With the media and public attention consumed by the Coronavirus, it is almost possible to forget that the campaign for a vitally important election in November is in progress, and that it appears to have passed a crucial turning point. The Coronavirus, and the staggering incompetence of the President’s performance, will be the subject of a future blog. For the moment, however, it is an appropriate time to pause for a look at the path toward Election 2020.
After the results of Super Tuesday on March 3, and its sibling “Little Tuesday” on March 10, the specter of a Sanders nomination seems to have largely disappeared. That was a development to be celebrated. A March 9 op-ed in the New York Times by Sarah Longwell was titled “’Never Trump’ Republicans Will Support Biden, But Not Sanders.” Precisely. As Ms Longwell observed:
African-Americans have long made up a core of the Democratic voting base, but many of Mr. Biden’s college-educated, suburban supporters are right-leaning independents or moderate Republicans who supported candidates like John McCain and Mitt Romney. They don’t want to re-elect Donald Trump. And they’re willing to cross over to vote for a Democrat — a moderate and mainstream Democrat. (Emphasis added)
These voters might not identify with the “Never Trump” group of conservatives who vociferously oppose the president. But in practice, that’s who they are. They often voted for Republicans in the past and are now firmly anti-Trump. These voters can create winning margins for Democrats in swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona and North Carolina in the general election.
It is not sufficient, however, for Never Trumpers, explicit or implicit, to relax and wait for the opportunity to cast a vote, grudging or enthusiastic, for Vice President Biden in the Fall. The time to be heard on behalf of Biden is now. First, although Biden presently seems to occupy a commanding position in the race for the Democratic nomination, nothing is certain in these strange times. Second, it is not too soon to begin building the momentum essential for a successful result in the general election. There is a clear danger that disappointed supporters of Sanders or Senator Elizabeth Warren might stay home on election day or even vote for Trump—just as too many Sanders supporters did in 2016. A March 8, NBC News analysis reported that:
Sanders voters in 2020 have indicated they are less likely than other voters to back the Democratic nominee should their candidate not win the nomination. In an NBC News exit poll taken on Super Tuesday, 15 percent of Sanders voters said they weren’t committed to voting for the Democratic nominee, regardless of who it was, compared to 10 percent of Biden voters who said the same.
While Sanders has pledged to support Biden as the nominee, his insistence on staying in the race, and his combative quasi-concession speech after Little Tuesday, were not encouraging. His litany of issues on which he promised he would press Biden for answers provided a road map for followers who may be unwilling to abandon what they see as their cause. For her part, Elizabeth Warren has declined to endorse either Biden or Sanders, and her supporters may be another source of defections from the Democratic nominee. Some Warren backers have been especially and vocally grieved by the failure of their Party to nominate a woman, and they are not likely to be satisfied by the selection of a woman for the Vice Presidential slot. In any case, it is essential that such Democratic defections be off-set by a strong showing from us Never Trump Republicans and Independents.
Readers may recall that in Blog No. 241 “For Amy Klobuchar,” I endorsed Senator Klobuchar and announced that I was a co-founder of a Bipartisan Committee to Elect Amy Klobuchar. After Amy withdrew and endorsed Joe Biden, our Bipartisan Committee had little hesitation in following her lead. Our Committee has now been re-named Ojai’s Bipartisan Committee to Elect Joe Biden. In a statement on our Facebook page, we explained:
We are residents of the Ojai Valley who care deeply about the future of our country and our community. Coming from different backgrounds, both personally and professionally, we are longtime friends. We follow political issues closely and with care. Two of us are Republicans and three Democrats.
We are moderate. We are worried. All five of us agree that Joe Biden is the candidate who can beat Donald Trump; the candidate who can restore order and integrity to our democracy; the candidate who can offer the Republican Party an opportunity to return to its traditions by ousting the extremist currently in power; and the candidate who can most effectively serve our country as its leader. We initially formed our committee in support of Senator Klobuchar’s candidacy. We are proud of that support, and would welcome her enthusiastically to a Biden-Klobuchar ticket. Our primary goal, however, is to remove the incumbent, and we have every confidence that Joe Biden is the one who will do that.
We are not affiliated with the official Biden campaign; we simply support him as our candidate. Donations can be made to his official campaign at joebiden.com.
(Brief bios of our Committee members are shown on Blog No. 241)
Although our Facebook page has drawn support from around the country, our Committee does not aspire to national leadership, that is, to be “The Bipartisan Committee to Elect Joe Biden.” Rather, our hope is that, in addition to generating support within our own community, we might inspire others to form similar committees in their own localities. If any are inclined to do so, we would be pleased to to lend our advice and encouragement.
I do not understand voters who, if their candidate does not win the nomination, refuse to vote or support the nominee who won.Rather than accept the loss and support the nominee they would rather continue with the sociopath-in-chief. It seems so very childish and irrational to me and detrimental to the country.
I could not agree with you more, Robert. You know they will be the ones who complain first and wonder why Trump was re-elected. They are the ones when we were kids who, when they lost, picked up their marbles and went home.
Yes, I’m happy that Biden seems to be doing so well. It’s very telling that he swept the recent primaries without huge money or TV advertising – he is simply a known entity people feel they can support. He’s got the relationships in place to restore our global alliances and commitments, and to regain civility in government and the issues we have in America. Uncle Joe, warts and all, inspires trust and steady leadership. We don’t need another person who thinks they are the answer to all things! I like Amy Klobuchar, but I would like to see our Senators and governors who are not in lockstep with the current administration.to stay in place, hoping to add to their numbers at election time rather than put them in as a VP and risk losing their seat. Perhaps a younger VP candidate of some diversity could strengthen the ticket without repelling the swing voters that are needed, and certainly after the election, some of the other excellent early candidates could be utilized in future cabinet positions. But as you say, we can’t get ahead of ourselves and assume anything in these strange times. I think Sanders can be pretty reasonable when he isn’t in campaign mode, and I hope that seeing the writing on the wall will encourage him to work with Biden to unite voters against Trump sooner rather than later. Count me in as a Biden supporter.
It is time to drop all this political hatred and give our president a chance he has done many many good things for this country as he is right now for the people of this country forget about give him a chance give his family a chance take care of our own people and yourselves it is time to come together politics is not what keeps us going it is God.
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