I vote tomorrow in the TX primary. Persuade me to vote for your favorite candidate.

[Sloumeau]

17. Laelth,

Thanks for posting a very interesting post. Let's start out with your basic assumption, that Biden, Sanders, and Bloomberg could each win the nomination. So, how do you decide? Well, for me, there are two questions for any candidate.

1) Odds of winning in the General Election
2) What will he or she be able to do once he or she has won.

We are skipping question #1.

I'll do them in reverse order if that is OK.

Michael Bloomberg: He is highly intelligent. He has a good education. He has made a lot of deals. He has earned a lot of money. However, I think he might have trouble governing. Most Black people do not seem to like him because of things like Stop and Frisk. This means that he will have a strike against him from the very start from the Black community, and it might make it hard for him to get re-elected, meaning that he might only have one term to get his agenda done.

Also, being Super Rich, is he going become President, like Trump, while still having lots of investments that he can funnel money to after he gets elected, or will he sell them off? If he promises to sell things off, but he doesn't, what could we do about it?

Also, currently, the U.S. treasury is building up a massive debt because the U.S. Government is spending a lot more in taxes than it is taking in. Does anyone really believe that someone with about 60 billion bucks is going to raise taxes bigtime against himself? If not, how will we pay for things like better healthcare or more affordable college? If we keep spending like crazy without taking in taxes, what happens when the U.S. gets like Greece, where our debt is so high that we can barely pay the interest on the debt?

Also, a number of women do not seem to like him because he allegedly said a number of rude things to women, and he kept settling disputes with women with Non-Disclosure Agreements. That sounds creepy to me. That might impact his ability to have women vote for him in his second term, or to support him much in his first term.

Bernie Sanders: As I mentioned earlier, the U.S. is spending a lot more than it is taking in in taxes--about a trillion dollars a year. So, how are we going to get people in Congress to vote for a Medicare for All Program that will cost between 30 trillion and 50 trillion dollars over 10 years? Do you remember the 2010 midterms, when Democrats lost dozens of House seats because people were so angry about the individual mandate from Obamacare? How will taxpayers react when they see these big tax increases for Medicare For All and for paying for free college? Don't you think they might freak out like taxpayers did in 2010? Also, will Moderate Democrats in the House even pass these expensive bills, knowing that they might put their own House Seats in Jeopardy by doing so? Many House Democrats also fear that a Bernie Sanders nomination will make it harder for them to retain their House seats. How much of a majority will Dems have in the House if Bernie Sanders is the nominee? Also, will Democrats be able to flip the House with Bernie Sanders, and if not, how will Bernie get anything passed?

Joe Biden: Joe Spent 36 years in the Senate, and 8 years as VP. He knows how to get bills through and how to get compromises from the people in Congress. His expansion of Obamacare will be smaller than Medicare For All--and therefore easier to get passed. His free 2-year college plan will also be less expensive than Sander's free college for everyone plan, so it will also be easier to pass.

I prefer Joe Biden because I believe that he focuses on the possible instead of making pie in the sky promises that are very likely to be achieved. Politics is really about the art of the possible, not the art of the impossible. By the way, your guy, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg will be endorsing him tonight, as will Amy Klobuchar. Joe Biden unifies Democrats. That's how he gets things done.

Plus Joe has already said that there will be a place for Pete in his administration. I'm hoping that it is U.S Ambassador to the U.N. so that he can eventually be Secretary of State, and then eventually...President. It may take a few years, but Pete has time, and foreign diplomacy will prepare Pete for the White House.

If you ever want to know about the odds of each winning in a general election, let me know. Good luck.