the democratic primaries
 

need their own thread without the rest of the bullshit

so....

looks like buttigieg winning iowa as his campaign called it on monday—at least with 85% of the count published

if the little boy wonder ends up the nominee (lol) i won’t mind. he’s got intelligence and honor and decency that the orange shitbag lacks altogether.

same with the other survivors of this round: bernie, warren, biden, klobuchar. any of them will make a better president .

yes, people have their favorites. i have my preferences that vary on a daily basis depending on what’s going on. but any of them would get my full support should they win.

on to new hampshire...

with 97% of the vote reported bernie is closing the gap

All 50 Iowans voted?

:D

no, just about 170,000 registered democrats

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anyway, i’ve started seeing bloomberg ads this week, with “stop the chaos” as the main theme. late splash with lots of money

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meanwhile, speaking of money, warren seems to be running short of it while bernie raised $25mil in january alone.

exciting times.

recanvass in iowa, lol.

meaning they will hand-count everything from scratch

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also, looking at new hampshire polls, looks like it’s bernie and buttigieg ahead, this time bernie 24, booty 20, uncle joe 17, warren 13

be quicker to use VAR

Mayor Pete is a RAT. Bernie won Iowa and he declares victory before the results are in. Fuck his McKinsey consultant (he fixed the price of bread for companies for crying out loud) CIA affiliated bullshit. Absolute robot of a human being funded by the same old tired billionaires who was quoted as saying you do "anything" to get into power because it's a competition. I hear he is off the campaign trail currently in an effort to raise more funds and I wonder who he'll call up. When rich people in wine caves give their approval, all that means is that you're promising to not rock the boat or do anything that will threaten the failed status quo.

He is the establishment pick now (since Biden failed miserably, though they apparently didn't have much faith in him anyway), whose campaign helped to fund the app in the middle of the controversy. Why in the world was there even a transaction there? He has shown no genuine interest in people's needs, instead using shrill politician speak that everyone is fed up of hearing (if he even answers the question!) and furthermore, his biggest qualification is that he was a mayor of a town of 100,000 where all the black people hated him! Like, it is absolutely insane to me why anyone would think he is a good choice. Even Warren is better and I'm no fan of hers either.

i like bernie, but his supporters tactics are a fucking awful form of scorched earth.

they’d rather see trump win again than a moderate.

Exact same as here with Corbyn

Candidate ........... Pct. .... SDEs ..... Del.
Pete Buttigieg ...... 26.2 ... 564.02 —
Bernie Sanders .... 26.1 ... 562.44 —
Elizabeth Warren .. 18.0 ... 387.09 —
Joe Biden ............ 15.8 ... 341.16 —
Amy Klobuchar .... 12.3 ... 264.20 —
Andrew Yang ......... 1.0 ... . 22.23 —
Tom Steyer ........... 0.3 ... ... 6.76 —
Michael Bloomberg . 0.0 ... ... 0.20 —
Tulsi Gabbard .........0.0 ... ... 0.11 —
Michael Bennet ...... 0.0 ... ... 0.00 —
Deval Patrick ..........0.0 ... ... 0.00 —
Other 0.0 0.69 —
Uncommitted 0.2 3.97 —
Show fewer candidates
Total SDEs from 100% of precincts 2152.87

“State delegate equivalent figures show how support from caucus-goers after realignment roughly translates into the number of delegates each candidate will get at the state convention. That figure then translates into how many of the 41 pledged national delegates each candidate will get. In previous years, the Iowa Democratic Party reported only state delegate equivalent figures.”

On to NH!

With the three leaders basically sequestered for the past several weeks in impeachment hearings, while Joe was free to get out and campaign away, anyone surprised Biden finished a distant 4th?

I’m anxious to see if Joe suffers further separation going forward now that the others are free to get out the vote???

Funny since the democratic establishment acts like they'd rather have Trump than Bernie. Control of the party seems more important to them than winning.

And if your argument is "our focus should be beating Trump" then you should be supporting Bernie and chiding all these other candidates who couldn't possibly win against Trump. Like, please tell me how Pete, Warren or Biden have a path open to beat Trump? They don't, it will be Hillary all over again.

Bernie is a) anti-establishment b) can refute any points Trump makes about the economy and social issues c) mobilise and excite people to get out and vote d) has very little in the way of oppositional research against him compared to everyone else

It's not that Bernie supporters want Trump to win but that they're sick of fake politicians pandering to them while their lives continue to exist in a perpetual state of malaise. Also its insane to say they'd rather Trump won than a moderate when they held their noses and voted for Hillary in 2016 to stop Trump (more Bernie supporters supported Hillary than Hillary supporters supported Obama btw... not to mention that there are people out there who would flip from Trump to Bernie quite easily because its not about ideology to them).

But yes, they won't hold their noses this time and vote for Pete or Biden or whoever. Why would they? The dem party aren't automatically entitled to your vote if you don't like Trump. Western politics has been "you have to vote for the lesser evil" for decades and if not, you can fuck off and stay outside the political mainstream. Progressives don't owe the democratic party anything when they're constantly ignored and denigrated.

So the fact a huge chunk of the party's base won't vote for anyone but Bernie means you HAVE to go with Bernie to ensure turnout (not to mention the large portion of non-voters Bernie brings out). After all, our biggest concern should be beating Trump, right?

Basically I'm trying to save you guys from yourselves before something insane happens like Pete becoming the nominee. I don't think the party leaders have really reflected on why they lost and Trump won except "oh we'll campaign more in Wisconsin this time!". Clueless.

1. the polls and results are not showing overwhelming bernie support. moderate vs progressive split is about 50/50 in iowa, other states TBD.

2. please explain how corbyn saved you from boris

1. He leads in a lot of polls in 47 states. The moderate dem diehards will vote for whoever has (D) next to their name on the ballot, there's no need to worry about their support.

2. Bernie isn't going to lose on the basis of Brexit and an anti-semitism media scandal. It's a false equivalency, the outcome isn't determined just because they both happen to be on the left in countries with different politics. As much as I am a supporter of Corbyn ideologically, it is clear that Bernie is the better communicator on issues of solidarity and can relate to the problems of the working class, regardless of their identity (this means immigrants and non-whites, who are large parts of the dem voting bloc).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fXPvA2MKi0
I've heard him say this a few times but it still really strikes me when I hear it. He totally gets people's frustrations in a way none of the others do. He understands why people bought into Trump so much, but he can link it to social issues rather than lies, bigotry and scapegoating. I'm not saying he'd be the best candidate in every election but this one? He is the only one who makes sense. Like please make a convincing argument for any of the other candidates on how they could defeat Trump electorally but also culturally, I'm all ears there because I haven't heard any yet.

There were specific things Corbyn had going against him that don't relate to Sanders. I do increasingly see Sanders as having the strongest chance of beating Trump, but that's only because of how weak the rest of the field seems. I still see Trump winning, regardless of who he faces.

primaries are a CROCK OF SHIT and always have been


that is how two political parties run by the exact same super rich anonymous fucks makes it look like there is wide choice for the people, when they are actually thinning down the choices to the candidates THEY want to see in power, and which will further their agendas. I never vote in them, I suggest no one else do. we should ban the primary system entirely, along with the electoral college.

You are completely correct, Rob.

primaries are great. Get to vote 2x not just once. And, in open primaries, can cross over and vote in the other parties choice. Love to do that, as you can vote for the worst asshat who will lose to your guy in general.

Demonrail, have you researched Sanders at all? He's got a really weird history that makes him totally unelectable. Worst possible choice the Dems could make.