Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumThere's Only One Way the Patrick and Bloomberg Campaigns Make Sense
Last edited Wed Nov 20, 2019, 08:19 PM - Edit history (1)
FWIW, I think Pareene is very likely wrong about the source of (but not the real reason for) Patrick's candidacy.
I suspect Mitt Romney and Bain Capital had rather more to do with it than the Obamas.
He's spot-on about Bloomberg, imo.
https://newrepublic.com/article/155789/theres-one-way-patrick-bloomberg-campaigns-make-sense
Finally, let us consider Michael Bloomberg, whose bid makes even less sense. While he is able to completely self-fund a presidential campaign, giving him an advantage over Patrick (who is regular-rich, not plutocrat-rich), the former New York City mayor is skipping Iowa and New Hampshire and purchasing generically anti-Trump Facebook ads instead of Facebook ads promoting a Michael Bloomberg candidacy. He has apologized for stop and frisk, yes, but he is broadly doing things to make himself seem acceptable to Democratic voters, not (yet) to convince them to support Michael Bloomberg in enough primaries and caucuses to give him the nomination.
Bloomberg also very much wants to be president, and has only declined to run in the past because he was smart enough to know he couldnt win as an independent and probably couldnt win either partys nomination the traditional way. How could Bloomberg win, then? If he was handed the nomination at a brokered convention. I know that invoking that term is going to touch off a wave of groans from people who, every election cycle, read countless pieces of glorified politics fanfic from pundits predicting brokered conventions that simply do not happen anymore. I said from the start that this was going to be annoying.
But this is the only way these two late entrants make any sense. The Patrick and Bloomberg campaigns are not mere long shots, or attempts to harm Sanders or Warren on behalf of the moderates. They are calculated bets on a brokered convention. These are well-connected people at the highest levels of Democratic Party politics (despite his independent status, Bloomberg has always surrounded himself with Democratic campaign veterans and aides), making it clear that they think there is a real chance that the nomination will be completely up for grabs next July...
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
msongs
(67,395 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
LonePirate
(13,417 posts)1. They fear Biden is slipping and will lose the nomination
2. They fear their taxes will increase because whoever defeats Biden will be to his left.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
zaj
(3,433 posts)They are worried a progressive will loose to Trump.
That's a real, valid fear.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
LonePirate
(13,417 posts)They are not fearful of 45 winning re-election.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
blm
(113,043 posts)Especially when millions of NEW voters are now engaged and are predominately progressive.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
This particular rationale completely floors me!
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
blm
(113,043 posts)that the media helps to catapult.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
BlueMTexpat
(15,366 posts)argument from me on that!
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)This is as described: A ploy against Sanders and Warren
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
zaj
(3,433 posts)...imo.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)I said this after Patrick announced. They are both in it at either the Party's behind the scenes suggestion or because they believe that the convention will come to that.
I don't see it happening that way, but time will tell.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
StevieM
(10,500 posts)My gut is telling me that he will ultimately decide to skip the race.
Patrick may not last beyond the New Hampshire primary, if he even makes it that far.
Most Democratic primary voters are happy with the field as it stands now.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)...Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, one of the most outspoken defenders of Wall Street, has sided against one of the financial industrys biggest critics in a hotly contested Senate race in his native Massachusetts.
Mr. Bloomberg has agreed to host a fund-raiser at his Upper East Side town house for the re-election campaign of Senator Scott P. Brown, a Republican, who is being challenged by a fiery consumer advocate, Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat who is also a professor at Harvard Law School...
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
blm
(113,043 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden