Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumPresidential hopefuls face a stubborn problem: how to bump Biden
https://beta.washingtonpost.com/politics/presidential-hopefuls-face-a-stubborn-problem-how-to-bump-biden/2019/09/01/e8089b30-cc1d-11e9-a1fe-ca46e8d573c0_story.htmlIn the first Democratic debate in June, Rep. Eric Swalwell (Calif.) staked his campaign on demanding Biden pass the torch to younger candidates, only to abandon his presidential effort days later. In the last big moment of her campaign, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) launched an assault on Biden at the July debate, arguing that a 1981 opinion piece he had written showed disrespect for women who work outside the home. She dropped out last week after failing to qualify for the September debate.
The most successful challenge came from Sen. Kamala D. Harris (Calif.), who denounced Bidens opposition to school busing with a well-delivered personal story of her own childhood at a recently desegregated school. But she was unable to turn the moment into anything more than a temporary bump in fundraising and polling support.
Her advisers remain convinced that the confrontation will help her campaign down the road, though since then she has not made Biden a major part of her message.
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Anytime you are in a multicandidate primary, the aggressor is not the direct beneficiary of an attack, said Jeff Link, an Iowa Democratic strategist, who has worked for the presidential campaigns of Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Obama. Typically someone else benefits because nobody likes an attack.
That happened in 2004, when Rep. Dick Gephardt (Mo.) unleashed a blistering attack on Vermont Gov. Howard Dean days before the Iowa caucuses, calling him a weather-vane Democrat with false conviction. The attack helped sink polling support for Gephardt and Dean, allowing Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) to win the state.
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The attacks on Biden usually just make me like him more.
NOT because I'm blindly loyal, but because each of these attacks makes me review why I think Biden is the strongest potential nominee and why he would be the best president, compared to all the other candidates.
I'll vote for whoever wins the nomination.
But I think Biden is the best candidate, the best leader for our party and our country.
And IMO attacks on him will almost always backfire.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
BeyondGeography
(39,379 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
highplainsdem
(49,034 posts)back in June if any of the Democrats know what they're doing
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/12/magazine/democratic-primary-candidates-iowa-caucus.html
and who did a "Pete Buttigieg Is Still Figuring This Out" piece back in July.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/magazine/pete-buttigieg-2020.html
Leibovich sounds like the person most likely to write a "Did the Newly Elected Democratic President Really Want to Be in the White House?" piece in January 2021, if the Democratic nominee wins.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Thekaspervote
(32,793 posts)Attacks? You think those that support Biden and read your link are going to feel differently? Im just asking.... seriously
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
highplainsdem
(49,034 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Thekaspervote
(32,793 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
BeyondGeography
(39,379 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
highplainsdem
(49,034 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Thekaspervote
(32,793 posts)They see a leader... one that can best dislodge the illicit squatter inthe WH
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
George II
(67,782 posts)...it's going to be a caucus or primary.
I don't think I've ever seen the frenzy this early for campaigning all over the place. Will something one candidate says today in Iowa be remembered in February? Will all others be ignored for the next five months because one candidate was there first?
It's a whole new world out there with the internet, emails, Facebook (which I don't use), twitter, etc. It's not as important now as it was years ago, but even back then there wasn't the perceived urgency to get out this early and campaign.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
BeyondGeography
(39,379 posts)This is still story time; who am I, why am I here. Most people are just tuning in. If the first thing they see you do is attack another Democrat who they probably like, good luck.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
George II
(67,782 posts)...on a mission would just stop.
Don't know about anyone else, but it just makes me less interested in the candidates' people who do it.
I may be wrong, but of the five or six front runners, I think Biden has been running the "cleanest" campaign so far.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Thekaspervote
(32,793 posts)Frustrating... as for Sanders he should have figured out it didnt work in 2016.
As far as the others, are they learning anything from those that have gone negative?
I wonder too if the 24/7 negative crap thrown our way by dotard and his ilk have further soured people on negativity.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Thekaspervote
(32,793 posts)My reasoning and come to the same conclusion
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
treestar
(82,383 posts)the end it did her no good at all.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Peacetrain
(22,878 posts)from people who are not as much a politico as I am is that they have a comfort level with VP Biden, a trust level, knowing what he has done.. that they just do not have for the other candidates..And even after they have looked at other people, they come back to VP Biden.. after all the craziness of the last 2 1/2 years people are not looking for the shiny new penny, but the reliable person they know can get us back to some kind of normalcy.. as one person said.. they know if VP Biden is elected they can sleep at night... and that is about as good a recommendation that anyone can get..
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Thekaspervote
(32,793 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
peggysue2
(10,839 posts)This was from another thread this morning. In explaining Joe Biden's support in the AA community, Nutter said that voters know who Joe Biden is, what he's made of, where he's coming from. There's power in that, he said. There's loyalty in that.
Think that pretty much sums up Biden's support overall. And yes, the attacks have royally backfired.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden