It's Now or Never for These Democratic Candidates

[left-of-center2012]

Twenty presidential candidates are debating Tuesday and Wednesday nights. It’s their second round, and the last with so many candidates split over two nights. After this there’s a break until September, and the Democratic National Committee is making it harder to qualify for the next round. At best, maybe a dozen candidates will still be debating in September, and it’s hard to believe that anyone who can’t qualify can recover to win the nomination.

Going in, the polling has Joe Biden as a clear leader; Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris grouped together behind him; Pete Buttigieg alone in fifth place; and then a whole bunch of candidates at 2%, 1% or less.

The group of candidates who appear unlikely to qualify for the September debates, but could still be serious contenders if they were to have a big debate moment and surge: I’d put Jay Inslee, Kirsten Gillibrand, Steve Bullock, and maybe John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet in this group.

Sanders has been treated as a top candidate throughout the cycle. His polling has been on a downward slope, however, and if he falls any further, it’s easy to imagine him losing a lot of free media as more pundits consider him yesterday’s news.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/now-never-democratic-candidates-131434977.html

[customerserviceguy]

1. Sanders will be there for awhile

He will always have a core group of supporters that will be there to avenge 2016.