This week in the clown car update: Spartacus is In and LA mayor Eric Garcetti is Out. Oh, and Oprah’s spiritual advisor joined the race, because why the hell not?
This is the point in campaign cycles when key campaign staffers and donors stop returning the calls of undeclared longshots, either joining up with a declared campaign or waiting for a bigger fish (“Sure, Mike, I think you’d make a great President, but old Joe Biden and I go way back…”). Biden can wait. Bloomberg can wait. O’Rourke has enough residual fawning media afterglow and a big enough contributor list that he can probably wait as well. Beyond them, the train has already sounded the whistle and announced final boarding. There will be another one along in 2023…
An Emerson poll shows that only Biden beats President Donald Trump in Iowa, while Trump beats everyone else. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says that internal polling shows him in double digits. The problem, of course, is that “internal polls” are always garbage.
538’s weekly roundup. And National Review‘s Jim Geraghty sorts the Democratic candidates by age. “To get a sense of the generational difference, when Joe Biden was first elected to the Senate, Buttigieg, Gabbard, and Castro had not been born yet and O’Rourke was two months old.”
Losing Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams: Probably Out. She’s been tapped to give the Democrats state of the union response to President Donald Trump. I have to admit that it would be hilarious if she used the time to launch her own Presidential campaign…
Creepy Porn lawyer Michael Avenatti: Out.
Colorado Senator Michael Bennet: Maybe. All quiet on the Bennet front.
Former Vice President Joe Biden: Leaning toward running. Did Biden embrace segregation in 1975? Will being Obama’s Veep inoculate him from charges of racism? We all know the answer to that: If you’re inconvenient for Social Justice Warriors, nothing inoculates you from charges of racism.
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg: Making noises like he’s getting in. “Michael Bloomberg’s Secret Plans to Take Down Trump.” Can’t be very secret if it’s in The Atlantic, now can it?
Michael Bloomberg has bigger plans for 2020 than running for president. The billionaire and former New York City mayor has been openly dreaming of the White House for 25 years, and spent huge amounts of time and money four times over the past 10 years trying to figure out a way to get himself there.
But he has hesitations about this race, too. He’s not sure there is a realistic space in the Democratic primaries for his centrist record. And he almost certainly won’t run if Joe Biden does, members of his team believe.
Note that “centrist” has now come to mean “not completely insane on law and order issues” in Democratic circles…
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker: In. Website. Twitter. Spartacus is in. I predict we see a vicious series of attacks against Booker from a mainstream media desperate to keep him from eating into anointed favorite Kamala Harris’ base. Upgrade from Probably In.
Former California Governor Jerry Brown: Doesn’t sound like it.
Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown: Probably running. He’s calling Trump a racist, so it sounds like he’s already in mid-season far-left pandering form.
Montana Governor Steve Bullock: Leaning toward In, but is reportedly going to wait until Montana’s legislative session finishes, which would be May 1.
South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg: In. Twitter. Facebook. Appeared on ABC’s This Week. Might have peaked upon announcement.
Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, Jr.: Out.
Former San Antonio Mayor and Obama HUD Secretary Julian Castro: In. Twitter. In an interview with New York magazine, he says the race is all about immigration, Because Trump. I’m sure he wishes it was, but I bet Democratic strategists who can actually read polls dread seeing that happen…
Former First Lady, New York Senator, Secretary of State and losing 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton: Probably not. Never mind what Hillary herself said last week, Clinton toady John Podesta says she’s not running. Back in the crypt, Grandma Death. Downgrade from “Maybe.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo: Out.
New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio: Maybe. New York Times notices that the appetite for De Blasio rivals the popularity of [spins pop culture reference wheel] New Coke. Assuming the pitchman was still Bill Cosby…
Maryland Representative John K. Delaney: In. He was on Iowa public television, sounding disturbingly normal by Democratic Party chances, so I can only assume he’s toast.
Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard: In. Twitter. This week’s obligatory MSM “Tulsi Gabbard is doomed” piece comes via Politico, who claim her campaign is in “disarray.” You know, just like the all those 2017 stories on the Trump White House. Glenn Greenwald goes on to debunk another NBC hit piece: “NBC News, to Claim Russia Supports Tulsi Gabbard, Relies on Firm Just Caught Fabricating Russia Data for the Democratic Party.”
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti: Out. “This is where I want to be, and this is a place where we have so much exciting work to finish.”
Former Tallahassee Mayor and failed Florida Senate candidate Andrew Gillum: Out. Just joined CNN. A downgrade from “Probably Out.”
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: In. Twitter. Traveling to Iowa.
California Senator Kamala Harris: In. Twitter feed. She’s fundraising in Hollywood (where “she disavowed ‘identity politics,'” which I’m guessing doesn’t include any of the leftwing kinds), and the latest fawning profile comes via the Washington Post.
Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper: Probably in. Says he’s the guy to beat Trump rather than someone “far left.” Compared to any field but this one, Hickenlooper himself is pretty far left himself…
Addition: Former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder: Leaning toward a run. Didn’t want to add him, but he’s speaking in Iowa. Maybe threatening to take votes away from Kamala Harris is the only way to get the MSM to do honest reporting on Fast And Furious…
Washington Governor Jay Inslee: In. He’s very, very upset that Schultz is considering running as an Independent than as a Democrat.
Virginia Senator and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Vice Presidential running mate Tim Kaine: Out.
Former Obama Secretary of State and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry: Not seeing any sign.
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar: Leaning toward In. Get’s a semi-fawning profile from NeverTrumper George Will, with a slam at “skateboarding man-child” Beto O’Rourke along the way.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu: Maybe? Zero buzz.
Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe: Leaning toward a run. Says he would “like to” run and will make a decision by March 31.”
Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley: Maybe.
Massachusetts Representative Seth Moulton: Maybe? Showed up in new Hampshire to give a speech only to shrug off questions about why he was there.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama: Out.
Former West Virginia State Senator Richard Ojeda: Out.
Former Texas Representative and failed Senatorial candidate Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke: Maybe? He evidently stopped raising money months ago. Also:
A Facebook Live chat he did in response to President Donald Trump’s Oval Office address on immigration earlier this month began with about 2,600 viewers. By the end, after an hour of him walking around his El Paso neighborhood trying to show the calm reality of a border town, and looking at the decorations in friends’ homes, and then sitting on a couch and chatting at length, the viewers steadily dropped to just over 1,000.
New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez: Constitutionally ineligible to run in 2020.
Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick: Out.
Ohio Democratic Representative Tim Ryan: Doubtful. He’s not even in that 538 roundup.
Vermont Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders: All but In. Unnamed sources say he’s running.
Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer: Out.
California Representative Eric Swalwell: Leaning toward In. “I’m close to making a decision. I’ll be in New Hampshire tomorrow, so I’m excited for that.” Yes, nothing says “excitement” like midwinter New Hampshire…
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren: In. Twitter. “Elizabeth Warren plans tour of eastern Iowa towns after ‘big announcement’ in her home state.”
Addition: Author and spiritual advisor Marianne Williamson: In. So let me get this straight: Oprah’s not running, but her spiritual advisor is? She most recently placed fourth in a California congressional race, but Team Kamala must be shitting bricks at the possibility that Oprah might endorse her.
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey: Out.
Venture capitalist Andrew Yang: Running but no one cares. Twitter. Facebook. I will say he has a lot of events on his calendar…
Tags: 2020 Election, 2020 Presidential Race, Andrew Yang, Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, Elections, Elizabeth Warren, Eric Garcetti, Eric Holder, George Will, Hillary Clinton, Howard Schultz, Iowa, Jim Geraghty, John Podesta, Julian Castro, Kamala Harris, Michael Bloomberg, New Hampshire, Oprah Winfrey, Pete Buttigieg, Sherrod Brown, Social Justice Warriors
This entry was posted on Monday, February 4th, 2019 at 7:07 AM and is filed under Border Control, Democrats, Elections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Is Hickenlooper the sanest one?? He has run a state, poorly.