Democratic Candidate for President 2020 - 1

Dear Friends,

The number of people seeking the Democratic nomination for President in 2020 is huge, and we need to start winnowing it down.  I have yet to determine exactly what criteria I should use to decide for myself who to support.  There are, however, some criteria that are quite foundational for me.

The person must be able to motivate a broad electorate to participate in the process and to vote.  Democrats win elections when more people vote and especially people who do not traditionally vote. In order to have this appeal, the person must not be too old.

The person should not carry the baggage of being a member of the Democratic Party establishment.  Those people who have received the Democratic nomination who were from the Democratic Party establishment have lost time and time again.  Since Lyndon Johnson, the only Democrats to win the Presidency have been Jimmy Carter (a little known Georgia governor), Bill Clinton (a little known Arkansas governor) and Barack Obama (a one term Senator from Illinois); and the losers have all been candidates of the Democratic establishment-Al Gore, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton.

The ticket must be diverse.  I am sympathetic to, but not yet persuaded by, the argument that the candidate should be a person of color.  I am, however, certain that the ticket must not consist solely of white men.

With these foundational criteria in mind, I am prepared to rule out the following potential candidates in alphabetical order:

Joe Biden
I like Joe Biden.  He is a very nice person and has for the most part served our country well.  However, he will be 78 in November 2020.  He is the epitome of the Democratic Party establishment and carries with him all of his and the Democratic Party's prior sins (think Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill, credit card companies, Iraq war, etc.).

Michael Bloomberg
Bloomberg will also be 78 in November 2020.  While he has not always been a Democrat, he is certainly establishment and if anything represents the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party establishment.  The last person we need as the nominee is a person who will self fund from his Wall Street gains and have the enthusiastic support of the 1%.

Andrew Cuomo
While Cuomo will only be 63 by the end of 2020, he has been around forever as a member of the Democratic Party establishment.  I cannot think of any good reason for him to the nominee.

Terry McAuliffe
Unless Hillary Clinton were to run again, there is no candidate more tied to the Clinton centrist wing of the Democratic Party establishment than McAuliffe.  He is at best a centrist and more like a center right candidate with all the baggage of the past and nothing for the future.

Bernie Sanders
As those of you who read this blog in the lead up to the 2016 Presidential election know, I was a big supporter of Bernie Sanders.  If it were not for the unfair intervention of the Democratic Party establishment, he would have been the Democratic nominee and would now be our President.  Nevertheless Bernie will be 79 by November 2020.  I still love his policies, but he is no longer the right candidate.  We need a person who supports the same policies but is younger and can avoid the issues that impacted Bernie's campaign last time.

Beto O'Rouke
Obviously, Beto is not too old.  I have two concerns about his candidacy.  First, his voting record is not at all progressive.  Second, he has never even won a statewide election and has little experience.  Even though he has demonstrated that he can motivate a broad electorate, I do not believe that he is yet capable of being on the national stage.  In his race for the Senate people saw in him what they wanted to see, not what his record actually shows.  That worked for Obama, but I doubt that he can do that on the national stage, and I certainly do not want a candidate that we don't really know.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal