The Joe Biden 2020 tracker thread (7 Viewers)

[Intensesaint]

A place for all the gaffs, slip-ups and overall outlandish things Democratic candidates will say or do in lead up to the 2020 Election.

 

[JimEverett]

I could look it up, but does anyone know off-hand if any Democratic contests are winner-takes-all?

Nevermind - I looked it up and understand why people are saying this could be the time we actually see a brokered convention.

 

[bdb13]

I could look it up, but does anyone know off-hand if any Democratic contests are winner-takes-all?

Nevermind - I looked it up and understand why people are saying this could be the time we actually see a brokered convention.

Are there none?

 

[GrandAdmiral]

CNN is reporting the Mayor Pete is heading to Dallas to endorse Biden as well.

 

[wardorican]

I get it's "conspiracy theory"ish, but not that its silly?

Do you think the DNC is above doing something nefarious to sway the nomination?

Lis Smith has DEEP ties and roots to the DNC, and power struggles within the DNC does not indicate they would not work together to influence the nomination.

Of his top advisers there is only one that has been with him since he ran for mayor. Lis Simth, make no mistake" is heavily entrenched with the DNC. She's married to Eliot Spitzer.

Marcus Switzer is also one of the heads of his staff. He was a staffer on both Obama and Clinton campaigns.

Steven Brokow was another obama staffer.

Chris Meagher is his press secretary, he previously worked for U.S. Rep. Lois Capp, who proudly for her last act before retirement, cast her super delegate vote for Hilary.


His staff is filled with DNC friendlies and people who have worked closely with Biden.


His exiting now opens up the delegates that would have gone to him, to now vote for Biden.


I dont think its very silly at all.

I dont think you can name a single democrat without someone on their staff with ties to Clinton, Obama, etc...

 

[JimEverett]

Are there none?

As best I can tell - no. It looks like all delegates are awarded proportionally to candidates who receive 15%+ of the vote in the district that awards delegates. So - some states may award by congressional districts, some may by some other district allocation, presumably some are statewide.

So - Klobuchar, for instance, did not get 15%+ statewide in Iowa, but did get 15%+ in a congressional district, and Iowa awarded delgegates based on congressional district, so she picked up at least 1 delegate that way.

Seems like the system makes it hard to get a clear winner in a race with more than 2 candidates.

 

[JimEverett]

Anther question - and I tried to look this one up before asking but couldn't find anything definitive.

What mechanism, if any, is in place to make sure or force pledged delegates to vote for their pledged candidate on first vote? Is it automatic? - as in the actual delegate on the floor has no say? Just thinking about it, there could be a system where the first vote really is not a "vote" at all - it is simply a predetermined total of pledged delegates for each candidate - where it would not even be necessary for delegates to be on the floor for the first vote.

I sort of doubt that is how it would work. If not, then it seems like there could be an effort by a candidate to get pledged delegates to vote for someone besides who they are pledged to vote. Which would be the normal way these conventions are run. Perhaps, for example, the Sanders team runs a campaign of saying "don't let superdelegates decide, vote for who won the most votes . . . " or something like that. It just seems like this "vote for pledged candidate" stuff is stated so matter of factly that I wonder if there is something different than usual going on.

 

[wardorican]

Haha. I like Chasten's sense of humor.

 

[Heathen]

Looks like the moderates are banding together under the Biden tent

Should be a competitive primary. It will be interesting to see when Warren drops out and who she endorses.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

Looks like the moderates are banding together under the Biden tent

Should be a competitive primary. It will be interesting to see when Warren drops out and who she endorses.

I would think she might be the last to drop out. I don't think Bloomberg survive the week.

 

[MT15]

I’m sorry, but I cannot buy that the DNC went to South Bend, IN and recruited their gay mayor to run for president as a stealth candidate to knock off Bernie. I will gladly say that is a silly theory. Good grief.

Also, how can anyone who is running a legit campaign be looked at as someone to “screw“ Bernie out of the nomination? Bernie and everyone else have the same rules, and are competing for votes in the same way.

As for the second ballot stuff, I think I read where Bernie has changed his mind about what he wants the rules to be. Last time he wanted only a clear majority to be declared as the nominee, which I think is the rule for the first ballot. Now, of course, he is saying that a plurality is good enough. Maybe that isn’t correct, read it on Twitter, so not 100% sure.

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

I dont even know what to think.. Biden has been a good politician for decades, but time seems to be catching up with him now.. i’ll vote for him, but at this point it’s very ‘meh’... i cant imagine that too many folks are fired up to vote for Biden the way they’d be fired up to vote for a Pete or even a Liz (or of course a Bernie).. And i’m not sure that that lack of enthusiasm can compete with Trump’s fiercely loyal base.. The only thing that could possibly get Biden elected IMO is if there are more people passionate about getting rid of Trump than people who are passionate about enabling him.. i guess that’s to be determined.

 

[BobE]

 

[Heathen]

I don't think anyone implied that Pete was this insider recruited by the DNC to knock off Bernie. I do think that there's more than likely a pretty obvious reason he dropped out right before the primaries, though. It's not conspiracy, but thinking Pete's sudden bow had no connection to the establishment scrambling like mad to push their candidate is just ignoring the writing on the wall.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

As for the second ballot stuff, I think I read where Bernie has changed his mind about what he wants the rules to be. Last time he wanted only a clear majority to be declared as the nominee, which I think is the rule for the first ballot. Now, of course, he is saying that a plurality is good enough. Maybe that isn’t correct, read it on Twitter, so not 100% sure.

That's what he wants. At the last debate, everyone committed to following the new rules for the convention. Bernie would not and his campaign has pushed the plurality thing.

 

[Beach Friends]

I don't think anyone implied that Pete was this insider recruited by the DNC to knock off Bernie. I do think that there's more than likely a pretty obvious reason he dropped out right before the primaries, though. It's not conspiracy, but thinking Pete's sudden bow had no connection to the establishment scrambling like mad to push their candidate is just ignoring the writing on the wall.

Yeah, all of these candidates dropping like flies right before Super Tuesday - there is some serious promising, pleading and arm twisting going on. The establishment is serious about stopping Bernie. I don't think there is any way he walks into the convention with just a plurality and out with a nomination.

I guess we will get to see how serious Bernie's more radical supporters are about burning cities down. One thing is for sure, there will be some trash cans overturned.

 

[Lapaz]

Obviously it helps Biden for some moderates to drop out, as it would help Bernie if Warren drops out, but what matters is who gets the majority, however that is cobbled together. Bernie only deserves the nomination if he gets the majority of the votes. I’m not concerned unless something illegal is going on.

I plan to vote for Bloomberg, but i’ll take any Democrat. I keep hearing complaints about Bloomberg not being a a Democrat, but his platform is almost identical to Obama’s and similar to Biden’s. So what if he has evolved. He is much more positioned to challenge Trump. I believe he’ll get the vote of a lot of Republicans and the vast majority of independents. He may lose some Democrats, but I think he’ll bring much more voters than he’ll lose.

He’s the best chance of restoring normalcy, so we can wait a few more years to get more progressive policies.

 

[wardorican]

I don't think anyone implied that Pete was this insider recruited by the DNC to knock off Bernie. I do think that there's more than likely a pretty obvious reason he dropped out right before the primaries, though. It's not conspiracy, but thinking Pete's sudden bow had no connection to the establishment scrambling like mad to push their candidate is just ignoring the writing on the wall.

You should go back a page...

 

[wardorican]

This was the e-mail from Pete today.

When we got into this race, our goal was not simply to win the presidency. It was to help unify Americans to defeat Donald Trump and usher in the era that must come next.

That is why I’m proud to stand with Joe Biden to help make him our next president of the United States.

And it’s why I’m urging everyone who came to our campaign in order to change our politics and defeat this president to support him too.

If you’re ready to defeat Donald Trump and usher in the era that must come next, please consider making a donation to Joe Biden’s campaign right now.

Our politics today is filled with noise and division, mistaking being loud for being right. And that kind of politics has failed us for too long; it’s just too small to meet this moment.

The only way we’ll beat Donald Trump and deliver a better future is with a politics that gathers people together -- a politics that reflects the decency of the American people.

It’s the kind of politics we tried to model in our campaign. And it’s the brand of politics Vice President Biden has practiced his whole life -- knowing how to build a broad agenda that can truly deliver for the American people, treating people with dignity and offering empathy.

And that’s what it’s going to take to not only win the White House, but also hold the House, win the Senate, and bring along all those down-ballot candidates to ensure we make real progress.

Leaders can bring out what’s worst in us or what’s best. And Joe Biden knows how to bring people in and bring the best of them out.

We see it in the way he carries the concerns of his neighbors in Scranton and Wilmington to Washington. The way he honors the men and women I served with by carrying in his pocket the names of those we’ve lost. The way he takes time out of his day to meet with young people who struggle to speak and families who struggle with loss.

Joe Biden is a good person. And simple as it may seem, it makes a world of difference to have a good person in the Oval Office. Please join me in making a donation today to make sure Joe Biden has the resources to win this nomination and defeat Donald Trump in November.

I’m proud to be voting for him, and I look forward to working as hard as I can to make Joe Biden the next president of the United States.

Thank you,

Pete