A Brief History
On February 3, 2020, we stand on the edge of the 2020 Presidential election season, the evening that the Iowa Caucuses that will kick off the start of the major party nomination process for the Republican and Democratic Parties candidates for President finally begin. Tonight, the 2020 Presidential campaign begins in earnest. On the Republican side, barring some sort of catastrophe or tragedy, President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will be once again nominated, virtually without opposition as the people that run the party have seen to it that there will be no meaningful process to challenge the sitting President. The Democratic Party is an entirely different story, with a still large slate of wanna be Presidents still in the running for the Democratic nomination. Today we look at the top contenders from the Democratic Party and rank them according to our own analysis of where we believe they stand in suitability for the office of President and chance of beating President Trump in a general election. (As always, we welcome your questions and comments and certainly do not discourage contrary ideas and observations.) Note: We are not listing every Democratic candidate as some are so far behind as to not warrant mention at this point. Nor are we endorsing either the Democratic or Republican party.
Digging Deeper
1. Tulsi Gabbard, US Representative from Hawaii.
Tulsi is a military war veteran, a factor we like that places her in a select category among the candidates (along with Pete Buttigieg) for the extremely important aspect of the Presidency, that of being Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States. Additionally, she is younger than most Presidential candidates (less than 40 years old), a glaring contrast to the President himself and his chief Democratic rivals, all of whom are on the wrong side of 70 years old. While we honor age and experience, we also understand the demands of the office of President dictate that a younger, more robust person may well be the better choice for such a grueling job. We like that Gabbard is not a conventional politician with the usual intricate political ties that often serve to tie a candidate’s hands. She is somewhat moderate and likely to appeal to that most critical voter demographic, the swing voters that actually decide an election.
2. Joe Biden, former Senator from Delaware and former Vice President of the US.
Not a military veteran and no longer a young man, Biden ranks in our #2 spot due to his extreme resume qualifications compared to the other candidates. Plus, Biden is also not so far to the left that he will likely leave those all important swing voters in the middle behind, leaving him in a strong position to beat President Trump in the general election. A reliable if somewhat boring candidate, Democratic voters are reassured by Biden’s long record of representing the best interests of the working classes, including the poor, the working middle class and the white collar middle class. Biden’s tenure as Barack Obama’s Vice President has the credentials of watching the US recover from the catastrophic 2008 economic collapse on a positive trajectory that has the US economy currently in a good place, credit for which is often claimed by President Trump, but the trend is clearly from the Obama Administration, a fact Biden can rely on when making his case for his candidacy. Joe Biden is neither an extreme liberal likely to shake the foundations of what the average American thinks of as “normal,” nor is he likely to rashly involve us in an ill considered war. Biden represents that level of reassuring “normal-ness” that many Americans crave after the tumultuous and crazy years of the Trump Administration.
3. Pete Buttigieg, former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
While low on the scale of government experience, at least being the mayor of a city is executive time on a smaller scale. Pete is much younger (age 38) than most other candidates, including President Trump (age 73) and has the advantage of being a military war veteran. A brilliant academic mind certainly helps this candidate, as evidenced by his status as a Rhodes Scholar. Educated at Harvard and Oxford, having such a bright mind in the White House would be a refreshing change. His relative lack of experience in the political arena is a limiting factor in ranking this candidate higher, although perhaps many people might see that lack of experience as an asset rather than a deficit. (President Trump had zero political experience and got elected President, so perhaps less “experience” is better.)
4. Andrew Yang, businessman.
Another newcomer to the political sphere, Yang is a refreshing face without the political baggage a career politician brings to the fray. In 2016, Americans proved their willingness to vote for a business person over career politicians, so maybe Yang could draw on that aspect of the American electorate. Like Tulsi Gabbard, Yang is not exactly lighting up the polls, but acquits himself rather well when on the debate stage. He comes across as intelligent and sincere, and despite his relative wealth, he seems quite in touch with the common people. Well educated at Columbia and Brown, Yang is another candidate with a firm grasp of facts and statistics and seems well versed on all the issues. Not so rich that he seems to suffer from “Ivory Tower Syndrome,” he is just successful enough to impress the average person.
5. Bernie Sanders, Senator from Vermont.
A lovable old curmudgeon, Sanders has a rabid following of supporters that idolize him. Unrelenting in his support of poor and working people, as well as his opposition to reckless military entanglements, Sanders attracts a farther left crowd than those candidates listed above. While his supporters are extreme in devotion, the more moderate crowd may be turned off by Bernie’s avowed adherence to “socialist” principles. While certainly NOT the sort of “socialism” that we associate with the old communist regimes, the very word hurts Sander’s chances with the general population, a fact expected to be exploited by President Trump and the Republican Party. Bernie’s devotion to the idea of universal health insurance and coverage for all Americans, expressed as “Medicare for All,” is a two-edged sword that generated extreme support and extreme opposition at the same time. Plus, his advanced age (78) and the fact that he recently suffered a heart attack may lead some voters to believe he has passed his time as a viable candidate. On the other hand, if any Democrat can go toe to toe with Donald Trump in the trenches of a debate stage, it is probably Bernie Sanders.
6. Tom Steyer, businessman.
Like many of the Democratic candidates, Steyer is extremely well educated, claiming a pedigree from Yale and Stanford. A billionaire businessman, Steyer has become a foremost cheerleader for the ecological movement against Climate Change and has engaged in philanthropy and activism to further his altruistic goals. Despite spending a large chunk of his own money on television ads denouncing President Trump and touting his own agenda, Steyer has failed to resonate with the voters and is mired toward the back of the pack of Democratic hopefuls, despite having a consistent and coherent message. Somehow, despite his obvious plusses, he has become another face in the crowd. He is 62 years old, neither particularly old nor particularly young.
7. Amy Klobuchar, Senator from Minnesota.
A former County Attorney, Klobuchar has relied on that experience as a crime fighter to attract the White Middle Class of voters concerned about the perception of rampant crime in the US. Unfortunately for her, that same past is now coming back to haunt her candidacy with questions about a particular case where a young Black man was sentenced to Life in Prison for a crime now being called into question whether he really is guilty. Yet another well educated Democrat, she claims Yale and the University of Chicago as her alma maters. Highly intelligent, capable and well spoken, she is nonetheless lost in the shuffle of the large Democratic field and unlikely to generate enough support to come close to snagging the actual nomination. Her recent news discussion of that 2002 case has turned a previously positive story into a quagmire, possibly even sinking her chances to land a Vice Presidential nomination.
0. Elizabeth Warren, Senator from Massachusetts.
Why did we “rank” Warren as #0? Because she has eliminated herself as any sort of realistic candidate by her own idiotic actions and words, notably by claiming she would only nominate a candidate for Secretary of Education that is approved by a particular 9 year old child. We have previously discussed her false claims about being a Native American, and do not be fooled by her claimed DNA test that indicates an extremely low percentage of Native American (maybe) genetic heritage. She put her ethnicity/race on her college application and job applications as “Native American,” meaning her main ethnic heritage, which is demonstrably false. While she says this was not done to generate positive application success, we cry FOUL! The lie is obvious. Harvard boasted about hiring their “first Native American” faculty member when they hired her. Do you think her claim of Native American genes had anything to do with her being hired? (We do.) Her contribution to a Cherokee cookbook is not only disingenuous, but also plagiarized. She has the audacity to question Joe Biden’s judgment from 30 years ago, when 30 years ago she was a Republican! Her whining voice is like nails on a chalk board, and she has failed utterly to explain her funding plan for her ambitious social programs. Her nomination could almost guarantee Donald Trump of his reelection. (Note: Regarding the claims of Native American heritage by Elizabeth Warren including listing herself as a “minority,” this author can draw the analogy that being of half Ukrainian descent, and the fact that Ukraine was once overrun by the Mongols, that there is a good chance I have a smidgen of East Asian genetic heritage, roughly along the lines of that Native American heritage claimed by Warren. Does this mean I should have listed myself as Asian or Oriental all these, years, perhaps thus benefitting from reverse discrimination hiring and scholarship practices? When I am clearly “Caucasian?” Had I done so, I would have been committing fraud, as has Elizabeth Warren.)
0. Mike Bloomberg, Former Mayor of New York City, Billionaire.
Another old (age 77) New York billionaire trying to buy the Presidential election. If Democrats think it was not a good idea for Donald Trump, it is probably logical to figure it is not a good idea for Bloomberg. The guy might have good intentions, but seriously, does he have any clue as to how normal Americans live? We think not. Bloomberg represents the worst of the “nanny state” type of candidates, trying to force us to live as he sees fit, controlling the size of our soft drinks! A guy that certainly never needed a gun for self defense in a seedy neighborhood, he is foremost among Democratic candidates in his efforts to take guns from the people, while not showing any particular insight about the historical references that made firearm ownership by private American citizens one of our rights. Bloomberg does not rate serious consideration as the Democratic Presidential nominee, despite his ability to spend enough money to garner at least some support in polls. Buying a Super Bowl ad is the kind of indication that some people have too much money!
Question for students (and subscribers): Who do you believe is the likely winner of the Democratic nomination? (Not necessarily your favorite.) Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Caufield, Rachel. The Iowa Caucus (Images of Modern America). Arcadia Publishing, 2016.
Redlawsk, David, Todd Donovan and Caroline J. Tolbert. Why Iowa?: How Caucuses and Sequential Elections Improve the Presidential Nominating Process. University of Chicago Press, 2010.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America of U.S. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard speaking with attendees at the 2019 Iowa Democratic Wing Ding at Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. This image was originally posted to Flickr by Gage Skidmore at https://flickr.com/photos/22007612@N05/48563643126. It was reviewed on by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-sa-2.0.
