Obama in 2007. So I have a good eye for which Democratic candidates can win.
35
Sherrod Brown: I wish he had been the Veep candidate under Clinton. Great choice
2
I did not think it would be possible to see candidates worse than the last Democratic candidate.
43
To reiterate many of the other comments.
Which do the Democrats want, a winner or ideological purity?
Booker might make a great president, but will the electorate vote for another black candidate?
Warren is just too intense. I like her politics, but will she sell in Kansas?
Will middle America vote for a socialist (Sanders)?
Biden will be 77 in 2020. A deal breaker.
The above list makes me very depressed. They are all vastly superior to Trump, but are they electable?
73
The Democrats had better turn the page in 2020. If they roll out Biden, Sanders, or Warren, they will not win. Just as the House leadership needs new blood, the top of ticket will as well. The older generation of Sanders, Pelosi etc.) have had their time in the sun, so to speak. To get out the vote, to inspire the younger folk to vote, they need a new candidate. Corey Booker is likely the one, but we shall see.
The Republicans will rally around President Trump. Possibly, if the economy goes into recession and it becomes clear Trump has not idea what to do (a likely possibility), the GOP may turn to Kasich or Flake or someone else. But assuming it is Trump, he will be more apt to turn the campaign into a circus if Warren runs than if it is Booker. Further, Booker is a bit more fresh, more likely to excite voters.
10
If Warren becomes the Democratic candidate, the party might just as well concede the election and save everyone a lot of time and money. She is too indelibly part and parcel of the left wing of the party and will have trouble winning the center. The ideal ticket from among the candidates mentioned would be Biden-Harris or Biden-Booker.
8
I am perplexed over who will be the democratic nominee for 2020. Elisabeth Warren could be a possibility, but as long as she fights proving her native American heritage I think some will use that as many used Mr Obama's birth certificate to discredit him. I prefer these people be more honest, not follow the status quo that is insulting, slight of hand, talking points that are tired and ineffective to the realities of how the majority of average citizens lives each day. Who can do this? I do want someone that has some back ground in how the government runs, but not someone that is well into their "golden" years. Yes our country is beginning to be "overrun" with the baby boomers, but these people need to listen to their kids and grand kids because they are much more informed and they want better than what they are facing at this time. I am a boomer, my kid has and continues to teach me lessons to open my mind, research issues, ask more questions. Basically not be like prior generations that believed they are know all, be all of people. No they are not nor are we, our future generation needs to seen and heard.
5
It's VP Biden by default. Not Sen. Warren: she gives the Republicans too much ammunition. Not Sen. Sanders: he's a "socialist." Not. Sen. Booker: He's completely unknown to the nation at large. At least Pres. Obama had that speech to the 2004 convention in his resume. Not Sen. Harris: she reminds the Republicans too much of Hillary. And not the "already-announced" candidates, either, like Gov. O'Malley or Rep. John Delaney (MD-6th, of whom my Chevy Chase-dwelling cousin said, "Who?"); they can't get any traction in Iowa even without opposition.
You see where this is going. VP Biden is a household name, he draws big crowds, doesn't have too much baggage, appears youthful despite his age, appeals to both the Democratic establishment because of his time in the Senate and White House and the outsiders because of his firebrand rhetoric defending Obama, isn't going to offend the independent voters, and scares the daylights out of Republicans because they know he will eat Pres. Trump for breakfast in any debate. My only question about him is, did he, too, have a private e-mail server?
1
This comments section reflects the disarray among Democrats. Hard to believe, for example, that someone would say Elizabeth Warren's time has passed (no one even knew who she was a few years ago) or that she is too extreme (being pretty much the only person to stand up to the fraudulent banking industry that virtually all Americans reviled after 2008). We can't have someone old because we need fresh faces, but fresh faces don't have national recognition. Please choose a moderate (because that worked out so well last time). Must be a minority, can't be a woman. Yikes! People, just let the process play out, and then SUPPORT THE CANDIDATE.
13
Biden and Sanders,Warren are you kidding me? Time to put your egos aside for the good of the country. Step aside and take on the role of mentor and guide to a new generation. You will be remembered more fondly as behind the scene mentors than front stage sorry spectacles who, if insisting on running, will guarantee our country 4 more years of Trump. I am as liberal as liberals get, but time for baby boomers to let the next generations in.
9
2020 is not going to be a policy election if Trump is running. It's going to be an insult/falsehood election. The Democrat that is nominated if Trump is running must be comfortable lying to appeal to people's emotional hot buttons. They must have a gift for showmanship and insulting people on social media. This will not be a policy election if Trump is running. The other GOP candidates in 2016 made that mistake. Democrats, don't make the same mistake.
8
Does anyone expect 2020 to offer anything but the next level (who would have thought possible) of screaming, name-calling, fact-refuting, massive lying/misdirection etc. There will be no rational discourse of issues, because Trump 1.0 won without it, time to double down. What sane candidate wants to spend 24/7 fighting that kind of opponent?
3
I wouldn't even consider voting for Sanders or Warren.
10
While Sanders, Warren, Biden, Harris, Booker, Gillibrand and others mentioned here would all be excellent candidates that we should be happy to support, two other names that stood out to me were Mitch Landrieu and Sherrod Brown. They are experienced, smart, pragmatic leaders, who are also compassionate, decent, likeable people (if you haven't heard it, please go to YouTube and listen to Landrieu's speech on taking down Confederate monuments). In 2020, after four years of mercurial leadership, those attributes should be enough to energize the base and attract independents. The focus for candidates in 2020 has got to be on income inequality and practical solutions: a robust infrastructure program, a higher minimum wage for adult workers, free community college tuition for vocational training and associates degrees, etc.
8
Booker is bad news for Democrats. Big defender of Wall Street, slimy and probably with skeletons in his closet.
13
STOP!
The money behind major media is trying to direct OUR attention to the 2020 presidential election. Ignore them.
I admire Senator Warren who always re-directs reporters back to the importance of elections this November - in just a few short months. That is where OUR attention must be.
WE THE PEOPLE must purge every republican and other Robber Baron operative OUT of OUR governments at every level. It is the only way to save the true democratic form of government the vast majority of Americans want.
Every single one of us who value true democracy in OUR United States of America must help at least one person who usually doesn't vote get to the polls or request and fill out an absentee/mail ballot.
Washington Progressive Voters have a valuable tool to help them choose candidates in The Progressive Voter's Guide. Perhaps there is one in your area. Otherwise the Women's League of Voters has some good choices. VOTE. VOTE. VOTE. That is the answer.
https://progressivevotersguide.com/
12
This is an article by respected New York Times reporters about what various Democratic politicians are doing to prepare to run for the nomination in 2020 - a nominating race already underway in earnest. What this article is NOT is an example of "the money behind major media" trying to "divert us" from caring about the midterm election. It's horrifying that Trump keeps declaring the media "the enemy of the people." If Democrats start accusing the most respected representatives of our independent media as essentially corrupt when they're just doing honest reporting, we are lost!
1
Good. I'm glad to see more than one potential candidate here. I think that they should support each other as well because, until the primaries are ongoing, the Democrats need to reinforce the message that what Trump and the GOP are doing to America is unAmerican in the extreme.
We don't need to turn back the political and social clock to Jim Crow. We don't need to return to the "good ol' days" that never were. We need to look at where we are, where we need to be to compete with the rest of the civilized world and how we can get there. Cutthroat capitalism (or hyper-capitalism as someone I know calls it) is not working for the average American. We can't save for every possible disaster and we can't be expected to go through our savings multiple times only to wind up with nothing when we need it most: in our old age.
Both parties keep telling us that America is a rich country. Both parties have failed us when it comes to improving our lives in the last 40 years. They've improved substantially the lives of the economic elites at our expense. It's time to improve our lives and expect the economic elites to pay their fair share to help the country they live in be the best it can be. Most of us work for a living. We need that paycheck.
Let's see our politicians really work for us, the unemployed who want to work, the underemployed, the handicapped, the poor, those who keep the shelves stocked.
13
First, I do not believe Donald will run in 2020. He will either be indicted for treason, asked to resign and then be criminally charged. The Republicans know this.
Reading some of the comments, many have pointed out that Warren, Biden and Sanders are in their seventies. What's wrong with that? As long as they're sound of mind and healthy, these three are very qualified and that's more important than youth.
Then there's Senator Amy Klobuchar, who's brilliant, with experience. And Adam Schiff of California, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Cory Booker, etc.,etc.
The Democrats have a nice long list of possible presidential candidates!
First though, midterms! PLEASE vote our freedoms and democracy depend on YOUR vote!
20
Mari: there is no upper age for POTUS, but when the GOP ran candidates like Reagan (69) and McCain (72).....they were viciously mocked for being "too old" and out of touch, and might die in office, etc.
So why are there are different set of standards for DEMOCRATS?
The reality is that Warren, Sanders and Biden are beloved and popular....AMONG LEFTIES. It is not clear they could win around the whole nation.
The others -- Klobuchar, Schiff, Harris, Booker -- don't have much of a national presence. That could change in two years, of course.
Dems COULD run any of these people, but WILL THEY? in 2016, they anointed an "Empress" rather than let a dozen potential candidates hash it out in the primaries.
One of the problems here is that candidates like Kamala Harris will be running on a HARD LEFT platform of transgender bathrooms, open borders, amnesty for illegals and ending ICE. That is not a winning platform for the entire nation. Oh, and we HATE Californians.
4
Don't get me wrong, Warren, Biden, Sanders, etc. would make good presidents, but those who want real change, from the 2016 DNC/Clinton poorly run campaign debacle, will not get people to the polls. The last election, 52% showed up, and low turn out gave Trump the White House.
Yes, Clinton won by 3 million votes, but low turn out in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, cost her those states and the election. That alone proves politicians need to campaign in all states, not just competitive states. There is no such thing as a "safe state". The question is, did the Democrats learn that lesson?
What the Democrats need is someone who is like President Obama, a great orator, and uniter. A person who can speak to all age groups, and across the political spectrum. While all are qualified, listed here, none of the name candidates meet that test.
In addition to that, they need to talk about kitchen table issues, and go after Trump/GOP/oligarchs on the ill conceived tax cuts and tariffs. By, 2020, the tariffs, if they continue, could cause a recession.
Thus, the Democrats have a lot of work to do. They need to change the party leadership, define the issues, and find someone who can make Trump look like the biggest fool on the planet, on the campaign trail and the debates. But do so with the finesse of President Obama. Identify that person, you have a Democratic sweep for the White House, the House and the Senate.
16
This is the best they can come up? Really?
28
Huge mistake running Warren on the Dem ticket. Big time.
Same with Harris. What's interesting is that today a 50 plus year old candidate is considered young blood. We've had 3 presidents in recent memory who were under 50. JFK, Clinton and Obama, 43, 46 and 47 respectively.
9
Please - no Senator Warren.
Please let's get someone who is center-left and can win moderate Americans.
40
Harris, Biden, Warren, Sanders?
The Democrats are going to have to field a better team than that if they want to win. Independents are not voting for a leftist agenda in the US.
41
Starting from the top down. . .we have to start with an dynamic and engaging Democratic National Chairman who can unite the party. Elizabeth Warren is a fabulous senator, but I feel she is too strident to be seen as a uniting force in the Democratic Party. Sanders and Biden are too old now. Adam Schiff would be a possibilty.There are also other younger possible candidates not mentioned in the article such as the Castro bothers? Either one would make a formidable candidate.
6
It was never about the scream with Howard Dean. He had started a downward trend. At the town hall when he responded to a question by saying "George Bush was no friend of his". It sounded harsh. Maureen Dowd was constantly on his case because his wife, a doctor, didn't want to go out on the campaign trail. For Ms Dowd that was an affront. And most of all the major media, including this paper, never wanted him, Dean, to be Pres. When he said that we should treat the Palestinians more fair, that was almost a death nail. They tried to pin the anti-semitic thing on him till they found out his wife was Jewish. Many of his ideas are the same as Sanders & Warren. I thought he was great. Made me excited that finally maybe someone would change something for the better.
13
Too bad the Republican Black Ops machine, helped along by Kristen Gillibrand, hounded Al Franken out of office. He is the one person in the Democratic Party who could go toe to toe with Trump simply by getting under his skin with his acerbic wit and depth of knowledge of the issues.
Give me the Mayor of South Bend or Amy Klobuchar, or better yet, Al.
64
Maybe I am a glutton for punishment, but I still think HRC
should try again. This time with a VP candidate like
Kamala Harris or Cory Booker. If at once you dont succeed....
4
Two things regarding HRC:
- One of the most qualified candidates ever
- One of the worst candidates ever
12
She has failed to win the enthusiasm of the American people not once, but twice. She lost the primary to young and sophisticated Obama by a landslide, and then lost an election that was supposed to be all but in the bag to a snake oil salesman in 2016. This is definitely not a case of "if at first you don't succeed...."
9
I was a huge supporter of her, but NO.
3
Age doesn't matter but we do need some talented younger candidates. We should support our candidates based on understanding of America and the need of American people. Race and color of skin are not important factors. But we elected Obama probably because he was an outstanding black American. Hillary Clinton would have a better chance if she decides to run again.
2
Nobody mentioned so far, including Hillary, has a chance. Why not a Kennedy?
4
Joe Kennedy III is very impressive. Keep your eye on him. And he’s not yet 40.
No more dynasties
4
Booker sure is a shill. rather than let those of us with high-cost monthly drug bills buy legally from foreign countries he voted against it claiming “it might not be safe.” He was way more interested in protecting the NJ pharmacy industry than those of us who need drug price RELIEF.
1
if the democrats run Senator Warren, we will lose! Bigly, to quote Trump. Democrats need to be very pragmatic on their candidate.
35
Democrats need a younger person who can go toe to toe with Trumps social media insults. This is not going to be a policy election.
8
At the moment, I like the idea of Joe Biden for President with Warren as VP.
3
Nothing would guarantee a Trump-Putin re-election more than Elizabeth Warren as a candidate.
Sad but true.
46
Based on this lineup, it’s a Trump landslide!
41
I am forced to agree (assuming Donald does not get impeached and convicted in the interim).
The Democrats have much work to do. If I had to choose a candidate now, I would be hard pressed to find a winner among those named. I am impressed by what Eric Garcetti has done in LA. But LA is not America, although it could be argued that it is a microcosm of what our society should aspire to be.
4
Cory Booker is a shill for big pharma. In a nation that is literally dying for healthcare reform, we won't get it with someone like him. We cannot afford watered-down half-measures dictated to us by big pharma and big insurance. We need Medicare for All - period.
12
The Democrats need centrist candidates like Harry Truman, John Kennedy, or Bill Clinton. These ultra-liberals (Warren, Harris, Sanders, etc.) -- most of whom are too old -- will lose unless there is a war or severe recession (or depression). America cannot tolerate another term of Donald Trump, an incompetent spoiled brat who advocates tariffs, inflation, and economic decline. Remember the words of Vince Lombardi: "Winning isn't the thing; winning is the only thing."
13
I don't think Kamal Harris is an ultra-liberal
4
These candidates would all lose to Trump in 2020 in my opinion. Warren is a bank protest candidate and Trump will love making fun of her. Biden is like John Kerry, no identity. Booker maybe, but if he truly is gay then the US will have a hard time electing him. I personally don't care but some people do.
12
Can't we find a moderate, younger, inspirational candidate?
This is so stale.
11
Younger or moderate. You can't have both. Centrism has failed the Democratic party, and everyone under the age of 50 can see that
1
THANK YOU, Pups! You spoke my mind, and I believe you spoke the mind of many, many other Democrats across America. Double thumbs-up to you.
2
You can't have progressives and attract independents and moderates at the same time.
Almost anyone is better than Trump and Pence and we can't afford to lose this one.
There has to be an exciting, fresh choice hiding somewhere. look at Obama.
New Blood New Blood .. I hate that term first of all, sounds like a vampire or something. And what does it mean anyway. If a new person comes along and is for the same health care system, and not cutting the defense budget, etc. That's new ???? Sorry .. Sanders or Warren would be just fine. I am starting to think esp. Warren. I don't think she'll take Trump's garbage like Hillary did. I think if Trump stalks behind her at the debate she will say something .... She's a good and articulate thinker. Somebody else might come along, but out of whose mentioned here she right now feels best. Beto O'Rourke in Texas has it, but he needs to win the Senate first. Biden is Republican light and didn't look good either time he lost before. We'll see ....
6
Biden and Sanders are too old, unfortunately. Booker and Harris lack the experience. Warren is so far left it will never work. SHERROD BROWN, where are you!?
3
Whatever little we have seen and heard from Ms. Warren has been uninspiring and frankly without substance. She comes across a reactionary activist and not a leader.
9
Ask any of these Democratic progressives (Warren, Sanders, Harris, etc.) if they support Israel and that 2015 agreement -- involving America, Russia, China, Germany, and other nations -- on Iran. Let's presume that these progressives do not support Israel in its efforts to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear-armed nation.
1
In reaction to Trump the Dem candidates have pushed left, hard left. The litmus test is now that we should disband ICE. All the best winning in Omaha with that.
This country is much more than N.Y. and California - much to Dem chagrin. Feinstein was passed over by the California Dem Party for de Leon. His policies have zero chance in winning a national election.
Sanders can't run on the Dem ticket.
Gillibrand, 8 years removed from scoring an A rating from the NRA, is trying a re-branding.
Warren's re-branding as an American-Indian (due to high cheek bones) and her scolding mannerisms are a turn-off.
Biden, Uncle Joe to his friends, should let it go.
Booker, of all the candidates, checks off the boxes. Though this isn't his fault, he falls short of the Obama charisma and charm.
Remember: Hillary wants it again and never count her out when it comes to seeking power. It's in her blood and she considers it her right and wants revenge.
15
You are right on, new profile! The DNC has announced that the Democratic Party will not support any candidate who isn’t running as a Democrat. Seemingly that makes sense; why should Democrats support anyone who isn’t a Democrat?
That’s a rhetorical question, to which I reply: Because in some races for a governorship or a House seat there will be third party candidates more likely to defeat a Republican than would the the Democrats’ choice.
Thus the support-only-Democrats policy places party ahead of best interests for the nation.
6
She sounds like a great candidate, but "steal from the rich" isn't going to pass with the bankers who own the DNC, and it sure isn't going to work for the middle class that is quickly realizng that they're "the rich" she wants to steal from.
9
Neither Harris nor Booker has enough of a record to run on; nor do they share Obama's charisma. How about John Hickenlooper of Colorado?
3
God help the dems if Elizabeth Warren gets the nomination! Her heart is in the right place but she is too far to the left for most of America. Can anyone imagine Warren winning Ohio or Indiana?
9
I urge residents of the coasts not to assume that Democrats in the middle of the country are necessarily less liberal. California's senators are mainstream, even establishment Democrats, as are New York's and New Jersey's. I seem to recall that the Democrats nominated a centrist in 2016. She lost.
10
In a section of the article it reads, “The vice president has a lot of long and deep relationships in South Carolina, and they’re substantive relationships,” said Mr. Benjamin, acknowledging Mr. Biden’s staff had called him recently.
That's all very nice, but could someone please tell me what his relationship is with Democrats ages 18-25? How do they feel about him? Or the other aged potentials? Believe it or not, there are Democrats under the age of 50 who might make good candidates. We need a major overhaul of our leadership. Going to the well with the SAME OLD PEOPLE over and over and over again is not going to get the job done. Might as well ask Nancy Pelosi to run for President or (gasp!!) Hillary Clinton.
6
Amy Klobuchar has my vote. She's bright, has the necessary experience and appears to be a good, decent person.
6
I hope the Democratic candidate for president in 2020 will be under 65 years old. We need new blood and energy! I would be very happy to support either Adam Schiff or Eric Garcetti.
David Axelrod interviewed both on his Axe Files podcast. Adam Schiff is episode 140, and Eric Garcetti is episode 199. Each episode is about an hour. Definitely worth the time to listen to their interviews!
4
I find it remarkable so many of these progressive commenters take a position that it has to be a young candidate, or a male, or black. I believe the further left the candidate is the less likely he or she will pull in the moderate Republican voters necessary to win the White House. That is a reason to like Biden, who will also be more than ready to go toe to toe with Trump successfully when the name calling starts.
5
Warren=Terrible choice. Her predecessors had no issue in supporting an innocuous volunteer advocacy day at the Massachusetts State House. Presumably her aides did not think it was a huge deal to provide some proclamation document supporting the day as they advised me to pick up the proclamation prior to the advocacy event on Beacon Hill. Upon arriving at Senator Warren’s office, I waited for about 30 minutes only to be told this couldn’t happen. Thanks a lot as I had nothing better to do in volunteering to organize an advocacy day on Beacon Hill then be stood up (in not handing over a simple proclamation document) by Warren’s office the day of the event. I suspect, but cannot confirm, that the issue may have arisen by the fact one of the few Massachusetts state republican representatives helped to organize the event. Working across the aisle, eh? However, in previous years this wasn’t an issue for Kennedy and he was as liberal as anyone. Perhaps it was just the ineptitude of office staff. One of my associates stated “maybe she has better things to do than follow up on our issues”. Listening and working with constituents I guess is a huge distraction for Warren’s office. Having called her office in the normal course of business, the follow-up has been terrible. Her counterpart’s office has been much more responsive and helpful.
Anybody but warren !!!
14
Why focus on the Presidency? Get more Dems into Congress. Every four years there is a scramble for this office and money. Play the long game and get younger people into leadership roles. Dems need to mentor younger members and step aside. It would also help if there was a solid agenda. Maybe in two years the Dems would have a shot at the office.
14
I may be too ignorant about how you guys in the US like your primaries or what you think is the correct process to find the right candidate. I do not think, though, that the system of primaries works. Is there no other way to agree on a basic line of democratic ideas & policies and find the young & fresh man or woman who can represent these ideas with vigor, authenticity and guts? What could be a more prominent and beneficial use of the Democratic Party (or a committee that represents the party) to determine these policies and agree on such a candidate - without this waste of time, energy & financial ressources the primaries bring along. I understand, the primaries are meant to be exactly that process, but all they seem to achieve is give the GOP the ammunition they need for later and split the supporters in the democratic party. There must be a better way then vandalizing & weakening each other even before the fight against the real enemy has started. Limiting the number of candidates may already be a good start.
11
Garcetti is only mentioned in the middle of the article. Having listened to interviews with most of these candidates on the Axe Files, Garcetti impressed me the most.
5
I am a young engaged, and politically active Democrat (I read the news regularly, follow/vote in local elections, and donate money)
I no zero enthusiasm for any of these candidates.
Please Democrats - select someone with even a half-chance of winning. Your refusal to step aside for the next generation of lawmakers has crippled our ability to compete and will doom our party for many years beyond Trump.
Adam Schiff maybe?
22
I'm one of those oldtimers. I like Biden, Warren, and Sanders. Then again, I like Harris, Booker, and other younger individuals. What I don't like is any Republican candidate for any position, even dog catcher!
I'll vote Democrat up and down the ticket. If the Democrats get out in force in the 2020 election, it won't matter who's on the ballot, they'll win. There are more Democrats than Republicans, it's all about the numbers.
Just get out the vote and you win.
7
The 2014 midterms were the lowest voter turnout election in U.S. history. One of the biggest reasons was that the press refused to spend its time covering it, reminding voters to go out and vote, and made it look extremely unimportant by spending hour after hour covering and trying to lay odds on the 2016 Presidential election instead. If you compare broadcast hours or words of print about the 2014 election compared to the 2016 election in the year 2014, almost all of the hot air expended by the chattering classes was on 2016.
Poorly attended elections are a giveaway to moneyed interests, and to single issue voters. Please drop all this panting and husting and speculation and cover the ever more mundane things necessary to insure turnout in 2018. You're already speculating on is it Cory or is it Elizabeth or is it Kamala, and not one serious article laying out the rules in all 50 states for registering to vote, or early voting or vote by mail or all those things that first time voters need to do in addition to telling journalists they want the 2020 candidate to be 10 years old.
At the rate our democracy is crumbling beneath the weight of corruption and outright treachery right now, if we don't have a good election in 2018, it may not matter who is going to run in 2020.
8
All of the major names mentioned are good quality people, but the age divide between them is also very wide. With the millennials beginning to exert their voting numbers, it is doubtful someone in or around their 70's is not going to win. The demographics don't support it. Most of the major wanna-be presidential candidates are fund raising for potential runs, but no one is really running the party and the party does not appear to have a message with national appeal. We are a center left and center right country. We tend not to elect extremists (current president excluded). And it is also very hard to run on a "medicare for all" type platform because we have a huge fiscal mess in DC as we currently spend way too much (and give away to the rich). My opinion is we need someone who can actually prepare a budget and get the deficit reduced and spending priorities changed so we can move forward with a more progressive platform.
4
This article makes my stomach churn. Just thinking about the current disarray and aimlessness of the Democratic party. Just thinking about the Trumpet blowing and chest thumping - most if not all of which will be lies and deceptions, featuring those shady partial truths that Trump and co are so proficient at using to obscure the facts - that will constitute Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, that he has been running even before he took office, and has been running steadily while in office! Where is the tough, wily, savvy, charismatic truth-teller who can raise enough money and votes to beat Trump? I don't see him or her in this article. We are going through a kind of dark ages as a country. 2020 might be too soon to pull off the bandages and see the light.
13
I support a lot of what Warren says, but I think Trump would easily beat her. She has an eccentric, schoolmarmish demeanor that reinforces a lot of bad stereotypes about liberals. Kirsten Gilibrand is much more natural and likeable.
When interviewed on Pod Save America, Jon Lovett pressed Warren on the native American-DNA issue, and Warren gave these very evasive, strange answers, sounding very much like a politician with something to hide. If that's the only response she can muster with friendly audience, Trump would absolutely destroy her on that issue in a general election.
26
Let's stop losing elections with unqualified candidates with narrow appeal and unrealistic ideas. How about someone who should have been the candidate in 2016 and would have won the election. I'm talking about Joe Biden. Experienced, affable, well respected and well liked. Nominate Joe along with a much younger running mate to learn and gain the power base to win in 4 or 8 years and bring along the next generation of leaders. Focus on the future by telling Chuck and Nancy, et al that it's time to pass the torch. Put Joe in the position to be the person to pass the baton. Otherwise, we might as well get used to the anarchy, corruption, racism and incompetence that has been evident since November 2016.
15
Of the candidates mentioned, Joe Biden would have the best chance. He's solidly centrist, fully experienced with the office, and most important, has the same kind of working guy personna as Trump, and the same ability to duke it out in debates. No political correctness here. Yes, his age is against him, but Trump will be no spring chicken either, at 74. Obama was a phenom, born of his time, and the mess Bush made. But I don't see any more messiah-types around. What I do see is best chance with a solid kitchen table agenda and Joe Biden to sell it.
19
Earlier this year, America’s wealthiest family, the Waltons followed the lead of other corporations that were blessed by the Trump tax bill. The Waltons took their tax cut money and ran away with it, stopping just long enough to insult their Walmart workers with a pitiful bonus of $200 to $1,000, depending on their time with the company. Democratic contenders for the 2020 presidential nomination had better understand that the old, corporation-friendly, limousine liberalism that has defined the modern Democratic Party has been replaced by a new, darker blue economic populism that frowns upon the Walmart-type of economic inequality and seeks to resolve it. We want living wages for hardworking Americans like Walmart’s employees now. Incrementalism, a term moderate Democrats are using to finesse the economic justice issue, will be considered an undeserved concession to already flush corporate elites. We want every American to have access to a universal basic income because destitution is an evil condition no modern, wealthy and advanced nation should ever tolerate. And we believe a nation with trillions of dollars of income and the best economists in the world possesses the fiscal capacity and the knowledge to safely achieve these objectives.
10
I was a devoted Sanders supporter until Hillary won and then I voted for Hillary. No regrets!
It's wonderful that we can be idealistic now, when it's early in the game, but no matter who wins the Democratic primary, we must oust the current administration.
The destruction of our natural resources and wildlife alone is enough to make me willing to vote for anyone who can win. (if you doubt that, listen to the most recent Reveal podcast)
So, while it's great to speculate, I am pledging right now that I will vote for the person most likely to defeat Trump.
13
Please don't run, Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden. Your wisdom is still valuable but your time is past.
The Republicans want to go backwards - let them. They have no ideas for moving forward. The Democrats need to put up candidates who will still be alive to see their policies and programs at work.
6
Elizabeth Warren is not even 70.
I assume you are young, but when you hit middle age you will understand that 70 is not too old.
Especially for people who have kept themselves healthy and their brains sharp. She's got 10-15 good years in her.
And women live longer than men.
5
Please don't assume. I am 66, retired, and don't even have much skin in the game anymore. But I believe the Dems need to rejuvenate. The democracy will need to be rebuilt when the current nightmare ends. Of course the elders should still have a voice but they need to step aside.
Warren needs to sit this one out. She lost my support when she proved she was not a progressive by not supporting Bernie Sanders. Like a good Democrat she fell in line with the party and supported Hilary by being quiet. However she did not have the guts to set up and enthusiastically support and campaign for Hillary. She is no leader.The Democratic party needs someone who has the stones to move the country forward in a positive direction. Maybe that's Kamala Harris, maybe Bernie, maybe someone else, but Warren... no lady...no. The Democrats need someone with a backbone.
13
I voted for Bernie in the primary. However, I voted for Hillary in the fall because of:
1. the Supreme Court
2. the environment
3. abortion rights
4. civil rights
On any of these Mrs. Clinton would have been a far better president. The urge to punish and disavow anyone who isn't your ideal candidate is what got us where we are. I will never understand the Bernie fans who didn't love him enough to do as he asked, and for the good of the country, vote for Hillary.
11
I deeply admire all of the possible candidates mentioned in this article. And I hope none of them are nominated. None of them could defeat Trump which has to be the standard in 2020. I keep looking at Democratic governors in swing states. They are more conservative than I (I voted for Bernie in the primary in 2016), but they could be elected. So far the best I can come up with is Governor Hickenlooper of Colorado for president running with Senator Tammy Duckworth.
1
You speak for me and at least half of people who supported Warren until her 2016 no-show.
4
Democrats, can we PLEASE choose a candidate for president who has SOME possibility of actually WINNING?
I’m old enough to remember the 1972 Democratic convention, in which George McGovern was nominated. The nominating speeches were all about which state was better at boycotting grapes, and everyone was so pure that the halos were almost visible. McGovern was, and is, a very nice guy; but he was essentially unelectable. So Nixon won.
Let’s not make the same mistake again. I know what I’d like in a candidate: the New Deal on steroids. A woman and/or a person of color on the ticket would be nice, too. But if the choice is between purity and winning, I’ll take winning every time. Or would you rather have President Trump for four more years?
64
Not one name on that list besides Joe Biden has a chance to win back Ohio or Florida or North Carolina or even comfortably move Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin back into the Democratic fold. And Biden is four years older than Trump, who seems ancient to voters under 50. Three coastal far-left big government activists, a socialist, and a man who first ran for president in the 1980s before critical chunks of the electorate were born.
Please tell me this isn't going to be another suicide run by my party. Please tell me there is a stable, preferably Midwestern or heartland MODERATE who will give voters the tone of calm assurance, and convince those desperate to believe that the hyper-partisanship of virtually the entire 21st Century can be mitigated.
32
Given trump's success, it seems pretty clear that moderation is no longer a winning strategy for either party.
2
I wish I could agree with you, but unfortunately--given 2016 and every day since--I don't see any evidence that "Americans are much smarter than they were" in the mid-80s. Quite the opposite.
4
The thing about the political left or the so-called progressives they always reaching for straws with candidates that cannot win. Hillary Clinton beat Bernie Sanders by nearly 4 million votes in the last primary and she could do it again. Elizabeth Warren showed in the last election primary that she wasn’t above playing politics. After Bernie lost New York everyone told Bernie he could not win. He was going to lose California by millions of votes. He had lost almost all the cultural centers. But Bernie stubbornly doubled down and increased his anti Hillary rhetoric. Elizabeth Warren sat there silent because she knew her constituency was for Bernie and she wasnt strong enough to come out for Hillary strong right there and then. We needed that. That may have been the difference between Donald Trump being president now or Hillary Clinton. That is not the kind of strength we need for a future president of United States. Hillary Clinton could easily beat them both. She is still the most powerful Democrat in the Democratic Party. Bernie attempted to destroy her and the Democrats and did a very good job of it.
10
You paint things in purely win-lose terms. Most respected polls showed the Sanders could have beat Trump by more percentage points than Clinton even though she won the candidacy over him.
And don't forget she had the super delegates locked up before she even officially started her campaign. Sanders did not make personal attacks. He critiqued and attacked the neo-liberal incremental approach that did not meet the urgent crisis of our time. I and all of Sanders supporters rallied behind his recognition that the greatest threat to our national and planetary security was climate change. Clinton did not have that courage - she still thinks natural gas is a bridge and it is far more dangerous a fossil fuel than anything out there.
I along with millions of others on what you dismissively call the, 'progressive left' have had it with the status quo Dems and Repugs. We've had it with the 'lesser of two evils.'
That said, I hope Sanders does not run again. We need younger people, people of color, women in the race. He could do a great service by lending his support behind a strong candidate like Warren - and contrary to your contention - she did come out in strong support of Clinton. I was dismayed by that as I hoped she would endorse Sanders and run with him as VP. That would have been unstoppable.
1
So, um, you're proposing Clinton 2020? Here's a slogan for your campaign: She Missed Her Turn!
Hillary Clinton is smart and able, but is an uninspired and uninspiring establishment Democrat, and a poor campaigner. As a result, she deservedly lost in 2008. Why the Democratic Party's insiders insisted on nominating a proven loser again in 2016 I will never understand. That party will not succeed until the House of Clinton is totally demolished. Unfortunately, the Clintons retain more influence in our politics than they should, given their spotty record.
14
Amala, those polls were not accurate simply because Bernie people would not tell the truth and neither would Republicans. Bernie people would say that Bernie would beat trump in an election. Republicans who backed Bernie would also say that Bernie would beat trump in an election. They were working for Bernie they infiltrated his campaign, along with the Russians. Why do you think Putin wanted Bernie to win why do you think the Republicans wanted Bernie to win can’t you progressive see past your noses?
3
Biden missed his chance (sadly). He's 75 so he'd be 77 in 2020. Sanders is 76. Do the math. I'm a lifelong Democrat, I'm a feminist, I am 64 and don't practice age discrimination, but let's be real folks, these men are too old for the pressures of that office. I like Elizabeth Warren as a senator but I don't want her as my president. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris – unproven, not mainstream enough, not experienced enough, and I could go on. The truth is the Democratic Party does not have a viable candidate. At least not at this point. To bad, Michelle Obama would not consider running. She's the best of the best of the best.
15
With the exception of Harris and Booker, this field is composed of people in their seventies. We need someone younger. It is too soon for Harris, though she is fabulous. That leaves Booker. Please, Democrats, for the sake of our nation, we need this election more than any other. Think wisely. Who can win? That's virtually all that matters.
5
Yes, everyone but Harris and Booker are in their seventies....so? We've got to stop with ageism and choose the best qualified candidate. Youth is not always best. A seventy-something candidate will likely choose a younger, well-qualified VP. Let's keep our minds open.
6
It has never been more important to get Trump out of office while we still have a semblance of democracy. It is not merely hypothetical that our democracy could collapse under the weight of a compromised president and a complicit congress.
I admire Elizabeth Warren, but fear she would be Trump's first choice to run against. Neither Harris or Booker has a national profile and Biden is an old man.
We cannot lose this election! What about Mark Warner or Amy Klobuchar? A moderate democrat will be much harder for Trump to paint as a radical. The votes we need are in the middle. If the democrats lose, we could become a democracy in name only.
67
Warner has too many skeletons in his closet to run.
1
I like Elizabeth Warren a lot. Same for Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. I think they are great public servants who have done a great job serving their country. It goes without saying that all three would be infinitely better than the current occupant of the White House. But it is absolutely vital that none of these three become the Democratic Party's nominee in 2020. They represent the Democratic Party's past; the next nominee must represent the party's future.
Over the past 10-15 years, Democratic voters have changed. They are now younger, better educated, and less white. The party's leadership, however, has not really changed at all since 2006. We are approaching 1980s Soviet Politburo territory here. This has to change.
The issue is not ideology or identity. The issue is presenting a fresh face with fresh ideas to the American public ahead of what is likely to be the most important election since...1864? Whether it will be Cory Booker or Kamala Harris or Kirsten Gillibrand or Seth Moulton or Deval Patrick or Mitch Landrieu or any one of a dozen other potential candidates is a decision for Democratic primary voters to make in two years. In the meantime, the most important thing is that the previous generation step aside and let the new generation step up.
85
Not true.Democrat voters are not less white.
As a matter of fact, if blacks and Latinos had.voted for Hillary in the same.nunbers
They voted for Obama, Trump would not be president. Latinos are now scared to vote and blacks never vote in same numbers as whites.
I'm a 24-year-old New Yorker who considers himself a socialist. I absolutely do not want to see Warren, Sanders, or Biden run for President. What we need is someone like the bright and charismatic Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; obviously more experienced and tested, but someone of that energy: positive, has bright ECONOMIC ideas that appeal to both sides of the blue collar aisle, doesn't run on ousting Trump, a minority from working class roots. Her youth is exciting. Trump is the oldest President we have ever had, no? How exciting - inspiring, really - would it be to see someone clear-eyed, young, energetic, optimistic, and empathetic debating him. It would clearly say: The Democrats are the party of the future. Not the same old Pelosi, Schumer, Clinton, Sanders staleness/timidness that the Dems have become known for.
99
Take a look at Pete Buttigieg from South Bend Indiana. Was a stunning come-from-nowhere standout in the DNC leadership debate last year. Young, ex-defence, persuasive and gets things done. Wish Democrats would take a closer look. He’d (way) out-class and out- manoeuvre Trump and win hearts doing so.
2
I don't think you can use the words Sanders and timid in the same sentence
1
Sounds like you're looking for Obama 2.0. Pretty sure that person would be out running if they existed...
1
I am of two minds about the slate of Democratic candidates so far. I agree that we need new blood, but at the same time the Presidency is not a job for rookies. The learning curve is really steep and today's political environment does not give a new President a lot of time to learn the ropes.
One thing I am sure of, our current system is not working. The vast majority of people are not being helped by the political establishment that is supposed to represent them. They responded by electing an outsider, Trump, who has proven to be a disaster.
What we need is a leader who will remind us of what the United States is supposed to be: a country made up of many people, and creeds, and beliefs who are all working together for the benefit of all.
44
Aside from you personal dislike of the man, what has qualified his presidency a "disaster?" Last time I checked, unemployment is low and the economy is strong. Face the facts, Trump will devour the Democratic nominee, because he says what he wants, not some scripted rhetoric.
1
@Andrew
Well, let's see. Based on reports from his own staffers, Trump has the attention span of a gnat, and about the same knowledge of world affairs as a 5th grader. He lies so much that he has to lie about his lies. When he was read direct quotes from his London interview with a tabloid where he insulted Britain and its leaders, he called it 'fake news.' He has attacked our allies, kisses up to our enemies and disparages agencies of the federal government to foreign leaders. He makes spurious attacks on members of his own party. His corruption of promoting his own businesses while in office is beyond the pale. His willful separation of children to score political points would be a war crime in any other nation. On top of all of that he is playing his own supporters for suckers, since his 'tax cuts' will not benefit them in the least, just his cronies.
If all of the above do not qualify as a 'disaster' then I'm not sure what would. If such a person worked in private industry they would have been shown the door long ago.
Please, gods, precipitate a sea-change in American culture towards a reasonable left. Otherwise, it's just the Democrats and the Republicans.
In other words, ha ha ha ha, forget it. It's the new boss. Same as the old boss.
Viva Social Democracy.
13
I’m praying for a Warren/Sanders - or Sanders/Warren - ticket. Imagine that!
11
A Sanders/Warren or a Warren/Sanders ticket would give the same result as the Reagan/Mondale race in 1984 where Reagan won 49 states. You want to ensure a GOP victory? Nominate either one of those two for the presidency. Not one of those candidates listed in the headline of this article has a prayer of winning. This country will NOT elect a woman or a minority. That's as clear as the nose on your face. The prescription is to nominate a straight white male Christian moderate definitely under 65 years of age.
14
[[“I think this world needs a black woman as president,” said John Bowman, a former Missouri state lawmaker, after hearing Ms. Harris address an N.A.A.C.P. gathering in St. Louis last month.]]
Yes, by all means let's focus on race and gender instead of qualifications. *sarcasm*
Warren said emphatically in the run up to 2016 that she didn't want to be president. I don't like the idea that she's changed her mind.
Booker's the candidate...young, energetic, smart, experienced.
10
If it's Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders, we lose again. We don't need hand-waving, angry, hectoring scolds -- we need a calm candidate who modulates his voice and moderates his views. (Or her's, like Amy Klochard). The Democrats' slogan should be Make America Norman Again.
99
Mr. James is spot on.
Surely we have a qualified midwest or southern governor with a proven record of administration and leadership. If it is Elizabeth Warren or Senator Harris... let's just turn the country over to Koch brothers to run.
Come on guys let's use our heads rather than our hearts for once. Protesting administration officials at restaurants or marching in front to the Trump Tower in Manhattan has accomplished nothing.
3
OK, first we need to learn to spell Amy Klobuchar's name. I'll start.
6
If Trump has amassed $88 million so far for 2020, it's in the Democrats, and humankinds' best interest to pull all of their funding together into 1-2 candidates.
27
Last time around the Democrats put all of their money into one candidate and pre-ordained her by stacking the deck (super-delegates) against Bernie Sanders. How did that work out for the Democrats?
5
Regulating and restructuring the economic system to reverse growing income inequality, rather than just repair the safety net for the "disenfranchised", has to be at the top of the successful Democratic candidate's agenda. The candidates who fool themselves that they can sweet-talk the corporate over-lords are kidding themselves, and setting up an Obama-like ACA "answer", which despite having some virtues, did very little to clean up the greedy mess that is our health care system. What will matter is how radical changes are implemented after the election - if government is the only force that can save us from blood-sucking capitalists, then competent, governance that achieves good outcomes is essential.
23
Could care less for those Democrats mentioned. We need new ideas, new direction, new flesh, if we are going to win in 2020.
21
New ideas are all well and good, but our country needs qualified and seasoned leaders. The new ideas, etc., will come. Democrats have a long record of providing what America needs.
2
All of these mentioned plus scores of others could make good, strong candidates in 2020. Pick your favorite and work hard for him/her in the primaries.
Far, far more important is this - when the primaries are over and the Dems have a candidate, ANY candidate, work your tail off to get him/her elected President.
If you are a liberal, progressive, Democrat, or at this point just you average, moderate Independent, any of these candidates are infinitely better than what we have in the WH right now.
Please resist the constant infighting and nitpicking at these potential candidates. Please refrain from ignoring the 95% of issues you agree with him/her on, to magnify the importance of the 5% of issues, or the one or two things about their background you don't like - there is no perfect candidate. Remember the real enemy.
124
Biden, Booker, Harris, Sanders, and Warren are all fine people, but they have a lot in common: they're politicians, easy for Trump to make fun of, and they'll lose. The goal has to be winning. The Dems need to run their own businessman: Mark Cuban, Howard Schultz, or someone similar to recapture the Democrats who voted against Hillary Clinton.
9
Trump will make fun of whoever runs against him. My vote is for Warren.
11
We have seen over and over again that business success does not equate to political acumen.
7
Adam Schiff, Adam Schiff, Adam Schiff, Adam Schiff, Adam Schiff....did I say Adam Schiff?
The young people, whose vote we are needing to depend on, need someone younger, and they need someone they could believe in. Adam Schiff. Please.
Older people need someone they could believe in, too. Smart, articulate, experienced, brave. Adam Schiff. Please.
141
Two votes for Adam Schiff!
21
Not saying that he'd be a bad candidate, but Adam Schiff will be 60 by 2020. 60 might as well be Bernie's 78 as far as anyone under 35 is concerned. Harris and Booker are already pushing the age limit for a youthful candidate. If Schiff gets young people to believe in him, it won't be because they think he's younger.
1
Could not agree with you more - Adam Schiff 2020!
THe Democratic Party needs fresh faces and new perspectives to vanquish the Republican juggernaut in 2020. Kamala Harris, Michael Avenatti and Corey Booker would be great contenders. At this point I think my cat has a fairly decent chance of winning the presidential election against Trump.
5
I think it is unhelpful to frame a Democratic challenge as 'opposition to Trump' because it personalizes to him what should be simple ideals of humanity and decency. Let's not make the next chapter about him as well. After all, he is but a passing figure. We would do better to call a challenge a 'return to truth, empathy, diversity and the rule of law.'
31
The Democratic Party has already proved that it is the party of inclusion, with the presidency of Barack Obama, the legalization of Gay marriage, running and almost electing the first woman president and so on. What it needs to do now, is prove to middle America and disaffected White guys that they are included in the party, too. We won’t oust Trump by running junior senators whose main claim to fame is that they are attractive and minorities.
We won’t beat Trump by bringing out firebrands from the past or the same old names. Our best shot is to pick a youngish, liberal, attractive, experienced Midwestern white guy, who can go toe to toe with Trump with the tough guy jibes. I say we get Ohio senator Sherrod Brown to run.
59
This analysis ignores non-voters, especially people of color and poor people. The Democratic party has offered far too little in terms of policy that would materially improve the lives of such people. (Incidentally, such policies would also benefit "disaffected whites".)
Instead of running to the middle, Democrats should be the party that unapologetically defends a robust welfare state and demands fair contributions from the ultra-rich.
9
Obamacare, The Children's Health Insurance Program, free community college, the Fair Sentencing Act, turning around the U.S. auto industry (a major employer of those without a college degree), expanded Pell Grant dollars are just some of the Democrat programs that materially benefit the poor and/or people of color.
@Evelyn, yes, yes, YES!
1
I like Ms. Warren as a minority leader in the Senate. I believe she is an ideologue and won't be effective in building coalitions to actually pass legislation. You need someone who can work with both partisans and traitors.
18
Democrats have to stop the Monday Morning Quarterback style of selecting candidates. Warren would have been ideal in 2016, but they looked in the mirror and selected Clinton because it was "her turn". Her turn for a chance came in 2008, and she lost. Warren is wonderful, but her time passed as well. They need new blood. They need someone who isn't afraid to be their own person rather than a safe, PC, scripted insider. Good luck.
89
Warren is not afraid to be her own person! And to say her time is passed is ridiculous. She's relatively young, extremely capable and fearless. She wouldn't get flummoxed by Trump's attacks either.
1
All four of these candidates do not stand a chance. Please God help the democrats to choose wisely. We are sure to lose if any of these four run. Kamala Harris would lose in a heartbeat. Remember Hillary was smart also but had a lot of baggage. I hate to say this but the electorate is not yet ready for a woman presidency even though I think there are quite a few that would be excellent for the presidency. We need to win in 2020 not lose. I would go with Deval Patrick, experienced, mature and smart.
14
Elizabeth Warren has shown that when it comes to playing Paul took she is no better than any other politicia. She had to know like the rest of us that Hillary Clinton was much more prepared and qualified to be president then Bernie Sanders. And after Bernie lost New York he had no way to win the nomination. He was going to lose California by millions of votes. Still she sat silent on the sidelines because she knew her constituency favorite Bernie Sanders. She waited until Bernie dropped out to support Hillary Clinton and that may be one of the main reasons that Donald Trump is president today. She was playing politics in the most important election in our history. She is not qualified to be president of United States. That completely disqualifies her. Both her and Bernie said there’s are responsible for the presidency of Donald Trump.
8
I believe you are looking through the wrong end of the telescope. As a progressive, I wanted Elizabeth Warren to run in 2016. When she declined, I was dismayed by her refusal to back Bernie Sanders. Instead, she sat on the sidelines while he lost by narrow margins in Iowa and Nevada. Worst of all, she sat on her hands while he lost in her home state, Massachusetts. I admire Sen. Warren, and I will not rule out supporting her in 2020. But, given her claim to be progressive, she needs to explain to progressives why she was totally AWOL in 2016. My hunch is that Hillary Clinton offered her some inducement--or perhaps, some threat--to remain on the sidelines. But I would like to hear Sen. Warren's side of the story, and I will not vote for her unless she explains herself.
13
Exactly Chris - Warren's failure to endorse Bernie has permanently tarnished her with at least half her supporters, and she knows it takes her out of the running.
Warren will not win. Period. The voters are not sophisticated enough to listen. I believe it must be a man and that is not a sexist comment. We have taken an enormous step backward with trump and we must go forward in tighter steps as the population of our country is unable to understand that a woman is more than capable. The point is to win and clean up the corrupt mess and go forward. Sadly, Russia is way ahead and trump is in their pocket. Biden/Yates seems possible.
26
I think we need younger people. Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, Amy Klobuchar, Corey Booker. Even Michael Avenatti.
There are also a bunch of young, attractive, brilliant, politically savvy people on MSNBC. Trump has proven this is the "TV-generation" in politics, so we should look at the hosts and the guest commentators on MSNBC. There are at least 25 of them who would make great candidates.
23
Yes to Amy Klobuchar; no to any TV personalities.
6
@Mark A. Thomas
Also Seth Moulton from Massachusetts. The guy's smart, young, served in Iraq as a marine officer and is a congressman. I believe he'd carry a lot of red and purple states. Look him up!
And unfortunately none of these candidates will defeat Trump. Let's face it folks - short of outing him as a Russian stooge, we are in for six more years of the current menace occupying the Oval Office, if the country survives that long.
15
Adam Schiff should run and be the Democratic nominee.
96
All four of these candidates do not stand a chance. Please God help the democrats to choose wisely. We are sure to lose if any of these four run.
162
Senator Warren could unite the Sanders and Clinton voters, as she combines Sander’s economic critique and understanding of the plutocratic status of the US, and of course has the desired chromosomes and experiences of a woman in a patriarchal culture.
A Warren-Biden ticket would include foreign policy chops and reinforce the working-class appeal.
Unfortunately, too many Dem. activists and interest groups seem to care more about a candidate’s born characteristics - race and ethncity, age, etc. - than about their ideological and policy positions - thus leaving a Warren-Biden ticket vulnerable to internecine attacks from identity politics purists.
7
Why should Bernie Sanders’ age matter? The president was 70 when he ran for the White House and won. Joe Biden is in his eighth decade and has two terms as vice president under his belt. Republicans falsely tarred President Obama as a socialist but name calling is what they do better than governing.
The Democratic hopefuls represent the diversity of America's demographics that appall the president and his base, namely blacks and women who seem to have forgotten their proper places. And the Democrats can be proud of the fact that none of their contenders for the 2020 nomination have the awful baggage that Roy Moore did when he sought a “safe” Senate seat in Alabama.
7
A Sanders/Warren ticket would be ideal. This way Americans could finally get a chance to vote on universal basic income, free healthcare, free education, restorative justice, and open borders.
These things always poll extremely well, and will be guaranteed winners!
I have a feeling that 2020 is going to be a blowout for the left of historical proportions, like 1984. Excerpt this time, when an evil person like Reagan or Trump is running again, Americans will choose the left, not the right. Because Americans are much smarter than they were way back then. Things like a “roaring economy,” assertive foreign policy, and tax and regulatory cuts are much more unpopular than they once were, because now people see how unfair these policies are.
3
After Booker revealed himself to be a pawn of the pharmaceutical industry, I'd have to give him a pass in the interest of having affordable health care in the future
93
Booker revealed himself to be the pawn of marketing creep and Russian collaborator Zuckerberg, and that's enough for me to primary him as Senator (let alone President!) if still possible.
I live *east* of the Hudson, so sadly, I can't liberate New Jersey from him. But it's too late for him to return the school-money bribe or grill Zuck about data giveaways.
2
A lively field, I look forward to the debates.
1
Warren cannot win. Her personality is recessive, distant. She does not and cannot draw a majority of people in the red states to her anymore than could Sanders. And so far, no other Dem is showing anything like the all-inclusive, embracing personality around whom liberals AND independents can coalesce. Oddly enough, the last winner who took himself out of the running was Howard Dean. And if you look at his now-infamous yell of victory in 2004, so out of place then and badly miked to make him sound too crazy to hold office, it now seems somehow very right and very appropriate and very NECESSARY to the war that must now be found against the corrupt GOP and the racist right wing of its most extreme Trump supporters. Dean should run again-- and that victory shout of his should be in all of his political ads. HE is a winner.
9
His now-infamous yell of victory in 2004 that the news media played over and over destroying his candidacy.
4
I was in the room when Howard Dean did his infamous victory shout. In real time, it was no big deal and didn't seem at all over the top. It was the media's amplification and reportage that did him in.
And so is good old HRC! Watch with wonder as superdelegates pledge themselves to her from the get-go, shuttling down the weaker candidates and magically amassing leads over popular opponents like Sanders.
And another “it’s my turn!” coronation campaign strategy will lead to Trump through 2024 with a nice Republican majority.
Just watch this avatar of the baby boomers demand she be given her god-granted right to be POTUS.
“I’m with her” was such a revealing slogan.
26
One thing is for sure: a party divided will not stand. I'm old enough to remember: 1968 George Wallace siphoned votes from Hubert Humphrey and we got the lying crook Nixon, 1980 Anderson siphoned votes from Carter and we got arms for hostages, triple the deficit, Reagan. 1992 Ross Perot siphoned votes from George Bush Sr and we got Clinton, who actually balanced a budget, but couldn't keep his hands to himself. 2000 Nader siphoned votes from Gore and we got the draft-dodging, mental midget, GW; who lied us into Iraq (any WMD's yet?). I grew up in VT, left Burlington the year Bernie became the mayor. I was a Bernie supporter, but knew enough to support the party platform at election time, and voted for Hillary. Thanks a lot for the former Bernie 'supporters' who voted for Jill Stein,having to learn their lesson the hard way, rather than to merely review history, and understand the long term consequences of their vote. Had they taken the time, the HRC platform was the same as Bernies. We have the WORST POTUS IN HISTORY. To the GOP voters the midwest and WVA: you deserve your station in life, you made it happen.
7
You left out the one I think is most likely to get the nomination: Chuck Schumer.
1
Come on. Even his mother knows that would be suicide.
Except for Sanders, maybe, sounds like same=old same-old, with some younger people. These are people who want to be in the establishment-backed juggernaut. The only difference between "Donordems" and "Donorreps" is that "Donordems" is alliterative.
2
Living in Massachusetts I can honestly say that I am proud of Senator Warren's liberal leanings, but I don't want to see her run for President. I want to see a Democratic sweep. I want to see the Republican party go the way of the dinosaur but knowing how to count, I also know winning a majority of voters won't make you President. Senator Warren is divisive and gives the incumbent cannon fodder for television voters. The last American President was elected on a wave of voter enthusiasm. Personally, I am liking Senators Booker and Harris for the future. They are smart, and well spoken and would restore a vision of hope for the future, not a longing for yesterday.
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Democrats don't have anyone who could counter Trump with their own unique way to impress voters. Criticizing him for his total disregard for the established social, political or diplomatic norms or his brash style hasn't worked and will never work. Dems have to come up with a unique candidate with a very strong agenda and image. Someone who hasn't shied away taking positions which are unique and sometimes at odds with democratic establishment. The democratic party is dominated by establishment hawks and doves with their standard positions and narratives. Dems need someone who seems genuine with their beliefs and someone who can inspire. None of the above mentioned candidates except maybe Kamala Harris meets that criteria. I would be happy to see Tulsi Gabbard in the race.
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Bernie maintains a large poll advantage over Warren, Booker, and Harris, who remain close to the margin of error despite their constant campaigning on TV etc as this article shows.
Warren is just fighting for our country, and preparing in case Bernie doesn't run. She would never challenge Bernie. She was the perfect candidate against Romney in 2012 but would be quite a poor match against Trump in 2020. She will be Bernie's Treasury Secretary.
Kamala Harris is also too smart to run against Bernie and be torn down by the Left. Instead she will endorse him early because that would give her a near lock on the Vice Presidential nomination.
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Knowing she'll have to tamp down some of her signature ardor to gain national appeal, Ms. Warren will have to find just the right landing spot in the political spectrum. It's not easy. The others named in this piece are a little too old or a little too new. At the same time, age would be less of a factor in the election if a 74 year-old Trump decides he's still interested.
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It will be a very real dilemma for many Left leaning, liberal and independent voters if both Sanders and Biden contest in the primary. Warren probably would be the Vice President pick for Sanders.
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She'd be a strong VP pick for Sanders, Biden, or Booker. Though, her odds of winning the nomination & presidency are pretty good themselves.
Left-leaning Democrats will have no trouble deciding in favor of New Deal progressive Sanders over centrist good ole Joe Biden.
They may face difficulties deciding between Sanders and Warren, however. But Sanders is aged, lost to a deep,h flawed Clinton, showed an inability to go for the jugular, and was out of his depth on financial matters, Black Lives Matters, and gun control.
Warren is the obvious choice for progressives. She has shown a skilled use of Twitter, know how to go after Trump, and is aggressively populist. Harris is too new, but could be a superb VP candidate.
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I happily voted for Sanders in the primary (and Clinton in the general, for the record) and I would vote for Warren or Harris over Sanders this time around.
I am grateful to Sanders for showing the viability of progressive policy positions in 2016, but I think his time has come and gone and I'd LOVE to see a woman chase Trump from the White House.
I also have more faith in Warren to be an effective and pragmatic executive than I do Sanders.
All of which to say, I would have no dilemma.
As for Biden, I wish him a happy, healthy retirement.
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Iam 71 years old and a lifelong Democrat. What I see coming is the same that happened when George McGovern became the nominee for President. The left wing of the party had hijacked the nomination. Hubert Humphrey a moderate should have been the nominee. Even I at 25 years old saw clearly that the party was out of touch with the average American. It became the second biggest landslide in American history with Nixon crushing McGovern. And now its happening again. You would have thought the Democrats would have gotten the message with Trumps election, but no they are doubling down, and they are gonna lose big.
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Did you forget that Hubert Humphrey lost to Nixon four years before McGovern?
And did you forget that in 2016 the "establishment" candidate lost to the know-nothing goon currently disgracing the White House?
All polls showed Bernie doing much better against Trump than Hillary... Yet the DNC did everything they could to eliminate him.
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From what I've read everyone in this group pretty much represents what Americans want. At least those who aren't billionaires altitude deprived the rest of us from obtaining health insurance, Social Security,and Medicare that most of us will need.
The far left and the so-called progressives are trying to hijack the Democratic Party. Even though they are a minority, like Republicans, they want control like Republicans. And like Republicans their Bernie boy was helped by Russians.against Hillary. Bernie has never said anything about that even though it has been reported. It benefited him so he went with it.
Hillary is still the most qualified and competent person to be president of United States right now and she deserves it more than anybody in the world and any true American should stand up and seeing how the Republicans cheated her and helped Bernie help to cheat they would have to agree. The left-wing thinks they are progressives Hillary is twice as progressive as they are but only twice as smart at the same time. What progressive that is like children who are outsmarted by Russians and Republicans to help beat Hillary. But they are so cult like their minds are made up and you can’t tell them anything. Just like the deplorable‘s.
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Can't we find candidates in their 50s to run?I love Biden, but isn't there a 50 year old version of him?
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The vast pool of highly educated, benevolent, and selfless individuals, isn't there as it once was! While I know I'm generalizing, Americans born after 1960 are not as politically and intellectually motivated as prior generations! President Obama was an outlier.
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Steve Bullock?
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You mean a younger candidate who has Biden's eight years of invaluable experience at the center of executive power in the White House as a successful president's trusted confidant? A candidate already far advanced along the presidential learning curve, and one who showed sterling judgment in his counsels over two terms? That does not exist.
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I know I have a different perspective on this living in Houston but we need someone from the middle of the country who is center/just left-of-center politically to win the election.
While I will vote for anyone against Trump, the Democratic Party must put up someone who appeals to the political middle (which is still the majority of this country) and who also understands the problems faced by middle America. I have many friends/family who can't stand Trump but if the opposing candidate is farther to the left, I fear they will vote for Trump again.
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Liberal California voter here: you are 100% right. My money is on Biden-- old yes, but if he can move slightly to the left, he (we) can win. No woman, no no minority can win. Winning is everything. Getting out the vote is mandatory. No typical Democratic cannibalism allowed.
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I'm 63 years old and I want to elect politicians who can take the long view and be around to see it happen. I won't be voting for anyone older than me. I want a new generation of leaders with fresh ideas. Bernie, Joe, Elizabeth, Hillary, Nancy, Steny, and Chuck, your time has come and gone, and I thank you for your service. Please move on and let the next generation of leaders take the reins.
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Here here to that. I'm almost 40 and have been voting for the blue boomers my entire adult life. It's time for others (namly my generation) to step up and rise to the challenge. We need a centrist democrat to run point in 2020 who has more than passion - someone that has real and practical ideas that I as a "east coast democrat" may not always-100%-of-the-time agree with. Does anyone in their right mind think that the mid-west or appalachia are going to go for Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris?!?!? Sure, in my perfect world - they would but let's be real. We democrats need to find the "moral middle" that destest's Trump the person (shouldn't be too hard) while offering more than a facade of a solution to problems that the family of 4 making $75k is facing. Yes Roe and other social issues are very important but if we keep preaching these topics as our mantra we will keep losing local, state and federal elections.
What's the old line... "It's the economy, stupid"
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I'm with you frank. No more day old bread. We need new faces and new ideas.
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Wanna beat Trump? You need a Doug Jones with charisma. A centrist Democrat who can beat a Republican in a Republican State. None of the lefties mentioned will appeal to centrist Democrats and independents, which is where this race is won.
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@Dr. M : Tammy Duckworth. Squeaky clean and I would give anything to see her debate Cadet Bone Spurs (should he somehow still be in office).
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@Dr. M But there's no such thing as a Centrist Democrat with charisma, because being a Centrist Democrat means being a Republican Lite Incrementalist, which is incompatible with charisma.
@Dr. M Correction: Obama had a lot of charisma, when we were duped, or duped ourselves, into believing he was a Progressive. When we realized he was just another Republican Lite Centrist, he lost a lot of his charisma.
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We have Trump because 3.7 million fewer Democrats voted in 2016 than in 2008, and many of these did not vote for Hillary.
In 2016, Republicans held their noses and voted for Trump. He was their nominee. They wanted SCOTUS , among other things, some valid.
Democrats were not as self-energized. Many decided that "sending a message" by not voting, was a more effective way to get what they wanted than voting. So here we are.
If Democrats are going to get what they want, it is not going to happen in one election. Democrats need to understand that local and state elections affect their lives more than nationals. In 2008, 70 million Dems voted, and two years later, 2010, 40 million; this is when GOP took over 11 more state houses and started passing laws restricting health, women's choice, minority voting, etc. This can't be blamed on Hillary, or Russia, or the electoral college.
We are not going to be able to use facts or logic to convince the 40% Republican base, who believe Obama is a Muslim from Kenya, that Hillary ran a sex slave operation from the basement of a DC pizzeria, and that Jesus coexisted with dinosaurs. We can only out-vote them.
After the 2019 elections (yes, my fellow Dems, there are elections every year), I will judge the 2020 nominees mainly on one thing: can they get Democrats out to vote. Bernie Sanders has already failed that test.
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@Steve Bernie Sanders who filled stadiums, despite getting zero coverage from the in-the-bag-for-Hillary mainstream media, passed his test with flying colors!
"find someone who can make Trump look like the biggest fool on the planet"
first of all, that's never happening
You MUST try to field a candidate who runs on substantive issues - as opposed to the Hillary model of "I'm not Trump...or they are all DEPLORABLES" /
You know, an old fashioned democrat type populist agenda of jobs and the economy and health care (***hint NOT the ACA) for the working/middle class.
But wait - Donald Trump has THE exclusion now on an America First agenda, and those democrats who have attempted this recently after 2 years of ONLY attacking, obstructing and resisting the President, have found themselves sounding hollow - like a phony copy of Trump.
Sorry - the globalist model for the world, being relentlessly pumped by their surrogate media, will not win anything in 2020.
simple as that
Democrats need a compelling and charismatic candidate to challenge Trump's power. So far there are NONE in sight.
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@Eyes Wide Open, try looking at Sherrod Brown. A grown up from a key swing state, experienced but years away from the retirement home. Says this 63 year old.
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Democrats wake up! Please let us not choose the inexperienced new comers; Harris, Booker can wait until they have more experience. Please let us not choose those who are divisive; Warren, although I chose her over Hillary, is a lighting rod. We need someone who can relate to those who abandoned the party for Trump!
Please let us not choose the old; (sorry Joe, I love you but you should have run instead of Hillary).
Please let us run on issues, not on impeaching Trump; Danica Roem and Conner Lamb have set beautiful examples of what happens when you make politics local.
I urge you all to check out John Feeley. https://www.newyorker.com/.../05/.../the-diplomat-who-quit-the-trump-adm...
He has my vote.
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