After the midterms, I'm beginning to change my mind about 2020

[BluegrassDem]

After reviewing the results, I'm trying to figure out a way that we can amass 270 EV's in 2020, should Trump still be president.

Before, I was thinking that a woman or person of color should be the nominee to reassemble the Obama coalition. I'm now thinking that Midwestern nice might be the best route as we did so well in the Midwest (except Ohio). Although Indiana is midwest, it might as well be Alabama. I never considered him to be at the top of my list before, but now I'm thinking Sen. Sherrod Brown paired with a minority VP (like Harris) would be the best ticket to consider. Anyone think the same?

[MaryMagdaline]

1. Sherrod Brown would be great

[GWC58]

9. Should've been

Hillary’s pick for VP. Obviously had she done this the Republican governor of Ohio, had Hillary won, would’ve replaced Sen. Brown with another Republican. Have to choose your battles, I suppose.

[LisaL]

11. I would rather lose a senator than have Trump as president.

[11 Bravo]

67. I would rather lose a testicle than have Trump as President.

[PatSeg]

57. He would have been a great VP pick

I love Sherrod Brown.

[JonLP24]

2. I hope to avoid this train of thought

And focus on who has the best ideas for the country as well as a popular politician.

I wouldn't mind Brown or Harris in either order.

[BluegrassDem]

3. What train of thought exactly?

Getting someone who could actually win? We need to be real. Trump has built in support in uneducated rural areas. We need to break this. Sherrod Brown is the opposite of Trump in every way and he's from Ohio. I don't think we can win nominating someone from Massachusetts or Vermont, for example. Not after Tuesday's results...no way.

[LisaL]

4. And Sherrod managed to win where every other democrat running statewide in OH lost.

That should count for something.

[JonLP24]

5. Decided to pick someone based on woman, color, or a white man to win an election

Electability is so subjective. I think Warren or Sanders (who polls well with Independents) would win.

I'd be happy with Sanders, Warren, Harris, or Brown. I'm not picky.

[brush]

64. Tuesday was repudiation of trump. He's not going to get any better...

in the next two years.

The new coalition is progressives/African Americans/Hispanic Americans/Asian Americans/Native Americans and college educated suburban whites who abandoned trump's erratic, chaotic corruption.

We're on the right track. Let trump have his deplorables and rural voters. We've shown with the House results we outnumber them.

Brown is in the running but we don't have to specifically have a white male at the top of the ticket.

[phylny]

6. I like Kamala Harris as a V.P.

because I don't think a woman can be elected to be president (and I'm a woman who'd like to see a woman as president in my lifetime). She's young enough to then run after 8 years - imagine 16 years of a Democratic president!

I don't know enough about Brown, but I'm paying attention.

[JonLP24]

8. I don't understand a man can lose an election

But no one says well that failed let's not try that again.

[phylny]

10. I didn't say that.

I don't think this country is ready for a woman president. I never said we should never try again

[JonLP24]

14. I don't think Clinton losing necessarily means that

She had a lot of negatives like Benghazi or email coverage no I don't think she did anything wrong but probably hurt with casual observers plus Comet and Russia's information warfare campaign it was just mix of a lot bad luck.

[Bettie]

22. 25 years of marketing against her

that was a negative, not due to anything she ever did except scare some old white guys by being smarter than they were.

[JonLP24]

23. I didn't say it was anything she did

I meant media coverage of those things could have affected the casual voter. I said no she did not do anything wrong. Sorry for not being more clear.

[Bettie]

24. I know

It just makes me so angry to think about it.

The anger wasn't directed at you though, just at the universe in general.

Things are so fucked right now.

[JonLP24]

25. I agree

It makes me angry too.

[Bettie]

26. Sorry if I made you think

I was attacking you...I was more trying to illustrate your point.

[JonLP24]

30. You're fine

I'm typing on a phone so sometimes I worry about not being clear. Easier to type with a keyboard.

[StevieM]

34. But a lot of the venom was new, since the FBI targeted her with their lies.

Comey completely lost control of this situation and was easily manipulated--and that is a charitable view of him.

Without the FBI setting out to destroy her candidacy she would have won easily, the 25 year smear notwithstanding.

[mcar]

55. Right?

[Cosmocat]

12. Yep

I do think maybe Elizabeth Warren could pull it off.

But, being both a woman and black would just handicap the effort to get rid of this idiot in 2020.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

32. Love Elizabeth... having her and Bernie - in any order - on the ticket guarantees victory in 2020.

Elizabeth & Bernie 2020!!!

[lunamagica]

31. I agree with you. My eyes were opened at how sexist this country is, and I don't understand how

anyone can deny it.

First a woman VP, then president. But now I doubt it will happen in my lifetime

[crazycatlady]

35. I think a woman needs to be elected VP first

In 2016, we elected a sexual predator over a well qualified woman. Sexism is alive and well in this country.

Unfortunately we need to run a white man at the top of the ticket. While I like Sherrod Brown, I'm not sure if I want to risk losing his seat (which would surely flip red).

[Funtatlaguy]

7. I'm rethinking too: Biden/Harris.

Really wat a woman and a minority on ticket. Harris would be both. Joe is old but they love him in northeast and he might get some white male union type votes.

[Cosmocat]

13. That's a nice ticket

nm

[Jersey Devil]

20. Good ticket imo - nt

.

[LBM20]

15. Sherrod Brown would be a GREAT candidate, or Tim Ryan. Midwesterner with very broad appeal.

[Buckeyeblue]

16. Are there any governors that are viable

I'm not sure about Sharrod Brown. He's been in the Senate for a while now. I'd like see a governor. If not from the midwest. Maybe from the west.

Whoever it is needs need have a great deal of charisma and a decent sense of humor. And if the House does things right, they will give this person a blue print for victory.

I also don't think gender or skin color matter. As long as they are charismatic and likeable people will vote for them. HRC got beat by a number of factors, the biggest being that low information swing voters did not like her. I suspect Warren would have the same problem.

We also don't know what's in the Mueller report. And where is the Pee Video? 45's recent erratic and even desperate behavior suggests something big might there. Maybe something that might influence some swing voters.

[Freddie]

33. Tom Wolf, gov of PA

Just won re-election by a landslide in this purple state. Very warm and likeable. Cleaned up the mess left by the previous (Repug) Governor. No scandals whatsoever. He’s a successful businessman who went into politics to make peoples lives better (unlike the current “successful businessman”). If not top of the ticket he is excellent running mate material.
Or Midwest Nice - Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Wolf as VP).

[Blue_true]

38. My choice would be the governor of Montana.

Two terms, knows how to deal with republicans, progressive enough. We need to understand that we are not going to win with a highly progressive person at the top of the ticket, voters in key states like Florida will find a reason to reject that person.

[Hortensis]

17. Yes, we did fantastic in Koch Country. We also swept

America's urban areas and, critically, gained the suburbs. Republicans held older generations ni the "hills and dales" as one analysis put it. A "heartland," as residents seemingly like to consider the midwest, strategy sounds interesting as a base camp for incursions. Perhaps with a female gay black Muslim VP to reassure everything we're not trying to regress?

I like and respect Sherrod Brown, he almost never says anything I haven't always agreed with. He's certainly been a heartland pol concerned with a lot of working people not making good money has meant. His economic populist, anti- free trade positions should appeal in less vigorous, lower pay, job starved areas outside metro areas. But he'd have to also appeal to young voters and those who live in the vigorous, innovative cities on ocean and Great Lakes coasts, which is most of us. He's 56 and wouldn't be offering the appearance of youthful energy and "newness" that Tuesday showed has real appeal. (Btw, Beto's 46.)

I noticed that Sherrod and Kamala Harris, like Hillary and other Democrats, have been planning for the imminent need to establish a universal basic income as automation continues. We need a candidate who can run on that and vanquish a lot of anxiety by making conservatives especially understand that this is a good thing that will enable the next great advance in personal and national wellbeing -- all made both necessary and possible by great advances in technology. On the plus side, Tuesday once again proved that progressivism among conservatives is still alive and kicking despite decades of efforts by the Republican/plutocrats to kill it. Conservative voters know Social Security and government-run healthcare work.

Btw, speaking of 2020, Joe Kennedy III stumped for Beto and suggested Beto as a presidential candidate for 2020. My guess is that Beto's biggest interest for Joe was demonstrating how young white energy appealed to voters in TX and elsewhere. Joe III just won reelection (surprise), and with a Democratic house majority he may finally get some experience in legislating. He's now over 35, so may be planning to end his job-hopping with 2 terms in the White House and then head off for some new adventure before he's 50.

It is unacceptable that someone can work full time - and work hard - and not be able to lift themselves out of poverty. ~ Sherrod Brown

“This is our America: we will never give up the hallowed ground of patriotism to the extremists. I repeat. We will never ever give up the hallowed ground of patriotism to the extremists — at the Statehouse and in the White House.” ~ Sherrod Brown

[Sunsky]

18. What a POC cannot head the ticket anymore?

This country has really moved backwards. I am not going to cave to the white supremacists and or the misogynists. The first woman to head a presidential ticket won the popular vote by about 3 million votes, even after another country rage war with our election.
Using a POC to prop up a presidential ticket will cost the Democratic party some of their most ardent supporters.

Don't think the sentiments Kanye expressed are just the ramblings of a madman, for many years some in the black community people have been expressing the feeling of being neglected, used and mistreated by the Democratic party (I hear this being expressed every election cycle). The election of President Obama and the attitude of the Republican party has served to somewhat dispel that mindset. I believe that Russia discovered that thought process in the black community and Trump has used Kanye to express solidarity. However, minorities deserve respect and equality. If we can't be the head, don't use us for the tail.

[lilactime]

19. He'd be great but I don't want it to be anybody who

would have to be replaced if there weren't a 100% chance it would be by another Democrat.

[elocs]

21. Democrats can win by picking the best candidate regardless of gender or race.

Democrats also need to make their tent big so those who lean Democratic and vote for Democrats most of the time will feel welcome and not be put-down as being DINOs or Republican lite. We have diversity on the Left but within the broad confines of what makes a Democrat a Democrat so why would we move the bar to the far Left and invite those who don't share that degree of Democratic purity to take a hike? Because I would welcome those who vote for Democrats most of the time in the same way in exactly the same way I have no problem with a member of Congress who represents a state or district that would never elect a Liberal Democrat but might elect a conservative one and that person counts towards the Democrats controlling the House or Senate and it's agenda and power.

But more than Democrats picking a presidential candidate as just a woman or minority, or both, I want to see new blood with fresh, new ideas and not a rehash of past presidential runs. As a senior citizen myself I'm looking forward to voting for someone who is an exciting and qualified candidate with broad appeal who is at least 10 years younger than I am.
A large segment of the American electorate is only ever going to vote for the Republican candidate just as a large segment will never vote for a Republican which means they won't necessarily vote for the Democratic candidate either. But outside of turnout, on the Left we need that big tent which welcomes those who are looking for a reason to vote for Democrats.
That's how we will win.

[SKKY]

27. I'm still holding out for a Kamala Harris / Martin Heinrich ticket...

...That would be a very, very formidable ticket, although I'm not sure Heinrich has the appetite for higher office.

[LincolnRossiter]

28. I think Brown or Biden would wipe the floor with Trump. Maybe even Gavin Newson, though I think he..

has some liabilities. Honestly I don't think we need to focus on any particular demographic of candidate, but I agree that the idea that we need a woman or minority is short-sited and silly. Dems set turnout records during this midterm, beating the GOP by 12 million votes (in a midterm), and storming through the Midwest and upper Atlantic (minus Ohio, fuck you guys) and almost sending two progressive black candidates to governor's mansions in the old South.

Don't listen to the hype. The Dems will have to fuck up, bigly, to lose in 2020. Not that I'm hoping for it, but the economic cycle is expected to come back around by the fall/winter of 2019. And that fake feather (which he didn't create) is really the only one in Trump's hate.

[EffieBlack]

29. A person of color or woman can't be "Midwestern nice?"

Did you actually read what you wrote before you hit "post?"

FYI - A black man or a woman has won the last three presidential elections. And the black man won both the popular vote AND Electoral College. But one EC loss by a woman and we now MUST default back to a white man?

Thanks for telling us that we're "others" and should step aside so a "Midwestern white man" can save us from Trump. At least you said out loud what lots of our fellow progressives are thinking but won't admit. But you should realize that that way of thinking provides the very foundation for the perpetuation of institutional racism. I urge you to seriously consider what you're saying and reconsider your views on this.

[BluegrassDem]

50. Calm down! I'm black!

I live in rural America in a red state and I know how people are here. Obama was from Illinois and he is the type of candidate that has appeal in the midwest. That's my point! Don't be pulling that racist shit on me.

[EffieBlack]

66. I don't care what color you are

You said, “Before, I was thinking that a woman or person of color should be the nominee to reassemble the Obama coalition. I'm now thinking that Midwestern nice might be the best route ... now I'm thinking Sen. Sherrod Brown paired with a minority VP,” i.e., NOT a woman or person of color as the nominee. YOU wrote that, not I.

My point stands. That kind of thinking, regardless who does it, perpetuates institutional racism.

[Blue_true]

36. Another name that is growing on me is Governor Steve Bullard.

Pretty progressive governor in a conservative plains state. Still young and into his second term. Knows how to deal with hostile republicans.

[StevieM]

37. We would have won Florida had it not been for an extraordinary smear campaign. And we will win it

in 2020. Along with many other states, like Arizona and North Carolina.

We cannot limit our path to victory to only through the Midwest. Obviously we will want to target those states as well, just as we did in 2016, the media's rewritten history notwithstanding.

I like Tom Steyer myself.

[Blue_true]

42. Our candidate must be prepared to be on the campaign trail everyday.

Doing 3-4 events per day like President Obama did. Our candidate can't spend days at a time off the campaign trail and only go to large cities.

I hope people noted what Trump did in the midterms (and in 2016), he did 2-3 events per day. Our nominee need to show the country that he or she simply out works Trump, matching and exceeding his stops and going everywhere, big cities, small towns, rural communities, staying in people's homes like President Obama did often in 2008 and occasionally in 2012 as President.

[StevieM]

45. HRC's schedule of campaign stops was not what cost us that election.

Her reputation was severely damaged by a bogus FBI investigation. If you take Comey out of the equation she wins in a landslide.

When HRC was "taking time off" she was doing one of two things: raising money or preparing for the debates. Her time in debate prep was well-spent, as evidenced by the way she destroyed him in all three debates. And raising money allowed her to get all over the airwaves, including in rural areas and small towns.

And she campaigned in many different states beyond a narrow selection, chosing to target North Carolina and Arizona, both of which she was about to win had it not been for the last minute Comey intervention.

[mcar]

58. Who did that?

Our candidate can't spend days at a time off the campaign trail and only go to large cities.

[jcgoldie]

39. Beto turns out the unlikely voters

... similar to Obama. We can get to 270 without FLA or OH with just the Clinton states plus PA, MI, and WI who all went pretty blue Tuesday...

[Blue_true]

44. Yes, we don't need Florida or Ohio.

My guess though is that DeSantis (if he actually wins) will have made a mess in Florida and that state will be very much in play. If the new Dem governors in Michigan and Wisconsin lead well, those states are a lock along with Pennsylvania, where voters confirmed that they love the job Tom Wolf is doing there (some here on DU hate him and call him a Dino, BUT, his voters affirmed that he is effective in leading his state, AND the stay has had a ton of progressive change enacted under his watch). He has led so well that voters not only easily reelected him, but also gave him a more friendly legislature and senate.

[AlexSFCA]

40. Brown/Beto ticket would obliterate trump in a landalide

[mchill]

63. I agree!

Fan of both men.

[marylandblue]

41. I am with you, unfortunately America had taken a step backwards

Pains me to say. We need two white males on the ticket. Two who speak the language of patriotism and American values. I'll probably be flamed for this. Identity politics is killing us. Which is not the same as saying anyone should be denied their rights, but some people will think I am saying that.

[Blue_true]

46. I think Biden and Harris or the Montana governor would do the trick.

Biden would be a transitional figure, like Nancy Pelosi is setting up to be, transition to a younger generation without blowing things up.

[marylandblue]

48. I like Biden, but I think he may be too old

A younger person would create greater contrast with Trump. I don't know much about the Governor of Montana. We need charisma.

[Midwestern Democrat]

72. Unfortunately, I tend to agree. Biden is going to be 78 in 2020 - let's be honest: we would not

have ever considered nominating someone that old for president in past cycles where we had deeper benches - for example, in 1988, that would have been like us nominating Hubert Humphrey had he still been alive (Humphrey would have been 77 in '88).

[EffieBlack]

49. Minorities and women can't "speak the language of patriotism and American values"?

"Identity politics?"

Seriously?

Since you're so concerned that the candidate not engage in "identity politics" - a euphemism for acting as if minorities and women and lgbtq and immigrants don't need to be reached out to or have issues that need to be addressed the way hard-working white Americans do - perhaps just to be safe, they'd better be seen with only white people and not mention civil rights or social justice or voter suppression or ecinomic inequality because, after all, we want to win, right?

No flaming. Just a big WOW!

[marylandblue]

71. Of course minorities and women can speak the language, but everything is harder for them

And I am sure I don't need to explain that to you. It's a problem all the time, but it's especially a problem against Trump, who will exploit every weakness, use every type of attack against his opponents. Negative attacks tend to "stick" more to minorities and women. Women and minorities have to work harder to get less than white males get by default. Unfortunately.


Of course we should fight for civil rights and social justice, but it's all in the framing. For the right, it needs to be framed in a common American identity and values. The left implicitly knows that it is part of our common American heritage. The right needs it spelled it out, with flags and togetherness. It's how their brains work. It's what makes them conservatives, they just see it differently. They need this common identity, and if it isn't going to be "we are all Americans" it's going to be the virulent white nationalism of the past. We have started to see it coming back already, and it will get worse before it gets better.

I don't think identity politics is a euphemism for not reaching out. It's a description for a certain style of reaching out that breaks people up into groups that make it seem like a zero sum game. Like we are not all individuals or all Americans, we are members of our little group. Which competes for resources and attention with other groups. Again all in the framing. We should reach out to everyone because we are all Americans and we all deserve equal rights. I don't think the left is conscious enough of how dividing into little groups weakens us.

By the way, if we were to go with a minority as the right person for the job, I'd pick Cory Booker. He's got the right energy. But I think he is vulnerable too, and can't fight back on an even footing.

[BluegrassDem]

60. Trump has inflamed a lot of white people

This is not the same America as in 2008. He's tapped into racism and it'll go on full bore in 2020. It'll be 2018 on steroids. He's going to try to get every white person to vote for him. We can win the EC on east coast states alone. We need to get back the Midwest to have a shot at this.

[Persondem]

43. This is where I plug Jay Inslee, Gov. of Washington. He has a great, progressive record

and experience in D.C. as a congressman

[apnu]

47. Dems made strong returns to power in the MidWest

Plus Hillary Clinton won't be running in 2020. She had unique negatives due to GOP smear campaigns in the 1990s. She lost by razor thin margins in a few key states.

If the Dems take PA, OH, MI, and WI, we have 270, regardless of what FL does.

[dewsgirl]

51. Beto/Harris 2020.

[titaniumsalute]

52. I love Sherrod Brown...he's my Senator

I've met him, I love his platform and work. He does have fire. Oddly enough my friends and I discuss if people will listen to his gravely voice on TV or if they will find it very annoying. Yes it is sad we even have to debate this but TV presence is a huge deal these days.

I'd love to see him as President. Who knows maybe VP might be better for Brown though.

[Bleacher Creature]

53. I've recently really warmed to the idea of Klobuchar. NT

[Fiendish Thingy]

54. If we've learned anything from the midterms, it's that a woman should be top of the ticket

In fact, I feel strongly that every future Democratic ticket should have either a woman or POC on it.

[samnsara]

56. i was hoping Sherrod would be HRCs VP pick but I liked Kaine too!

...Sherrods so calming....

[Garrett78]

59. No change in my preference. Harris all the way. Brown as VP.

[calimary]

61. The only problem would be - two Senators.

Yeah, Obama/Biden.

But by now I think there probably better be more of a resume balance.

But I have to say - the words of Michael Moore this week still rattle around in my brain.

He said what we need to run with is "a beloved American." He suggested somebody like Captain Sully Sullenberger or other American hero like that. This would not rule out Oprah or Michelle Obama, even though neither has expressed interest in running.

But I think he might be making a good point.

[mchill]

62. Beto must be on the ticket

I have not seen a candidate like him since Obama. I’m also old enough to remember RFK. He’s like a wonderful combo of both. Trump would have an incredibly hard time against him. None of his labels would stick to Beto. He is extremely likeable and disciplined candidate, speaks fluent Spanish and has that undefineable quality that makes him special. Doesn’t hurt that women love him...yes, I’m a fan girl.

I did not discuss his policy positions. They are progressive. Only speaking to Beto the man.

[dalton99a]

68. +1. Beto is a formidable campaigner and a tremendous asset. The guy draws crowds like a giant magnet

- and volunteers, donors, yard signs, bumpers stickers, and votes

[LAS14]

65. Or even if Pence is president. nt

[BannonsLiver]

69. Brown would be a terrific president

But I don’t see him making it out of the playoffs (the primaries) matched up against the top names that have been mentioned. Plus it would be a mistake to give up a senate seat in Ohio.

[Awsi Dooger]

70. I haven't changed my mind

2020 always set up as the most difficult and unlikely cycle for a Democrat since 2004, no matter who won in 2016.

You'd either have Hillary trying for a 4th consecutive Democratic term, or a Republican incumbent with the unbelievable advantage of incumbent whose party has been in power only one term.

I hope we can figure it out, but it is a long shot. As someone pointed out up thread, Trump will abuse fear and make 2020 look like 2016 or 2018 on steroids. More and more scared white people are going to join the fright party.