Congress set the day into law—the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November—and there is zero impetus for Congress to change that law.
1 Like
The DNC is perfectly free to ignore Iowa and New Hampshire, as it did Florida and Michigan in 2008.
IT would be political suicide to say that those two states’ caucus/primary would be ignored and not counted.
Well they have to change up cheap shots or the rubes will get bored. So now it’s diversity.
1 Like
None of the discussion of changing the timing of elections, however, changes the fact that the candidates didn’t get the support.
I said last year when 20 or so folks decided to run: let them get their petitions signed, get their funding and get their campaign infrastructure in place. The electorate will decide whether or not they get to be the candidate. I also said most of them would be out before the first primary and, so far, I’m not wrong.
I don’t know what these candidates could’ve done differently to get out in front, but it didn’t happen. More’s the pity.
2 Likes
I propose a new law that no channel can broadcast more than 4 hours of news or news commentary on a given day and no more than 21 hours in a given week.
Websites can only update once a day.
Because the level of redundant and useless has gone off the charts.
1 Like
So here’s the field for tonight’s debate:
-
The most recently serving VPOTUS, a politically moderate man who also happens to be the clear poll leader with African American voters.
-
An elderly male socialist senator from Vermont.
-
A deeply progressive woman senator from Massachusetts (via Oklahoma and Texas).
-
A young gay guy and veteran who is mayor of a mid-sized college town in the Midwest.
-
A moderate woman senator from Minnesota who seems nice in public but is mean to her staff.
-
A white guy billionaire.
I mean, it’s certainly not a racially diverse group. But it’s not exactly lacking in diversity otherwise. Also note that the next closest candidate to qualifying for tonight’s debate is an Asian-American businessman with many wacky ideas about the economy of the future. And it’s not entirely inconceivable that the debate in between Iowa and New Hampshire will include a mixed-race female member of a wacky Krishna cult with strange affinities for Vladimir Putin and the Shiite side of the Sunni-Shiite civil war in the Middle East.
ETA: And of course, a black woman senator and ex-cop from California almost certainly would have qualified for tonight’s stage if she had not correctly assessed some number of weeks ago that she lacked the resources and the pathway to winning the nomination.
7 Likes
This is a ridiculous argument from the media.
The DNC has done nothing to discourage candidates of color—they have risen or fallen on their own merits.
And since when is “diversity” solely about skin color?
There are two women and a gay man in the debate tonight—half the participants—and that is diversity by definition.
8 Likes
What does it matter? The data is the data.
1 Like
The DNC has nothing to do with this. It’s just Perez came out and made the statement. Have to wonder why?
And I agree that diversity isn’t just about skin color. @txlawyer made a good case.
So I’d like to know who’s complaining about the diversity we have before us?
2 Likes
Here in Florida we have VBM ballots for anyone who requests them. They get mailed out 30 days before the election.
We have early voting two weeks before election day, including two weekends.
Every state is a bit different, but most states have moved/are moving to expanding the voting times through these type of mechanics.
Thinking in terms of “Election Day” is really missing the point of where we are. Hell, Californians will be casting ballots the same day that Iowans are holding their caucus.
1 Like
As I said—it’s the media, looking for another “Dems in Disarray” story line they can push before tonight’s debate.
3 Likes
The media are about to find out their Dems in Disarray are sending at least one article of impeachment to the Senate who’re dithering now about how to address it - they can’t dismiss it, they can’t sweep it under the rug, they can’t refuse to call witnesses. The bright light is shining on them and the cockroaches are starting to scatter.
So good luck with that, Senate.
1 Like
Yep. Here in Texas,early/absentee voting will start sometime in February.
1 Like
Technnically, that’s not what happened.
Both Florida and Michigan were eventually seated at the convention, but lost half of their delegates.
But it did get pretty ugly, and its not something that the DNC wants to repeat.
Also, the Florida date got moved up, because the republican legislature moved it up, knowing full well that it was going to put Florida in violation of the DNC rules. Dems in the legislature tried to amend it, but republicans refused.
So, at least for Florida, it was kind whacked that the DNC punished such a big state for what was clearly a bit of republican ratfuckery.
Early (in-person) voting starts February 18 in Texas for the March 3 Super Tuesday primary. By then, we will have the benefit of Iowa and New Hampshire shaking out some of the field , with South Carolina and Nevada also coming before final day of the primary. I will almost certainly be waiting until at least South Carolina before voting, unless my currently preferred candidate manages to sweep, or do really well in, both Iowa and NH.
1 Like
Candidates of Color had a real challenge this year – People of Color did not support them to the degree that they supported white male candidates.
2 Likes
I disagree that the DNC requirements are keeping Bloomberg off the debate stage. I think Bloomberg doesn’t want to be on the debate stage.
Bloomberg’s articulated rationale for why he is not taking donations is that he wants a clear message that he is not beholden to anyone. I fail to see how accepting donations with a cap of, say, $1 per person would make him beholden to anybody. Even if 10.000 Google employees donated $1 each to Bloomberg, I don’t think there would be any concern that the $10,000 would make him beholden to Google. At the same time, demonstrating breadth of support by a large number of people donating $1 could theoretically be a positive message from his campaign.
If Bloomberg wanted to be on the debate stage, he would be there. He wants to float above the scrum until the race is down to two or three people, and figures that at that point, if if he is one of the few left, and polling well, he would definitely be invited to debates, even without meeting donor thresholds. His theory is that he doesn’t need to debate as one of six or seven people - because he has the money to stay in the race without getting significant votes in the first four states.
3 Likes
I thought it was Bach’s “Air on a G String.” Good to get Bach to where we once once belonged…
So the Dems started out with a very diverse field, still have a pretty diverse field, but because the field has narrowed due to reasons, the Dems aren’t diverse? Yet the Goppers started out with a token diverse field, except that every one of their candidates was, and is, a soulless money grubbing crook, and that’s just okay because that’s how it is?
So the Democrats have white men, white woman, gay man, Jewish man, Asian man, black man, that’s not diverse?
I like Kamala Harris, I think she should be President in 2024 after Joe or Bernie or Elizabeth serves a term and gets us back on track, or Tom or Mike (although nobody from New York City should ever be President again!) or whoever Dem wins. And their first priority needs to be purging republicans from our government. Any and all.
1 Like