“To all those who have been knocked down, counted out, left behind — this is your campaign.”
“If Democrats want a nominee who’s a Democrat, a lifelong Democrat, a proud Democrat, an Obama – Biden Democrat, join us. We have the option of winning big or losing big. That’s the choice.”
I could not be more proud of this good man.
I could not be more hopeful for our country.
“To govern is to choose.” John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Please share widely!
Can’t confirm this at the moment, but earlier tonight MSNBC suggested that when SC was done voting Biden may emerge as the popular vote leader so far. He definitely went from third to second in delegates.
For Joe, the third time was a charm. That, and a little Irish luck.
“You don’t make progress by standing on the sideline whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.” Shirley Chisholm
He ran a very strong campaign in South Carolina. It helps he had a three decade start on building relationships in that state and its sizable black community to ensure the win. Clyburn’s endorsement stopped a lot of bleeding to Steyers and Sanders. Make no mistake, if he lost this state, he was done. The question is if he can scale up his organization and campaign to compete on Super Tuesday. Apparently Deval Patrick, Tim Kaine, and Terry McAuliffe all endorsed and donated to him. We will see if others rally to his side.
I don’t think their strategy is to scale up organization anywhere. It’s a strategy based on riding a media narrative. There is no grass roots component to the campaign. They’ve had enough money to build parts of one, but they’ve never tried.
Bernie’s campaign has just shy of 500 events listed on their campaign site for California in the next three days. Warren’s campaign has about 200. Pete’s has about 120. Joe has less than 50. Klobuchar has 1.
These events are canvassing, phone banks, watch parties, and a couple candidate or surrogate events. Yes, these things cost money, but what mostly feeds them is excited and motivated volunteers.
The things you mention in your final paragraph don’t even cost that much money.
Exactly, that’s why it’s clear that Biden is not building or scaling any kind of grassroots campaign.
Less than 20 Biden campaign events in TX, 8 events in North Carolina. Those are probably his two most important states on Tuesday.
Bernie has 120 events in TX and 120 events in NC in the next three days.
“The Joe Biden the nation just saw tonight is the Joe Biden that could win this whole thing and deliver the House and the Senate.” David Jolly
“If Democrats want a nominee who’s a Democrat, a lifelong Democrat, a proud Democrat, an Obama – Biden Democrat, join us. We have the option of winning big or losing big. That’s the choice.” Joe Biden’s South Carolina victory speech last night
“To govern is to choose.” John F. Kennedy
South Carolina changes the trajectory of the non-Bernie vote.
House Whip James Clyburn on why he endorsed Joe Biden as a good man :
“If America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.” Alexis de Tocqueville
The South Carolina black vote is predictive of who the Democratic nominee will be.
Yes, I remember the recent Democratic nominees being Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards . . .
“We know Joe but more importantly, Joe knows us.”
House Whip James Clyburn
What’s interesting about the states going forward is that Sanders is doing much better with Latinos this time around than four years ago. They are calling him Tio Bernie. So I definitely see TX and CA slipping out of Bidens hands, but I also have a hard time seeing Bernie win deep southern states after yesterday’s results. I think Biden will clean up there. So a lot will depend on how big their respective wins are.
Hopefully. I’d still much rather the two leading candidates duke it out for the most voters and delegates. That seems a far better outcome than having the five “non Sanders” candidates collude to deny him a majority at the convention. Obviously that’s well within the rules, but one of those outcomes sounds a lot more democratic than the other.
I’d say they each have a fair shot at winning the thing the democratic way. Biden supporters should join me in calling for the other non-Sanders candidates to drop out. Let’s have our two champions fight it out over the remaining states. That sounds a lot more like democracy to me than politicians bartering amongst themselves for jobs in the next administration.
Joe’s goal now is to win viability in California / Texas and win big in the South on ST.
To that end, he picked up the endorsement of Barbara Boxer today : “Proud to support Joe Biden who led the way on voting rights act, violence against women act, economic recovery, ocean protection, climate accord, gun reform and more. We need him now.”
“The economy is doing good for people in the stock market; not so good for people in the supermarket.”
Stacey Abrams
Mayor Pete just dropped out according to CNN.
“Pete did not want to siphon off any more delegates from Joe Biden.” CNN’s Abby Phillip
Mayor Pete will make an announcement tonight at 8:30 ET on CNN.
“We have to vote to redeem the soul of America.”
John Lewis at Selma, Alabama demonstration today
“Though the situation is complex, the answer actually is simple. Want to vote for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, a free economic order — as well as a liberal world order anchored by the U.S.? The choice is Biden” Bill Kristol
You just cited Bill Kristol!
That should be viewed by every progressive as the worst kind of endorsement.
This is the kind of thing that confirms what I think about Biden. The never-Trumper neocons want him because they know nothing will fundamentally change with Biden (and Biden has explicitly said as much to wealthy donors).
Wrong, again.
Or Bernie. It’s not like Sweden or Denmark or the UK do not have a free economic order. That’s red baiting of the worst kind.
I thought Paul Krugman debunked the notion that Sanders is a true socialist. The phrase “democratic socialist” is over-used and inaccurate to boot, even though Sanders embraces it. The rest of the world is scratching their heads and asking WTF?
Not to mention every voter who’s turned off by the word socialist already didn’t vote for that “socialist” Barack Obama. I see no net loss of general election voters worthy of contesting the convention over. Neither do any of the polls.
They are.
Biden is proving to be as difficult to get rid of as student debt.
And here it is.
The full establishment of the party committed to maintaining the status quo versus the progressive wing pushing for change. 2016 all over again.
With the self-appointed “leader” of the “progressive wing” running exactly the same campaign using the same message and the same stump speech, why would anything be different?
The centrist/moderate voters, and the establishment that caters to them, are ALWAYS going to seek a centrist/moderate candidate to coalesce around. A candidate who wants to lead from any extreme is going to face the same dynamic.
Politics is a lagging, not leading, indicator. The best way to win elections with progressive candidates — and then change the government accordingly — is to become “the establishment”. That’s done by changing the culture.
I fear that there’s a good chance that the Trumpists are going wipe the floor with us in November. I don’t think Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders will stop that. I’m not sure that Elizabeth Warren could do it if nominated, but maybe she might.
I think we are all — myself included — collectively entirely too focused on tactics, inside baseball, and passionate arguments about “issues” that nobody cares about. Meanwhile, the culture we’re embedded in slips deeper and deeper into chaos and darkness.
The President of the United States made a full-scale public attack on a juror, by name — and nobody cares! It’s just another meaningless blip on a news radar screen filled with snow.
The jury thing is fairly frightening and definitely got overshadowed by the horse race. Also I’m old enough to remember when a former president saying hi to an Attorney General at an airport generated more coverage and outrage.
Doubleman just discovered that the political process involves a healthy dose of (gasp!) – POLITICS!:)
Hopefully seeing how easily that narrative can take shape can convince you why a contested convention would be a disaster. It would permanently fracture the party. Which would be fine with me in ordinary times and after essential reforms were passed, but unfortunately the Dems always get punished for being too big of a tent.
If I wanted to be really nasty I would point out that Vladimir Putin would be very glad to see a contested convention because he’s evil. And I would wonder aloud whether those people who want a contested convention might actually be Russian assets. Just sayin’.
Keep drinking that crazy conspiracy Kool-Aid concoction, Bob.
That comment is pretty funny Bob. Nicely done.
I’m fine with people understanding that the political process involves politics. If they don’t like the messiness of democracy maybe dictatorship is more their speed. We have a guy in the WH fantasizing about that model now. Let’s not help along that attitude. The candidates and the party leadership must set the tone and be the first to slap down any attempt to fracture the party once convention adjourns.
A convention is not a fully democratic process though. It’s about as democratic a an electoral college or the college of cardinals. Yes electors are voting and a winner needs a majority to win-but the electors are not selected by the voters and are free to choose whomever they want after the first ballot. A single ranked choice primary spread out over a few months region by region (accounting for diversity within the regions) would be a much more democratic way to do it.
Allocate delegates to keep score, but they do not need to be real people with real power to possibly override the will of the voters via horse trading. I get that’s how conventions work-I am not arguing that. They are internally democratic-obviously whomever gets the majority of delegates to vote for them wins-but they are not directly accountable to voters the way a legislator or non-presidential executive is.
It’s at least as democratic as Congress (also chosen by voters without anyway of knowing how they might vote on every issue or even what those issues will be). There are more definitions of democracy than a strictly one-person, one-vote, and multiple legitimate ways to count the votes. Yes, they are elected by the voters (on April 25th here in MA). PLEASE at least get your facts right!
It’s different from Congress since they are only voting on one issue (the nominee) and going home. It’s also different since people aren’t perceived to be voting for slates of delegates but for delegates pledged to specific candidates.
As for April 25th I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about but am happy to be enlightened. As far as I knew, I’m voting tomorrow for a slate or committeemen and women and delegates in addition to letting them know my preference for the nominee. Delegates are then apportioned proportionately for candidates who earn more than 15% of the vote for a given state.
If anything it’s more transparent precisely because we elect them to cast that one vote, so there’s only one question we have to ask. In this case that question is who are you inclined to vote for on a second ballot. Today we have a binding primary which determines our delegate allocation. There will not be names of potential delegates on the ballot as they have not yet been chosen. That is where April 25th comes in. At 1PM on that date (It’s a Saturday.) there will be caucuses in all the congressional districts for candidates who had cleared 15% within that CD. Each caucus will elect a number of delegates pledged to that candidate as determined by today’s results. These caucuses are open to any registered Dem residing in the CD, but you must choose which candidate’s caucus to attend. The state party will post information on delegate allocation and caucus locations closer to the time, and I’ll plan to post that here. Meanwhile you can find more info on the state party website.
(Yes, there are also state committee candidates on today’s ballot, as well as the slate of candidates for your town or ward committee.)
That entire process sounds horrible. I also bet you 99.9% of voters cannot name their delegate to the convention, that is what I mean by transparency. The numbers for who knows their member of Congress aren’t great, but way better than that. The participation rate on April 25th will be a lot lower than today’s, which Galvin is saying could hit 1..5 million voters. Unlike that process, this process is open to unenrolled voters we need to win in the fall. I think how Massachusetts votes today is far more indicative of who we want to nominate for President than how those largely nameless and faceless delegates vote on a potential second ballot.
You don’t need to know the names of the delegates (though they will be posted if you care to look it up), but this by definition an internal process yet open to all. I too would have to look them up. You know who else won’t be attending the April 25th caucus this year? – ME! I’d love to of course, but my brother is getting married that day and even as a DSC member I have zero expectation that the party procedures revolve around me. This is the part of the process open to those who register with the party and that is a good thing. I know of no other organization that gives you any opportunity to participate in its internal procedures without first being a member thereof. You say the lack of knowledge on the part of the public makes it bad; I say it’s all the more reason to get people who care to more involved. You and I both know that civics education seems lacking these days, but even the best that I’ve seen does not include practical lessons in how to get involved and that IMO should change.
Please don’t compare Sanders and his supporters to supporters of dictators.
Also we seem to be the ones wanting voters to decide this thing in the most transparent and democratic way possible, not making back room deals at a contested convention.
I’m not saying they support dictators on the substance off course, but democracy often means hashing it out, give and take, arguing over the best outcome, and coming to a decision. It’s not just a one time show of hands. Voters of course set this up, but then it becomes the responsibility of DULY ELECTED delegates to ultimately make this work, especially when said voters delivered a split decision. I feel the same way sometimes about ordinary voters who react badly to attempts to contact them on the doors or phones to persuade them to vote for my candidate (and why I shy away from doing it). I want to say this is how democracy works folks – would you rather be a citizen of a system where you don’t get to vote?
I think you are confusing elections which are literally one time shows of hands with other forms of deliberative democracy. I may not always agree with a President or my member of Congress, but I elect them to deliberate so I do not have to. This is why I do not favor town meetings, since I find them to be less democratic than virtual representation where the local representative is accountable to the voters. Ditto my favoring primaries over caucuses and direct election of the president over the Electoral College.
So again, I would argue the results of today’s election are more indicative of how Massachusetts wants to vote than the pledged delegates and superdelegates on a potential second ballot. I do not think people are aware they are electing delegates with that possibility in mind. Most of them think today is the final day they have their say, and the convention is just a get together they ignore on TV where politicians give speeches.
On a positive note, are you running to be a national delegate? Have you ever? I think that is something you would really enjoy. I almost did in 2008 and enjoyed volunteering at the 2004 convention in Boston. I know more than a few people who were delegates to Philly four years ago.
It’s on the bucket list, but one other barrier is financial. Some delegates do fundraise for themselves, but it’s your nickel to go to convention. I wish the state party or campaigns would pick up the tab as a way to make it more accessible. Keep in mind, the things you fear about nameless/faceless delegates only come into play when the voters don’t render a clear verdict.
Do a kickstarter. I’d donate. So would a lot of people I’m sure. I had a ton of fun at the 2004 convention (would’ve been more fun had we won in the fall).
After three years of endless disgraces, “It’s time for a president who will bring dignity and decency to the White House.” -Amy Klobuchar
His very decency will be his strength against the charlatan at 1600. Americans hunger for a return to values of transparency and integrity.
That argument fell flat against Trump in 2016. It also does not help,. as Charlie Pierce notes, that Biden could be dragged before the Senate to account for Burisma. Of course that’s a stupid partisan witchhunt, but they can do a lot more damage to Biden than Bernie in my view.
That he didn’t get the party leaders, the donors, or his former boss to support him early, that a dozen other candidates with similar policies entered the race, that he has a history of being a terrible campaigner, that he has record full of baggage, and that he has a giant scandal around his neck are why the party never coalesced around him early. They know he’s vulnerable as heck.
But the thought of losing the power dynamics in the party were too much to bear and he was the only one left.
I wish that we could be clear-eyed about all the risks of the candidates. We don’t know who is truly electable, but we can recognize the risks and address them. For example, a socialist label is super risky, so the Sanders campaign is focused on organizing and actually touching people with a message, not relying just on a press strategy.
Those backing Biden seem content to wave every potential weakness away. Joe himself didn’t do anything wrong with Ukraine, how dare you smear him! His ramblings are because of a lifelong stutter, how dare you bring that up! Joe has never supported cuts to social security, it’s a lie! Joe has always worked on behalf of working class americans and not the banking industry!
If Americans hunger for a return to values of transparency and integrity, I think we’d want to have a nominee who is a stark choice from the occupant of the white house. If you think that is Joe, I think you have a very short memory from what happened in 2016.
“I am looking for a president who will draw out the best in each of us.”
Pete Buttigieg on why he endorsed Joe Biden
Why is every answer to a substantive critique/question always a quoted platitude?
I am looking for a candidate who can win and is at least offering the vision to provide the changes we need and the plans to address the multiple crises we are facing. I want a President who will improve the material situations of people who need change the most not a candidate who will promise to make some of us feel good because the words are nice.
I believe Joe Biden is the best electable progressive who is building a winning Big Tent coalition to beat Trump up and down the ballot.
Ok. Thanks for answering.
I think the Big Tent he is trying to build includes Never Trump Republicans at the expense of the Left.
As far as downballot. Perhaps. During the Obama years, Democrats lost 1000 seats across the country and that was with the leadership of a much more well-liked and capable leader.
I understand the conventional wisdom that a left-wing candidate will hurt downballot. We have evidence that what Biden is promising doesn’t help much.
I just really really hope he has some capacity or even interest in building some grassroots organizing.
“I understand the conventional wisdom that a left-wing candidate will hurt down ballot.”
Hurt down ballot? Hell, it will KILL down-ballot Democrats all over the country. None of them want to run with a left-wing unenrolled socialist as a standard bearer.
Take Mark Kelly, Arizona Democratic senate candidate running against the Adoration Personality Cult incumbent McSally :
“Joe Biden understands the challenges Arizonans face and knows what it’s like to be knocked down, get back up, and keep serving others. We need a president who will unite us and find common ground to get things done. That’s why I’ll be voting for Joe Biden today.”
Captain Mark Kelly is a Navy combat veteran, retired NASA astronaut and husband to former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.
So, if we don’t flip red seats to blue in the Senate you can forget about defeating the MONSTER at 1600 or CHANGING anything.
Looks like he is repeating the conventional wisdom.
It may be right.
It may also be the case that a candidate generating excitement and with a large base of grassroots volunteers can help generate the turnout needed to win the Presidency and help downballot races.
Sanders may not be able to do that but at least I recognize the mechanism.
The assumption that safe centrism wins elections has been disproven many times, including to disastrous results recently.
I don’t understand why when Democrats get scared they go back to the same failed playbook.
@I don’t understand why when Democrats get scared they go back to the same failed playbook:
The most effective way to change that behavior is for the contemplated new strategy to win.
Joe Biden is the ONLY Democrat with proven coattails to win up and down the ballot.
Bernie does NOT have coattails. Hell, he doesn’t even have his shirt tail hangin out.
The last time Joe Biden was on a contested primary ballot was more than a decade ago. I would argue that any coattails in 2008 and 2012 belonged to Barack Obama.
It looks to me as though if Democrats win in November, it will be because a bottom-up grassroots rejection of Trumpism will propel Democratic candidates into office. I think Mr. Biden, Mr. Sanders, and Ms. Warren all benefit from that. I think Mr. Bloomberg is the only candidate who is likely to depress that movement.
Both Mr. Sanders and Ms. Warren have done way more than Mr. Biden to create and motivate grassroots organizations throughout the US.
I think talk about coattails presumes a voter dynamic that isn’t happening in 2020. If Democrats win, it will be because Democrats successfully motivate a grassroots uprising. Of the three leading candidates, I think Mr. Biden is least likely to accomplish that.
Unbelievable to think that Biden had coattails in 2008 and 2012. Obama is the most talented politician of our generation. Biden was only on the ticket to assuage some party elites on the fence and not scare old white folks too much. He brought absolutely nothing that changed the electoral landscape in Obama’s landslide victory.
We had policy leadership from Obama, but the knock on him is that he actually wasn’t a great party leader or builder.
I’m looking for a president who strives to build a sustainable future rather than revert to a painful past.
I agree with you that the argument is empty, mostly because it won’t change any hearts or minds. Americans who hunger for a return to values of transparency and integrity made up their minds to vote for ANY Democrat sometime after February of 2017.
I also agree with you that the entire Burisma nonsense is purely unnecessary baggage. It DOES look bad, and does so without any Senate hearings.
I think Joe Biden is vulnerable to one simple question that I think will be asked over and over again by the GOP and then repeated ad nauseam by the mainstream media:
There’s just no good answer to that.
Today’s Trumpist GOP will happily drag Bernie Sanders before the Senate to prove that he’s not a communist. They will try to drag Elizabeth Warren before the Senate to prove that she didn’t attempt to benefit from fraudulently claiming Native American status. Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnell will make Joe McCarthy look like a boy scout.
This election season is going to be the dirtiest in recent history. No nominee will escape these filthy below-the-belt cheap shots. That’s who the GOP is today, and we need to stop pretending otherwise. I say that in response to Mr. Biden’s claims, even repeated last night, that he will somehow build bridges to the GOP.
NO. It will not happen. The GOP will be firing machine guns and spreading napalm on every effort by every Democrat who attempts to perform any official action that isn’t directly in line with the GOP dogma du jour. They’ve been doing that since at least 2008 and there is ZERO indication that they will stop.
In my view, that posture alone is more than enough to disqualify Mr. Biden. He lives and campaigns in abject denial of the reality each and every one of us sees all around us every day.
Yes, and I fully expect all of these Never Trumpers to start the “but Hunter” questions by July.
Republicans will vote for Trump. 98% of them.
I do as well. That’s one reason why I think Joe Biden is a terrible nominee.
Another is that, frankly, Mr. Biden’s decision to not recuse himself is beyond my own limits of tolerance. I understand that he did nothing illegal, just as I understand that when the dust settled, nobody in the Probation Department scandal did anything illegal.
It might have been legal, but it was nevertheless corrupt.
Because he didn’t have to and his involvement in Ukraine if anything potentially exposed his son even more. Please don’t feed the false narrative on this one.
Nothing false about this narrative at all. The more you look at Ukraine, the more you realize just how deeply corrupt Biden is.
Joe Biden’s “very decency” make him a fall-guy and easy mark.
Elizabeth Warren had a long and successful career as an attorney long before entering public office. She has nerves of steel and an assassin’s instinct for how to insert the knife, give it a lethal twist, and remove it — then walk away smiling. Her target falls on the floor before even realizing what’s happened to them.
Did you watch her eviscerate Mike Bloomberg? Did you watch what she did to Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf?
Can you imagine Joe Biden doing that to ANY CEO of a large financial firm? I can’t. Can you imagine Bernie Sanders doing anything like this? I can’t.
Elizabeth Warren is the ONLY candidate with the grace, decency, transparency and integrity who ALSO has the ability and desire to do what needs to be done — whatever that is.
I can imagine Sanders using the bully pulpit and doing things like getting Amazon to raise their minimum wage to at least $15/hr.
Every President is able to use the bully pulpit, that’s not what I’m talking about.
I’m talking about how to directly take down scumbags like John Stumpf, Lindsay Graham, and Mitch McConnell — not to mention Donald Trump himself.