Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

So many bastards, so little time.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Come on, man.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2020 / Another Super Tuesday Open Thread

Another Super Tuesday Open Thread

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  3. 3.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    I’m off to vote (for Warren, in VA) and then on to Sighthound Hall for pizza and election returns. Got the usual last-minute text to pick up something (vanilla ice cream), because apparently I’m the go-to guy.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    Only Dems voting today, and I have yet to see one report, one anecdote about voter suppression or intimidation.

    Wait, we can do that? Why aren’t we doing that? It would solve so many problems.

    Worst Establishment Ever.

  6. 6.

    Mary G

    Pence is giving what he calls a “press conference.”

    Hmm.

    No audio or video allowed at this coronavirus press conference.

    So…the public can’t see & hear—and evaluate what’s happening for themselves.

    If it’s an emergency, the public needs to be informed.If it’s not an emergency, the public should be told. https://t.co/buHwPm1DiR

    — Joanne Freeman (@jbf1755) March 3, 2020

    He’s touting the fact that we have 2,500 test kits now. Whoo-hoo! We live in Bizarro World full time now.

  7. 7.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @schrodingers_cat:  I’m not on the twitmachine. Could you please vote for Warren for me? I just want the secondhand illicit thrill of voting twice in one day.

  8. 8.

    schrodingers_cat

    Dispatch from Western MA:

    I voted for Joe Biden and myself. I was on the ballot for the Town Dem committee. The library was pretty crowded, there were plenty of people when I was there. People were still coming in when I left. Polls close at 8pm eastern.

    More people than the 2018 primary.

  9. 9.

    kindness

    What I’m seeing a lot of today is Bernie supporters who just can’t understand/don’t see how anyone could support anyone but Bernie.  Over at DKos I just finished reading a BernieBro proclaim that all Warren voters will ‘naturally’ switch to Bernie.  I hope I let him down softly but I suspect he thinks I’m a traitor as that is what he called us.

    They really are a special bunch those BernieBros, aren’t they?

  11. 11.

    Quinerly

    @Baud: ?

    Drinking wine at a fancy wine tasting room. Read your comment and snorted high end New Mexico wine. I hope they don’t ask me to leave. Now I’m laughing.

  13. 13.

    Darkrose

    @kindness: That’s what all of the “rigging” complaints iin 2016 boiled down to: more people voted for someone else, therefore the process is illegitimate.

  16. 16.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Mary G: That’s actually pretty clever of Pence; Pence knows Trump will try to jump in if the cameras are on so Pence had the camera’s off so Pence can say what ever he wants to the press without having to worry about Dollhands getting upset.

  17. 17.

    Humdog

    @schrodingers_cat: Late to the thread below, but how cool to be able to vote for yourself. Good on you for stepping up to a leadership position and best of luck on the vote count!

  21. 21.

    Mr. Mack

    Voted for Warren today and wrote myself in as a district Judge, since no one qualified in time (I guess) and the machine said to write someone in.  I’m pretty judgmental…that’s how it works, amirite?

  22. 22.

    Yutsano

    @kindness: I’m sure it was the snake emojis. Wait it was the constant verbal harassment. Wait no it HAS to be the constant online bullying of her supporters for not appreciating the majesty that is the St. Bernie of Green Mountain. SOMETHING there had to work!

  23. 23.

    TheronWare

    Every time Steve Kornacki says the word black or African American I’m drinking a shot!

  24. 24.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @kindness: Speaking as a Warren voter, why would I go from someone with a plan to some crank who just has slogans? Sanders is the one who should get his ass out of damn race and let Warren represent the left of the party.

  25. 25.

    Baud

    @Quinerly:

    . I hope they don’t ask me to leave. Now I’m laughing.

    I don’t know. A lot of restaurants hate to see patrons enjoying themselves.

  28. 28.

    Quinerly

    @Baud: wine dude is kinda hot. A bit young. As I have said before, “I’m not a Cougar. I’m an Ocelot.”?

    But I digress……

  30. 30.

    Anya

    this is regrettable.

    Warren after Buttigieg & Klobuchar endorsed Biden:

    No matter how many Washington insiders tell you to support him, nominating their fellow Washington insider will not meet this moment.

  31. 31.

    Yutsano

    @Quinerly:

    As I have said before, “I’m not a Cougar. I’m an Ocelot.”?

    I have every faith in you. Now go forth and conquer!

    And in the immortal words of Auntie Edna:
    “And call me when you get back dahlink I enjoy our visits.”

  36. 36.

    Tom Q

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: If Sanders hadn’t run and Warren was the prime progressive candidate in the race, the entire discussion from the past 6 months would have been different.  The top-dollar donors would have bitched just as much, but Warren, a clear party person, wouldn’t have been looked at by most as the existential threat Sanders is.

    The rest of the field would probably have winnowed down differently as well.  (You could even make an argument that Biden might not have felt the need to  jump in, as a mostly new generation field battled.)

    Sanders, with his long-time loathing of the Democratic party establishment, has now negatively affected two straight presidential cycles.

  41. 41.

    Martin

    @Mary G: CDC just yesterday said there’d be a  million tests administered by weeks end, which I’ll note, is literally impossible. But sure, participation trophy for getting .25% of the way there. We’ll make the trophy out of the bones of those that died due to their complete fucking joke of a response.

  43. 43.

    Yutsano

    @Baud: Y’all have fun with that. I don’t get to see much until I get out of physio tonight.

    At least it will be kind of fun. My therapist is pretty much ready to tell my neurologist he’s on crack.

  44. 44.

    Major Major Major Major

    I didn’t vote because we don’t vote until April ??‍♂️ But I would’ve voted for Biden  because I really don’t want Sanders to be the nominee. If Sanders were polling lower, then Warren would’ve gotten my vote.

    I will say, just anecdotally, that my Facebook feed was full of people proudly announcing who they voted for—which is lovely—and in the comments, most of the discussion was polite, but some people were a little rude or sneering. I regret to inform you that the rude ones all supported Sanders.

  45. 45.

    Anya

    Politicians are so weird. Warren’s been in Washington for 7 years as a senator and she wants us to believe she’s a Washington outsider but the mayor of a small Indiana town is a Washington insider. Never idealise a politician. They’ll always disappoint you.

  46. 46.

    Cacti

    @Anya: No matter how many Washington insiders tell you to support him, nominating their fellow Washington insider will not meet this moment.

    No matter how many phony Native American and millionaire socialist U.S. Senators tell you that they’re not Washington insiders…

    They actually are.

  48. 48.

    kindness

    I don’t hate Bernie.  He’s affable in a dottering old man kind of way.  What I don’t respect about him is he is the Paul Ryan of liberals.  He has grand ideas that only he  can attain.  He will attain those grand ideas by waving his hands, shouting and insisting that he can get the ideas across the finish line.  The only thing he is missing is the magic *.  Which is why I’m a Warren voter and not a Bernie voter.  That and BernieBros are shits.

  49. 49.

    Morzer

    I am not a fan of @DavidFrum but I think he’s absolutely on point here:

    Sanders is making this offer to Democrats: If they agree to lose the suburbs that delivered them the House of Representatives in 2018, he will inspire a wave of youth and Latino voting that will win the presidency in 2020. Only – the wave has not shown up in any of the primaries

  53. 53.

    MomSense

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Good for you!! We had long lines at my polling place tonight at 5:45.  They ran out of Democratic ballots so they had some overflow paper ballots that couldn’t be read by the optical scanner and will be hand counted after the polls closed.

  55. 55.

    different-church-lady

    Just saw something interesting while casting my vote in this near-burb of Boston. About a quarter of the people I saw coming and going to my polling place were African American. It’s more black people than I’ve ever seen in any given five minutes in this effectively lily-white town.

  56. 56.

    Roger Moore

    @Darkrose:

    That’s what all of the “rigging” complaints iin 2016 boiled down to: more people voted for someone else, therefore the process is illegitimate.

    It’s very common for people to make process complaints when they’re really angry about the outcome.  It’s a lot easier to tell that’s what’s happening when they make the exact opposite process complaints 4 years later when the process has been changed to their liking and they still don’t get the outcome they want.

  57. 57.

    debbie

    @Yutsano:

    LOL, I just got my Inspirator (stupid new Warren Buffet healthcare!) to acknowledge there was no reason for her to keep up these ridiculous health coaching sessions.

  60. 60.

    debbie

    @Anya:

    Well, she’s an outsider as in she’s not willing to play ball with the boys. “Nevertheless, she persisted.”

    I still say she deserves a medal for fighting for the CFPB from the very beginning when few others would.

  62. 62.

    topclimber

    @Anya: To echo the Venerable Baud, got a link?

    Ok, I see it appeared about two seconds after my post. A quick read doesn’t tie this into a criticism of Pete or Amy. I will look again.

    Second read does not show the connection you imply.  You make it sound like she was directing her comments at them. I hope that was an honest mistake.

    So thanks for the link, if not for launching a torrent of uninformed commentary by several BJers.

  66. 66.

    divF

    Went to the polling place to vote at lunchtime. There were a number of people (including Madame and I) who had to cast provisional ballots because they were on the rolls as having mail-in ballots, but the mail-in ballots never arrived. If this turns out to be widespread, there is yet another source of delay in the California returns coming in.

    Also, it turns out that if you haven’t actually sent in your mail-in ballot, and have changed your mind, you can surrender your mail-in ballot at your polling place to be destroyed, and vote on a standard ballot.

  70. 70.

    debbie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I know you’ll love the convention! Here, the county Dems have a Central Committee, which I guess is similar to your committee. I don’t know why they had to give it such a Politburo-ish name.

  71. 71.

    patrick II

    @Morzer:

     

    The Obama team weren’t particularly enamored of Warren, by all accounts:

    From the linked article:

    “I was not going to set that agency up asking Tim Geithner every day, ‘Mother may I?’” Warren says. “It just wasn’t going to work”

    So, I’m not surprised. Good for her.

  73. 73.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @kindness:

    I don’t hate Bernie.  He’s affable in a dottering old man kind of way. 

    Wha…what?!? Are we thinking of the same guy? I don’t hate* Bernie, either, but he is not affable by any definition of that word. Cantankerousness is his stock in trade. He shouts over people, points fingers in their faces, belittles and intimidates young women who have the nerve to ask him questions in public, and generally acts like an angry old bear in a cloud of hornets.

     

    *although I sincerely wish he had not run and I think he’s the only candidate on the D side who will lose or cause us to lose to Trump.

  74. 74.

    FelonyGovt

    @schrodingers_cat: Good luck in your election!

    I voted earlier for Warren and for Ted Lieu and assorted other Dems.  I understand the lines at our local polling places today are very long. I hope people are patient.

  75. 75.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kathleen: I just saw my first commercial for Warren and it was narrated by Obama.

    both amusing, and frustrating. If she’d have figured out Obama was a better lodestar than Bernie a year ago, even six months ago, we might be looking at a very difference campaign.

  78. 78.

    divF

    @debbie: I just voted for the members of the Alameda County Democratic party Central Committee, it is part of the ritual of voting in a Democratic primary here. I kind of like the Politburo name – makes me think of cell meetings around a table with a single dimmed light bulb with everyone wearing overcoats that go down to their shoe tops.

  80. 80.

    Ohio Mom

    Kathleen@67: Narrated by Obama or cut-and-pasted voice-overs? I thought he was sitting out until the primary voters had their say.

    Debbie@57: Is an Inspirator the same thing as the RNs from UHC who used to call me to ask if I had any questions about my health? As if I’d want to share anything personal with someone connected to the big business that had the power to make decisions my health and life could hinge on.

    I usually asked them semi-obscure questions about the type of breast cancer I had, just to get them to sputter. It was a cheap amusement.

  85. 85.

    germy

    Biden projected to score major victory in Virginia, Sanders projected to win Vermont

  87. 87.

    Martin

    Welp, looks like Biden crushed it in VA. Likely will in NC, AL, TN as well. Black voters have picked their candidate. I’m guessing Warren and Bloomberg out after today.

    Bernies young voters don’t seem to be showing up, which is a real concern – we need them in Nov.

  90. 90.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    MSNBC talking like Bernie has taken all of VT’s delegates, and Biden has taken all of VA’s. Are they winner take all states? I thought all states were following a propotional model with the 15%  threshold

  91. 91.

    Morzer

    @Martin: The iron law of politics is that young voters never show up – and especially not when you make them the key element of your cunning plan.

  93. 93.

    different-church-lady

    @Martin: Bernie’s young voters might be a fixed quantity. Other young voters might be going for a non-Bernie.

  95. 95.

    Kathleen

    @Morzer: Narrated by Obama. For that specific ad. The campaign flair I’ve received is from Bloomberg and the only TV ads I’ve seen until today have been Bloomberg’s. I live in Cincinnati and our primary is March 17. I’d be curious to know what CarolD and OhioMom have seen. ETA He did not endorse her for President.

  96. 96.

    debbie

    @Ohio Mom:

    To earn additional dollars for our Health Savings Account, we have to talk to an Inspirator on a regular basis. They’re not RNs or even medically trained; they’re coaches of a sort, serving as  motivational encouragers. It’s done nothing for me, which she acknowledged tonight. As I told her, I’m in it for the funds.

  100. 100.

    germy

    Mike Bloomberg on Elizabeth Warren: ‘I didn’t realize she’s still in’ the race.
    What a dick.

  101. 101.

    Martin

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: No, there are no winner take all for Dems. So far they’re only giving the at-large delegates, not the county ones. Though it looks like both may have won large enough that  they’ll get damn near all of them. Not surprising for VT. Quite surprising for VA.

    I mean, polling  yesterday was Sanders +5 in VA, exit polls is Biden +18. That’s an almost unbelievable swing, but a LOT of shit changed yesterday.

  102. 102.

    Morzer

    @Kathleen: Unless I’m missing some secret Warren ad, she’s been using old material featuring praise from Obama for her establishing of the CFPB.

  108. 108.

    ThresherK

    Williamson, de Blasio and Gravel throw their voters to Bernie.

    Who, who, and who?

  114. 114.

    JPL

    The DNC made a mistake by letting Bernie run as a dem.   That is what hurt Warren, not Biden, not Pete and not Amy.   She could have competed against the rest but Bernie being Bernie had to have his way.  imo

  116. 116.

    Morzer

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Could be that a lot of people decided at the last moment and based their decision on the most recent news they heard, which would swing things for Biden in a big way.

  119. 119.

    Feathers

    I’m guessing part of Warren staying in is the assumption that either Biden or Bernie will step on their dick or have to drop out for some reason.

    I’ve been thinking about something I’ve seen on Teri Kanefield’s twitter feed. She was talking about how fascists can’t handle real crises because they are set up for fake crises – creating problems and offering themselves as saviors. I’m thinking that this is now one of the foundational problems of the MSM. The 24 hour/social media news cycle demands constant “breaking” news, so everything is treated as a crisis. Which they have “created.” Perhaps not the event itself, but it is always covered as “Crisis in Genovia!” They no longer have any capacity to react and cover actual events, analyze them and convey the truth of what has happened.

  122. 122.

    Ohio Mom

    Kathleen @95: We don’t have a TV so I don’t see any commercials. I will tell you that each member of Ohio Family has gotten two calls each from Bloomberg (live person, not a recording), as well as several mailers.

    Based on what is in our mailbox, you’d think the only candidates running are Bloomberg, Pillich (for you nonlocals, she’s running for County Commisioner) and one AA fellow who is running for judge (forgot his name, which shows you how effective mailers are. I assume he’ll be on the Democratic ticket and will get my vote that way).

    Debbie @96: That’s the most inane idea ever. Who thinks an anonymous voice on the phone is a real relationship? Yeah, knowing Sally is going to call me next week is really going to make me skip this bowl of ice cream.

  126. 126.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JPL:

    The DNC made a mistake by letting Bernie run as a dem.

    I don’t know if, legally, they could have stopped him if he got the signatures. Politically, they certainly couldn’t have stopped him this time. He convinced an electorally significant number of people that righteous bellowing was the path to Nordic-style social democracy. Or to something nice. (Adding) up to December 2015, he was a novelty act, his biggest audience was the Thom Hartmann radio show and Eschaton comments. I still don’t quite get why he caught fire in the winter of ’16, but he did.

  127. 127.

    Kathleen

    I subscribe to Al Giordano’s newsletter. His predictions of 2018 results were dead on. He thinks Biden will surprise a lot of pollsters and emerge as the front runner. He said Biden would win Virginia and Slanders would win Vermont (no brainer there). He really likes Warren and thinks she will do quite well tonight.

    His basic methodology is to look at the polls he trusts the most. He takes it one step further by looking at the demographics and voting history of the electorate. For example, he’s predicting high African American turnout in Texas will carry Biden to victory there. He’s very good.

  129. 129.

    PsiFighter37

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Because a bird landed on his fucking pedestal while he was talking, or some other equally-stupid reason. Realistically – there’s a large portion of Democrats who really didn’t like or want to vote for Hillary Clinton, for whatever reason.

  130. 130.

    Quinerly

    @Baud: wine dude is getting off of work and joining me….. He’s a bit older than I originally thought… Name is Thaddeus.

    Woman can not live by BJ alone…. Let me rephrase….Woman can not live by political blog known as Balloon Juice alone. ?

  131. 131.

    Kathleen

    @Feathers: That’s a very interesting point. Culture is definitely engaged in the manipulation of non-reality for fun and profit.

  132. 132.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    MSNBC calling North Carolina for Biden right as polls close

    ETA: Kornacki predicting Biden over Sanders, 46-25.

    Just among white voter

    ETA, A: Bloomberg leading Sanders among NC “older” voters, over 45. (So over 45 is “older” now? How dare they! I thought however old I am is the new thirty until I’m dead).

  136. 136.

    japa21

    Only 2% reporting in VT, but Bernie has only 51.6% of the vote.  Biden has 20%.  I say only because with 29% reporting in VA Biden has 55.5% and Bernie 21%.  Biden has a higher percent of VA than Bernie has in VT.

  138. 138.

    Quinerly

    @Baud: we were going to discuss jeep tours of Canyon de Chelly. He mentioned something about how he and his mother went. How much she enjoyed it.

    Ocelot probably retreating….. ?

  139. 139.

    Kathleen

    @Ohio Mom: That’s it for me as well, except I never answer my phone unless I can identify the caller so I’ve not taken any robocalls. Hang on to your sample judicial ballot. Dems did great jobs of electing judges in the last election. I’m torn between Pillich and Wolfe, Todd Portune’s appointee. Not sure who I’ll vote for.

  140. 140.

    Martin

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: No, I think yesterday’s ‘everyone get in line’ message landed where it needed to. What was unclear to me was whether Amy/Pete/Tom voters spread out, or whether they consolidated. I was expecting them to spread out, but looks like it  consolidated. What’s more, looks like Warren and Bloomberg even lost some voters to this.

    In NC, it was tied between Biden and Bernie 4 days ago. Looks like Biden +13 today. Again, just crushed it. Warren is close to viability in NC at least.

    Yesterday was seismic. As I’ve been saying, there’s no fucking way in hell that yesterday wasn’t coordinated. Word is out from Obama. Campaigns heard it. Advocacy groups heard it. Voters heard it.

    We are done and dusted, folks. Biden is going to walk out tonight in much better shape than anyone expected.

  144. 144.

    Suzanne

    All right, this essentially decides it. I will forever think that this country passed up a golden opportunity by not nominating E-Dubs, and I’m proud that I cast a vote for her. But onward, and let’s work together to hand Mango Mussolini his ass.

  145. 145.

    Martin

    @JPL: Warren made some errors. She should have not pushed so hard in on M4A. That distracted from her better messages.

  146. 146.

    Kent

    @different-church-lady:Just saw something interesting while casting my vote in this near-burb of Boston. About a quarter of the people I saw coming and going to my polling place were African American. It’s more black people than I’ve ever seen in any given five minutes in this effectively lily-white town.

    It’s a different world when all the Republicans stay home, isn’t it?

  148. 148.

    Martin

    @Suzanne: I don’t disagree. I think Harris would have been better yet, but the mission isn’t getting our favorite – it’s beating Trump. Warren will still be a key part of that.

  149. 149.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Martin:

    She should have not pushed so hard in on M4A.

    Among other things. I agree with the general consensus that she’s much smarter than Biden, but call it instinct or just his personal preferences, he read the results of 2016, and even more so 2018, better than she did.

  150. 150.

    Morzer

    @Baud:

    “We ate lobster, drank piña coladas. At sunset we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day.Why couldn’t I get that day over and over and over? “

  153. 153.

    Morzer

    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-touts-very-good-relationship-taliban-leader-mullah

    During his visit to the National Institutes of Health on Tuesday afternoon, President Donald Trump touted the apparently excellent relationship he now has with Taliban co-founder and deputy Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, with whom he’d spoken on the phone several hours earlier.

    “The relationship is very good that I have with the Mullah and we had a good, long conversation today,” he told reporters. “They want to cease the violence, they’d like to cease violence also.”

  154. 154.

    Kent

    @JPL:The DNC made a mistake by letting Bernie run as a dem.   That is what hurt Warren, not Biden, not Pete and not Amy.   She could have competed against the rest but Bernie being Bernie had to have his way.  imo

    What choice did they have?   There is no “criteria” to determine who is a Dem.  If they managed to exclude him and he ran as an “Independent Democratic Socialist” or a Green would that have been better or worse?  Remember Nader 2000?   Imagine how different the world might have been if Nader had run as a Dem in the Dem primary.

  156. 156.

    MCA1

    @Suzanne: Agreed.  It’s pretty clear that unless the early voting in California gives Sanders an overwhelming victory there, or for some reason Biden doesn’t win Texas, this thing went from wide open and favoring Bernie to coalescence around presumptive nominee Biden in just 4 days.  He’ll probably outdo Sanders in all the remaining large states – Illinois, NY, Ohio, Pennsylvania – and that’ll be that.

    I’ll share your determination combined with a slightly bittersweet taste.  I really wanted a younger generation Dem to catch fire and be propelled to a trouncing of Trump.  But I’m here to lock arms with you to start fighting for my approximately 4th choice, Uncle Joe.  Let’s do this and take down that fart cloud invading the people’s house!

  157. 157.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @kindness: They really are a special bunch those BernieBros, aren’t they?

    Haven’t hung around The Left much, have you? I remember from 50 years ago (jeebus cripes, 50 frackin’ years!!) the petty bickering in the local Vietnam Moratorium meetings among splintered groups who insisted that unless you accepted every last point in their ‘lebenty-seven point program to bring on the Soshulist Millennium, you were betraying The Cause.

    Then again, recall how The Left self-destructed in Germany during the run-up to the Third Reich: in particular the Communists were less interested in fighting the Nazis than in destroying the Social Democrats, on the grounds that they were “traitors to their class.”

    (FWIW I walked away from the Moratorium when I realized those bozos were more interested in fighting each other than they were in stopping a war.)

  158. 158.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @MCA1:

    He’ll probably outdo Sanders in all the remaining large states – Illinois, NY, Ohio, Pennsylvania – and that’ll be that.

    I’d bet GA and FL, too

  161. 161.

    Kent

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:I don’t know if, legally, they could have stopped him if he got the signatures. Politically, they certainly couldn’t have stopped him this time. He convinced an electorally significant number of people that righteous bellowing was the path to Nordic-style social democracy. Or to something nice. (Adding) up to December 2015, he was a novelty act, his biggest audience was the Thom Hartmann radio show and Eschaton comments. I still don’t quite get why he caught fire in the winter of ’16, but he did.

    Misogyny and Clinton Derangement Syndrome.

  163. 163.

    Morzer

    So far it seems that Biden is smashing Bernie among African American and older voters. The young haven’t shown up. People who care most about who is most likely to beat Trump are going for Biden big time.  Looks to me as if Sanders is going to lose support even in Vermont relative to 2016.

  166. 166.

    mad citizen

    I disagree that the Democratic party could not have written rules to exclude Bernie.  It’s not that hard–it’s simple words.  He holds a high office as a “not-Democrat”–how hard can it be to write a rule to prevent such a person from running in your party?  I’ve never been able to fathom how Wilmer was allowed in in ’16 or ’20.

  167. 167.

    Kent

    @Martin:@JPL: Warren made some errors. She should have not pushed so hard in on M4A. That distracted from her better messages.

    That seems to be the conventional wisdom here but I’m not sure it is correct.  Yglesias did a long story on her appeal and constituency and it is basically educated white folk.  She just never caught any traction with any non-college educated folk or non-white folk.  I doubt the reason behind that has anything to do with M4A but more likely just her style and endless plans and manner of speaking.  https://www.vox.com/2020/3/3/21162527/what-happened-to-elizabeth-warren

  173. 173.

    PsiFighter37

    Biden is destroying Bernie in NoVa and in Virginia Beach area – pretty clear that Virginia Democrats do not want Wilmer at the top of the ticket.

  175. 175.

    Fair Economist

    @Martin:

    Bernies young voters don’t seem to be showing up, which is a real concern – we need them in Nov.

    The 2018 House coalition is just fine for winning the Presidency. The Senate is tougher, but the only close Senate race where the Bernie coalition is likely to be important in is AZ – and that also has a lot of anti-Bernie seniors.

  177. 177.

    zhena gogolia

    @Martin:

    I’m hoping/thinking Biden will make a good VP pick.

    ETA: I still remember how happy my husband was when Obama picked Biden!

  178. 178.

    Suzanne

    @MCA1: Yeah, I think you and I are in alignment. I have some serious concerns about Biden’s vulnerabilities in a general election. And I think that it is shameful how much of this country is threatened by a woman who’s smarter than they are. And I really, REALLY hope that I get to vote for someone more progressive in a future election soon. But the hurdle immediately in front of us is beating Trump, and we are going to have to do that with the candidate that we have. So let’s go.

  179. 179.

    zhena gogolia

    We met Obama right after he won NC in 2008.

    Can you tell I’m nostalgic for Obama?

    Come back, Barack.

  180. 180.

    glory b

    @MCA1: I can say this, Bernie will lose in southwestern Pennsylvania, because he opposes fracking. I know there’s lots wrong with it, but it has brought an enormous amount of money and huge numbers of good paying union jobs, think $25 to $45 per hour, to some of the small struggling counties surrounding Pittsburgh.

  182. 182.

    Fair Economist

    @Martin:

    Yesterday was seismic. As I’ve been saying, there’s no fucking way in hell that yesterday wasn’t coordinated. Word is out from Obama. Campaigns heard it. Advocacy groups heard it. Voters heard it.

    I’ve been looking at that, and the apparently potent last-minute Clyburn endorsement, and concluded somebody advising Biden has decided that a “Blitzkrieg” media strategy is the ticket in the current environment, as opposed to the usual suggestion of “drip, drip, drip”.

    I think if you don’t have the media on your side, they’re right. The media can just keep pushing something over and over and over and over and over and over zzzzzz. But if you’ve got to earn your eyeballs and clicks, you’ve got to do it fast before people lose interest.

  184. 184.

    Chris T.

    @Morzer: American Samoa uses the new Republican voting rules, which are: one dollar, one vote. Whoever has the most dollars, wins. They plan to roll this out to the national vote in November.

    (Do I need a //s to mark the end of the sarcasm section?)

  185. 185.

    Quinerly

    @Morzer: I know a Prairie Dog isn’t a GROUNDHOG, but one literally did try to get in my car at Berg Park yesterday in Farmington, NM. Was that some sort of sign of something in my future?

  186. 186.

    Karen

    I’m in MD and I’m an also ran since we don’t vote until April. How come we vote so late when by that time, the candidate is already decided?

  188. 188.

    zzyzx

    My theory about Warren is that she was basically left pursuing leftists who didn’t like Sanders and it turned out that there just weren’t that many of them.

  189. 189.

    Citizen Alan

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I still don’t quite get why he caught fire in the winter of ’16, but he did.

    Because no one else even considered explicitly appealing to the Anyone But Hillary crowd. Honestly, I don’t blame him for seizing a sizeable niche in order to advance his political agenda. I blame him for an obstinate and petulant refusal to bury the hatchet after it was clear he couldn’t win that had the perverse effect of setting all of his major policy goals out of reach for generations.

  190. 190.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Citizen Alan:

    Honestly, I don’t blame him for seizing a sizeable niche in order to advance his political agenda.

    I can’t get past the way he harped on corruption over the WALL STREET SPEECHES, then spent months telling his followers the system was rigged when he got into it knowing what the rules were. Then he was an asshole at the convention, after the convention, throughout much of trump’s first term– The Democratic Pawh-ty is a FAYL-YUH!”…

  191. 191.

    Morzer

    @Quinerly: Maybe it’s an omen? Soon, you will receive a call from a distinguished older white man named Joe, asking you to accept a position of great importance…

  192. 192.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Suzanne: I’m with you. I’m sad about EW not getting better results. One could second-guess some of her strategic decisions but misogyny – especially fear of smart, capable women – still reigns in this country. Sigh. That said, on to beat the evil orange in the WH. Onward together.

  193. 193.

    Citizen Alan

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    Yeah, there’s a reason why the bit of Life of Brian that gets quoted the most is the scene with the argument between the Judean People’s Front and the People’s Front Of Judea. SPLITTERS!

  194. 194.

    Another Scott

    @Citizen Alan: Everyone has forgotten MO’M??!

    I think Bernie took off because the press loved that he was able to raise so much money early on, so they knew there was all kinds of ad dollars to be collected.  Plus, what’s more compelling for the GOP-leaning press than to see Democrats battling?

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  200. 200.

    Ohio Mom

    Yeah, Biden was never my dream candidate (and I went through a lot of dream candidates, starting way back with Inslee, anybody else remember him?), but I’m ready to roll up my sleeves for Joe.

    He checks my boxes: he’s not Sanders and he’s a good bet to beat Trump. Those are my bottom lines.

  202. 202.

    Ohio Mom

    Zhena @201: Kamala was a crush for me for a good long time. How I agonized over Kamala or Warren!

    This is starting to feel like a rom com where the steady, boring guy gets the girl in the end.

  204. 204.

    Bonnie

    I wasn’t allowed to vote until I was 21; but, I have never missed a vote since.  It was a hard fight to get the voting age lowered; but, we did it.  I hope the youngsters make good use of this right.

  205. 205.

    J R in WV

    @Ohio Mom:

    the RNs from UHC who used to call me to ask if I had any questions about my health? As if I’d want to share anything personal with someone connected to the big business that had the power to make decisions my health and life could hinge on.

    I get calls from Humana, my Medicare supplemental insurer. Some are computerized, and want to know how long I had to wait at my doctor’s office. I always wait a long time, have done so for nearly 40 years now, but the flip side of that is that if I need to see him today I can see him today.

    So I always tell them I waited 15 minutes.

    Then they call to set up “a home visit with one of their RNs” and I always tell them I value my privacy too much to invite a stranger in to evaluate my housekeeping. Fuck that shit, in other words. I would bet $50 they couldn’t find my house with a GPS unit. And I am not kidding at all. They might find us by following the GPS into the neighborhood and asking neighbors where we are… maybe I should tell the neighbors not to tell strangers where I am???!!!!!

  207. 207.

    J R in WV

    @debbie:

    To earn additional dollars for our Health Savings Account, we have to talk to an Inspirator on a regular basis.

    Geez… that IS despicable. Really sucks. Not medically trained? Then they have no opinion worth hearing!

    Sounds like malpractice to me !!!

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