Iowa Caucus - Joe's last opportunity to break out...
Joe Biden is running on his reputation and support for President Obama. His reputation is sullied by the fortune he's earned from his notoriety, his corrupt son, and the pathetic campaign he's now running. Bernie's not the alternative but the Democrats must look to someone else. Competent billionaires are a much better alternative to the most corrupt President the nation has ever had.
2
Contrary to what Bernie people say, Bernie does have baggage such as Gun lobby money, poor support for his son when he was young, his relationship with Russia, his inability to bring people together for starters.
The cost of my prescription drug which I picked up yesterday increased 16% from 3 months ago. Something must be done to stop this outrageous profit to the drug companies and all the middlemen involved. They raise prices on the people because they can and our representatives do nothing to stop this. Bernie Sanders is the only one who has consistently spoke out against this madness. He is the only person who will get my vote, period.
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By the way, it is super easy to donate to Joe Biden or any of the other Democratic candidates. Any amount is fine. Takes just a minute. Use www.actblue.org. Click "sign in." Click "create an account."In the search box at the top right, type the name of the candidate. This is exponentially better than anything the Republicans have.
1
Why we need Amy Klobuchar: if Bernie wins nomination, he loses to Trump because he is too socialist for middle or he is too old. Sorry, but it's true. If Bernie doesn't win nom, his die-hard supporters will stay home--we need Amy to counteract that with her support from the Midwest. Believe me, not my favorite, but we have to beat Trump at all costs. What will we do if Bernie lost?????
1
It seems the Iowa caucus is about as accurate as flipping a coin in predicting the presidential candidates. I suggest we stop putting so much emphasis on this one event and let the primary process roll out
3
If he stays in the top 2 positions in Iowa and NH , he will see more money flow his way. However, many democrats, like myself, see spending money in this primary fight as a waste of our hard earned money that could be used supporting the ultimate challenger to Trump who has a huge war chest .
1
Joe Biden never spoke up during the impeachment trial. He hasn't supported his true colleagues in the Senate: Democratic Senators. While Senators Sanders, Warren, Klobuchar and Bennett uphold their duty to the country and Constitution, yuck it up-don't-vote-for-me-then, Joe the personal space invader and finger poking fast gun, is larking it from one ice cream shop to the next.
Trump attacking Biden to distract from his election tampering isn't what I'm holding Biden to account for Rather, he isn't condemning what the Senate GOP members are doing to destroy irreparably our Constitution, our form of government and the very fabric of our country.
Joe is AWOL on all counts of issues of the gravest import. Iowans, take note and caucus accordingly.
11
Joe Biden has been personally perennially poor as a church mouse who spent most of his adult life in elected public service.
Is that a badge of moral honor?
Or does that make him more prone to listen to monied special interests?
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@Blackmamba
He is fundamentally decent, which is what matters. Like the other Democratic candidates. None of them are in the pockets of monied interests. And it would help greatly if several of the candidates would stop saying otherwise.
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@Robert
I’m not so sure he is fundamentally decent. See the Rolling Stone article on his role in the 2005 bankruptcy bill: It came out in October.
He might be a nice guy but I would not expect him to serve anyone except his wealthy donors if he were to make it to the White House.
This is why he has virtually no support from young people. On subjects of policy he is bankrupt.
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@Blackmamba
You mean 'the Senator from MBNA?'
5
The phone rings incessantly, the mail box is stuffed with flyers, and folk appear at the door. It's good for the Iowa economy to have money spent to convince folks who is the best candidate to back. In my neighborhood, no one wins the sign war. Maybe this has all gotten far away from the original idea of neighbors meeting in living rooms and school rooms to hash out their differences and come up with backing for one candidate. Hopefully coffee sales are up and there will be some sanity is all this.
3
Out here Iowa simply doesn't matter. it's too unrepresentative, too undemocratic. We just got rid of our own caucuses, for those very reasons. Biden who is one of our top three will remain so no matter what happens in Iowa. Our donation plans won't change.
7
"He has maintained an almost unassailable lead with black voters, in particular."
'polling lead' 'suggested lead' - Not one vote has been counted and the Post knows Biden has an 'unassailable lead with black voters'.
I thought journalism had some sort of accuracy standard that might require a fact to support 'unassailable' as used here. Who would prefer the fact for a starter?
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@stewart bolinger
Clinton had the same type of lead among black voters until Obama won in Iowa.
If Bernie gets momentum from wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, people could start losing confidence in Joe Biden.
Iowans will be wasting efforts on Biden. They should pay attention to the two women candidates endorsed by the NY Times Edi board Senators able Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and no nonsense Elizabeth Warren of Massachsetts. Even though I believe that California and NY will go for any Dem nominee but Trump, I think the repeat of Dukakis winning only Mass and Mondale winning only Minnesota should be a worry for Dems
4
@Girish Kotwal
This is why we need to work to help Bernie Sanders. He’s been in first or second and every head-to-head pull against trump the past year. Of the 23 contests Bernie won in 2016 most were Rust Belt states that flipped the Trump in the general election.
4
"Three months ago, Mr. Biden dropped his longstanding opposition to having a super PAC"
What more do you need to know?
Nobody is supporting Biden...except the donor class who knows he will protect their money.
Contrast this with Bernie who is raising millions of dollars from millions of regular Americans.
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Trump still fears Biden, and the strategy of using the impeachment trial to do the dirty work he wanted Ukraine to do shows it. Obama should come out now and state unequivocally that Joe was carrying out US foreign policy in Ukraine and there was nothing corrupt about it. Doing this now might help to inoculate Biden against Trump’s attacks in the general. Sanders or Warren are a sure route to Trump being re-elected .
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@Michele
On the contrary, I guess you didn't hear the recording in 2016 after Trump won the election i which he was caught stating that he was glad HC didn't pick Sanders as her VP because he thought the outcome might have been different and that is even more the case today, unlike Biden, whom during a number of town halls when asked about specific polices by constituents, had meltdowns, turned his back on them and told them to vote for someone else. He would be eviscerated by Trump in debates.
8
@Michele No. Bernie is the best positioned candidate with the most grassroots support and funding. Biden has been propped up by the media for far too long. His snafus would have sunk any candidate from any other election.
Biden is beliigerent with prospective voters, can't string together a sentence, and his platform is regressive. He is polling under 10% with youth vote.
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@Michele
Maybe there's a reason Obama has not said exactly that?
Trump is still terrified of Biden and it is working if Biden's polls are going down... so who's next for Trump? Bloomberg scares him...... that being said if Biden or Bloomberg win Trump will be a no-show for the debates... it's the only way he can control his base just imagine what he will say to his base about not going to a debate... As for a woman... he will shred them on stage he thinks! ..... but he also knows his base isn't ready to vote for a woman...
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@gc
The only Democratic candidate to Trump is afraid of is Bernie Sanders. Did you listen to the recording of Trump that came out recently?
Besides, Biden would be disastrous in the general election. He’s a Kum-bah-yah candidate, not one of substance. He has negligible support among the young because of his lack of policy substance.
He harks back to a period of bipartisanship that never really existed.
2
Former VP Biden and even more so, former Mayor Bloomberg, are still living in the old universe--where super wealthy donors bought TV ad campaigns to elect their pro-corporate candidates. The contrasting Sanders model--of millions of ordinary people funding candidates via Internet donations, to enact pro labor policies--is inevitably supplanting their old universe . . . Broadcasting killed democracy. Social media have made democracy possible once more.
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@Red Allover from NY. Fair comment. Your democrats should pay attention to pearls of wisdom not just shallow praise.
3
Biden will win the nomination I believe.
But after all that's come out about his family's dealing under the table with Obama knowing. I think Trump will dispatch him so fast, Biden want have a Chance.
Talk about Disgrace right at the end of his life.
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@Rodger from far way Greece your assessment of Biden' chances for nomination are unrealistic but his fate if he does win the nomination and his demolition by Trump are very true.
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Check Grampa Bernie dozing thru the Senate hearing.
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With its 87% white population, Iowa in no way represents the U.S. electorate. The media would be doing a public service—and be much more reliable—if, in reporting the polls, they would stick strictly to those very few states which single-handedly gave the 2016 victory to D. J. Trump. No other polls have any validity whatever.
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@Margaret Jay
It's a good general election strategy to focus on Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin where Trump won in 2016 by less than 2%.
But it's incredibly narrow minded not to focus on states where demographics are changing that offer Democrats an opportunity now and in the future to turn into battleground states such as Arizona, North Carolina, and Georgia.
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@Carl Bernie won Michigan and Wisconsin handily in 2016 primary. He would beat Trump in both of those states and polls better than Biden in both.
1
Talk about corruption of the American political system!
Iowa, totally unrepresentative of the national Democratic Party,
with very few people of color and very few urban voters,
with only a trivial unrepresentative 0.9% of the American population, apparently determines who is going to be the national Democratic Party and quite possibly who is going to be president. Nothing could be more undemocratic than a few people in the Iowa caucuses having all that national power. A very poor example of democracy for the rest of the world. Bernie is strong in Iowa precisely because Iowa Is unrepresentative of the national Democratic Party and the general American electorate.
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@David
Ted Cruz won the Iowa caucus in 2016 he didn't get his party's nomination.
Dick Gephardt also won the Iowa primary and he didn't win his party's nomination.
Quit believing the Iowa hype. It's just a starting point. All things being equal things don't really start shaking out in terms who the real serious contenders are until Super Tuesday.
Has anyone noticed that the "crowd" at Joe Biden's rally in Souix City, Iowa was amazingly small? Souix City has a population of around 85,000.
I mention this because now in 2020, and in 2016, the numbers of people who turned up for Sanders' rallies are far greater. The Democratic Party seems again intent on failing to take into account that well-attended rallies and genuine enthusiasm for a candidate translates into a large volunteer base willing to work on getting a candidate elected.
The low turnout for Biden events isn't limited to Souix City. I recall noticing last week that the one portion of a news account of a Biden rally which showed much of the venue also showed a small number of folks present. Sanders continues to draw thousand, if no t tens of thousands of people to his rallies, as he also did on short notice in 2016.
It will take a great deal of work to forestall re-election of Trump. Volunteers knocking on doors, making phone calls, helping people get to the polls is what's going to make the difference. Biden doesn't have that, even before he tells people at rallies to vote for someone else if they don't like his position.
A further indication that Biden isn't a viable nominee for the Democratic Party is that he's not able to generate funds for his campaign from those who would actually be voting. It's pretty clear that voters are tired of big donors running the show. So far, the only Dem candidate whose candidacy is funded by real people is Sanders.
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@Traveler.... One huge problem in the Sanders candidacy:
Millions of people who don't want to vote for Trump can't vote for Bernie either. Trump will defeat Bernie. What is Bernie's point? To get Trump reelected?
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@Traveler.... you're inaccurate. I worked three Biden events in San Francisco (!!!)and we had to turn people away.
This article is very slanted and not worthy of the NYT.
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@Dolly Patterson
Sure, thats only one place in the nation. What about the rest of the nation????? I heard it's been amazingly small on many other areas. Many aren't excited with these candidates.
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NYT looking to take Joe Biden down and Open up the door for Women endorsements. Trip Gabriel looking to the low side. Not in touch with some disenfranchised voters and the fact that voters want someone they might be able to trust.
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None of these candidates are going to win Iowa.
You don't win Iowa by spending millions of dollars on flashy ads. Iowans don't like flashy.
The way Carter won Iowa, and made it a thing was by traveling the state and meeting real Iowans. Obama did the same thing.
Not one of these candidates has truly made an attempt to meet Iowans.
There have been showy "events", and TV ads by the gazillion.
But none of them did what they would have had to do to win Iowa.
2
@Larry Thiel I agree that flashy TV ads don't really resonate in Iowa, Iowans are way too involved and informed to be influenced or impressed by TV ads. But there are candidates with impressive on-the-ground operations in Iowa, Warren being one of them, and hers has been quietly in operation since 2019, plugging away at the hard work of establishing real connections and networks that should pay off on caucus night. Multiple analysts have spoken about how well-organized her on-the-ground campaign is, she gets kudos from Obama era operatives, Pod Save America, to ordinary voters in Iowa who have been interviewed by the press. Biden's campaign, on the other hand, has been repeatedly evaluated as poorly organized, haphazardly run, and ineptitude when it comes to recognizing priorities and using their money widely; it's ironic given this is his third run ... NYT ran a piece on this just yesterday: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/us/politics/joe-biden-iowa-caucus.html
@Larry Thiel , really? Pete has been all over Iowa this month, with over 50 campaign stops. In the last week he has been campaigning non stop and filling venues. Also going to Obama/Trump towns.
1
@Dianeka Pete and Bloomberg are the only two candidates that I would even consider.
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Financiers and bundlers expect a return on their investments. Bernie receives his donations via everyday people who only expect Bernie to work hard for them not political bribes or favors the rich and powerful demand. Big difference. Time to make another donation to the Sanders campaign.
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@Sue Salvesen Mine go to Warren this time around; she's much better positioned to take on Trump - less baggage for him to attack. I enthusiastically backed Sander in 2016, and will vote for him is he's the nominee in 2020, but I find Warren's approach of truth-telling, without relying on a oligarchy platitudes ad nauseam, a more hopeful path to progress and unity. I've attended campaign events for both of them; I found myself feeling energized and joyful after Warren's, wanting to do volunteer work and feeling like "we can do this" - similar to my experience with Obama; with Bernie it was more a feeling of "grin and bear it"
2
I sure hope Joe does well in Iowa and New Hampshire, he is the most viable moderate Dem candidate, and the most likely to able to beat Trump. You can believe the polls that all the Dem candidates can beat Trump if it suits your ideals, but please remember 2016. Its the suburbs of a handful of states that made the difference, and I am doubtful that polls reflect them accurately if at all.
I know my observation is not popular with my Democrat friends and acquaintances, but noble as the progressive agenda is, it will lose votes on medicare for all and Dem rejection of all trade deals. And those are votes needed to win in the electoral voting system we are stuck with. I sure hope I'm wrong, but I honestly believe the New York Times pick of Warren for POTUS if realized, will give Trump a second term.
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@JD If you are looking for viable (I assume you mean least vulnerable to attacks in a general election) and moderate, Warren is actually the one who fits the bill. I recommend two articles (links below) that cover her history as a Rep, her bankruptcy work that led to switching to Dem, and her overall belief in capitalism and the markets. The press keeps referring to her and her ideas as "left" "far left" "progressive" BUT when you look at polls on the issues (NOT candidates), the majority of Americans are in favor of her ideas, majority = middle, e.g. she's actually moderate.
1
Let's face it, any candidate could be the object of the trump/putin smear machine. But no, they chose Biden - months ago. His polling numbers weren't just name recognition - he appeals to swing state and independent voters, and to a majority of black voters. Attacked at first just by republicans, he held the high ground without disrespecting others. Then he was forced to respond when attacked by Harris, then Warren and Sanders, and now Buttegieg. Granted, if you can't stand the heat get out the race, but we'll be left trying to unify in the wake of the nastiness underway. Worse yet, if Sanders runs the same game as last time we're sunk. The stakes are way too high to risk a newcomer or those too far left to attract voters at the margins. In fact the backlash effect of smearing Biden could actually help once he chooses a strong VP and goes 1:1 against the Bully in Chief. The odds favor Biden.
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@Ramba I don't agree, Biden is by far the weakest candidate with the most baggage making him vulnerable to Rep attacks. He's doing a miserable job at running a campaign: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/us/politics/joe-biden-iowa-caucus.html - and that's just the primary which is friendly, less rigorous territory. He's also doing a miserable job interacting with actual voters (look up the most recent instance of him telling a voter "go vote for someone else" as he manhandles the guy who is completely non-threatening to Biden. There is no scenario where "the odds favor Biden" because Biden keeps undercutting his own odds with the way he runs his campaign and his complete lack of self-discipline on the campaign trail.
6
Biden's campaign reminds me of Bob Dole running years ago, with the similarities being both were past their political expiration date, you had to be a sleuth to find someone who wanted them badly as their first choice, and if someone asked them what time it was, you got an answer that sounded akin to a history of timepieces lecture. Both men caught a bad case of I paid my dues and itsmytimeism, with the biggest difference being that even though Dole had been around forever, he didn't have the baggage that the Biden family brings to the table
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@Kevin
Right. And didn't we see "itsmytimeism" with Hillary in 2016?
6
God only knows what favors Biden has promised his billionaire donors for their support. But you can be certain that none of them will be good for American workers.
30
It seems as if the Biden campaign is just a few steps away from complete collapse. No enthusiasm on the ground or online. No money. No policies inspiring anyone. A track record of broadly unpopular stances on an array of policy positions over the years and an inability to confront any criticism thereof. The electability argument will be out the window, too, when Joe Biden comes in third or fourth in the Iowa caucuses.
Not to worry, we could instead vote for a guy spending as many millions as the entire field of candidates combined (were it not for the other billionaire). Brillant idea, right?
Or we could vote for a candidate who, issue by issue, supports positions favored by broad majorities of Americans and who has real, broad, grass root support from millions of Americans from all walks of life. Who, really, do we think will have OUR interest at heart? The choice is ours.
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@Marc Satz Nothing says "inspiring" like a candidate grabbing folks by the shoulders, berating them, and telling them to vote for someone else, am I right?
1
Isn’t most of Biden’s campaign, going to fancy big donor fundraisers? Didn’t Third Way and other large donors form a super pac to fund his candidacy? If he looses the first few states, it sounds like Bloomberg will jump in to represent the billionaire plutocrats. All this is great news for Bernie Sanders as he has the largest grassroots movement fueling his candidacy.
31
It's too bad Sanders isn't a Democrat. Trump has been staying noticeably quiet about Sanders lately while continuing to damage Biden just enough to help Sanders. Sanders will be helped along, as in 2016 by other bad actors from Russia and elsewhere, hoping to keep a moderate Democrat from winning the nomination in order to secure a second term for Trump.
12
Hopefully the last gasp of an ill-suited presidential prospect who simply can escape his record of less-than-benign “centrist” senatorial votes.
Godspeed, Joe
20
In 2016, Sanders was surging just like now in 2020. He took New Hampshire by 80% and just barely missed in Iowa and is pretty certain to take New Hampshire again. The latest information is he is leading in Iowa. Last time Clinton had already been promised a bunch of super delegates but the DNC still had to help to slow down Sanders. Are they going to do that again but this time for Biden? We don't know but there is at least a chance they won't. That leaves Joe just being Joe and he can really drag his campaign down without the help of the Russians, the Ukrainians or any one else. The question is, how long will he hold out. If he loses both states, the Democrat debates will probably get very nasty. and his financial backing will dwindle. He will be looking more like a loser than a known candidate who has the experience of a senator and vice president.
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@Ron
The difference is that last time Bernie wasn't considered an actual threat by the establishment until he finished in a statistical tie for first in Iowa. The only way he can lose this time is if the DNC blatantly rigs the primary against him again (which I wouldn't put past them).
1
@Ben I wouldn't either.
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@Ron
Yep, if your guy loses again, be sure to blame the DNC.
That will make you feel better than admitting the truth.
PS. Super delegates don't actually vote until the convention, and have always given the vast majority of their votes to who ever is ahead at the end of the primary.
Remember when it seemed Hillary had the super delegates in her pocket against Obama, until he pulled ahead, and they ended up switching to him.
This is so we don't have contested conventions, which end up killing us in the general election.
1
From the NY Times Oct. 5, 2019
"Top Biden Donors Gather Amid Storm Clouds Over Campaign Financing"
"Now fourth in the Democratic money chase and under fire from President Trump, Joseph R. Biden Jr. is increasingly dependent on his top donors, many of whom met in Philadelphia."
This is precisely why I will vote for Sanders.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/05/us/politics/biden-donors.html
If you think that the rich do not bend the government to their advantage read
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/washington/30schumer.html
It is an eye opener
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The only person who can rescue us from the two extremists of our time, a Socialist who idolizes Cuba and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and a psychopath who lives in the White House, is Mike Bloomberg.
He is rising faster than anyone else in the polls nationally. In Florida he is just behind Biden.
Neither Bernie nor Biden can beat Trump.
Mike can and will.
Mike will get it done.
He will save us from the far left and the far right and return us to the center where we belong.
5
@Simon Sez
The center you long for figment of your imagination.
Where is the center for rights for the LBGT community?
Where is the center for voter suppression?
Where is the center for women's reproductive rights?
Where is the middle for doing something about climate change?
The middle got us health care reform that is, well, middling at best.
The middle got us the repeal of Glass-Steagall which played a major role in the financial crisis.
The middle got us tax cuts the predominately favor the rich.
The middle got us NAFTA and Chinese admittance to the WTO. That was a disaster for manufacturing jobs in this country and did wonders for corporate profits.
The middle is O.K. with the status quo and is scared of change.
But the status quo is no longer sustainable.
2
Just a thought. If you are running a campaign that is aligned with the interest of your voters then you should be able to raise cash from expanding your voter base, correct?
If you are a solid candidate these things go hand-in hand.
21
I'll be curious to see the next Dem debate, when Bernie and Warren (and others?) go after Biden for using a Super PAC. It will be interesting to see which special interest groups have been investing in his campaign, when the list is released tomorrow...
19
Biden is going to run out of funds before the convention.
Bloomberg is going to buy the nomination.
2
It appears that Biden will not win Iowa nor NH or, to put it another way, Sanders will.
Will Biden even carry Nevada?
If he doesn't win the Midwestern state of Iowa and the Eastern state of NH and does not blow the others away in Nevada then his presumed win in SC will at best be hollow.
We will then realize that the man who bills himself as our insurance policy to beat Trump simply cannot deliver.
It is time for us to look for someone who can beat Trump.
Someone who can get it done.
There is only one person currently running who fits this description: Mike Bloomberg.
It is not a coincidence that he is outpolling everyone in Florida except for Biden. That too will change.
Sanders, who openly courted Castro, Hugo Chavez and calls for a Socialist Revolution can not carry Florida with its large Cuban and South American population. They know Socialism is the kiss of death.
Sanders can not win the midwest nor a national election. Too extreme left.
Mike is the person whom all of us need to unite behind to beat Trump and return our land to one of stability and hope.
He has and will get it done.
Count on it.
6
In three weeks I am driving from Silicon Valley, CA to Reno, NV to canvas 1000 homes for Biden. I am paying my own transportation, room and board. Many others like me from the SF Bay Area are doing the same.
Nevada is a must win for Biden and we are committed to using our own time, talent and treasure for him.
9
Hunter Biden should set an example by calling a press conference and answering questions regarding the payments which he received from Ukrainian oligarchs and Chinese Billionaires while his father was Vice President. This would resolve questions regarding how he received millions of dollars while he was drug impaired .
17
Wait, Biden is actually campaigning?
31
Save your cash in Iowa, Uncle Joe. Bernie's got this one.
60
That "It is over" Biden's redirecting power to the forward shiel—er, redirecting funds to Iowa from the later states suggests he thinks it do-or-die and that he doesn't quite have solid footing. It'll be a self-fulfilling prophecy too, if he loses Iowa and is then caught with his budget pants down in NH and SC.
Either way, it's an opening for the Bern.
17
@Mike C.
Bernie will probably take at least two of the early states.
He may even take other states.
Biden says he can beat Trump but it will be obvious that he is not what he claims he is.
Only Mike Bloomberg can save us from the two threats to America. from the extreme left of the Bernie Bros and the extreme right of the psychopath.
Mike will get it done
Bernie will be taken down. Mike will do it.
He will be our nominee and destroy Trump and save the Dems from a hostile Socialist takeover.
3
@Simon Sez
You just don't get it. This is not 1992. America is way to polarized for a centrists candidate. The status quo in America is no longer sustainable. The middle is where presidential candidates go to die.
Trump did not win in 2016 by appealing to the middle. Hilary did and she lost.
1