Folks?
Bernie Sanders is gonna battle with Elizabeth Warren for the left leaners in the party which is gonna help Joe Biden and Beto O’Rourke if he runs…..Oh, I keep pointing out…Sanders isn’t even a Democrat….
The others I mention are second tier…
After months of speculation and secrecy, the 2020 presidential primary season is about to explode.
With several Democrats already in the race, a half dozen more are locking down final travel, staffing and strategy to launch White House bids in the coming weeks. While plans may change, the announcements are expected to come in waves, the first featuring a group of ambitious Senate Democrats including New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, California Sen. Kamala Harris and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who face pressure to join the race after Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s entrance two weeks ago.
The second wave will likely feature political heavyweights like former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg and former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke, whose advisers believe they have sufficient financial backing and name recognition to join the crowded field on their terms later in the first quarter should they decide to run….
Bernie Sanders is adding firepower to his political team ahead of a potential 2020 campaign, locking down digital alumni who were key to his surprise performance in 2016 and recruiting the media production company that helped launch Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to prominence.
The flurry of activity, detailed by four people familiar with the campaign’s thinking, is the latest sign that the Vermont senator is closing in on a decision on a second run for the White House.
Means of Production, the filmmaking cooperative that created the viral campaign video that propelled Ocasio-Cortez’s House campaign, is in talks with the Sanders team about a major role in 2020. And two people who powered Sanders’ record-breaking small-dollar fundraising operation in 2016 have agreed to join a subsequent presidential bid if it materializes, according to a Sanders campaign aide: Tim Tagaris and Robin Curran, his digital fundraising director and digital production director in 2016, respectively.
The aide said another pair that have helped Sanders build a digital media juggernaut out of his Senate office — media producer Armand Aviram and digital director Georgia Parke — are likely to be part of his 2020 team, too.
The behind-the-scenes moves underscore one of Sanders’ key strengths: He is poised to enter the Democratic primary field with a digital operation and social media army that outpaces virtually any other candidate, at least for now. For all the attention on Beto O’Rourke’s online dominance last year, only Sanders would start the campaign on the foundation of a full-fledged, grass-roots presidential campaign.
The steps also suggest that Sanders has every intention of trying to reactivate the army of liberal activists he amassed two years ago….
Julián Castro isn’t letting Republicans’ harsh words about his decision to run for president get him down.
Shortly after Castro announced his candidacy on Saturday, the RNC released a statement criticizing his decision: “Julian Castro has made history by becoming one of the biggest lightweights to ever run for president. He was a weak mayor who couldn’t even handle being HUD secretary. This is obviously just another desperate attempt to become someone else’s running mate.”
Castro, who spent five years as mayor of San Antonio and served as the secretary of Housing and Urban Development under former President Barack Obama, argued that the committee is likely going to use that kind of language for every Democrat who decides to throw his or her hat in the ring.
“I wouldn’t put too much stock in that,” Castro said Sunday morning on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “I would just say to the American people directly: I’ve had executive experience. I’ve led one of the largest, most diverse cities in the country. I’ve led a federal agency at HUD and done some great work to expand opportunity….
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat considering a presidential run in 2020, is planning a trip to Iowa next weekend, a Iowa Democrat with knowledge of the plans tells CNN.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), who last week announced her plans to run for president in 2020, previously worked for an anti-LGBTQ organization run by her father and spoke out against a civil union bills during her time in the Hawaii state legislature.CNN’s KFile reported late Sunday that Gabbard cited her work “backing traditional marriage” during her run for the state legislature in 2002.
Gabbard responded to the CNN report saying she regretted her past views and if she was elected president would “continue to fight for equal rights for all.”…
all other images ….The Hill
There are several declared candidates for whom I’ve so far seen no rationale, most (or least) notably, Rep. John Delaney (D-N.Y) and former Va Gov. & DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe.
I personally don’t see much of an argument so far for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) or former San Antonio mayor and HUD Sec. Julián Castro (cf. another former HUD Secretary, Andrew Cuomo).
Agreeded…..
He, he, he….
Delaney’s actually be running for a while….
I think I posted my view of the first tier as Biden, Sanders and O’Rourke….
Warren, Harris and maybe Booker as the second tier….
The rest in the 3rd tier and like you point to?
Probably 10 or so ridding the bottom….
Bloomberg could climb into the 3rd of even 2nd tier with his money, but he won’t get the nomination being the past Republican Mayor of NYC (Yea, I know about Reagan..But that was back in the day)
BTW?
Cuomo says he’s not running….
But then Gillibrand said that before the midterms also and she just announced a try….
And NYC ‘s left leaning Mayor just announced he won’t rule out a run in 2020….
Sigh🙄
Like Lindsay and Rockefeller on the other side back in the day, maybe the current Mayor and Governor of New York can take their [very traditional and apparently-institutionally embedded] fight to the out-of-state caucuses, primaries and conventions.
Romney stayed in party
But went from Blue state Mass to Red State Utah,…