Biden threw Anita Hill under the bus and gave America Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court.
He is not fit to win the Democratic nomination.
14
“One-third of people who participated in a recent Iowa Democratic primary — usually considered all but certain voters — said they weren’t likely to caucus” — Well maybe it’s time to give an early caucus opportunity to a different state where the people will actually show up?
6
Biden has a lot more problems than whether or not his Iowa voters caucus. Biden is proving himself to be a boring, ineffective campaigner. He is not generating any excitement at all, nationally.
15
The fact that Iowa is in any way shape or form demonstrative of the US electorate is beyond absurd. It’s one of the least diverse rural states in the nation, on top of it a caucus. Public electoral decisions aren’t the way America votes. They hide behind the curtain and vote economy, taxes and their moral compass in private. Iowa should be a quaint curiosity, instead people take it seriously. Give me a first state like North Carolina or Michigan, that to me would be a little more representative of the US electorate as a whole.
6
@DS
And yet both Obama and Clinton won and went on to become the nominee, with Obama winning the elections.
1
These early primaries may favor the most radical candidates. This will appall the DNC, who will see their chances of beating Trump slipping away. If Sanders wins in Iowa and NH, then the Democrats are in real trouble. The Sanders supporters think he will sweep to victory, but they are not in touch with the feelings of the vast general electorate.
Moreover, the campaign would be one attack after another on the feasibility and costs of Sanders' proposals, and whatever support he has among Democrats might erode. Even the educated suburban professionals might desert him when he makes it clear they will be paying huge new taxes to provide health care for the poor and free college for all. Blue collar blacks and Hispanics will think his ideas are crazy, and might desert to Trump.
I don't see any way the Bernie Sanders could beat Trump.
3
@Jonathan Neither did people see that Trump could be Clinton!
8
@Jonathan
And Republican establishment saw no way populist Donald Trump could beat 17 other Republican contenders for their nomination.
6
@Jonathan You don't see any way Bernie can win because you're not looking. He consistently polls above Trump, and yet the Neolibs continue to assert that another right-mod is the way to go...I guess 2016 never happened, eh?
3
If we need to entertain you to get you to vote, we're already in real trouble....and we probably are.
After that, we'll talk about the education system that let you believe words can be capitalized at random.
Has anyone ever investigated just how many older Democrats watch Fox News? The results might be surprising. The older Demos choosing not to caucus can watch the primary coverage on their favorite news outlet, while the rest are out in the cold casting their votes.
2
Back in 2016, a spoke to many Bernie Sanders voters. They broke down into two types. The nasty, mean spirited “Bernie Bros” and then the Pro-Bernie primary voters who, after the convention, supported Hillary Clinton knowing that Trump would be a disaster. (I really, really want to distinguish between the two).
The “Bernie Bros” were caustic, intolerant and rude. After one ranted to me about Hillary won the candidacy based on some vague conspiracy nonsense, I pointed out that she actually won because she had the overwhelming support of black Democratic voters in the South and gave her the momentum to win the nomination.
His response? “Well, maybe those people shouldn’t be allowed to vote!”
I responded: “So you would deny southern black voters their one big chance to have a say so in who becomes president of the United States?!? Sounds like Jim Crow to me.”
His response was a silent glare.
And he wasn’t the only one with this attitude.
So, I can totally see why an Iowan vote who support for other candidates wouldn’t want to spend three hours of their precious life dealing with people like this.
Fortunately for most of us in primary states, we have the privacy of voting in a curtained-off booth or with a mail-in ballot.
9
@Swing State Voter I had to run a caucus in 2016. The harassment from the aggressive Bernie Bros made me decide to never caucus again. I am willing to volunteer but I do not want to be afraid. Fortunately the Democrats in my state decided to end the caucus and use the primary instead.
5
@Swing State Voter What is gained by this kind of lying and character assassination? Bernie Sanders' political career literally began marching against segregation, and being arrested for it. A major factor in my decisions to strongly support Sanders with generous donations, and to vote for him on the first day of early primary voting in my state, as in 2016, is this kind of venomous dishonesty by his opponents. It reflects incredibly poorly on you.
12
@Swing State Voter
Lol...you found the 1 in 10 caustic voter, and kept up a running dialogue, baiting him; and got the result you were looking for, thus confirming your bias.
Guess you showed him.
You also showed us you.
The caucuses I've been to didn't involve caustic, intolerant or rude people. But then I didn't go looking for, or provoking them either.
Hmmm...one wonders who was who here.
Glad you are in a curtained-off booth or mail-in too.
5
How can Biden’s supporters get excited about electing a conservative who acts like a Republican as the Democratic candidate. Not a lot of excitement there.
14
Biden is clearly the Manchurian candidate of the centrist, establishment, corporate Democratic contingent. Hopefully the progressive wave is large enough to wash over him (and them!)
13
So this is going to be the Moms v Sons caucus?
2
A (not so silent?) minority of all those malarchists may not be the voting types either!
The concept of the Iowa caucus reminds me of voting for student body president in high school, cliques and all. Seniors knew seniors personally and voted for whom he/she liked. Juniors asked seniors, sophs asked juniors and the lowly frosh were bemused.
4
The neoliberal establishment is determined to destroy Bernie’s candidacy, and Bernie’s supporters are figuring out that the establishment would rather re-elect Trump than risk the horror of a candidate who actually cares about the American people.
The neoliberal establishment (centrist dems and republicans) has been the unilateral superpower for over 30 years, and the Ivy League geniuses have been such abject failures that one would think that failure was always the objective.
The planet is on fire, our foreign policies have destroyed large swaths of Central and South America, Africa and our crowning glory in the Middle East, where we’ve spent somewhere between 6 to 10 trillion dollars to fight the war on terror.
The result is that the rest of the world now sees America as the greatest threat to the planet.
And now the American Serfs are getting uppity wondering why we pay 2x as much for health care with the worst outcomes in the industrialized world.
The Serfs wonder why we have to spend more on defense than the next 10 nations combined while our infrastructure sinks to 3rd world standards.
The Serfs are figuring out that the drug war that is Joe Biden’s greatest achievement is just one more abject failure.
The neoliberal establishment will find a way to keep the Serfs in their place so they can protect their place at the trough.
24
@Annie Gramson Hill "Bernie’s supporters are figuring out that the establishment would rather re-elect Trump"
I figured out in 2016 that it was "elect Trump", too. I did vote for Hillary Clinton in the general election.
4
@Annie Gramson Hill Exactly. I've had zero choices in general elections for my entire lifetime besides this Neolib or that Neolib. Now that a real choice is emerging the Mods are terrified and will deploy every resource available to thwart the emergent Left. The NYT is really showing its hand here
3
"draws a large number of voters to the polls who do not vote regularly. "
The Democratic Party nominee, whoever that is, must do that in November.
5
Several commenters have voiced an opinion that the Iowa caucuses shouldn't be view as any importance--- but they are! Iowa has had the effect, through state polls, of squashing the campaigns of our non-white candidates. It's a bizarre system and most alarming, the system gives so few voters extraordinary power in the campaign. The Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for condoning such an election absurdity for this length of time.
5
This illustrates what a poor system caucusing is. A primary seems much more accurate in displaying voter sentiment.
14
Compare this article to the one beside it on Sanders, which allows no comment. Here, the tone is civil, and there is no talk of "fans" or "bros." Politicians don't have fans; they have supporters.
In the article, you reported the nasty behavior of Sanders' supporters in Nevada in 2016. But you neglected to state that Sanders' headquarters there had been shot into and robbed, and that what drew the ire towards the Nevada DNC chair was her calling a clear "äye" vote as "nay."
Now that you are finally giving Mr. Sanders the coverage he deserves, please try to tell the whole truth.
19
We are in this mess because too many Democrats need to be pushed and prodded and promised great things to get them excited to go to the polls. Hasn’t this corrupt administration been incentive enough to vote?
We have the government we deserve. The one that people who cared enough to vote - voted for. If you don’t like what you see, think he is a racist, care about your personal autonomy- then get our there- or stop complaining about your healthcare and student loans and stagnant wages and crumbling infrastructure because republicans aren’t going to do anything other than keep you in that box and tax breaks for donors.
3
From hard experience, a warning. Caucus goers who want somebody beside Bernie better steel themselves. They will be bullied and disrespected at the caucus. Their views will not be heard. You better take somebody to defend yourself against these tragically hip bernie boys.
In my state the caucus results were thoroughly overturned by the following primary election.
9
@Larry
Thanks for your comment. Here are a few more details: Sanders won the WA State caucuses by a comfortable majority. Four times as many folks participated in the primary which didn't count. Clinton won the primary by a comfortable majority. The caucuses had a disproportionately very large number of young childless people and a disproportionately very small number of older people and un-white people. At my own specific caucus and precinct, the Sanders supporters demonstrated an overexuberance that sometimes went off the road into conspiracy theories and outright misogyny.
6
@Larry Why don't people just accept Corporate Feudalism and Inherited National Debt quietly? Just because Neolib policy has literary created a world that will burn down in 50 years so that we could extract more capital over a single generation doesn't mean anyone should be upset, right? These angry serfs don't like the consequences of Neoliberal Greed; let's just dismiss them as "aggro Bernie Bros" and get busy stealing another election
2
Will The Times and corporate bought and paid for media stop at nothing to suggest that Biden is the front runner and anything good happening with Bernie is a statistical error. Furthermore the continual spiel that older folks, particularly educated ones and black voters love Biden and favor him over Bernie just doesn’t make sense, I’m an older bicoastal voter living in both Oregon and Florida: among my friends in coastal Oregon and Palm Beach those who are not rabid Republicans that love Trump(it’s all about Israel and taxes)the rest, all of whom are educated whether retired physicians or educators Bernie is the man hands down, I can honestly say Biden doesn’t enter the conversation other than to say he displays signs of having lost it( as many of us do at our age, we are not however running for President), the curse of having a kid like his and his really despicable position with regards to not only going to war in Iraq but his fist to the gut of working people, including blacks with the credit card imbroglio of a few years ago, giving bankers another avenue to steal with impunity was unnecessary, they seem to come up with plenty on their own. How about admitting it, Bernie is the person best suited to not only defeat Trump but to get our country back on track: a few more years of neo liberal centrist politics and not only will the middle class be wiped out entirely but we will be lucky to avoid a revolution, perhaps deserved.
15
Iowa is about as representative of the National Democratic Base as Kansas is a microcosm of the entire Country. Too old, too White, too Rural.
Enough.
7
The first filter of the primary season should not be an outlier, relying almost entirely on white people who have plenty of free time and a herd instinct. No matter what happens in Iowa every candidate should grit their teeth and press on toward actual elections in more typical states.
5
All this emphasis on Iowa with its trivial population, 0.9% of the American population, for every 1,000 Americans only 9 live in Iowa! Its population is extremely small compared to America,
and also very unrepresentative of America. Severely underrepresented in urban population, in minorities. The emphasis on Iowa is nothing less than an enormous corruption of the American system of choosing our presidents. Why do we put up with it?
12
Caucusing is really cool if it works as intended with direct participation and discussion. I did it in Seattle when I lived there. Conventional wisdom thought we should all be yay Bill Clinton, but in fact “undecided” ruled our thoughtful precinct.
On the other hand, caucusing is also daunting, especially for young voters. And it is relatively easy for political “machine” operators to dominate or shut down the discussion.
It’s kind of the opposite of a secret ballot as well.
So if the elderly white conservative Iowan landline-phone-poll-answering Biden supporters aren’t the caucusing type, who the heck is?
I love the enthusiasm of the Yang Gang. I hope they show up to the Iowa caucuses and demonstrate their candidate’s “humanity first” motto.
But their paranoia and Bernie supporters’ paranoia runs deep. They feel they are being disrespected.
1
Biden is Jeb 2.0. While he has all the DNC and establishment aligned behind him, he lacks energy and doesn't bring any enthusiasm. People lean toward him as lesser evil. He is not in condition of running a national campaign against Trump, plain and simple. Imagine what would be a debate against Trump with the speed at which he processes the questions in Democratic debates. Trump will feast on him.
18
@Gabriel Right on all counts Gabriel, unfortunately losing the election would not matter to many establishment Democrats, there are as many if not more neo liberal billionaires enjoying the tax perks brought on by The Donald, and many like Clinton are in favor of the endless war to protect Israel; it would have been interesting to see who exactly was on the guest list of billionaire developer Steven Ross fund raising party in the Hamptons for Trump where the minimum price of admission was reportedly $250,000.00. If you think the Hamptons are populated by old WASP Republicans like Mitch McConnell and the Bushes you haven’t been paying attention for the last twenty years. Trump has delivered everything short of bombing Iran; to pretend that the Republican Party of today is a bunch of “rich old white guys” and bubbas in overalls is so totally incorrect as to be laughable. I for one would like to know why multi nationals like Apple, Amazon and Google aren’t paying taxes, if they are even threatened with taxes in Europe Trump threatens the countries with such idiotic reprisals as a 100% tariff on cheeses, wines in France and automobiles in Germany. Americans should wake up to the fact that unemployed former factory workers and rich old whities aren’t the enemy they aren’t in charge of the economy anymore, haven’t been for decades nor are they in charge of anything else for that matter. It’s all a charade.
8
These caucuses are not like political meetings in a party. You vote. If any candidates are under 15 per cent, you have another vote excluding people that did not get 15 per cent. You repeat until everybody gets at least 15 per cent. You can leave if your candidate gets excluded. You don’t have to discuss anything. Bring your phone, sandwiches and coffee to keep busy between votes. It sounds like you also ought to bring your own folding chair. It’s Iowa so I cannot see anyone getting loud or out of hand. It is not that tough. Now a caucus in NYC or NJ would be a different story. Heaven help voters in those places if they ran out of chairs.
2
In 1972 George McGovern made piles of promises to young idealistic voters who wanted structural change not to mention the end of a vile and hated war. And how did he do? Nixon 520 electoral votes. McGovern 17. Dems - you are asking for a repeat of the same performance with every Sanders vote. Where is the honest, thoughtful, intelligent, balanced, competent, articulate, passionate, energetic candidate who can cross the generational divide? Adam Schiff - are you listening? Otherwise go Biden or Bloomberg or anyone except Sanders.
5
@Eileen Alterbaum
Yeah McGovern lost badly. How did the nation do with Nixon?
1
@Eileen Alterbaum Yet more recently, in 2016 IIRC the mod/right Dems cancelled Bernie to promote (yet another) moderate Dem...how did that one go? The last 3 elections have been won on messages of "change" and yet Neolibs would rather reference an election from 50 years ago than deal with current events...
1
The broader issue is that caucuses are anti-(small-d)-democratic and disenfranchise vast swaths of the electorate. There are many people who simply cannot show up in person for an hours-long caucus event. These disenfranchised persons include the elderly, disabled persons, health care shift workers, emergency response workers, deployed military personnel, and lower income folks who cannot afford the daycare.
Caucuses afford no opportunity for mail ballots, like primaries do. Caucuses are inherently disenfranchising and undemocratic. It's far past time to retire this anachronistic feature of our elections.
5
@LenRI Also, the winter weather in Iowa is very unpredictable. How many, especially the elderly, would go out in a snowstorm to caucus?
1
The question every Democrat should be asking is not whether their particular favorite will win. That is irrelevant this time. The question they should be asking is , “Can X beat Trump? No matter what favorite policy I want to see in their platform.” I, personally, don’t care about things like gender, minority status, rich or poor, religious or not. I care about experience in governing, civility and integrity, knowledge of national and international issues, a lack of scandal in their public lives, an understanding that politics is the art of compromise. A commitment to the rule of law and the Constitution.
The petty squabbling among some of the current candidates has led me to withdraw my monetary (small) contributions to two potential frontrunner. They don’t seem to care about the damage they do to the party. If they can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
An interesting question is, “Who does Trump fear most?” I don’t think it’s any of the top four. He may be wrong in doing so, but it will make a difference in the race.
This is an excellent article, and it helps to explain why different polls have such different results.
One has to wonder why the Monmouth University and the Neighborhood Research and Media polls weight their results by primary participation instead of weighting the results by caucus participation or by the likelihood that one will caucus. Its almost as if these two polls are intentionally weighting their results to favor Biden.
5
Biden, in my opinion, is a Jeb. His luster has already been lost and he fails to inspire swaths of the voting electorate. It's very telling that Sanders continues to attract people who do not regularly vote, and this is key to a Democrat winning the national election this fall. It's as much about drawing out people from the sidelines who dont historically vote, as much it is about winning over moderates and disaffected Republicans.
18
@Adam
Biden, like all candidates, appeals to some sections of the population more than others. Iowa happens to be a state with a population that is not rich in the segments that do favor Biden, e.g., people of color. Right now, all polls are focused on Iowa, and they are pretty good predictors of who will win in Iowa, but not of winners in other states.
6
There’s another reason for Bidens falling numbers: he’s a weak candidate. He is overly and inappropriately aggressive, has a stuttering issue, appears to have difficulty formulating his ideas in front of an audience, and the “Hunter Ukraine issue” will not go away - maybe not because it had anything to do with corruption but it wreaks of nepotism. Finally Bidens record on important issues such as protecting social security is not good. Are caucuses different from primary voters? well yes in that they are by their nature more involved with the issues and candidates . That actually makes me more interested in their results, not less.
28
In 2016, Sanders won several caucuses, because as the article points out, that is his strong point. But he won very few primaries, most of which HRC won handily. And since there are far more primaries than caucuses, it is primaries that ultimately decide who the nominee will be. In this regard, Biden still has a fairly sizable advantage over Sanders.
7
@Maani Rantel - Biden is no Hillary. At least she knew which state she was in.
1
Perhaps DNC will simply cancel Iowa caucus if current Anointed One Joe Biden might be defeated by another candidate more preferred by voters.
- Why can't these rubes just fall in line like we tell them to?! It works for the GOP. What's wrong with all these Dems who want to be heard as if they matter?!
26
Iowa. Doesn't. Matter. Why so much time, effort and $$$ spent there is beyond me.
10
@PS
Simple. They are clever enough to go first, and to make their system so unusual that it gets lots of press coverage. With out these strange rituals, no one would pay any attention to a state with such a small population. It's marketing, brother!
1
This is yet another reason to discount the results of the Iowa caucus. By excluding voters who are busy with work, have difficulty travelling, staying out for several hours on a week night, etc., caucuses are far less democratic than primaries. The general election will be a direct vote with early and remote voting and thus will rely on exactly the sort of voter that the poll discussed here shows are being excluded by the caucus system.
Add to that the fact that the Iowa Democratic caucus electorate is very white and skews to the far left, and it's clear that we shouldn't be substantially basing our nomination on the results of the Iowa Caucus. For what it's worth, I lived in Iowa for seven years (taking part in the 2012 Democratic caucus) and even then, it seemed ridiculous and indefensible that Iowa uses such a system and retains its first-in-the-nation role.
23
@Edward Swing - In the last election, I went to the caucuses here in Washington. Its a half day event with a lot of folks crowded into a school gym. Each candidate's supporters get a chance to pitch why they should get the vote, there were two votes, the tally, etc. There were very few young people there that day because there was some kind of college basketball division playoff (the kids have not discovered this thing called a VCR) so basically, all the grey haired folks decided. It was on a Saturday.
Now, for voting, we vote by mail and no one has to stand in line anywhere or worry about job conflicts or anything else. That is a lot easier than getting dressed, venturing out into our non-stop rain, taking the bus to the location, listening to the other candidates' supporters wax on, etc.
5
This is very real and quite problematic. Democrats should simply say to themselves that Iowa simply doesn't count this year. We saw the same lack of democracy here in WA state during our 2016 caucuses. I was a precinct captain. Before the caucuses I visited every home in my precinct. Of all of the elderly people whom I spoke to (folks 65 and older, about 100 in total), only one couple showed up. The vast majority of these folks were very knowledgeable about the issues, had a clear favorite in the race (Sec. Clinton), and expressed a strong desire to participate. They were also well aware of how our caucuses worked. Virtually all of them commented on the physical difficulty of attending. At my caucus site (an urban elementary school), for instance, there was no convenient parking. The caucus involved hours of standing in hallways and elementary school classrooms. At the caucuses other groups also did not participate in similarly disproportionate numbers, e.g., disabled people, people who work on Saturdays, people with small children, people with more than one job. On the other hand, young people without children participated in disproportionately high numbers. We narrowly won my district (in one of the most progressive zip codes in the country) for Clinton but, as everybody knows, Sanders won the state by a comfortable majority. In our primary, which didn't count, four times as many people participated and Clinton won the state with a comfortable majority.
10
@Robert May I remind fellow commenters that PAT ROBERTSON,Yale Law School, born again Christian won the 1988 Iowa caucus/primary but didn't get much beyond that!Read article in Times newspaper about the difficulty of being able to attend caucuses in Iowa, especially for the disabled, and reckoned there had to be a more intelligent, compassionate method to bring people out to vote. But whoever wins will have a SIGNAL advantage going forward.Problem is that Americans in my view will stick with the person who got them to where they are now, enjoying prosperity, a rising market despite events in China and have yet to hear of one small business owner, entrepreneur who is not in it for Trump, and as mentioned, 90 to 95 percent of businesses in the US are small businesses.Unless Bolton can buttress his revelations with other sources, prove that others were in the room when Trump said what he is supposed to have said about Ukraine,do not see how his testimony can be deemed credible. Why is TRUMP so indiscreet, if in fact he did say what Bolton maintains that he confided to him?
@Robert - Clinton won the state? As I remember, Bernie won every single county in the state along with 72% of the vote yet every single superdelegate voted Clinton. I was a precinct chairman and caucus delegate. Per Wikipedia:
"Sanders won all counties in the state on the day of the caucus."
The reason young people did not show up at my caucus was because of a college basketball game, some divisional playoff. Young people I spoke to along the way to the caucus told me they were just going to see who got the nomination but they didn't care to participate. No one seems to have a problem finding parking to tailgate when the Seahawks are playing at home:) Given our public transportation system and the fact that the caucuses are in each precinct close to home, no one needs to drive to get there. But yes, the school gymnasium was full of people but it felt like a Starbucks minus someone shouting, "double-tall mocha breve for Sam". And we did joke that it was the only place in town that did NOT have Starbucks:).
2
@tom harrison
Did you even read my comment? I said Clinton won my precinct but Sanders won the state. I also said that Clinton won the primary. And all of that was 100% correct.
4
I think the Iowa caucuses are going to come down to Buttigieg and Sanders because their campaigns are generating the most enthusiasm. I personally support Buttigieg because I think he is running a much more positive and inclusive campaign. It will also be interesting to see how things turn out given the different strategies of the two campaigns where Buttigieg's supporters will follow the "Rules of the Road" and try to persuade folks while always "being nice" while I can't say the same for the Sanders supporters especially given how his supporters have been trolling the other candidates.
8
That’s because he doesn’t have any voters. This is an excuse to say that Biden is in the running when the people aren’t behind him. No one I know is enthusiastic about Biden. It’s like a last resort attitude that shows up in the polls from some people who parrot the media: I guess I could vote for Biden if he ran against Trump. or I think Biden is the only (white male) one who can beat Trump so I’ll vote for him. No one is passionate for Biden like the others and he has no passion in him.
58
@Not Pierre - Biden running for president without Obama having endorsed him on the first day is like Commander Riker running for office without Picard saying, "Make it so".
If your former boss isn't jumping up and down telling me you are the best which is why you were his running mate years ago, that is all I need to know. Obama/Clinton can make all kinds of excuses but the three worked together and neither Obama nor Clinton are heaping on the praise. Biden keeps talking about Obama but I don't hear a peep from Barack.
6
@Not Pierre That's the opposite of what the poll showed. Biden had MORE voters than Bernie. He only had fewer based on a caucus system that excludes most people. The fact that Bernie's prospects depend on such an undemocratic system to eke out a victory should not be seen as a positive for him. The smoke-filled rooms of old were full of "passionate" people.
3
Is this rocket science for NY Times? Traditional centrist democrats are constantly being shamed by the impulsive younger generation, right from the times when President Obama had his primaries. These centrist folks simply do not show up for caucusing, or if they do, they get bullied into voting for someone who is the hero of the vocal crowd (generally the younger anti-establishment people). If you have witnessed this, caucusing is a loud, vocal, and rowdy scene that has no bearing on how the real elections are conducted. The trouble is this younger generation is so charged that they start to believe that their candidate is entitled to win the primaries but when that does not happen, there are baseless accusations of rigging. This generation then refrains from showing up at the actual polls in general elections because their candidate did not make it. I have been there and seen that last election, first hand.
18
@APS - :)) You should try a caucus in Seattle. Mine looked like an AARP convention and conversation ran from "Have you tried the Bubba Kush at the cannabis store? Its to die for", to "Aren't the tulips lovely this year" to "Can you believe that there is a building in town that Schultz hasn't slapped a Starbucks into yet?"
No yelling, no screaming. We save that for Seahawks games.
3
@APS
Maybe if you give them a candidate they trust rather than just another neoliberal corporate shill like Hillary they'll come out in droves. Might be worth a try this time.
2
Does Iowa even matter? Is Iowa a precursor for becoming President? How many electoral votes does Iowa even get? Shouldn't the real focus be Super Tuesday? Or is Kobe's death, a virus spiraling out of control and an impeachment trial not real news?
2
Everyone needs to vote out this reprehensible POTUS and the GOP senators who have sold their soul to this Traitorous mob boss. He threatens the GOP with lack of funding for their campaigns and he is using a divide and conquer strategy to eliminate both Biden and Sanders.
They want Biden and Sanders to be eliminated as the dem candidate because they have the strongest poll support against Trump. They think Warren is not as strong, so if they can eliminate the two strongest ones in their eyes, they will then go after Warren. Think about what they did to Hillary! They will dig up "dirt", whether it's true or not, on Warren after they use a gaslighting campaign on Biden and Sanders.
DON'T FALL for this!
5
NOW we get this
Dems are nuts to let IOWA caucuses who don't even VOTE shape the destiny of our party
11
I really appreciated the David Leonhardt column that pointed out how much white privilege is embedded in Iowa and New Hampshire, especially in the caucus process, which requires lots of thinking and standing and commitment.
Some demographic groups have better things to do with they time than caucus this and caucus that!!! They just want Joe! He was with Obama. Remember Obama? Well don’t you forget him!
Joe will cut the Malarkey. And these caucuses in super white states are just that - a load of steaming Malarkey. No one understands any of it! Give the people what they want! Give them a heap of Joe! All of this stuff is wearing the People out, making us tired. If the DNC is not more careful, NONE of us may vote. Just give us a plate of Joe and call it a day for heaven’s sake!!!
3
If the democratic caucus in Iowa does not reflect the will of the people of Iowa, then the National democrat party should not call it a primary and it should play no role in the nomination process. I say this as someone who supports Bernie Sanders.
16
@George S sure, but you can't change that now. I'm sure Iowans would prefer some enfranchisement rather than being completely disenfranchised.
1
My big takeaway from this article is that the nature of the caucus structure (vs. primaries) favors the candidate with enthusiasm on their side...the enthusiasm gap between Biden and Sanders has been reported on and analyzed before, and I hope it is something people take into account as they try to figure out who is the most electable...the enthusiasm of Bernie supporters doesn't just mean young people going out to vote on election day, it means unprecedented numbers of volunteers making phone calls, knocking doors, and getting out the vote. We can beg and lecture primary voters to work just as hard for whatever nominee wins, and they/we all should, but at the end of the day these people are going to go the extra mile for the candidate they are truly excited about, no matter how rationally you explain that they need to be pragmatic, etc. Bernie Sanders is the candidate that will get large numbers of volunteers out there on the ground in the general election...and the candidate that can get the attention and participation of (at least some) of the people who have previously been checked out from the political process and feel jaded about our democracy
49
@Rafael Bernie enthusiasts DO NOT VOTE.
And if you carefully read most of his enthusiasts are from out of state and heavily financed
3
@kathyinct Sanders supporters are financed? That's news to me. In fact, i'm pretty sure my donations are going the other way around. Also, since I've turned 18 since the 2016 elections i'm proud to say I'll be taking much enthusiasm voting in my first presidential election this coming year.
27
I think that was also true of Obama and Hillary. I forgot who did better re each type of voting.
Bottom line to all democrats and independents reading this column or any republicans.
If you think Trump is the greatest threat to this democracy since the Civil War, vote for anybody who is leading Trump in the polls.
Right now it is Biden, but if it should change vote for that person even if they are judged senile by three doctors.
The Veep can take over.
Don't make the same mistake you made with Hillary, ie super popular in big liberal states but very unpopular in the rest of the country.
5
@Paul 100% false . Sanders is beating Trump head to head in most national polls in larger margins that Biden.
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@gene Where are you getting your numbers? RCP shows Biden on average at +4.3 vs. Trump and Sanders at +3.0 vs. Trump.
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@gene and Edward below thank you for you replies...RCP shows a tight race between Biden and Sanders but if you dig further, Biden lead widens a bit in almost every swing state needed to win and also beats Trump in most states.
BTW, I said Biden is leading now, if Sanders or any other candidate takes the lead vs Trump at Nov. vote for them.
Forget about Beauty contests and platitudes. They don't win election.
Just ask Hillary.
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A lot of Sanders support is young people. People who wouldn't have been old enough in 2016 even.
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@Corbin Excellent point, and yet another indication of why we all should take these "analyses" with a grain of salt. There are too many variables for any poll or analysis to be accurate enough to take seriously. As you point out, if you're going to build a case combining age groups and a previous election cycle, you sure as heck better make sure you're factoring out newly minted voters in the current cycle. I also find the lack of attention to name recognition and how it creates false positives in polls galling ... The media is creating way too much click bait instead of actual investigations into the issues.
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@Corbin
Certainly! But they must register and vote in November, and urge their friends to do likewise.
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There is a small but very vocal number of Bernie supporters who are outright bullies. Look at their Twitter behavior towards Warren, Buttigieg, Biden, anyone who they perceive as a threat to Sanders. I have participated in caucuses in Maine and despise them. Voters should be allowed privacy. I hate the thought of going to a caucus and getting railed on by a bully because of my choice. There is a reason Sanders does so much better in caucuses than primaries. The bullying of his loudest supporters is a piece of it.
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@Brenda Maybe if a few vocal Sanders supporters puts you off you're in for a reality check with the White Nationalist / Far Right crowd . Better get some thick skin.
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@Brenda Did it ever occur to you that these "outright bullies" are trolls trying to turn voters against Bernie? Seemed to work on you! I know lots of Bernie supporters and we are not bullies.
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@Brenda Not everyone you meet online is who they say they are. Don't fall for the trolling, reject divisiveness.
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I wonder if Biden generates the same level of enthusiasm as some of the other candidates. It takes enthusiasm to get people to the polls in big numbers, and we'll need a huge turnout to beat Trump.
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@Ryan There have been polls showing Sanders voters are extremely enthusiastic and Bidens- not so much.
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Trying to imagine my dad going to a multi-hour political meeting. It would have been a hardship for him. He was a reliable voter.
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@br I think its young peoples job to take over now, the older people have had a lot of time to make things better and they haven't, so let the young people have a go at it.
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@flying rabbit This is discriminatory. The whole caucus process sounds Undemocratic. For a party that advocates for making voting easier this process seems time consuming, confusing and intentionally burdensome.
3