The Abbreviated Pundit Round-up is a daily feature at Daily Kos.
As we move into Nevada week, with the conclusion of the caucuses on Saturday, let’s review why we are where we are.
Bernie is popular with Democratic voters, but is having a hard time expanding his base. Electeds in swing states (and many voters), even the ones that don’t reject his ideology and recognize the need for change, fear his policies won’t prove popular (these elected and voting folks tend to be older than millennials, hold office, and consistently vote).
The current candidates are each perceived as flawed. Enter Mike Bloomberg (and/but have I got some flaws for you!)
Understand that for me, outlining Bloomberg isn’t endorsing him. The folks I follow and respect have things to say about him. But the concerns about winning in November and keeping the House are real.
The MSN poll in the graphic above is here. Follow us below for more.
Leonard Pitts, Jr/Miami Herald:
Bloomberg’s apologies to African Americans sound more convenient than sincere
Vote blue, no matter who.
That’s the fall election mantra of Democrats desperate to cleanse the White House of its current occupant. But here’s the question some African Americans are now asking: What if the “who” is Michael Bloomberg? What if the former New York City mayor is the man chosen to contend against Donald Trump? Shall we vote blue if all it offers is the chance to replace a stupid racist with a smarter one?
Some will reject that characterization. They will point to Bloomberg’s pledges to increase black home ownership, his support by such black luminaries as Georgia Rep. Lucy McBath and educator Geoffrey Canada.
That’s persuasive. But the audio that was leaked last week is conclusive.
Newsweek:
Vulnerable Democrats Back Biden And Bloomberg Over Fears Sanders' Liberal Policies Will Cost Them At The Polls
But of the roughly 40 or so most at-risk lawmakers—who are known as "Frontline Democrats" and are mostly Washington newcomers who in 2018 flipped districts won by President Donald Trump—many back former Vice President Joe Biden and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
The problem is that Biden has so far underperformed and sits in fifth place for the fraction of delegates that have been doled out. Bloomberg, meanwhile, is sitting out the early-voting states, including Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, to focus resources on swing states down the road.
"I have had several—maybe five or so Frontline members—over the last week or two voice deep concern about running with Sanders and what it would mean for them in their districts," Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) told Newsweek. The third-term lawmaker, though not a Frontline Democrat, endorsed Biden the day he launched his campaign.
For those of us who haven’t chosen a candidate yet, or whose choice is either trailing or gone, it’s frustrating to have to listen to a story line of choosing between Jeremy Corbyn and Charles Foster (Citizen) Kane. Where is Mr. Smith when you need him?
Above are the two competing storylines that Bernie and his supporters will need to address and not just dismiss, same as those considering Bloomberg. Please understand that it’s the Bernie storyline that gives Bloomberg the opening (am I pushing a damaging storyline? No, I’m telling you it’s there and needs addressing). That’s why we are all eager for NV and SC voters to weigh in.
But there’s more on Bloomberg.
Eugene Robinson/WaPo:
There is only one question for Democratic primary voters: Who can win?
For Democrats, electability is the whole ballgame. Primary voters need to be as cold-eyed as possible in choosing a nominee who can not only beat Trump but also help generate blue-wave turnout that keeps control of the House and takes back the Senate. That’s going to require compromise from someone: flipping Obama-to-Trump voters and stoking flagging Democratic enthusiasm may demand very different approaches and qualities. But whoever that compromise falls on most heavily must be prepared to make it. There is no choice but to take a deep breath and do what needs to be done.
The pro-Trump base is smaller than the anti-Trump base. If voters who believe this president is a dangerous threat to the nation and the world turn out in November, our long national nightmare will be over. But if enough of the majoritarian Resistance stays home — nursing grudges over policy positions that are, at best, aspirational — then Trump wins four more years….
The differences among the Democratic candidates pale beside the difference between any of them and Trump. A Bernie Sanders presidency would not be the same as, say, a Mike Bloomberg presidency. But the socialist from Vermont, the billionaire from New York and any of the other Democrats would be incomparably better for the nation than four more years of this Trump madness.
Laura Bassett/GQ:
Why Is Bloomberg's Long History of Egregious Sexism Getting a Pass?
The surging Democratic presidential candidate and Bloomberg LP have fielded nearly 40 sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits over decades
Bloomberg’s campaign, in reckoning with his long history of toxic frat-boy behavior, is essentially asking voters to try and focus on his political values instead. "Mike Bloomberg has supported and empowered women throughout his career—from appointing women to the very top positions in his mayoral administration to supporting women candidates for higher office to an industry-leading 26-weeks of paid family leave at his company," Julie Wood, a Bloomberg campaign spokesperson, told ABC News in October. "At the same time, Mike has come to see that some of what he has said is disrespectful and wrong. He believes his words have not always aligned with his values and the way he has led his life." Of course, at least through 2015, he was leading his life in such a way that he proudly passed out a narrative of his sexual exploits to the young people he hired to combat gun violence.
If the Democratic Party wants to claim the moral high-ground on issues of misogyny and sexual harassment in the wake of the #MeToo movement, it has a moral obligation to reject as its highest leader a man who talks about women much in the same way Trump does. A half-hearted apology for behavior so egregious that it sparked nearly 40 lawsuits by women is a bandaid on a bullet wound.
Bloomberg has given a ton of money to good causes, like Everytown (gun safely) and is on the right side of environmental issues. But…
So you see the problem. Is Gene Robinson right? Leonard Pitts? Laura Bassett? Seth Stephens-Davidowitz? How does Alex Burns’ story fit in? Is Bloomberg buying silence everywhere in every town because he can? What if they are all correct? What if Bloomberg is the one that people vote for despite the clear flaws because they think he can win? What do we do then?
People are complicated, and by that, I mean voters. Those advocating for Bloomberg are not ignoring PoC, women or the youngs. They’re doing the Gene Robinson thing. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, because it’s not a choice I want to have to make.
Ruy Teixeira/WaPo:
No, radical policies won’t drive election-winning turnout
Despite what Sanders says, Democrats still have to persuade voters in the middle.
No myth is stronger in progressive circles than the magical, wonderworking powers of voter turnout. It’s become a sort of pixie dust that you sprinkle over your strenuously progressive positions to ward off any suggestion that they might turn off voters. That is how Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), now the Democratic presidential front-runner, has dealt with criticism that his more unpopular stances — including eliminating private health insurance, decriminalizing the border and covering undocumented immigrants in a government health plan — might cost him the votes he needs to beat President Trump.
Sanders’s explanation of why this is not a problem is simple, and he has repeated it endlessly. When a member of the Los Angeles Times editorial board asked him whether “a candidate as far to the left as you” would “alienate swing voters and moderates and independents,” the senator replied: “The only way that you beat Trump is by having an unprecedented campaign, an unprecedentedly large voter turnout.” Faiz Shakir, Sanders’s campaign manager, adds: “Bernie Sanders has very unique appeal amongst [the younger] generation and can inspire, I think, a bunch of them to vote in percentages that they have never voted before.”
This has remarkably little empirical support. Take the 2018 midterm elections, in which the Democrats took back the House (a net 40-seat gain), carried the House popular vote by almost nine points and flipped seven Republican-held governorships. Turnout in that election was outstanding, topping 49 percent — the highest midterm turnout since 1914 and up 13 points over the previous midterm, in 2014 — and the demographic composition of the electorate came remarkably close to that of a presidential election year. (Typically, midterm voters tend to be much older and much whiter than those in presidential elections.) This was due both to fewer presidential “drop-off” voters (people who voted in 2016 but not 2018) and to more midterm “surge” voters (those who voted in 2018 but not 2016).
Colin McEnroe/Stamford Advocate:
Too many Gilligans and millionaires, no professors
Let me begin by explaining the Wyle-Schwartz Theory of Political Primaries, so named for the political scientists Sherwood Schwartz and George Wyle, who are possibly better known for writing the theme song to “Gilligan’s Island.”
Schwartz is the key guy because he also wrote “The Brady Bunch” theme, and both songs lay out the premises of their shows….
Schwartz’s insight was that the human mind can comfortably hold a maximum of five people. Hence: Gilligan, the Skipper too, the Millionaire and his Wife, the Movie Star …
There only two more characters but Schwartz knew there was no brain space for them, so the song continues “and the rest.”
So the Connecticut 2018 Republican gubernatorial field was perfectly sized and could be sung to the tune of “Gilligan.” Try it at home: “The white mayor Mark, the white guy Bob, the white guys Steve and David, the last white guy, Crazy Tim, all here on Primary Day!”
The 2016 Republican president field? Way too many! You can’t make a song about all those people. No wonder we’re in such a terrible fix.
On Bloomberg, see whole thread [original tweet was deleted and reposted]: