The “Who is running in 2020?” tea leaves thread, Part 2

[America Needs R'hllor]

At an event in Texas, Franken says “I don’t want to be president”:

http://lacrossetribune.com/news/franken-says-he-won-t-run-for-president-in/article_61fde4bb-ec86-5852-9104-7aa1610cc342.html

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[America Needs R'hllor]

At an event in Texas, Franken says “I don’t want to be president”:

http://lacrossetribune.com/news/franken-says-he-won-t-run-for-president-in/article_61fde4bb-ec86-5852-9104-7aa1610cc342.html

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God damn it

Don't take the Lord's name in vain

But muh liberty
And if you're serious, you can't decide that your strict theological definition of "taking the Lord's name in vain" is the right one, nor can you impose it on other people.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Cuban says there’s a 10% chance that he runs for president, and that it’s the only political office he would consider running for:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2735192-mark-cuban-says-theres-a-10-percent-chance-he-runs-for-president

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This guy's making our work so easy

[America Needs R'hllor]

Bernie's son on him running

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https://twitter.com/Celentra/status/916906758706167808

I'm kind of disappointed that Sanders' son doesn't use "your" and "you're" properly...

[America Needs R'hllor]

Murphy says “I’ll rule it out for you” when asked about running for prez in 2020.  Though when asked for the third time he just says “I’m running for reelection” so read into that what you will:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/democratic-sen-chris-murphy-rules-out-2020-presidential-bid/

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This is not Shermanesque, but it's coming pretty close.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Jimmy Carter talks about the necessity of diplomacy, to avoid war & conflict & criticizes Obama sharply saying Democrats must be held to a higher standard than Republicans. He also repeated both him & his wife voted for Sanders & had some criticism for Clinton.

I think a dovish foreign policy candidate will get his vote, not that it matters a whole lot today -

Saying that he did not think “there’s much hope now that Israelis will ever permit a two-state solution,” he knocked Obama on the Middle East: “He made some very wonderful statements, in my opinion, when he first got in office, and then he reneged on that.” Recalling that “we have 22 votes in our family and Obama got all 22 of them,” he complained that Obama had “refused” to talk to North Korea more, and then Carter lamented the fact that Obama joined in the bombing of Yemen, which Carter says is the most interesting place he’s ever been. (He even tried chewing khat, an addictive shrub that acts like amphetamines.)

Carter noted that in the primary, “We voted for Sanders.” “I don’t care if he gets rich or Clinton gets rich or whatever,” he said. “I don’t want to get into a bragging position; I’m not trying to do that. But I announced when I was defeated I was not going to be on corporate boards, I was not going to try to enrich myself with speeches. I was patterning my policy after Harry Truman.” When I compared the Clinton Foundation with the Carter Center, Carter noted: “Rosie and I put money in the Carter Center. We never take any out.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/21/opinion/sunday/jimmy-carter-lusts-trump-posting.html

How is it a tea leaf?

[America Needs R'hllor]

Al Sharpton impressed by Gillibrand's MLK Day speech:

http://www.ibtimes.com/kirsten-gillibrand-running-president-2020-al-sharpton-jokes-about-it-2641876

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That is very good news for her. If she manages to be competitive with the African American vote she'd be a formidable force.

[America Needs R'hllor]

For the second year in a row, Bernie Sanders will give his own response to the State of the Union, separate from the official Democratic response:

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/371237-sanders-to-deliver-his-own-state-of-the-union-response

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Ugh, seriously, what an attention-seeking snob. As if there will be any difference between his message and that of Kennedy III.

[America Needs R'hllor]

More from that Oprah interview: She admits that she did actually think about running for prez when people started urging her to run post-Golden Globes, but that God hasn't told her to run, so....

https://www.click2houston.com/entertainment-tonight/oprah-winfrey-admits-that-she-did-think-about-running-for-president

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Thank god, then I don't want more than one major party ticket with people who hear voices.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Bullock did an AMA on Reddit, and ignored all the questions about 2020:

https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/7xlnxi/im_steve_bullock_the_first_governor_to_protect/

Kander’s next visit to NH confirmed:

http://www.wmur.com/article/nh-primary-source-kander-to-return-to-nh-tuesday-to-voice-opposition-to-gop-voting-related-bills/18155125

And finally, Politico Magazine has a long piece on Buttigieg:

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/16/pete-buttigieg-president-2020-profile-feature-217001

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God, this is amazing. He doesn't go all "I'm focused on my current job", "I'm not running for President" etc. He's just being honest. This piece just reaffirmed my opinion of him as the best rising star in the U.S.

[America Needs R'hllor]

CPAC starts in two days but, as with last year, it's mostly been gutted of Trump-skeptical voices, and so it's not a testing ground for likely presidential candidates in the next election cycle, as it has been in years past.  No Kasich, Amash, Sasse, etc., so we're not getting anyone with much chance of running against Trump for the 2020 GOP nomination, unless you actually think Ted Cruz is in that category.  Oddly enough though, Gary Johnson will be there, though participating in a panel discussion rather than a solo speaking slot:

http://cpac.conservative.org/agenda/
http://cpac.conservative.org/speakers/

Oh, and it's not just for Americans.  Among the scheduled speakers are Nigel Farage and Marion Marechal-Le Pen. 

Nice to see that freedom is no longer important for American Conservatives, and fascism is tolerated!

[America Needs R'hllor]

Adam Schiff on 2020:

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-skelton-adam-schiff-congress-20180222-story.html

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This seems pretty close to Sherman-esque? At least the closest we've got since Kaine, if my memory serves?

[America Needs R'hllor]

Adam Schiff on 2020:

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-skelton-adam-schiff-congress-20180222-story.html

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This seems pretty close to Sherman-esque? At least the closest we've got since Kaine, if my memory serves?

I'd actually say more revealing than Schiff's answer is the answer given by his consultant ("President is kind of a stretch for a member of the House").  That's not the sort of thing one would say if their boss is actually considering a run for president.  And presumably his own consultant would know if he was thinking about running for president.

Yep, meant a combination of both. Add Schiff saying the "I'm being asked to run because of Trump" (basically admitting he doesn't have the experience) to what the consultant said, and it seems pretty honest, at least right now.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Klobuchar and Moulton are both speaking at the AIPAC policy conference in DC next week:

http://www.policyconference.org/gallery/speakers2018.asp

The other Dems speaking there are people who are thought to not have 2020 presidential ambitions, like Bob Menendez and Ben Cardin.

Other 2020 Dems, like Biden, Booker, and Gillibrand, have spoken at this before.  Heck, Kamala Harris did so just last year.  They could probably do so again this year if they really wanted to, but my hunch is that the Democratic primary calculus with respect to Israel policy has now shifted enough that speaking to AIPAC isn’t going to be seen as an obvious electoral asset.

Unfortunate. This will definitely boost my opinion of Klobucher and Moulton, though Gillibrand is still quite pro-Israeli so I still support her.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Later this week he'll be debating Rick Santorum at an event in Michigan, because....why not?:

https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/columnists/carol-cain/2018/03/03/debate-santorum-omalley-michigan/389408002/

These are the true 2020 frontrunners.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Breaking News: Joe Biden still not running for president:

http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2018/mar/06/realtimepolitics/joe-biden-hasnt-confirmed-he-running-president-202/

Big if true

[America Needs R'hllor]

For what it's worth, based on Brown's comments from last year, it sounds like he's very much open to running for VP.  I mean, it sounded like he was on board with running as Clinton's running mate in 2016, and so I'm guessing he'd be up for VP in 2020 too.

And I still wouldn't rule out the possibility that he has presidential ambition too, but is hiding it until he gets through reelection in November.  But there isn't much evidence to support that at the moment.

I agree, and I think that after the 2018 midterms we would be able to assess that better. If Cordray wins, the chances of VP Brown or maybe President Brown go substantially up.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Winfrey says a presidential run would kill her:

http://www.vogue.co.uk/article/august-cover-vogue-2018

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She's obviously running. Let's include her in every poll, along with Hillary and Michelle for good measure!

[America Needs R'hllor]

Reason.com does a writeup of Vohra's run for the LP nomination: http://reason.com/blog/2018/07/06/controversialist-arvin-vohra-announces-2

The LP's announced field already looks like:

• Joe Exotic
• Zoltan Istvan
• Adam Kokesh
• John McAfee (assuming he doesn't go independent)
• Arvin Vohra
• ...plus 10+ additional nobodies

If the field stayed that way, it would probably come down to Kokesh vs. McAfee, although it's tough to find the most "acceptable" candidate out of that list of eccentrics and radicals.

Fortunately, it's becoming more and more clear that Bill Weld is going to announce eventually as well, and he's been doing a good job of alleviating concerns in the party. Reason.com has another writeup that talks about how the race for Party Chair became somewhat of a referendum on Bill Weld's involvement with the party, and the result was an easy victory for pro-Weld incumbent Sarwark over (Ron Paul/Tom Woods backed) anti-Weld challenger Smith. That doesn't mean that Weld has an easy path to the LP nod for 2020, considering that Sarwark also had a dominating debate performance over Smith. But the anti-Weld faction will need better candidates than Kokesh, McAfee, and Vohra to stop him.

This is interesting. Keep up the Libertarian updates!

[America Needs R'hllor]

Merkley's doing a whopping four day swing through New Hampshire right now:

http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20180712/oregon-sen-merkley-kicks-off-nh-trip-with-portsmouth-stop

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Yep, the key, major races of NH-GOV, NH legislature and Manchester Mayor, races that will decide the fate of the country! Has to be why Merkley is spending so much time there...

[America Needs R'hllor]

This is more likely for 2024 than 2020, but I'll post it here anyway:

https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article215412900.html

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Interesting. Scott, who's not really moderate but also doesn't seem like a flaming conservative, will likely find it hard to win a primary in the post-Trump Republican Party. He also has the problem of Nikki Haley's likely run, which might rob him of a SC victory if they both run.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Maryland Republican Gov. Hogan doesn't rule out 2020 presidential run

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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/03/2020-larry-hogan-presidential-run-760830

Now that was unexpected.

I really doubt he runs against Trump. I take this as a hint that he's a potential contender in 2024, though.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Julian Castro still seems intent on running, but no one seems interested:

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Source: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/05/democrats-2020-presidential-fight-netroots-762479

Democrats salivating over AOC is proof that both parties have a volatile base that would embrace a Trumpian figure.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Julian Castro still seems intent on running, but no one seems interested:

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Source: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/05/democrats-2020-presidential-fight-netroots-762479

Democrats salivating over AOC is proof that both parties have a volatile base that would embrace a Trumpian figure.

LOL, is everyone you don't like a Trumpian figure, even if they're a progressive 28 year old Hispanic female bartender?

Nope- I don't like Bernie or most congressional Republicans, but they're not Trumpian figures. What I mean by that are sensationalist figures who just spew bombastic, unrealistic platforms and act like children towards enemies, real and perceived, which imo AOC fits quite well.

[America Needs R'hllor]

The Joe Biden Foundation has started a new LGBT youth initiative to promote family acceptance.

http://time.com/5361952/joe-biden-lgbtq-family-acceptance-as-you-are/

Why is LGBTQ stuff always pushed on children?

There is a reason why.

Precisely beause of homophobes like you.