Two candidates who popped early, but otherwise did not get traction have both withdrawn from the race and according to press reports will endorse Biden at an event in Dallas tonight. I thought they would go ahead and stick it out until Super Tuesday, but I guess they decided to consolidate the moderate lane. This does seem to show that the two earliest states don’t necessarily have outsized influence. Personally I like later states to have multiple choices and this also makes me question the wisdom of early voting in primaries.
Please share widely!
Oh man Biden looks old
Joe’s younger than Bernie, has released his health records, and has a spring in his step today.
Dr. Jill Biden’s message to Pete and Chasten Buttigieg: ” @Chas10Buttigieg, my fellow educator, thank you for your service to our country and all you’ve done for the man you love, @Pete Buttigieg. You made us all believe in ourselves a little more and our country is better for it.” — xo, Jill
Jill Biden is a classy, smart, and beautiful lady.
I imagine this is exactly the last-ditch opportunity that Warren was hoping for.
A long shot for sure, but her only path.
Also hearing tonight that Beto O’Rourke will be endorsing him.
Elizabeth Warren is now positioned to claim the mantle of the centrist/moderate candidate. Joe Biden is leading the reactionary conservative wing and Bernie Sanders is doing the same with the radical socialist counterpart.
Ms. Warren is moderate in approach, and centrist in her views towards governance and governing. She does seek to turn the clock back, nor does she seek to upend the entire economic order.
I suggest that she is the best alternative for voters who agree that Mr. Sanders is to radical and Mr. Biden too conservative. I suggest that many of the voters who have supported Mr. Buttigieg and Ms. Klobuchar feel that way.
Ms. Warren is, in fact, closer to the center of Democratic values and priorities than any of the other candidates.
Depending on results tomorrow, Elizabeth Warren is positioned to be one of the most loved progressives or the most divisive person in this race.
Unless she has doubled her support in states voting tomorrow from recent polling, she will be sitting a distant third or fourth in delegate count. She has argued for a convention strategy and being the unity candidate in a contested race. It is crystal clear that the establishment of the party is going with Joe for that role. She is not an option for that pick.
I hope that she endorses Bernie after tomorrow and that she is offered the VP position and they have a big event announcing it.
The major donors and party elites are all aligning behind Joe now. Warren is not invited to that party. I hope she embraces the progressive path and we can have a primary of those who want real change and those committed to protecting the status quo.
Wanna know something funny? You’re both right.
I have a very hard time seeing us doubling down on the New England left.
I have a very hard time imagining the GOP nominating and re-nominating Trump, but here we are. She makes more sense for Biden and I honestly feel she’s been burning her bridge to Bernie last few debates. But if she wants to be a kingmaker she should crown Sanders.
She had to turn on Sanders. It was the only possible way for her to get the nomination herself.
Looks like it backfired
I didn’t see her do that, so I’m not sure.
I will be very disappointed in Elizabeth Warren if she endorses Bernie Sanders before he has won the nomination outright.
I frankly think Ms. Warren is more likely to be offered the VP position by Mr. Biden — and I doubt that she’d accept the offer. That is, frankly, emblematic of the difference I see between Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren. I’m going to predict that there will breathless media analysis of exit polls for the next week pondering the “surprise” that Ms. Klobuchar’s supporters have not joined her in supporting Mr. Biden. I think that will be true in spades for supporters of Mr. Buttigieg.
Bernie Sanders is too divisive, too radical, and not substantive enough for me. I’m WAY out on the left fringe compared to pretty much every heartland voter.
I understand the polls, media hype, and rhetoric. about Bernie Sanders. I’m not buying them.
I stand by my contention that Ms. Warren is the middle ground that the party says it seeks. If the party lands on either Mr. Biden or Mr. Sanders, then the party is not, in fact, seeking the center of the Democratic voters.
How?
Why?
Yeah, I debunk some of the things he says as it’s like shooting fish in a barrel, but trying to get people who rely on extremely distorted narratives to try to explain them is not something that tends to be illuminating.. YMMV
One of the many things that stood out to me was the assumption about “pretty much every heartland voter,” as if they were a monolithic conservative – or even moderate – regional cultural group. The past few years of community organizing, wildcat strikes, and the last mid-term elections, as well, easily debunk such notions. And, to be completely honest, there are obviously millions of people who live in the heartland (a definition as small as the Midwest, to as expansive as every state that doesn’t border an ocean) who are vastly, vastly, more progressive than the commenter.
@jotamei:
Right. And that’s why heartland voters have supported the GOP for generations, whole-heartedly embraced the Tea Party, and fervently support Trumpism and Donald Trump today.
Are you now arguing that the last two heartland candidates — Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar — are more progressive Ms. Warren? More progressive than me?
You’re just blowing smoke.
@jotamei & jconway:
Are the two of you (jconway and jotaemei) seriously arguing that Bernie Sanders is NOT more radical and divisive than Elizabeth Warren?
Are the two of you seriously arguing that Mr. Sanders is more substantive than Ms. Warren?
If the two of you think I’m not more progressive than the typical heartland voter, then by construction you don’t know many heartland voters.
A case can be made that Bernie is more plain spoken and consistent with his positions for the last forty years. I do not see Warren cutting this ad which speaks directly to heartland voters in an effective way. This is a pitch to Obama/Trump voters. He also beat Clinton in the same states she lost to Trump and much of the heartland, including Warren’s homestate of Oklahoma.
It is likely he wins in CA, MA, and TX today showing he is making inroads into communities he lost to Clinton and can visibly unify the party. He won among moderates, conservatives, independents, Latinos, young people, seniors, and narrowly lost the black vote to Biden in NV which is a much more demographically reflective state than SC.
He won the popular vote in the Iowa caucuses twice. It is hard to see how a primary candidate who has yet to win a state, won’t win her homestate, and did not come close to Bernie in Iowa can lay a greater claim to heartland appeal than he can. Voters are sadly turned off by her intelligence, her overly complex and expensive plans, and her inconsistency over the years.
Bernie is resolute, consistent, and speaks in plain English about what he believes and what he wants to do. I think it’s effective. It turns off a lot of higher educated voters, but you’ll hold your noses for him against Trump. Especially because he’s believed in all the same policies as Warren, only bolder and for longer.
Adding a link to the Clinton/Sanders map
Most of your commentary about the election has been spot on but Warren is the progressive candidate, not the mushy centrist/moderate .. She is the one.
I uprated both yours and the comment you responded to, but I think it’s relative. Overall she is progressive, but within the party she’s arguably in the middle at least stylistically.
It’s amazing to see party elites more unified and aggressive in moving to defeat grassroots progressivism than they have ever been in taking on Republicans.
The last few days, if nothing more, have been remarkable for providing political clarity.
“He reminds me of my son, Beau.”
Joe Biden reacting to Pete Buttigieg’s endorsement of him last night
He said the same thing about Conor Lamb.
Joe’s one of those guys. He just says stuff.