With the announcement of former Vice President Joe Biden running for office, we now have a total of 20 Democrats vying for the nod to face off against Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
While the field is obviously crowded, we are quickly seeing the race take shape proving most of these names will be nothing more than an asterisk come election day.
Bernie Sanders, though, has clearly put himself at the head of the pack.
2020 Pretenders
The list of pretenders in this race is fairly long.
These candidates are either before their time or are simply not really being considered a serious candidate by voters.
In our opinion, the candidates that have no chance of winning at all are:
- Julian Castro
- John Delaney
- Tulsi Gabbard
- John Hickenlooper
- Jay Inslee
- Amy Klobuchar
- Wayne Messam
- Seth Moulton
- Tim Ryan
- Eric Swalwell
- Marianne Williamson
- Andrew Yang
None of these candidates really have the recognition or war chest to take on the primary contenders and several of them are so extreme on their agenda, even radical leftists will not be able to get onboard with them.
2020 Almost Famous
The next class of candidate will likely make some noise and may even make it through the early rounds of primaries, but it is doubtful they will be able to hang on to be a serious contender.
These candidates are:
Corey Booker – Senator Booker has already found that his rhetoric only goes about as far as the borders of New Jersey. The fact he has pretty much abandoned his Senate duties to campaign is not sitting well with voters. With a main focus of criminal reform, it will be tough to win over moderate Democrats
Kirsten Gillibrand – Senator Gillibrand has made her bones during the #MeToo movement and continues to work that angle while now campaigning. Unfortunately, the narrative has become more about false allegations than actual problems really going on in this country. Many voters are actually blaming the movement for creating so many false accusations, cheapening the impact of legitimate allegations. Had the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh turned out differently, Gillibrand would have likely been the hero of the cause and catapulted to the front of the pack. She simply does not have the base or the platform to compete in this race. While she may not win the nod, it really would not be a surprise to see her on the ticket as VP.
Elizabeth Warren – the only thing keeping Warren in this race at this time is name recognition. While Warren will more than likely hang around far past the point it is made clear she will not win, she will never mount a serious charge here. While she has gotten a recent uptick in polls, she is still considered to be in the middle of the pack. Her recent rise was no doubt over the fact she was the first major candidate to fully support the call to impeach Trump. Warren, like Gillibrand, has an outside shot of making the ticket as a VP.
2020 Close but No Cigar
Pete Buttigieg – the openly gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana announced on January 23 and has been relatively quiet until recently. He has delayed making his platform public, but he does seem to be the most moderate candidate, along with Joe Biden. That seems to be more of a smokescreen, however, than reality. For instance, we know he is in favor of the premise of the Green New Deal and his support of hitting the wealthy with much stiffer taxes. Buttigieg is going to present a problem for the other candidates in that he is going to get overwhelming support in the LGBT demographic. In the end, though, most progressives are probably not progressive enough to vote in a gay president.
Beto O’Rourke – putting O’Rourke in this category is a bit of a stretch, but his name recognition will probably keep him alive in this race far longer than he should be. O’Rourke is a far-left liberal from Texas… go figure. His appeal, however, only goes about as far as his home district. O’Rourke ran against Cruz for the Senate and lost, and that was when much of his scandalous past was hidden. While O’Rourke was able to generate significant support right out of the gate, that support dwindled with more facts about his past and association with extreme hate groups.
2020 Main Candidates
After dismissing those 17 candidates, that leaves us with our final three…
#3 Contender – Senator Kamala Harris
Harris is currently polling at number three among all candidates and it is hard to imagine her getting any higher with the Joe Biden announcement. At one point, many people, this author included, put Harris as the top of the pack. However, since announcing, she has fizzled out during personal appearances and just does not seem to be able to generate a true buzz about her campaign for any other reason than being a minority female.
Harris may have also hurt herself by lining up with some very extreme platform issues on the left. Most notable is wanting to pursue reparations and looking to issue mass pardons to first-time offenders.
Having said that, Harris is most likely the clear-cut favorite to be on the ticket as vice president. She is kind of a mystery candidate at this point in that she may find a way to reverse this trend, especially considering who her main opponents in this race are. If she can manage to stay competitive through Super Tuesday, she just may sneak out a win.
#2 Contender – Joe Biden
Biden had the distinct honor of being the leading presidential candidate before he even announced. However, after announcing, he slipped down to #2 in most polls. Biden, and make no mistake about this, is the favorite of the Democrat elite establishment. He is far more moderate than any other candidate, but the question remains as to how far left he will be willing to go to win over the new breed of Democrat. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has already gone on record to say she does not support Biden as a candidate because it would be like taking a step back, and she wants the party to move forward.
Biden is also going to be haunted by sexual misconduct allegations in a field that is packed with female candidates. The funny thing here, though, is that if Biden were to make through the primary, he may well be the one candidate that could lure away some moderate Republicans and Independents from Trump IF he does make the turn to the far left. Would it be enough to unseat Trump? That is a question that will never likely be answered.
#1 Contender – Bernie Sanders
The party that boasts diversity and opportunity for minorities and women just happened to have a 77-year-old white Jewish man at the head of the ballot… and that is going to be a major problem come election day.
Sanders, going back to the 2016 election, has truly energized the younger base of the Democrat party. However, that is about all he has energized. While most believe he would have beaten Hillary if it were not for the Super Delegates, it was widely believed then and now that he would have gotten crushed in a general election by Trump.
Right out of the gate, Sanders was one of the leading fundraisers and he continues to bring in a tsunami of $200 or less contributions. Even without the party PACs supporting him, Sanders by far has the biggest war chest of any of the Democrat presidential candidates.
The biggest problem for Sanders is his “everything for free” agenda. It works with most of the younger voters, bleeding heart liberals, and voters with white guilt, but it does not work for the older and more educated members of the party. Sanders is a complete nightmare for the DNC because they don’t want him to win, period.
Sanders may end up dominating the primary races, but he is going to have to drastically change the presentation of his platform to get moderates and Republicans that do not like onboard. In fact, just to stop Sanders, anti-Trump conservatives are likely to pull the handle for Trump simply to prevent Sanders from getting his hands on the White House.
As of today, we see Sanders getting the nod, but failing miserably in a general election that will result in Trump winning his second term as President of the United States. Sadly, that will also mean Americans will more than likely be subject to an additional four more years of witch hunt investigations and an obstructionist Democrat party that refuses to allow this country to move forward.
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