Will a single-issue Democratic primary candidate rise to the top?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. I sure hope not.

Obviously not everyone has the same issue that is most important to them. I think we all, as Democrats, agree on at least the outlines, if not all the details, of certain issues: Health care, climate change, abortion, PoC and LGBT rights, etc., but your BIG issue might not be the same as mine. I agree that it isn't a good strategy for a candidate to concentrate on just one while giving little attention to the others. And yes, I understand, for example, Inslee's point that that climate change is the biggie in the sense that if the climate goes all to shit we won't be able to do anything about anything else. But the reality is that other things still matter to people and they want those issues addressed, too.

I suspect this is the reason the DNC doesn't want to hold a debate about climate change. It's not that they consider it unimportant (I, for one, would love for there to be such a debate), but that other candidates would also want separate debates about other issues. So besides the climate change debate maybe we'd also have a health care debate, a gun control debate, an abortion debate, a tax policy debate, a racism in policing debate, an LGBT rights debate, an impeachment debate, and so forth. As a practical matter it would be unworkable, people would watch only those relating to their pet issue, and with 24 candidates it would be chaotic and unhelpful.