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

Hang on to your hats, guys. Hillary Clinton has not ruled out running and is apparently engaged in discussions in advance of possibly running again in 2020. She apparently believes that since she won the popular vote last time, this suggests that she should have won and therefore maybe she will do it again.

One more time? Hillary Clinton mulling 2020 bid for White House

“So Hillary Clinton is telling people that she's not closing the doors to the idea of running in 2020,” Zeleny said. “Let's just let that sink in.”

Zeleny said that three people told him that as recently as this week, Clinton was telling people that she hadn’t definitively decided against running in 2020, especially given recent indictments of those close to President Trump, including his longtime adviser Roger Stone. Last week Stone was charged on seven counts in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, including obstruction, making false statements, and witness tampering.

Zeleny said Clinton would likely capitalize on the fact that she won the popular vote in 2016 in a contest she lost to President Trump. “She is still believing that there maybe could be a possibility under the argument of this, ‘I won the popular vote. All of this has sort of vindicated what happened in 2016,'” Zeleny said.​

If Hillary runs decides to run again, at that moment it will be time for the clown car to leave the station.

 

There are also apparently quite a few former Democrat mayors who are still considering getting into the race. From The Hill:

Dem mayors pursue 2020 runs as solution to Washington paralysis

The more than half a dozen current and former mayors considering 2020 campaigns include Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (D), former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (D), New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu (D), New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), who was mayor of Denver.

And some have already thrown their hats into the ring including South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) and former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro (D), who most recently served as Housing and Urban Development secretary under the Obama administration.

{More at the link}​

Probably not all of these people will run, but Hickenlooper, Bloomberg and Garcetti sound like they very possibly will. This is the first I am hearing about Landrieu, and I am having trouble taking a national candidacy by Bill de Blasio very seriously. But of course, we shall see.

 

The Howard Shultz campaign as an independent has the Democrats worried.

Democrats uneasy about potential Howard Schultz bid

For a businessman who grew a small coffee roaster into an inescapable global chain, who ensured that even his part-time workers had benefits and who has given about $150,000 to Democratic campaigns, former Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz is generating tepid — or even hostile — responses within the party as he weighs a presidential bid in 2020.

That’s partly because — as Schultz told “60 Minutes” on Sunday — he’s considering running as an independent, a prospect many worry could draw support from the eventual Democratic nominee and hand President Donald Trump another four years in office. Among those urging him not to run as an independent are David Axelrod, the former adviser to President Barack Obama, and Tina Podlodowski, the Democratic Party chairwoman in Washington state, where Schultz has lived for decades.

“It concerns me that so many voices within the Democratic Party are going so far to the left,” Schultz told CNBC last June. “I ask myself, ‘How are we going to pay for all these things?’ in terms of things like single-payer or people espousing the fact that the government is going to give everyone a job. I don’t think that’s realistic.”​

 

And here is Trump trying to bait Schultz into the race, because he knows it will help him:

Howard Schultz doesn’t have the “guts” to run for President! Watched him on @60Minutes last night and I agree with him that he is not the “smartest person.” Besides, America already has that! I only hope that Starbucks is still paying me their rent in Trump Tower!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2019​

 

Kamala Harris kickoff announcement had a bigger turnout than Obama.

Kamala Harris draws bigger crowd than Obama for launch of White House bid

Could Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., be generating more early buzz than former President Barack Obama did more than 10 years ago? If attendance is any indicator, the answer could be yes.

The California senator officially entered the 2020 fray on Sunday with a speech outside Oakland City Hall. Ian Sams, Harris' press secretary, tweeted that more than 20,000 people showed up to see the event.

NEWS: More than 20,000 in crowd at @KamalaHarris launch speech. Thousands more still in lines for overflow.

— Ian Sams (@IanSams) January 27, 2019
​

For those of you who are focused in on Bernie, Beto and Elizabeth Warren, as if that is where the action certainly must be, you might want to think again.

 

Governor Hickenlooper. Come on down!

 

Kamala Harris could be the nominee for the Democrats in 2020. I project her as my current, gut-check frontrunner in this race.

 

As I have said previously, I believe Klobuchar would be the most dangerous general election candidate that the Democrats can put up. If they were to nominate her, that is, which I do not think is very likely at all.

On the other hand, I think Harris will be a terrible general election candidate, but she has an excellent chance of winning the nomination.

Meanwhile, the smart, old-school establishment elite money appears to be lining up behind Joe Biden.

And a number of the more outspoken people in the media and here on this board seem to favor Bernie, Beto or Elizabeth Warren.

Hmmm.