Remember my talking about the DNC having a brokered convention to get
Hillary in as the DNC presidental candidate? It looks like that some
Democrats are wanting Biden to pick Clinton as his running mate and then
step down as the main candidate, leaving Hillary as the DNC candidate, in a last-ditch effort to even have a ghost of a chance in the 2020 election.
From:
https://tinyurl.com/yadyj7ew (thehill.com)
===
As Biden struggles, Hillary waits for the call
By Liz Peek, Opinion Contributor - 04/30/20 08:30 AM EDT
The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The
Hill
Don't look now, but Joe is failing. Not only has his campaign been
rocked by sexual assault allegations from one-time staffer Tara Reade,
but the public is beginning to give up on the former vice president. A
new Emerson College poll showed 57 percent of likely voters think
President Trump will win reelection in November.
Remember, Establishment Democrats put forward Uncle Joe because he was the
"safe" candidate, bound to defeat Trump. Oops.
That's not the only problem that crops up in the Emerson Poll. It also
shows Trump supporters 19 points more enthusiastic about their candidate
than Biden supporters. That "enthusiasm gap" will drive turnout this fall.
With Democrats dependent on young people and minorities, both typically
less reliable voters, that lack of excitement for the candidate could be a
big problem.
Also less than gung-ho about Biden is, predictably, Bernie Sanders's
army. Though the Vermont socialist has endorsed Biden, 51 percent of
Bernie supporters are, according to Emerson, open to voting for a
third-party candidate.
Another red flag is Biden's tepid fund-raising; according to the New York
Times, Trump has a monster cash advantage of $187 million. Further, in
swing-state polling, the presumptive Democratic nominee is running behind
where Hillary Clinton stood at this point in the race, and we know how
that turned out.
As all of those issues cast doubt on Biden's prospects, the presumptive
nominee must now fend off Tara Reade's allegations, which put
#MeToo-supporting Democrats into an incredibly awkward spot.
None of this augurs well for the Biden campaign, which will likely
confront further obstacles in the months ahead. Eventually, the
coronavirus will no longer excuse the former VP's invisibility; he will
have to engage in the kind of give-and-take that often shows him getting
befuddled, including real - not scripted - town halls and interviews.
At that point, the public will see what numerous Democrats have noted
sotto voce - Obama's former wing-man is struggling with some cognitive
decline.
We really cannot elect a president who mixes up his sister with his wife
or who collapses in mid-sentence, unsure of where he's going next.
Democrats' obstacle to pushing Biden aside is Bernie Sanders. The Vermont
senator was the runner-up in the primaries, and continues to hold onto his
delegates. Democratic leaders do not want to see Sanders resurgent; they
are convinced he is unelectable. But they also know that if they move to
replace Biden at the top of the ticket, and don't elevate Sanders, the
Bernie Bros would revolt.
Indeed, it seems clear that party officials are so worried Sanders might
stage another run that they cancelled the 224-delegate rich New York State
primary. They claimed the vote would have been dangerous in that epicenter
of COVID-19, but since they still plan to host a primary for state and
local officials, that excuse seems weak.
As the primaries roll forward, and especially with officials' thumbs on
the scales, Biden will almost certainly win the candidacy. In the absence
of a brokered convention, how could Democrats replace their
standard-bearer?
One idea has been to convince Biden to step aside in favor of the very
popular Michelle Obama, seen as a sure bet to beat Trump. So far,
though, the former first lady has reportedly rebuffed all invitations to
enter the fray.
That leaves Hillary Clinton. Biden could choose Clinton as his running
mate, and then step down before the election and allow Hillary to run in
his place.
Clinton is the only VP candidate who would be able to pull off such a
last-minute switch. She has the team, the resources and the experience
to be the nominee; Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), former Georgia state
Rep. Stacey Abrams and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) do not.
Clinton is ready and eager. She is desperate to avenge her 2016 loss
(which she still blames on Putin) and has pumped up her public profile to
keep herself in consideration. In past months she has conducted endless
interviews, promoted the uber-flattering four-part Hulu film about
herself, made headlines by attacking Bernie Sanders and Mark Zuckerberg,
and fired unending broadsides against President Trump.
Most recently, she joined Vice President Biden in a town hall devoted to
women's issues, during which she effusively endorsed her long-time
colleague. She reminisced about their time together in the Obama
administration, talked about their mutual love of Scranton, Pa., where her
father grew up, and recalled meetings in the Situation Room.
In fact, Clinton talked so much about their shared history that it was
easy to forget that she was endorsing Joe Biden. It almost sounded as
though she were touting her own resume instead.
Maybe she was.
How would Hillary stack up as a nominee this time around? Hillary
certainly looks stronger and more fired-up than Biden; she has the energy
he lacks. She has a bigger following on social media (28 million Twitter
followers, compared to 5 million, for instance) and she has a large
devoted following who, like Hillary, still cannot believe she lost in
2016.
She could count on President Obama to campaign for her, as Biden also can,
and she would also have ever-popular husband Bill helping out. In 2016,
Democrats were not wildly excited about her candidacy, but her
"enthusiasm" readings were better than Biden's today. As was her polling
in critical battleground states.
Hillary is hideously polarizing, but she would be a more forceful nominee
than Biden, has enormous name recognition and, perhaps most important, can
begin and end a sentence without major detours. And, she has not been
credibly accused of sexual assault.
Hillary may be Democrats' nominee of last resort. You know she wants it.
===
Later,
Sean
... The trouble with experience is that it sometimes teaches you too late.
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