… It’s all interesting and the stakes are obviously enormous. It’s just that … we might want to be wary about reading too much into things. Since 2008, the states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have held 15 party primary contests. Of those 15, only five times were […] Read more »
The Iowa Caucus Is a Frontrunners’ Nightmare
This week was the start of the Iowa State Fair. Besides being one of the few places in America where you can eat fried Oreos AND watch a baby pig being born, the Iowa State Fair is also the unofficial kick-off to campaign season in the state. Presidential candidates swarm […] Read more »
How Front-Runners Can Fail
Former Vice President Joe Biden is the early front-runner in the 2020 Democratic presidential race — for the moment, at least. He leads in national polls and most surveys of the early primaries and caucuses, but if Biden were to falter, he wouldn’t be the first early primary front-runner to […] Read more »
Democrats and the ‘electability’ trap. Can anyone define what it means?
“Electability” is the watchword among many Democrats this spring as they begin to evaluate the ever-growing field of candidates for their party’s presidential nomination. The question of who can beat President Trump weighs heavily in voters’ assessments. But is that the real measure that produces presidents? Electability is an elusive […] Read more »
The Obama moment is gone. For 2020, Democrats need a different kind of magic.
Barack Obama can’t run for president again. But so far, it seems as though the 2020 Democratic primary could be defined by efforts to recapture the magic he briefly seemed to sprinkle over the party. It’s a logical ambition. The former president is very popular among Democrats. Hillary Clinton would […] Read more »
Is Beto O’Rourke the next Barack Obama? Not quite.
Beto O’Rourke, who entered the race for president on Thursday, has drawn comparisons to another young, relatively inexperienced Democrat: Barack Obama. And while there are ways that O’Rourke can claim to be like Obama, there are a number reasons he cannot (beyond biographical details). First let’s tackle how they are […] Read more »