2020 Presidential Election 2: The Primaries are upon us

[SassyPants]

18 minutes ago, front hugs > duggs said:

Early reports: 

who will he throw his support behind? 

Biden would be my bet.

[nausicaa]

21 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

Biden would be my bet.

Mine too. 

It looks like currently his supporters are pretty evenly spread among their second choices. But if he endorses Biden, that could really give Biden a boost. 

I really like Klobuchar, and it bums me out that someone who is so policy-focused and pragmatic can't get more traction in the Democratic party, but if I'm going to handout spoonfuls of realpolitik to others, I need to take my own medicine. It would be wise at this point for her to drop out as well and throw her weight behind Biden. I wonder if Biden's team would throw in a VP selection to sweeten the deal. 

Don't know if anyone looked at their county's sample ballot, but it always bothers me that people who dropped out months ago are still on it. They clutter it up and possibly confuse people, and if 2000 taught us anything, it's never underestimate the stupidity of the average voter. 

Edited March 2, 2020 by nausicaa

[anaandrade]

I had a gut feeling that we might be looking at the race becoming Sanders vs Biden after seeing the results from SC yesterday. This only further confirms it. I'm guessing Warren, Klobuchar, and Bloomberg, will drop out after Super Tuesday, especially Bloomberg if he underperforms. Given his low favorability rating, is highly possible. Gabbard should have dropped out a long time ago.

As a Buttigieg supporter, I'm kind of bummed but not surprised. He already made history, and that's no small accomplishment.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

I wouldn't be surprised if he cut a deal for VP already (should the person he supports get the nod.)

[Rachel333]

This is what it looks like when someone can put the good of the party and country above their ego.

At this point, I'm definitely behind Biden. This also shows why I don't think early voting in the primaries is a good idea unless you absolutely have to. A lot of people have voted early for candidates who won't even be in the race still on Tuesday, or those like Klobuchar who have absolutely no chance of winning the nomination.

[nausicaa]

11 hours ago, Rachel333 said:

This is what it looks like when someone can put the good of the party and country above their ego.

At this point, I'm definitely behind Biden. 

I just donated to his campaign. (And been called a statist by two fellow libertarian friends as a result. It's suuuper fun being political but not firmly in a party.)

I do worry about how much he puts his foot in his mouth and what seem to be some age-related issues. But his speech after South Carolina was impressive, and if he kept that up and won the nom, I would likely actively campaign for him. 

What do you think are the chances Obama breaks with tradition and actively campaigns for him or at least releases a statement endorsing him?

[Rachel333]

And Amy's out too.  She's going to endorse Biden. I expect Pete to endorse Biden pretty soon as well.

I don't know if Obama will endorse Biden, but I did see that Obama called Biden to congratulate him after the SC win.

[Maggie Mae]

12 hours ago, Rachel333 said:

. This also shows why I don't think early voting in the primaries is a good idea unless you absolutely have to. 

To me, it's another argument for ranked choice. My democratic primary said they will be mailing out our ballots on the 6th; there will be 12 candidates listed and we are to rank them. 

Last state election was not ranked choice, and the incumbent got wrapped up in a sex scandal and dropped out after the ballots were printed and some people had voted. It was a mess. I think if people had been able to put their votes to their second choice, it would do a lot for election integrity.

[nausicaa]

10 minutes ago, Rachel333 said:

And Amy's out too.  She's going to endorse Biden. I expect Pete to endorse Biden pretty soon as well.

I don't know if Obama will endorse Biden, but I did see that Obama called Biden to congratulate him after the SC win.

What do you guys think of the advantage this gives Biden? Someone made a good point that Klobuchar dropping out could possibly help Sanders, since she was only polling over 15% in Minnesota and those votes may well now go to Sanders. How much will her endorsement of Biden push those voters to him?

Do you think Sanders' campaign is pushing Warren to drop out now like Biden's campaign did the others?

Though someone else made an interesting point that a lot of Warren's supporters tend to be more moderate than her, but support her because of her personality and passion, and that if she dropped out, a good number of them could actually go to Biden and not Sanders. I haven't seen any stats to see how true this is though. 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

42 minutes ago, Rachel333 said:

And Amy's out too.  She's going to endorse Biden. I expect Pete to endorse Biden pretty soon as well.

I don't know if Obama will endorse Biden, but I did see that Obama called Biden to congratulate him after the SC win.

I thought she was going to stay in until after super Tuesday?  She was just kinda growing on me.

[Maggie Mae]

14 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

What do you guys think of the advantage this gives Biden? Someone made a good point that Klobuchar dropping out could possibly help Sanders, since she was only polling over 15% in Minnesota and those votes may well now go to Sanders. How much will her endorsement of Biden push those voters to him?

I think it helps Biden more than Sanders. Biden will now get a few delegates from MN instead of 0. However, I don't know how early voting will play into it. 

14 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

Do you think Sanders' campaign is pushing Warren to drop out now like Biden's campaign did the others?

She's really only in play in MA, I would guess she's staying in to pull votes from Sanders and will drop out on Wednesday/Tuesday Night. 

14 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

Though someone else made an interesting point that a lot of Warren's supporters tend to be more moderate than her, but support her because of her personality and passion, and that if she dropped out, a good number of them could actually go to Biden and not Sanders. I haven't seen any stats to see how true this is though. 

I don't know how true it is either. I wish we had nationwide ranked choice voting so we could see where votes go. I'd guess Sanders would be most of her supporter's second choice, based on how many votes Sanders picked up in round two in Nevada and other caucuses. So much can change between now and November - wars, pandemics, etc. I don't know if I can maintain this level of anxiety for seven months. 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

27 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

What do you guys think of the advantage this gives Biden? Someone made a good point that Klobuchar dropping out could possibly help Sanders, since she was only polling over 15% in Minnesota and those votes may well now go to Sanders. How much will her endorsement of Biden push those voters to him?

Do you think Sanders' campaign is pushing Warren to drop out now like Biden's campaign did the others?

Though someone else made an interesting point that a lot of Warren's supporters tend to be more moderate than her, but support her because of her personality and passion, and that if she dropped out, a good number of them could actually go to Biden and not Sanders. I haven't seen any stats to see how true this is though. 

I am currently (and it can change) in Warren's camp for the reason that I think she will push us in the right direction and I don't think she'll be able to her unworkable plans through congress.  

I am far more moderate than she is.  If she'd dropped out Klobachar would have been my next choice (not due to gender.)

So just anecdata but I'm one person who would go Biden, not Bernie, if she drops out.

[Rachel333]

28 minutes ago, Maggie Mae said:

To me, it's another argument for ranked choice. My democratic primary said they will be mailing out our ballots on the 6th; there will be 12 candidates listed and we are to rank them. 

Last state election was not ranked choice, and the incumbent got wrapped up in a sex scandal and dropped out after the ballots were printed and some people had voted. It was a mess. I think if people had been able to put their votes to their second choice, it would do a lot for election integrity.

That too, for sure!

But waiting to vote until you know that the person you're voting for is still in the race is something that you can do now, unlike ranked choice voting.

I'm not trying to chastise anyone who did vote early (who knows, I might have done the same if I were in a state that allowed it), I just wish there weren't so many votes already set for candidates who aren't even in the race.

[nausicaa]

7 minutes ago, Maggie Mae said:

I don't know if I can maintain this level of anxiety for seven months. 

Same girl. Same. 

[fraurosena]

58 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

Same girl. Same. 

C'mon, everyone! You've managed to keep it together since November 2016. You can deal with this last hurdle too! I'm rooting for you guys all the way. Keep your chins up. It doesn't matter who ends up with the nom. You know you're voting blue. Just make sure you vote all those trumplicans out of Congress, and you're all set.

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

4 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

C'mon, everyone! You've managed to keep it together since November 2016. You can deal with this last hurdle too! I'm rooting for you guys all the way. Keep your chins up. It doesn't matter who ends up with the nom. You know you're voting blue. Just make sure you vote all those trumplicans out of Congress, and you're all set.

 

You are singlehandedly the only voice keeping any hope alive in me at all.  

I feel like I've been in the fight, flight, or freeze mode forever and it won't be over until after the election.  

[nausicaa]

13 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

C'mon, everyone! You've managed to keep it together since November 2016. You can deal with this last hurdle too! I'm rooting for you guys all the way. Keep your chins up. It doesn't matter who ends up with the nom. You know you're voting blue. Just make sure you vote all those trumplicans out of Congress, and you're all set.

Oh, no matter what I will definitely be voting in November and definitely not voting for Trump. 

I'm more concerned with tensions getting so high I go off on some family members on Facebook. Something that happened in November 2016 and that I still have very mixed feelings about. 

This time my bitch lasers may be hitting all sides: hypocritical conservative relatives and hypocritical uber-progressive friends who may sit out what they have deemed "the most important election of our lives" because their candidate is no longer in it. 

I mean, being a miserable bitch who hates everyone is kind of my brand. It's just ratcheted up to a nearly unsustainable level this election year. 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

1 minute ago, nausicaa said:

Oh, no matter what I will definitely be voting in November and definitely not voting for Trump. 

Me too, although NGL if it's Bloomberg I'm going to need someone to explain to me how he's not Trump 2.0.  And to hold me.

And some sort of support group.

Maybe a bunch of FJers also with edibles and wine to deal with the WTF.

The way I see it is Bloomberg saw the sweet deal Trump made for himself with his store bought Autocracy and wants some for himself.  

[fraurosena]

I know she's not running, but...  we're back to "But Her Emails!" again.  

 

[fraurosena]

Susan Rice has endorsed Biden. I have to say that her arguments are positive and uplifting. 

The rest of her endorsement thread is under the spoiler:

Spoiler

 

 

[fraurosena]

Both Buttigieg and Klobuchar are also officially endorsing Biden.

 

[formergothardite]

1 hour ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

You are singlehandedly the only voice keeping any hope alive in me at all.  

Same with me. Whenever I find myself falling into total despair I read some of @fraurosena posts to remind myself not to give up. 

[fraurosena]

Of course that Burisma thing is back on now. 

 

[fraurosena]

Some good tips for anyone voting tomorrow.

 

[JMarie]

Bloomberg is being interviewed on Fox News, making sense and seemingly being not hated by the audience.  And I've seen Bloomberg banners on Fox News' website. I honestly don't care who gets the Democrat nomination.  Even if it's an oven mitt.  Yes, I would vote for an oven mitt over Trump.