Pre-Super Tuesday Presidential poll

I do think the AOC model would serve progressives well. Find safe D districts where an incumbent is no longer a fit with regard to demographics or ideology of primary voters. Some of these 20 year incumbents may be just as left as they were when first elected, but times change.

 

Best candidate? Sure. Best chance of winning? Eh...he had a lot of issues that came up and he just struggled to win over Cuban Americans. Sure he didn't do anything really stupid like talk about the greatness that is Fidel Castro, but he couldn't get that voter bloc to support him.

 

Your last comment is why I liked Warren. When progressives are combative and dismissive like Sanders can be, it diminishes the ability to work with moderates to advance progressive ideas. When you're more inclusive and open toward incremental progression like Warren touted, you make more friends and have a better chance of instituting change.

I think some progressives saw how the far right took over the Republican party via the Tea Party movement and think the left can do the same. They're fundamentally different. The Tea Party could hold Republicans hostage because the American electorate is by nature older and conservative. So they had a built in base to run on morals and social issues. It's also easier to look successful when your policies are to strip things down and tear things apart rather than build and create. A lot of Tea Party conservatives ran on dismantling programs and cutting taxes.

The progressive left can't use the same tactics. When your plans are all about building new things, whether it's single-payer healthcare, reforming higher education, campaign finance, et al., you're talking about needing to create a coalition of votes to approve those plans. And that includes convincing a lot of more moderate Democrats and even some moderate Republican voters that it's the right idea. You can't run a campaign that torches even your potential allies and then expect to get support.

Progressive candidates are going to have be more realistic in the future. Incremental progression is the only way this country will move forward, not huge change with one swoop of the pen.

 

Biden is for single-payer. He pushed it early on in the process until Joe Lieberman killed it. No amount of cajoling or arm-twisting could change Lieberman's mind.

 

Those people are idiots. Sometimes you have to deal with the short-term issue first. President Trump is doing everything he can to devastate the entire system. He is stacking the Supreme Court. He is doing short and long-term damage, some of which may be damn near impossible to repair. This isn't the time for that kind of selfish crap from the Sanders crowd. It's time to get the parasite out of the White House before the patient gets any sicker.

 

I think Bernie is as much a populist as a Social-Democrat. His pitch is all about class warfare, elites that are taking advantage of you, etc. in much the same vein as Trump. He jacks up his followers with resentment and promises of major social changes that favor them. I read Warren as more of an FDR Progressive. Her plans are more about fixing the existing system, making it more equitable, adding constraints to the power of big business and financial elites.

All that stuff is window dressing compared to the need to get Trump the hell out of the Oval. This is the single most important outcome on the table here.

 

All the more reason for Sanders to invite Warren to become his running mate. When he keels over, at least his agenda will live on.

I’d feel a lot better about Biden if he too ran with Warren or another progressive.

 

I’m with you there. If the primaries show that it’s Biden who has greater appeal and a better chance to win swing states, then I’ll gladly support him for the greater cause. I hope Biden supporters take the same approach toward Sanders if it’s him.

 

I'm wondering if Bernie is going to announce either Warren's support or her as VP in Michigan. He dumped the Mississippi date to go there instead.

 

It's all delegate math from here on in. I think Bernie will be viable in Mississippi and Florida - getting delegates - but he's not going to win the states. He needs wins - He's got the Pac-12, not going to win the ACC or SEC so he needs to pick up the Big 10 and maybe the Mountain West as well.

 

He’s leading comfortably in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, but who the hell knows if that’ll stick with Biden’s momentum.

 

Any poll done before Wednesday is useless.