Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forum
Congratulations to our presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden!
David Corn: The Great New Hampshire Voter Freak-Out
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/02/the-great-new-hampshire-voter-freak-out/The Great New Hampshire Voter Freak-Out
Just decide already!
David Corn
Jessica, a 29-year-old elementary teacher, is vexed, highly vexed. She stands in the gym of the high school in Lebanon, New Hampshire, holding her three-month-old daughter. A few feet away, her fidgety two-year-old son is being tended to by Jessicas mother. Surrounded by Elizabeth Warren supporters who are waiting for the candidate to arrive for a town hall, Jessica cant make up her mind. And its two days before the Granite State holds the first primary election of the 2020 presidential race. I want to be strategic and vote for the Democrat who can win in November, she says. And who is that? a reporter asks. I dont know, she replies. Can you tell me? Please?
It doesnt help Jessica to know that a great deal of New Hampshire Democratic voters share her plight. There are certainly many residents who have their man or woman. Rallies for all the candidates are full of committed supporters. But the crowds do contain a significant percentage of voters still struggling. At a Sanders event in Hanover that drew hundreds of Bernie devotees from Dartmouth University, the first row of seats contained not only the candidates most fervent supporters but voters, who had arrived hours earlier to be at the front of the line, who were unsure how they would vote on Tuesday. Maybe Warren. Maybe Buttigieg. Maybe Sanders. They hoped that seeing Sanders up close and personal would help them resolve what to do.
Many of the undecideds are driving themselves crazy. They say that they swing back and forth between candidates. It could be Sanders one day, Warren the next, or maybe Buttigieg, Biden, or Klobuchar. And, they report, the choice is a difficult one. Thats because many of them are trying to do the impossible. These still-pondering Granite Staters largely have one priority: removing Donald Trump from the White House. Like Jessica, they yearn to vote for the Democrat who has the best chance of booting Trump. And they believe there is a calculation to be performed that will yield a definitive answer. The problem for themand the Democratic Partyis that there isnt. Such an algorithm doesnt exist.
No candidate in this pack at this point can reasonably claim that his or her case for electability is ironclador even far superior than those of his or her rivals. Sanders contends he can both appeal to working class voters who went for Trump and attract voters who dont tend to vote. Perhaps. But will his standing as a democratic socialist turn away voters and provide Trump an easy line of attack? Pete Buttigieg says he can draw on his middle-America roots to pull in moderates and Republicans. Its possible. Its also possible his lack of experience and sexual orientation might be a no-go for general election voters. Joe Biden has the resumé and claims he can appeal to middle-class voters in key swing states. But his performance as a candidate has prompted the obvious comparison to a boxer past his prime. Warren asserts her fight against Washington and corporate corruption can resonate beyond those progressives who have long embraced her as a champion. Yet her failure to stay in the top-tier of the race raises questions. And so on.
There are no political expertsno consultants, no pundits, no pollsterswho can say which of these arguments truly bests the others. Its all supposin. Every night at the bar at the DoubleTree Hotel in Manchester, reporters covering the primary gather and compare notes, and no one within this group has much of a better grasp on this question than the voters they talked to that day. The bottom line is clear: There is no one Democratic candidate without an obvious potential flaw. And there is no way to measure the possible impact of these possible flaws ahead of time.
snip//
The Democratic field offers voters a wide range of choices. But when it comes to electabilitya quality that cannot be easily assessed before the factthere is no ideal candidate. Trumps presence in the White House has caused many voters to conclude the responsible thing to do is to put aside their own policy or personal preferences to pick a candidate who can trounce Trump. Now if only they knew who that was.
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
6 replies, 955 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (9)
ReplyReply to this post
6 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
David Corn: The Great New Hampshire Voter Freak-Out (Original Post)
babylonsister
Feb 2020
OP
We can tell a great deal by seeing how tRUMP and the reTHUGS react to our Democratic
abqtommy
Feb 2020
#5
empedocles
(15,751 posts)1. We will have a better idea 'who' that is, after 'the Ides of March'.
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)3. check your mail
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Dem2
(8,168 posts)2. I still have until tomorrow!
I'm one of those poor indecisive NH people who can't decide who to vote for.
I may not know until I stare at the ballot tomorrow - I might be in that booth for a while.
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Laelth
(32,017 posts)4. Woe is us! We have a deep bench, and it's hard to choose.
To me, it looks like we're in great shape to take down the Great Pumpkin in November. I can't feel sorry for people who are frustrated by such a wide range of excellent choices.
-Laelth
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
abqtommy
(14,118 posts)5. We can tell a great deal by seeing how tRUMP and the reTHUGS react to our Democratic
candidates. It's obvious that the candidate they most fear facing in the General is Joe. That's why they're pushing Bernie. Let's not play their corrupt games when we can see how things are.
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Zolorp
(1,115 posts)6. The more I think about it, the more convinced I become that the only candidate who can win...
is not even on the ballot in New Hampshire.
Bloomberg.
Bloomberg is the answer.
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden