From the day he announced his candidacy, if not before, Joe Biden has been my choice for the Democratic nominee for president. His age didn’t bother me and his experience and qualifications were second to none.
In the first Democratic “debate,” however, he left me unimpressed. Just warming up, I thought. Hasn’t gotten his sea legs yet. Several more debates followed and I didn’t watch them. I was and am so tired of politics … and besides, I already knew who I was going to vote for. I did watch the January 14 debate and was concerned that Biden still looked — how shall I say it — old. Maybe too old? I still liked his ideas and his moderate positions, but doubt began to creep in.
Then came the February 7 debate. Okay, I thought, I’m going to watch this. And I did, for 90 minutes. But when I realized we were only halfway through, I gave up. I was tired, and everything sounded so repetitive. Except Biden himself seemed tired and defensive compared to the other candidates. I was disappointed. This was the eighth debate and yet Biden still seemed to be floundering. Or trying too hard. Or something. I don’t know how to describe it but my support for him has slipped quite a bit.
In his place … for the moment, anyway … Buttigieg or Klobuchar. The former may be too young, the latter not strong enough in the polls. But both keep rising in my estimation.
Yes, I agree with almost everything Bloomberg stands for (the exceptions being stop-and-frisk and that silly tax on large soft drinks) but I’m still put off by how he’s running his race. And Colorado’s own Michael Bennet is still running. Why, I’m not sure, since he doesn’t even show up in the debates or polls. A bright, honest moderate, but still the candidate that no one has heard of.
So here we are. The New Hampshire primary — the first real primary — is tomorrow. I look forward to seeing the results.
I’m on the fence as well
And this early in the race, maybe that’s where most open-minded voters ought to be. But what do I know. I’m the world’s finest example of analysis paralysis.
I just heard on the late local news that Colorado’s mail-in ballots went out today. And I have until March 3rd to make a decision and get my ballot turned in. Decisions, decisions …
yes, mine is sitting on my table here in Michigan –
For what it’s worth (my eyes have not been doing well with too much computer screen time, so I haven’t done much posting or commenting, but this sums it up pretty much for me):
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/02/10/moderate-democrats-have-duty-consider-sanders-he-has-clear-path-beating-trump
A subhead in that article says “Democrats can’t win without the left,” which is true. But they also can’t win without the moderates. And I think a moderate will be less divisive than Sanders. I also think a moderate might even attract some disenchanted Republicans; it’s a cinch they won’t break ranks to vote for a Democrat on the far left. I am, however, prepared to vote for whoever gets the nomination and is “not Trump.”
I’m not sure how you find moderates in a country as divided as ours happens to be. But it can certainly be said we live in “interesting times.” Have you actually seen any signs of Republicans breaking ranks lately?
Some analysis of who actually voted or who they voted for has been pretty interesting. But it’s early yet.
I consider myself moderate. Middle of the road. Etc. I don’t think I’m that far out of line from most of the people I know. It is still very early, so Sanders and Warren still have time to convince me they have realistic, viable plans to pay for all the stuff they are promising.
As for Republicans breaking ranks, just yesterday my son, a registered Republican, started a conversation with me about Klobuchar. Maybe you don’t count family, but I’m certainly not going to talk politics with strangers.
I wasn’t quite as confident in Biden in the beginning as you were but thought he would be okay as default. Now I’m not so sure. Amy is looking better and better. What could possibly go wrong?
I guess we’ll find out. Eventually.
New Mexico is one of the last states to vote in the primaries. Our votes are kind of futile if you ask me.
Hmm. Maybe we need all primaries to occur on the same day. Seems to me the differences are only because some states want to call themselves “first.”
In fairness to all voters, it makes more sense to have the primaries on the same day. This year, there won’t be any need to vote when NM’s time comes. It will have been decided long before. Although I do like watching the candidates wax or wane through the debates while the primaries are being ticked off, state by state.