The “Who is running in 2020?” tea leaves thread

[henster]

People talking up Kamala not really sure what she does for WWC. Klobuchar seems like the perfect candidate.

[henster]

People talking up Kamala not really sure what she does for WWC. Klobuchar seems like the perfect candidate.

Obama did better with WWC than Clinton did - why would Klobuchar, who is as bland as can be and largely follow the Clinton format, do better than Harris?

Well Klobuchar represents a state with a large WWC population and routinely wins by large margins. And Clinton was not bland she has massive baggage and scandals while Klobuchar is clean, she is a former prosecutor like Kamala.

[henster]

If Tulsi Gabbard were Senator Gabbard then she'd be a very strong contender for 2020, unfortunately she seems boxed in Hawaii with nowhere to go. Abercrombie losing in 2014 was probably the worst thing for her career considering she could've ran for Gov when he termed out. Hirono and Schatz aren't going anywhere so she is stuck.

[henster]

I don't get why people are talking up Newsom. Is he going to announce his presidential run in his inaugural address for Governor?

It's because Bill Maher recently said in an interview that he wanted him to run in 2020.

Absolutely, 'Crooked Klobuchar' would have never stuck like Crooked Hillary, Klobuchar has no shady foundation or private email you can associate with. None of the prospective candidates besides Cuomo has the amount of baggage that Hillary had.

[henster]

Castro will have done nothing for the past 4 years when 2020 comes around and he'd be running against Senators who have been actively opposing Trump in Congress so he would have little chance. His best hope is being in cabinet against under a Dem President.

[henster]

Klobuchar has been disappointing on dealing with the cabinet nominee's so far. She sits on the Judiciary committee and had a chance to really grill Sessions but was largely cordial and uneventful. She has 4 years to turn it around but she seems like the go along to get along person which Ds don't want right now.

[henster]

A platform on gun control is last thing Ds need in winning back the Midwest. Truth is gun control was a never at the forefront in either of Obama's campaigns, and he was quiet on the issue after Aurora which happened in the middle of the '12 campaign. And Murphy's big issue is guns...

[henster]

Wouldn't surprise me if Howard Schultz ran.

[henster]

Senator Richard Blumenthal accidentally refers to Senator Chris Murphy as "President Murphy".

http://www.courant.com/politics/capitol-watch/hc-blumenthal-president-chris-murphy-story.html

Highly indicative that there have been conversations in the background, and there was semantic interference on the spot. I can certainly get behind a Murphy run.

I don't know.  As the story says, Blumenthal had just been talking about Trump, so having a mental mixup and saying "president" might not mean anything larger.

That said, Murphy has definitely shot up recently in my own rankings of who is most likely to run on the Dem. side.  He might even be in the top 10.  The fact that he both campaigned for Clinton in early '16 for the NH primary, and then went back there in the fall to campaign for both Clinton and Hassan was at least...something.  He seemed to throw cold water on that with his December statement that he "wouldn't consider" running for prez, but his supposed denials since them have been more vague, so he's back up on the list, IMHO.

I don't think Ds need a champion of gun control to win back the Midwest right now, nobody talks about how far left Hillary went on guns and how that may contributed to the further loss in WWC voters. Gun control was never a central theme in either of Obama's two runs.

[henster]

People always talk about Murphy here like he's a one issue Senator (gun control), when he's been focusing on a large variety of issues including but not limited to healthcare, Russia, immigration, and education. He's most widely known for his stances on gun control because Sandy Hook happened just after he was elected to the Senate.

Also, having worked for Blumenthal's office I have the sense that this is was just a casual slip up on Blumenthal's part. I wouldn't read anything into it.

He got on people's radar because of gun control, otherwise he would just be another backbencher. Just like Wendy Davis there were a lot of things other than abortion but people focused on that because of the filibuster.

[henster]

The worst thing about a Cuomo run is it will probably dissuade Gillibrand from running.

[henster]

ObamaWorld is pushing Deval Patrick to run.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/01/obamas-inner-circle-is-urging-deval-patrick-to-run-215443

He'd actually be a good candidate - I could see myself voting for him in the primary. Democrats don't necessarily need currently serving senators or governors to run. Just look at Mitt Romney.

His time at Bain would be an issue, and yet another candidate from Mass for Dems. This would be 4 now.

[henster]

Klobuchar has the most upside she keeps MN safe and is a great fit for WI/IA, geographically she is the best candidate. The problem is she is so boring and bland it will be hard for her to make it thru the primary.

[henster]

I don't know what Garcetti is thinking he is a quintessential big city liberal 'coastal elite' probably the worst kind of candidate for WWC voters.