US Politics: Talking about the Elephant in the race.

[Maithanet]

11 minutes ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

That is Obama's job (to shore up AA support). I mean, if a Clyburn endorsement could do so much, Obama on the campaign trail would be all the better. Also, note that he is a better fit with Biden than he would ever be with HRC. I'd suggest someone who can energize the youth vote and lower the 30% LatinX vote for Trump. 

Fair.  Obama can definitely help with AA support, but that doesn't mean that a VP who could help with that wouldn't be a worthwhile boost.

What VP could potentially help with the LatinX vote?  Castro never caught on with them, and I got the impression that he genuinely disliked Biden.  Lujan Grisham?  Or is NM Gov too obscure for the national stage? 

[Larry of the Lawn]

21 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

What is bizarre is the idea the stock market reflects quality of life and that I would say that. Where the hell have I ever said that? Do you think I’m a Trump supporter? This labeling is bullshit. I posted a couple of weeks ago that CNN reported Bloomberg had built a campaign team bigger than Obama had and would offer it to whoever the nominee was in case he didn’t win, and then I get ranted at about How Dare You Compare Bloomberg to Obama! And that I, a Canadian, am the leading voice in this thread against income equality. And now the stock market indicates quality of life!

Like, wt holy f?

Here we go again.

ELIZABETH WARREN. I love her. She had a plan for everything. If she were in Canada I’d vote for her. She’d probably be the leader of the Liberal Party and be Prime Minister Warren.

?  Read post 199.  

 

[Fez]

LOL. The Richmond Times-Dispatch (hidden behind a payroll) begins their article on the results with...

Quote

Virginia- where Democrats prefer that their politicians be boldly cautious- was true to form on Super Tuesday…

What I'm saying is, subscribe to local journalism. It's a good thing.

[Ran]

19 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

Fair.  Obama can definitely help with AA support, but that doesn't mean that a VP who could help with that wouldn't be a worthwhile boost.

What VP could potentially help with the LatinX vote? 

Ocasio-Cortez? Also brings out the youth vote! 

[Maithanet]

1 minute ago, Ran said:

Ocasio-Cortez? Also brings out the youth vote! 

She is not eligible yet.  And I kinda doubt she would accept the nomination and be willing to toe the line for Biden, since she said that center-lefters like him ought to be in another party. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

56 minutes ago, Mauvka said:

Tywin,

I think the expectation is that the Democratic electorate cares more about those shared weaknesses in their candidate than the Republicans do.  So even if the flaws are shared, Biden may not have whatever je ne sais quoi that allows Trump to win support.  

Democrats will always nitpick their candidate more. It’s time to stop. We’re actively fighting with one hand behind our backs.

[Ran]

1 minute ago, Maithanet said:

She is not eligible yet.  And I kinda doubt she would accept the nomination and be willing to toe the line for Biden, since she said that center-lefters like him ought to be in another party. 

Oh, forgot that the VP has a minimum age as well. Hah.

In all seriousness, I think Kamala Harris is likely the front runner. 

[Ormond]

27 minutes ago, Fez said:

LOL. The Richmond Times-Dispatch (hidden behind a payroll) begins their article on the results with...

What I'm saying is, subscribe to local journalism. It's a good thing.

These days most newspapers are having a hard time meeting payroll, much less hiding behind one.

(Yes, I know you meant "paywall".)

[aceluby]

6 minutes ago, Ran said:

Oh, forgot that the VP has a minimum age as well. Hah.

In all seriousness, I think Kamala Harris is likely the front runner. 

Harris is the only choice for Sanders IMO.  I don't think she'd be the best choice for Biden though.  He needs someone who can help him make inroads with hispanics.

[DMC]

16 minutes ago, Ran said:

In all seriousness, I think Kamala Harris is likely the front runner. 

Well, based on publicly stated prior preferences this is undeniable.  And I still think she'd be a good choice to ensure black turnout.  Just because Biden is dominating the black vote in the primaries does not mean he'll get the turnout needed in the general.  That should be clear after Hillary.  If there were a woman that galvanized the Latino vote as much as Harris could for the black vote, I'd say that person should be the VP nominee.  But off the top of my head I'm at a loss to identify anyone that could possibly to that, really male or female.

[Jace, Extat]

2 minutes ago, aceluby said:

Harris is the only choice for Sanders IMO.  I don't think she'd be the best choice for Biden though.  He needs someone who can help him make inroads with hispanics.

There are people (plural) who post on this board that believe picking Harris or another like her would be proof positive of "the establishment having co-opted Bernie's revolution". With the (possibly inferred on my end, but I read what was written) implication that they might lose faith in their god-politician should he make such a strategically effective decision.

Just in case someone wants to tell me more about how all the 'centrists' are unreasonable jerk faces who discriminate against the reasonable and measured Bernard fanboys.

[Ran]

11 minutes ago, aceluby said:

Harris is the only choice for Sanders IMO. 

There's going to be some pretty angry progressives at his picking a former prosecutor for his running mate.

Quote

I don't think she'd be the best choice for Biden though.  He needs someone who can help him make inroads with hispanics.

Harris did get some good marks from Hispanics after the first debate, as I recall, even better than Castro did. But yes, an actual Latino would be better in this regard. Castro just double-downed on Warren last night, so I think he's not going to be Biden's pick for VP... and Sanders almost certainly is going to look for a woman. 

5 minutes ago, DMC said:

Well, based on publicly stated prior preferences this is undeniable.  And I still think she'd be a good choice to ensure black turnout.  Just because Biden is dominating the black vote in the primaries does not mean he'll get the turnout needed in the general. 

Indeed.

Quote

That should be clear after Hillary.  If there were a woman that galvanized the Latino vote as much as Harris could for the black vote, I'd say that person should be the VP nominee.  But off the top of my head I'm at a loss to identify anyone that could possibly to that, really male or female.

Beto? Not Latino, but fluent Spanish speaker, uses a Hispanic-style nickname, has some cachet in Texas (enough to put it in play against Trump? I am dubious), good name recognition outside of his state thanks to national media coverage, seemed well-liked enough by Hispanics... but not actually Hispanic, so.  And he wildly bombed out after frittering away all the attention he had gotten after his run against Cruz, which is a black mark, I suppose.

 

[DMC]

2 minutes ago, Ran said:

Beto? Not Latino, but

Yeah, him or Castro would be the most obvious examples, and Beto is a better "public" politician than Castro.  My reservations would be (1) are we really sure he's gonna help that much in the states needed (i.e. Florida, Colorado, Arizona - Texas is still a pipe dream)?  And two, he presents more downsides because his..eccentricities could serve as a distraction that bogs the campaign down throughout many media cycles.  With Harris, what's her downside?  Her prosecutorial record?  Yeah the general electorate doesn't give a shit about that.

[Ormond]

4 minutes ago, Ran said:

There's going to be some pretty angry progressives at his picking a former prosecutor for his running mate.

Harris did get some good marks from Hispanics after the first debate, as I recall, even better than Castro did. But yes, an actual Latino would be better in this regard. Castro just double-downed on Warren last night, so I think he's not going to be Biden's pick for VP... and Sanders almost certainly is going to look for a woman. 

Indeed.

Beto? Not Latino, but fluent Spanish speaker, uses a Hispanic-style nickname, has some cachet in Texas (enough to put it in play against Trump? I am dubious), seemed well-liked enough by Hispanics... but not actually Hispanic, so. 

 

What about Catherine Cortez Masto? Or is the fact that her mother was of Italian descent make her too "non-Hispanic" to appeal nationwide to Hispanics?  She's the same age as Kamala Harris and was also Attorney General of her state. Anyone from Nevada know how she is as a campaign speaker or debater? 

https://www.cortezmasto.senate.gov/about

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

You’re over-thinking this. The answer is obvious. You need:

A woman (check)

A minority (check)

With wide appeal to the latinx community (check)

And is generally popular (check)

With a great Q-score (check)

And can make unpopular people lovable (check, check, check).

The answer is clear. We must draft J-Lo for VP.

[Ran]

8 minutes ago, Ormond said:

What about Catherine Cortez Masto?

I admit I know little about her, and I suspect she has little recognition outside of Nevada. Still, she's the first Latina in the Senate, that could be something to focus on.

[Zorral]

YAY! No Wealth Tax!  Stock market recovers! Bloomb can drop out without fear!  We can travel safely and contentedly back to the past and keep everything like they used to be.*

Also, as an amigo observed, "One of the many depressing things about this week is that we're assured now of 40 years of Buttigieg in the political media one way and another."

* i.e. for the ridiculously rich.  Nothing will be the same again.  It already wasn't, for that matter, but nevermind.  No Wealth Tax!  World kept safe for crumbling and disintegrating infrastructure, climate catastrophe, pandemics, thirst, hunger, inferior or no health care, and homelessness

[Lollygag]

I remember when people were against Nancy Pelosi for Speaker because while being a woman, she wasn't checking the cool demographic boxes.

Competence is awesome. Biden is old and he also has a ton of challenges starting with fixing Trump's Animal Housing in the not-funny-at-all way of our foreign policy, federal government, the NSA, CIA, DOJ and about everything else. It's a gut job. And that's on top of the domestic issues that need addressed like now. Ability starting election night should come first because we don't have time for anyone's training wheels. If you can get that in a cool demographic, peaches. But don't put in a (likable) doofus like Beto when there's so much crap going on for the sole reason of checking boxes and patting ourselves on the back.

Coronavirus ranked as important to a lot of people's votes. A VP pick that doesn't inspire a lot of confidence undermines that. The world might be a very different place come election day and it doesn't make sense to leave anything to chance.

And just because a person checks a certain box, doesn't mean they automatically earn the vote of that demographic. Just ask Warren, Klobuchar, Booker, Harris, and Castro.

 

[Kalbear]

I don't see why having a Latino as your VP would help all that much. The states that matter for winning aren't particularly heavily latino, and the states that are largely either in the bag for Dems or Republicans are. Getting a 5% more share in Texas doesn't help win the election. 

[Jace, Extat]

I know it's unbecoming, but I had to take classes for my Masters the past couple of years and I just gotta say... it's so satisfying to know those whiny little brats still don't vote. 

No matter how belligerent or bumbling the love of their precious Bernie was, home boy can't compete with Twitter or The Masked Singer.

Some shit don't change, Zorral.