If you add up the numbers, there are 18 Democrats now running for President. In fact, you can go and ask most of the legitimate Democratic voters, and at best....they can list out six of the names (most all will remember Bernie, Joe, and the Indian gal from Massachusetts). Yes, it's reached a stage where secondary figures are in the mix and generally unknown. Does it matter? No one really knew that Obama guy back in 2007....did they?
Maybe there are a couple of odd characters in this mix, and it really doesn't help or matter. For example....in 2016, your real choice as a Democrat was Hillary or Bernie (forget the other two guys). What if you'd deducted Hillary from this equation? What if this had been a 2016 race with Bernie, Senator Booker, Joe Biden, and the two other guys? Is it possible that Bernie would have been forgotten after the first four primary states, and Joe had duked it out with Booker for the most part? That's what I think.
I noticed this morning that Gillibrand's 'town-hall' meeting....via CNN....had dismal numbers. Of the eighteen in the running, I tend to think she's in the group of three that will do so badly in Iowa....that their participation will mostly end there.
So this group of 18 will whittle down pretty drastically by the 10th primary? I think at that point, it'll be five or six still left, and most of them will be on shaky ground. Maybe if Trump had serious contenders in the Republican primary, this would all mean something, but that doesn't appear to be the game being played.
2 comments:
I had a nightmare the other night. In it the Dems had their convention next year and there were still almost a dozen of the current 18 still more or less in the running (some hanging on by their fingernails) and nobody was within a country mile of winning; there wasn't even anything resembling a clear leader. The various state delegates voted as they were required to by law but nothing was even in the same county as settled. The convention continued with all itsplanned hoopla and behind the scenes the kingmakers and would-be kingmakers wheeled and "dealed" and nothing constructive was accomplished. On the 4th and final night As the governor of some state or another was speaking, there was a bit of a commotion off state to the audience's left. After looking hard to his right for a few moments, the speaker looked at the assembled delegates and spoke, "Ladies and gentlemen, let's face it. We are deadlocked here. Oh we've narrowed the field a bit - there are only 6 real contenders now - but there is no one behind whom the party can rally; no one who can unite us all to eliminate the pernicious, overbearing and unconstitutional evil embodied in the personage of Donald J Trump! But someone has stepped up. Someone who has taken up the gauntlet and accepted the challenge of completing the fundamental reformation of our society begun by Nobel Laureate, Barack Hussein Obama! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the party's last, best hope, HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON!!!" At that point, Hillary walked confidently and powerfully onto the stage waving and smiling that smile of hers. The packed hall responds with a thunderous applause and soon breaks out into a growing chant of "HIL . . . LAR . . . RY! HIL . . . LAR . . . RY!" After a seeming eternity (which was actually more like 5 minutes) the Chairperson of the convention steps up to the podium and starts banging a gavel and calling "Order! Order! The Convention will come to order!" As the Chairperson continued to pound her gavel and call for order, the hall gradually became silent and took their seats. Hillary by this time is standing quietly, hands to her sides with a small smile on her face. A woman in the middle of the throng stands up and calls out "Madam Chairperson! Madam Chairperson!" The woman behind the podium says, "The chair recognizes the delegate from the great state of New York." The person standing says, "Madam Chairperson, in view of the convention's seeming unbreakable deadlock, I move to nominate former Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton to be this party's candidate for the office of President of the United States of America!" At point the hall erupts in another round of standing ovation and chants of "HIL . . . LAR . . . RY! HIL . . . LAR . . . RY!". After a few moments of this the chair again gavels the hall to order. After the delegates have returned to their seats, the chair says, "The motion has been made to nominate Hillary Rodham Clinton as the candidate of our party for the office of President. Do I hear a second?" Throughout the hall ring out multiple cries of "Second".
"A motion has been made in this hall and seconded. All in favor say 'Aye'" and the hall broke out into a riot of people calling "AYE!"
"Those opposed?" {silence}
"The 'ayes' have it! Fellow delegates, ladies and gentlemen I present to you the NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,
HILLARY . . . .
RODHAM . . . .
CLINTON!!!!!!!!!
At that point I awoke in a terrible cold sweat, telling myself over and over and over "It was only a dream! It was only a dream!"
I hope that is all it was!
I like this scenario. First, Hillary would be able to sit out the whole primary, and save her energy for the last 100 days. Second, Hillary would truly like a second (really a third chance). Finally, it would virtually force all of the journalists to get hyped up and chat on a 'impossible-to-lose' scenario.
Behind all of this, we would go back and repeat a second Mueller investigation after the 2020 election for more Russian collusion. Maybe 'Brother Sessions' could come back and give us further heartburn.
But one point is valid, no one (I believe) will have enough to claim a first ballot at the convention. I also don't think the Bernie hype will be as big this time around as it was in 2016.
Post a Comment