Which candidate is the bottom of the barrel?

[Former Crackhead Mike Lindell]

In terms of notability, credibility, and 'seriousness'. This election's bringing out a lot of obscure names out of the woodwork. Do we call them major minor candidates, or minor major candidates? And who wins, in this race to the bottom?

Is it former congressman John Delaney?

Spiritual teacher and failed congressional candidate Marianne Williamson?

A former Senator who last held office in 1981: Mike Gravel?

Mayor of - checks notes - Mirimar, Florida: Wayne Messam?

Former Massachusetts governor and the Libertarian's 2016 Vice Presidential nominee: Bill Weld? 

[Stranger in a strange land]

The Gravel Campaign is literally a bunch of edgy leftist teenagers playing a joke that was inspired by a skit on Chapo Trap House.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

The Gravel Campaign is literally a bunch of edgy leftist teenagers playing a joke that was inspired by a skit on Chapo Trap House.

True, but now his account has over 20K followers and growing rapidly. If he gives the go ahead for a campaign he could actually hit that magic 65,000.

I’d say Messam and Williamston are the lowest tier, Delaney may actually get into the debates, and as it stands Weld is the only real challenge to Trump.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

Messam is as serious a candidate as Buttigieg (mayor of a larger, more diverse city from a state with more Democratic donors than South Bend).

So the answer is obviously Williamson

[Former Crackhead Mike Lindell]

Tie between Messam and Gravel, in my opinion.

On the one hand, we've got a guy who's pushing 90, hasn't held elected office since Carter was president, and who's only reason for getting into the race is that... some teenagers are convincing him it's a good idea? And just to make the debate too.

At least Messam has youth and being a current office holder on his side. Even if that office is being mayor of a city I've never heard of.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Messam is as serious a candidate as Buttigieg (mayor of a larger, more diverse city from a state with more Democratic donors than South Bend).

Except Buttigieg actually built a national profile, not to mention Messam is just a ceremonial mayor.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Williamson for sure.

[Bakersfield Uber Alles]

Delaney

Every year, you get a Harold Stassen (Gravel) or some random cranks (Messam and Williamson) who run. At this point, Weld is serving as the only foil to Trump, which counts for something.

Literally 40 people in Iowa want Delaney. He’s not inspiring at all. I’m not sure why he’s running. He is the bottom of the barrel.

[AltWorlder]

Messam isn't a crank, at least policy wise.

Seriously, who are Swalwell, McAuliffe, Moulton, Bullock, or Bennet? They may not be the bottom of the barrel, though they're probably polling that low, and they just are all indistinguishable from each other. At least Delaney is known as the hopeless moderate centrist who started the race way too early and never caught on.

[Sestak]

Gravel is quite clearly the top of the barrel.


I'd think the bottom of the barrel are Beto, Biden, Sanders, and Harris.

[Skunk]

Jokes candidates like Williamson and Messam still have a higher chance of being a major party's nominee for President than Weld. Trump has a 100% chance of being the nominee provided he is healthy.

[Beet]

It's weird how Williamson is supposed to be this bottom of the barrel joke candidate, but within weeks of releasing her reparations platform suddenly everyone was talking about it.

[S019]

Remove Delaney and Weld (who are the most electable)

Replace them with Yang and Buttigieg

[AltWorlder]

Replace them with Yang and Buttigieg

Both have more name recognition and grassroots excitement than actual interchangeable politicians of note like Swalwell, McAuliffe, Moulton, Bullock, or Bennet. Well, maybe not McAuliffe.

Remove Delaney and Weld (who are the most electable)

I'm sorry, but lol

[S019]

 I was talking about electability

If you're talking about winning the nomination, then Gravel, Williamson, Mesam, and Weld all have absolutely no shot at the nomination

[AltWorlder]

They don't, but they're at least marginally more memorable than the interchangeable middle-aged forgettable generic politicians I mentioned, who would also only get nominated in a movie/West Wing type universe where we had President Tim Pawlenty. Or if something happened to Biden AND Beto AND Buttigieg AND Hickenlooper AND Inslee AND De Blasio, opening up the field for the more boring centrist/moderate/generic white guys. As it stands, they're no more able to win the nomination than Gravel, Williamson, Mesam, and Weld, and more indistinguishable to boot.

Also Weld is running for the GOP primary so I don't even know why he's being mentioned.

[Donerail]

Messam is as serious a candidate as Buttigieg (mayor of a larger, more diverse city from a state with more Democratic donors than South Bend).

Miramar's not a city.

Anyway, the answer here is KEG

[GeorgiaModerate]

Messam is as serious a candidate as Buttigieg (mayor of a larger, more diverse city from a state with more Democratic donors than South Bend).

Miramar's not a city.

Anyway, the answer here is KEG

Miramar is definitely a city, and in the 2010 Census it did have more people than South Bend.

[Donerail]

Miramar's not a city.

Anyway, the answer here is KEG

Miramar is definitely a city, and in the 2010 Census it did have more people than South Bend.

Have you been to Miramar? It's not a city. It's a sprawling morass of strip malls and gated subdivisions. South Bend, by contrast, is a real city, regardless of the population statistics for the number of people contained with the legal city limits.

[Bumaye]

Remove Delaney and Weld (who are the most electable)

Replace them with Yang and Buttigieg

Buttigieg is literally polling as high as Booker and Klobuchar at the moment.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Jokes candidates like Williamson and Messam still have a higher chance of being a major party's nominee for President than Weld. Trump has a 100% chance of being the nominee provided he is healthy.

Even if he vomits up bile every 45 minutes Trump would still be the nominee.

[S019]

I was talking about electability

If you're talking about winning the nomination, then Gravel, Williamson, Messam, and Weld all have absolutely no shot at the nomination

Remove Delaney and Weld (who are the most electable)

Replace them with Yang and Buttigieg

Buttigieg is literally polling as high as Booker and Klobuchar at the moment.

[wesmoorenerd]

It's weird how Williamson is supposed to be this bottom of the barrel joke candidate, but within weeks of releasing her reparations platform suddenly everyone was talking about it.

(Cash) reparations are probably the worst idea I've heard in any Democratic candidate's platform in years.

1. They're political suicide to try and run on. They might fly in progressive areas, but try running on cash reparations in the Midwest - or in literally any other state, honestly. Running on cash reparations would probably take the bottom out of Democratic support, particularly white support.

2. How the hell would you implement them, anyway? Our federal government can't even return children that they themselves separated from their parents at the border, and you want to try cutting checks to tens of millions of people, descended from a group of people who weren't exactly well documented? Come on.

3. Who gets reparations? Presumably only descendants of slaves, but this is arbitrary and stupid for several reasons. First of all, there are certainly black Americans that aren't descended from slaves but have certainly been affected by institutional racism for decades and decades. Likewise, you're probably cutting checks to millionaires who also happen to be descended from slaves.

4. Sort of following the above: the stinging effects of institutional racism, including slavery, will never completely fade away from the US. They're still problems that we grapple with today. But unlike, say, reparations given to survivors of Japanese internment, the specific phenomenon of slavery is a relatively distant phenomenon. Anybody getting reparations for slavery today would be quite a few generations removed from slavery itself.

5. Ultimately, reparations, moral or not, will be completely ineffective in combating the actual problems of institutional racism. It's a Band-Aid solution that doesn't adequately address the fact that American citizens are actively being deprived of opportunities because of their race. That's not something that a timed windfall would solve.

6. Following the above: if it's not really going to improve equality of opportunity in the US, then what's the point? Righting historical wrongs? That's something that's been long overdue, but it's not realistic to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on what's essentially a moral gesture.

So yes, Williamson is the bottom of the barrel. If she got the nomination then a Trumpslide is inevitable.

[aaroncd107]

Messam is as serious a candidate as Buttigieg (mayor of a larger, more diverse city from a state with more Democratic donors than South Bend).

So the answer is obviously Williamson

Messam is from a city where the city manager does all the governing. He’s not as serious as Buttigieg.

[User155815470020]

Delaney was the FIRST major Democrat to announce and he at least holds state office.

Spiritual teacher and failed congressional candidate Marianne Williamson? She could not win in California and her background is not in politics. I vote Williamson is least credible.

Gravel ran for president a decade ago, has earned progressive credibility, and--even if it was 4 decades ago--Gravel has legislative experience at the federal level and was RE-ELECTED.

Messam speaks like a politician, but at least he has executive experience.

Weld has run for president twice, and has executive experience.