Elections 2020 Democratic Primary Thread: Inslee and Hickenlooper out

[Lead]

Still some hold outs for a possible 2020 bid but with Biden finally jumping in, I believe it's time again for our WR Strawpoll. Four years ago, Elizabeth Warren won this prestigious award. Who will win it this year and gain a significant bump in the national polls as a result? Remember, this poll is choosing who you would want to be President out of the current field. If you are firmly to the right and don't see any value in the choices, you can pick the last option. Also, with a large field, the option will be to chose up to three.

Confirmed
Joe Biden (Former Vice President)
Bernie Sanders (Senator VT)
Elizabeth Warren (Senator MA)
Kamala Harris (Senator CA)
Corey Booker (Senator NJ)
Amy Klobuchar (Senator MN)
Kirsten Gillibrand (Senator NY)
Michael Bennet (Senator CO)
Steve Bullock (Governor MT)
Julian Castro (Former Secretary of HUD)
Tim Ryan (US Congressman OH)
Tulsi Gabbard (US Congresswoman HI)
John Delaney (US Congressman MD)
Seth Moulton (US Congressman MA)
Bill DeBlasio (Mayor New York, NY)
Pete Buttigieg (Mayor South Bend, IN)
Wayne Messam (Mayor Miramar, FL)
Beto O'Rourke (Former US Congressman TX)
Andrew Yang (Entrepreneur)
Marianne Williamson (Entrepreneur)

Suspended Campaign/ Dropped Out
Richard Ojeda (VA State Senator)
Eric Swalwell (US Congressman CA)
John Hickenlooper (Former Governor CO)
Jay Islee (Former Governor WA)
Mike Gravel (Former Senator AK)

Possible
Stacey Abrams (Former GA State House Rep)

Not Running
Hillary Clinton (Former Secretary of State)
Andrew Cuomo (Governor NY)
Eric Holder (Former US Attorney General)
Sherrod Brown (Senator OH)
Deval Patrick (Former Governor MA)
Terry McAuliffe (Formerly Governor VA)
Micheal Bloomberg (Former Mayor NYC/ CEO)
Oprah Winfrey (Entrepreneur)

Debate Threads
First Democratic Debate (6/26 Night 1)
First Democratic Debate (6/27 Night 2)
Second Democratic Debate (7/30 Night 1)
Second Democratic Debate (7/31 Night 2)

Previous Threads
V1: The Announcements

 

[Lead]

Bernie Sanders wins the 2019 Sherdog Democratic Straw Poll
Sherdog News

After an initial blow in polling with former Vice President Joe Biden entering the 2020 democratic primary, Bernie Sanders received a much needed boost with his win in the prestigious 2019 Sherdog Democratic Straw Poll. Now seen as the key indicator and first in the nation endorsement for candidates to battle for, Bernie has overwhelmingly come out on top, with Tulsi Gabbard and Elizabeth Warren coming in a distant 2nd and 3rd place. The Sanders campaign couldn't be reached for comment but certainly are in awe of this good news to their 2020 prospects. This was the 2nd annual straw poll with Elizabeth Warren winning in 2015. Though Warren declined to run in 2016, many assumed she would've easily secured the ticket after securing that honorary achievement.

 

[Lead]

Here's where the Democratic candidates stand on the biggest 2020 issues
Politico

The Democratic primary field for 2020 is largely set, but with former Vice President Joe Biden finally jumping in, the most high-profile candidate has yet to weigh in on many of the policy fights that so far have defined the battle to beat Donald Trump.

Voters, donors and political organizations are grilling candidates on whether they would support paying reparations to descendents of slaves, expanding the Supreme Court or abolishing the Electoral College. Biden, who has so far avoided many of these knotty questions, is sure to face inquiries about them soon.

Here’s how Democratic White House hopefuls are siding on the fiercest debates in the party right now:

Democratic candidates' boldest ideas for 2020
CNN

Some candidates, most specifically Joe Biden, have entered the race to restore the country to the pre-Trump era of President Barack Obama. On the other side is a group of Democrats and independent Bernie Sanders who are offering more radical transformation.
They are pushing very specific proposals for big, expensive ideas and want the federal government providing more direct help to each citizen.
Every Democrat wants to address climate change, gun control and the nation's crumbling infrastructure. But there's less agreement on how to deal with racial disparity and inequality, whether to force Americans into a government-run health care system and whether or how to rebuild elements of the US system of government.

 

[VivaRevolution]

Bernie
Gabbard
Warren

Not sure what my response would be to someone else.

The other people with a history I can verify in the race, have a horrible history. The others have little to no history, and I don't believe in listening to the lies from all politicians mouth.

I don't trust, and I do verify.

 

[sickc0d3r]

@Jack V Savage moving it here since the other one is locked....

That might be a reason to like someone like Buttigieg, but I don't think it's an obstacle here.

I'd say blue collar types might value different kinds of credentials in a candidate than you, is all. Of course this is just a guess on my part...

With regard to how she'd play in different states, I think that people in general have a really poor ability to predict personal reactions among large groups of people.

Agreed.

Her message is roughly the same as everyone else's, and the other candidates have much more to recommend them besides their message. I think there is zero chance that hardcore right-wingers who say, "if Democrats nominate Gabbard, I'd vote for her" actually would. I think she'd even lose a big chunk of the "True Progressives" who always find a reason to prefer the Republican or to vote third party if she were actually to get the nomination. Her popularity with those types is a result of her unpopularity with most Democratic voters.

She's easily the strongest (or most vocal) opponent of war out of everyone, though. And she's got a voting record now in her fourth term, actions, and life experience that back up her positions. Not just on FA (she serves on the house armed services committee), but she co-authored the net neutrality bill, she's a co-sponsor of Expanded & Improved Medicare for All Act, she's traveled to Flint and plead their case on the floor, she's got a long history of environmental activism, she graduated from the Accelerated Officer Candidate School at the Alabama Military Academy, and was the first woman to finish as the distinguished honor graduate in the Academy's 50-year history. She volunteered to step down from public service and go to a war zone, ffs. Seriously, what's not to like here? And as a nice bonus she's kind of easy on the eyes.

Well, Warren is my first choice. But I do like Buttigieg, and yeah, his education, personality, intelligence, and background play into it. I think he has broadly liberal goals--rational governance, equal rights, broadly distributed prosperity--and I'm confident that he'd make decent choices to get there. The lack of experience is a legitimate concern, but in comparison to Gabbard, that's not an issue.

We agree on Warren. But, Gabbard's been mixing it up and building a solid record in congress for 7 years. Pete's best known for what, his housing policy in a town of 100k people? Gabbard is clearly superior in terms of experience and record. I'm not saying Pete can't be a good candidate, just that I look at him quite differently than you do because, imo, there really isn't very much to look at. I'm confident in Tulsi because she's put her money where her mouth is over and over again already in her young career. She's only going to improve, I think.

 

[Senzo Tanaka]

Tulsi
Bernie
Andrew

I like Tulsi because she is the most reasonable, well spoken and even-tempered out of anyone I've seen in a long time. While some on the far left would see this as a criticism, I think she has broad appeal and could easily peel away some moderate Republicans or people that didn't vote for Trump. You are going to need that to beat Trump in 2020. You have roughly 50% of the population that voted for Trump. You're either going to need to get some of those people to switch sides or inspire the people that didn't vote last time. I think Tulsi is the only person that can do that so far.

Bernie is my 2nd. My only issue with Bernie is sadly his age. What I love about him is his consistency. Things he said 30 years ago still ring true. I do think if he were President, he would fight hard for change. I just worry at his age and the stress of the job that he wouldn't be able to serve a full term. If he gets the nomination, I would hope he would have Tulsi or a strong VP.

Andrew has a lot of interesting ideas. He's another well spoken and reasonable candidate and I think once you see him in the debates, you're going to see a lot of cross over appeal simply because he states facts. I still need to hear more from him on other ideas. Right now, it feels like he's a bit of a one tricky pony with UBI so I want to hear him branch out a bit.

 

[VivaRevolution]

I just want to say to all of the yang gang.

I think he is smart. I like that he is bringing new ideas to the table.

I think he would be a utter failure in navigating our political system.

Tulsi Gabbard is very inexperienced compared to Bernie in government.

Yang to Gabbard, is as Gabbard is to Bernie.

His lack of any experience in navigating the very complicated process of passing legislation, dealing with the lobby and special interest groups who wield the real power in our government, and knowing how to avoid the traps the opposition media constantly tried to set for politicians, prevents me from taking Mr. Yang very seriously.

Glad to have him on the debate stage. Would vote for him for Govenor. I don't think it would work out well if he won the dem nomination though.

 

[Sano]

Bernie as president, Tulsi as VP.

 

[K1levelgrappler]

“When Joe first made VP, he wanted everyone to think he was still a regular guy, "Just a regular Joe," as he put it, so he insisted on taking Amtrak back to Delaware, every Friday about 6pm.

As a result, every Friday at 6pm, Union Station prime commuter time, the Secret Service closed all the platforms, ad roped off all the commuters who were left looking at empty platforms until Joe could saunter in. Of course at first everyone waved. And Joe waved back because he was a regular guy getting on the commuter line like the rest of us.

Until the commuters got tired of that shit. Because, no Joe, you're not a regular guy, you're the fucking VP and who gives a fuck anyway we want to go home.

At some tipping point on the last Friday, the waves became boos, and you heard, "Take a fucking helicopter you dipshit," and that was that.”

lol

 

[waiguoren]

“When Joe first made VP, he wanted everyone to think he was still a regular guy, "Just a regular Joe," as he put it, so he insisted on taking Amtrak back to Delaware, every Friday about 6pm.

As a result, every Friday at 6pm, Union Station prime commuter time, the Secret Service closed all the platforms, ad roped off all the commuters who were left looking at empty platforms until Joe could saunter in. Of course at first everyone waved. And Joe waved back because he was a regular guy getting on the commuter line like the rest of us.

Until the commuters got tired of that shit. Because, no Joe, you're not a regular guy, you're the fucking VP and who gives a fuck anyway we want to go home.

At some tipping point on the last Friday, the waves became boos, and you heard, "Take a fucking helicopter you dipshit," and that was that.”

lol

Lol where did you find this?

 

[Jack V Savage]

She's easily the strongest (or most vocal) opponent of war out of everyone, though.

A lot of this is running over old ground, IMO, but this is probably by biggest disagreement. She calls herself a hawk and was a vocal critic of Obama for not bombing more.

 

[Sycho Sid]

Still not 100% on anyone (especially Pete) but I guess for now though Bernie and Warren are still my strongest.

 

[sickc0d3r]

A lot of this is running over old ground, IMO, but this is probably by biggest disagreement. She calls herself a hawk and was a vocal critic of Obama for not bombing more.

Meh, I recall that kerfuffle was more about labeling Islamic terrorists and Tulsi (gasp!) siding with republicans on that point. I don't have a big problem with it, though I don't have a strong take on the subject. Anyway, that particular controversy certainly doesn't mean she'd suffer damage in the states we're discussing.

I'm fine with agreeing to disagree. I'm just a shlub choosing the people I want to represent me like anyone else. "I could write a song, I could write a letter, I could write a book about what I don't know...."

 

[Fawlty]

Warren, with some mashup of Bernie, Pete, and Amy at #2-4. Mildly prefer Bernie and Pete but that could easily change. Harris and Booker could find their way to the top for me too, possibly. Not gonna happen for Biden or Gillibrand.

 

[waiguoren]

None of the above.

If I were forced to choose one, it would be Andrew Yang.

 

[Anung Un Rama]

I was going to go with Pete because he can speak Finnish and that is important, but I went with Sanders, Tulsi, and Yang.
I honestly don't think Tulsi and Yang have a prayer, but I think they bring important perspectives to the debate stage and, like Warren, would be incredibly valuable assets in a Sanders administration.

 

[Fawlty]

I was going to go with Pete because he can speak Finnish and that is important, but I went with Sanders, Tulsi, and Yang.
I honestly don't think Tulsi and Yang have a prayer, but I think they bring important perspectives to the debate stage and, like Warren, would be incredibly valuable assets in a Sanders administration.

Seems weird that Warren wouldn't make the cut for you. And Yang's "news ombudsman" idea shows a horrifying disregard for free press, which really puts him out on the fringe. That has to be a non-starter.

 

[Sycho Sid]

None of the above.

Truly shocking

 

[Lead]

If I were forced to choose one, it would be Andrew Yang.

Why?

 

[Michaelangelo]

Bernie/Yang Gang 2020