You can't be in politics for fifty years and not have baggage.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

But that's beside the point. The goal is to choose the candidate who has the best chance of vanquishing Chump. If Uncle Joe has the best chance of vanquishing Chump he's my man. If he doesn't he isn't. My calculus is that simple.

[George II]

1. Some have overnight bags, others have steamer trunks.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. I really have no strong yes preferences at this moment. I do have some strong no ones.

[George II]

4. That's the way I am, four or five or six possibles, three or four definite toss outs.

[PatSeg]

11. Same here

I have several preferences and Joe would be among them. I have at least three that I definitely do not like, but I'm quite certain they will not come close to becoming our nominee.

We have so many excellent choices, I'm not going to attach myself to one so early. The roller coaster ride would be too exhausting and I would lose my focus and possibly what sanity I have left.

[corbettkroehler]

38. Clever! I'm 100% Sanders But Will Support The Eventual Nominee, Even Biden

His resume is a mixed bag, to be sure. However, measured against Trump, any of the Democrats would be a huge improvement and Joe has earned due consideration.

[DownriverDem]

3. Biden can win

trump does not want to run against him. That should say it all.

[hedda_foil]

21. Tr ump lies.

[Demit]

5. How does one go about determining that he has the best chance?

Winning primaries is the first step, I would think. But it's all speculation, even at that point.

[Honeycombe8]

10. The one who wins the primary is not always the one who can win the general election.

As we have seen in the past. There are no guarantees. Esp since the candidate is not favorable or unfavorable in a vacuum. A lot depends on the economy at the time, and the competitor.

[Demit]

20. No kidding. So there's no way of telling who has the best chance until it's done.

That was my point.

[Demsrule86]

46. We need three states PA,WI and MI. Biden was born in Scranton PA. He can

beat Trump in those states. That is how you choose.

[Demit]

47. But you're still guessing!

There's no logic in what you're saying. Saying Biden has the best chance of beating Trump is a theory based on no evidence. An assertion based on hope. You're hoping that people in a state will vote for someone out of sentiment, because he was born there? PA is a large state. I'm not sure how sentimental we all are. Also, how does being born in PA guarantee a win in Wisconsin and Michigan? What's the logic there?

He may very well be a juggernaut who takes the country by storm and wins primary after primary. But that hasn't happened yet. There's going to be a long campaign season, during which Biden will tell us his vision for the future, and I think—I hope—that that information is at least as important to voters as the fact he was born in one of the states we lost in 2016.

[Funtatlaguy]

6. Fall in love now. Fall in line November 2020.

[oldsoftie]

23. Thats a pretty good line! I bet you could sell bumper stickers

[Funtatlaguy]

25. Not original Bill Clinton said it first

[oldsoftie]

26. At least you're honest!

[BlueFlorida]

7. K&R nt

[FM123]

8. Baggage is an interesting thing....

How do we folks decide what exactly matters or not? I can't help but think of VA governor Ralph Northam when the disgusting photos came out of him in blackface during med school - there was so much anger and feelings of betrayal that someone like that could do such a horrible thing. Folks were up in arms screaming for his resignation, then poof, a few months go by and he remains in office and it is not even mentioned anymore as if it never even happened...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. I thought he was a goner.

[Collimator]

13. The ability to brazen things out helps.

That's the main reason why whats-his-face got as far as he did.

[Demsrule86]

45. It was a hit job to steal Virginia. Thank God it didn't work. We have to

Stop falling for the GOP tricks.

[oldsoftie]

12. it really IS that simple. nt

[Renew Deal]

15. No it's not

[oldsoftie]

24. Yes, it is. 4 more years of trump or not? If your answer is no, then you go for who can WIN

Thats it.
But if the party as a whole decides it wants to run someone whose platform is what everyone dreams of but who trump beats in the polls by 10%, then no whining when trump is still president 1/21.

[Renew Deal]

14. We need to be bolder, more visionary, and less fearful.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. We have a lot be fearful if Trump is re-elected, especially a 7-2 right wing Supreme Court

[LongtimeAZDem]

19. No, first we need to repair the colossal damage to our political structure and our world reputation

[ancianita]

16. Depends on the baggage.Any longstanding politician has to "lighten" his/her load early in a campaign

[INdemo]

17. In 2000 Republicans made up their minds and strategy they were going to win the

White House one way or the other.The Repukes actually pulled some shit to make sure McCain didn't win the primary because he would not have gone along with Karl Roves scheme So they had the kid Bush.
And they won by cheating...They stole 140,000 Ohio votes in 2004 to keep the kid in office.

In 2008 the Obama campaign had so many safe guards set and was so well organized it left Karl Rove and the Republicans in the dust with their heads spinning. The same in 2012. Remember when Karl Rove did not believe the returns when Obama won Ohio and Romney had his transition team all ready to go...

So fast forward to 2016..Republicans were not going to allow the Democrats to keep the White House even though Hillary won so they came up with the hacking by Russia and if anyone believes Republicans in the Senate and the House didn't know what the hell was going on well then it snows in July and Rains inside a Vacuum.

Republicans have never won an election honestly. Go back to 1948 that had Dewey the winning before the votes were even counted. In 1960 Nixon being the crook that he was, no doubt with his gang of crooks made election theft attempts but failed.

So no doubt Repukes have all the negatives set for every single Democrat in the primary.

[hedda_foil]

22. Eisenhower.

[INdemo]

34. In todays standards Ike woul be considered a Democrat

[hedda_foil]

39. By today's standards, so would have Nixon. :-(

[INdemo]

40. yep no doubt

[oldsoftie]

28. Reagan in 84? HW in 88? It wasnt even close.

[INdemo]

35. Mondale and Dukaukis

What were the Democrats thinking?


Going back to 80's and the Iran Contra actions by the Reagan team not exactly normal politics.

Charles Manatt DNC Chair 84” and Paul G. Kirk DNC Chair 88’ a very weak Democratic organization then.
My point with all this is
Republicans have to cheat to win and do. You mentioned you mention 1988..Well there was a Campaign chairman (lee Atwater) that would do any underhanded trick he could to win and he did for Geo. HW

[oldsoftie]

36. Sure, they may have been weak candidates, but the victories were "honest" by political standards.

Everyone has their "war rooms' & political hacks. Sure, Atwater was ruthless. But remember where willie Horton came from.
And unlike '16 & '14, those votes werent even close. You just have to learn from your mistakes. And thats how Obama won in '08

[JI7]

41. Dukakis was leading until the question about rape and death penalty

[democratisphere]

27. Joe Biden is the candidate that will rid US of the traitor in the oval office.

[oldsoftie]

29. At this point in time, i believe this to be the case too.

I think Biden can take the personal attacks sure to come from trump. I'm not so sure about several of the other candidates. And i think Biden would also have some good comebacks as well. If he can get trump flustered, he'll be weakened.

[democratisphere]

30. Joe Biden will treat drumpf like the 6 year old that he is.

[MustLoveBeagles]

32. 6?

You're being awfully generous there.

[democratisphere]

33. OK.

Terrible 2 year old.

[MustLoveBeagles]

42. Now your talking

[MustLoveBeagles]

31. Exactly

Even winning candidates and campaigns make mistakes. There's no such thing as a perfect candidate. People searching for that are doomed to disappointment. If Joe Biden is our nominee I would gladly vote for him in general. He's in my top 5 list.

[oldsoftie]

37. yes, i dont get all the folks pressing for that "perfect" person. WINNING is all that matters. nt

[Gothmog]

43. trump is scared of Joe Biden

trump wants to run against sanders and is afraid of Joe Biden

Link to tweet

The Republican Party would love to run against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) because they could make the election all about Sanders and socialism instead of Trump. They want to run against Buttigieg because they think they can use his sexual orientation and youth against him.

The person that Trump can’t figure out is Joe Biden. Trump has tried the “Sleepy Joe” attack but has flopped. Trump has now moved on to trying to attack Biden’s populism by coining him “1% Joe.” This also won’t work, especially coming from Donald Trump. Trump fears Biden’s populism and former vice president’s appeal in Rust Belt states.

Biden scares Trump, and that fear is never more obvious than when Trump starts talking about his potential opponents in 2020.

[Demsrule86]

44. I gree completely.