Current Affairs 2020 Democratic Primary

[LinekersLegs]

yup, bang on, there was a field of more suitable candidates who dropped out due to lack of funding and here's Bloomberg late to the party and shouting the odds.
It's great for Bernie because the whole focus tonight will be on tearing Bloomberg down.

The logical part of me whispers that there isn’t a great deal of difference between buying the election for someone else through early super-pac coverage and buying it for yourself later on through direct advertising but it is a distinction that the emotional part of me finds important!

 

[sdk]

Oh fully agree that Bloomberg is worried that Sanders will win the Dem nomination the same way Trump did the GOP one.

Where I vehemently disagree with him is that the best solution to that is for anyone, least of all a 78 year old with questionable history , to enter late in cycle which further delays consolidation around a non Bernie candidate.

He could have instead decided early on who was a candidate that he could support, Booker perhaps, and worked to increase his name recognition with voters and hope that he became the person who non Bernie voters coalesced around. Instead he prefers the ego trip of a run himself and, in my view at least, leverage his vast wealth into making it a grossly undemocratic one.

I agree but for the very end: Is it really undemocratic when the decision still lies with voters?

I have about as much affection for him as I have for blood in my stool but one bright side, arguably, kind of, sort of, if you squint, is that we're seeing him use his own money to try to buy himself the presidency rather than following the usual plutocratic method of being funded by super wealthy persons and organizations whose names we'll never know.

 

[Ruairi77]

The logical part of me whispers that there isn’t a great deal of difference between buying the election for someone else through early super-pac coverage and buying it for yourself later on through direct advertising but it is a distinction that the emotional part of me finds important!

I hear you but I'd rather see someone like Booker/Castro who gave their whole career to public service, working their way up through the system get the support they needed to at least make the early primaries. It didn't have to be $200m. Just helping out with paying staffers or rent for field offices or gas for the bloody bus.
What bloomberg is doing is gross.

 

[Ruairi77]

I agree but for the very end: Is it really undemocratic when the decision still lies with voters?

I have about as much affection for him as I have for blood in my stool but one bright side, arguably, kind of, sort of, if you squint, is that we're seeing him use his own money to try to buy himself the presidency rather than following the usual plutocratic method of being funded by super wealthy persons and organizations whose names we'll never know.

There's an argument for campaign spending limitations no matter where the money comes from. Clearly the DNC have swayed one way and then the other on this. It doesnt instill much confidence in the system!

 

[LinekersLegs]

I agree but for the very end: Is it really undemocratic when the decision still lies with voters?

I have about as much affection for him as I have for blood in my stool but one bright side, arguably, kind of, sort of, if you squint, is that we're seeing him use his own money to try to buy himself the presidency rather than following the usual plutocratic method of being funded by super wealthy persons and organizations whose names we'll never know.

As per my later post I can’t really articulate a logical reason why I find it so viscerally different. It is probably a complex mush composed of @Ruairi77’s reasoning, plus some numbness to the plutocratic method from its long use, the huge $ numbers that Bloomberg is employing, his general arrogance/entitled attitude, my sadness that it looks like an elderly white man is going to be president....I’ll stop there as it’s likely a long, if not entirely rational, list lol

 

[Ruairi77]

On a more general note and because I'm procrastinating at work...
Here's my plan for how parties should nominate their candidates.

Do away with the primary and caucus system as it exists today.
Everyone holds a ranked choice election. (nevada is holding write in caucuses now, which seem just like RCV)
Divide the country in to 5 regions.

The North East
The South East (or South, or what ever)
The South West
The North West
and the middle bit.

Each of these regions holds RCV elections two weeks apart over 10 weeks.
The order the regions vote in is determined by voter turnout in the previous cycle.
The region with the highest % turnout in the previous cycle goes first and so on.
Put each election day on a saturday and allow one week of early voting.

edit. If you make the ballot for the first region, you are automatically on the ballot in all 5 regions whether you decide to campaign or not.
If you miss the first region, you can not enter later (though with such big regions presumably you'd need to be in all 5 races to win)

 

[sdk]

As per my later post I can’t really articulate a logical reason why I find it so viscerally different. It is probably a complex mush composed of @Ruairi77’s reasoning, plus some numbness to the plutocratic method from its long use, the huge $ numbers that Bloomberg is employing, his general arrogance/entitled attitude, my sadness that it looks like an elderly white man is going to be president....I’ll stop there as it’s likely a long, if not entirely rational, list lol

Citizens United threw a big new dose of ambiguity into already murky campaign finance law.

I feel like the country really needs to be picked up by the ankles and given a good shake.

 

[sdk]

On a more general note and because I'm procrastinating at work...
Here's my plan for how parties should nominate their candidates.

Do away with the primary and caucus system as it exists today.
Everyone holds a ranked choice election. (nevada is holding write in caucuses now, which seem just like RCV)
Divide the country in to 5 regions.

The North East
The South East (or South, or what ever)
The South West
The North West
and the middle bit.

Each of these regions holds RCV elections two weeks apart over 10 weeks.
The order the regions vote in is determined by voter turnout in the previous cycle.
The region with the highest % turnout in the previous cycle goes first and so on.
Put each election day on a saturday and allow one week of early voting.

edit. If you make the ballot for the first region, you are automatically on the ballot in all 5 regions whether you decide to campaign or not.
If you miss the first region, you can not enter later (though with such big regions presumably you'd need to be in all 5 races to win)

Seems fair enough, but in the absence of primaries would this to be for nominating candidates or electing them?

EDIT: Never mind, just saw your edit.

 

[Death]

Wow.

 

[Death]

The Democrats time and time again give Trump all ammunition in the world. Have helped him since the Hillary race and none stop since.

 

[sdk]

The Democrats time and time again give Trump all ammunition in the world. Have helped him since the Hillary race and none stop since.

The Democrats aren't giving him anything. It appears Trump is gung-ho to run against Sanders in the general (White House officials are apparently stoked that he's the Dem frontrunner because they feel they can't lose against him) and, more generally, he wants to foster divisiveness in the Democratic Party.

You should probably stop treating Trump's tweets as if they're supposed to contain factual content.

 

[Ruairi77]

The Democrats time and time again give Trump all ammunition in the world. Have helped him since the Hillary race and none stop since.

It’s almost like he wants sanders to get the nomination. Funny that.

 

[Death]

The Democrats aren't giving him anything. It appears Trump is gung-ho to run against Sanders in the general (White House officials are apparently stoked that he's the Dem frontrunner because they feel they can't lose against him) and, more generally, he wants to foster divisiveness in the Democratic Party.

You should probably stop treating Trump's tweets as if they're supposed to contain factual content.

There’s recent behind doors footage of Trump privately talking and saying Bernie is the only candidate he doesn’t want to be up against.

 

[sdk]

There’s recent behind doors footage of Trump privately talking and saying Bernie is the only candidate he doesn’t want to be up against.

Huh. You should post it and undermine the establishment media narrative.

 

[Death]

It’s almost like he wants sanders to get the nomination. Funny that.

He knows sanders will win he just wants to slam the party while he can get a dig in. Rightly so unfortunately.

Trumps been caught talking in private about not wanting to be up against Bernie a few times.