Ready The Clown Car: The First Batch of Democrats Are Ready To Announce Their 2020 Bids

I did not watch the debate last night in advance of the New Hampshire primary, but I did just scan through a number of the articles from the establishment Democrat left media about the debate.

They are pushing hard for Amy and Pete, and appear to have completely given up on Joe, and to a lesser degree on Warren as well. They recognize Bernie as the animating force of this race and they appear to be trying to contain or subtly diminish his momentum as much as they can.

In fact, after blowing away all the smoke in these collective articles, I came away with the impression that they did not believe that the race in New Hampshire will be altered by this debate and that to the extent that any of the candidates won, it was not the sort of win that actually gained anyone anything of substance.

But they did think there was a clear loser, and that was Joe Biden, who they perceive as having basically conceded New Hampshire in large part because of his big surprise loss in Iowa. If this is the broader perception among Democrats and Joe keeps proceeding on this trajectory, then he could out of the race as soon as Super Tuesday (March 3).

 

New Hampshire polls with four days until the primary.

RCP Poll Average - New Hampshire
26.0 - Sanders
22.5 - Buttigieg
13.0 - Warren
13.0 - Biden
08.0 - Klobuchar

Bernie leads Pete by 3.5, as Pete has soared in these polls by almost 9 points since last weekend. Amy Klobuchar is also up by 6 points, from 2 to 8, in the last five weeks.

Warren and Biden have fallen into their own second tier, with Joe now being tied for third place, probably on the verge of falling into fourth before Tuesday. Can he recover from back to back fourth place finishes in the first two contests, when just a few weeks ago he was the unquestioned frontrunner and his campaign strategy was his "inevitability". Honestly, I do not think so.

Pete has polled better in these first two states all along, but he is well down into the single digits in all the states following that I have seen. Of course his strategy was always to do well early and use that as a platform to promote his candidacy in the states to come. Will it be enough? Do the Democrat voters really want to choose between Bernie and Pete as their final two? Because at this point, it is looking like that may be what this race comes down to.

 

Chris Matthews comes out against socialism in the Democrat party after the last debate. Also, Matthews is lining up now behind Amy Klobuchar, who he appears to be convinced is sufficiently separated from socialist inclinations, as he sees it, to make her a good nominee for the party.

MSNBC's Chris Matthews Sounds Alarm Over Socialism in the Democratic Party

MSNBC political commentator Chris Matthews gave Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) high praise following the candidate's performance Friday evening in the eighth Democratic presidential debate in New Hampshire. Matthews distinguished Klobuchar's politics from that of more radical Democrats on the stage that evening, particularly Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Matthews let the panel know that he's not a big fan of socialism after seeing the violent ideology in practice throughout his life.

"The issue of this campaign. It is that word, socialism," Matthews said to a startled MSNBC panel. "Some people like it. Young people like it. Those of us like me, who grew up in the Cold War, and saw some aspects of it after visiting places like Vietnam, like I have, and seeing countries like Cuba, being there, I've seen what socialism is like and I don't like it. Okay. It's not only not free. It doesn't frickin' work." ​

With this, it looks like we are starting to come full circle, back to the early days of this thread when I tried to suggest to everyone, that Amy Klobuchar was the smart choice for the Democrats this time, even though I realized that she was probably not incendiary enough to attract the attention and support that she would need to be competitive for the nomination.

But now that the game is on, famous lefties like Chris Matthews are apparently waking up and smelling the coffee, and coming around to see that while she might not be "sensational" in any way, she really does strike a remarkably good balance for the Democrats during this cycle.

In any case, it is interesting to see him rail against socialism, while advocating for a socialist agenda on a nightly basis for over 20 years now. It is going to take me a little while to fully digest that presentation. But I think he is probably belatedly right about Amy Klobuchar.

 

Two days until the New Hampshire primary.

Bernie has increased his poll lead over the last few days and is now up 5.2 in the RCP poll average for New Hampshire over Mayor Pete, whose support has remained steady. Warren further back in third remains flat while the former presumptive nominee Joe Biden has fallen back to fourth place.

RCP Poll Average - New Hampshire
26.7 - Sanders
21.5 - Buttigieg
13.0 - Warren
12.5 - Biden
09.2 - Klobuchar

Amy Klobuchar in fifth place continues to gain momentum, picking up another 1.2 points in just the last few days. If she passes Biden in this vote on Tuesday and he finishes in fifth place in the New Hampshire primary, then....

 

Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard is calling on DNC Chairman Tom Perez to resign as a result of the Iowa debacle.

Gabbard calls on DNC chairman to step down after Iowa 'debacle'

Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) called on Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez to step down following the chaotic Iowa caucus. Gabbard said in an email sent to supporters Sunday that the "trust" voters deserve under Perez's leadership "has been broken."

“That’s why today I’m asking that you join me in demanding that Tom Perez accept responsibility for this gross failure in leadership and resign now,” Gabbard wrote, linking to a petition calling for the party chair’s resignation. “Under the leadership of Tom Perez, the DNC has kowtowed to billionaires, caused a debacle in Iowa, and undermined the voter’s trust in our elections,” she added.​

It does not appear to make practical sense for Tom Perez to resign right now, as there is nothing that can be done about the primaries at this point. They are run by the state political parties, albeit with significant involvement and participation by the DNC. If there are any more problems, it will have to wait until after the November elections to fix them, and that will be handled by Perez replacement as DNC Chair, as he will step down shortly after the election.

Nevertheless, this is good politics for Gabbard, even if it is not practical for him or the DNC to make this move right now. In any case, the DNC is likely to be further displeased by this latest act of insubordination by Gabbard.

She is establishing her anti-establishment credentials during this election cycle. You have to give her that, regardless.

 

He has described himself as a socialist. Of course he realizes that a president does not get to unilaterally change our entire economic system by decree.