"Poll: 2020 Presidential Election (1)"

[Szdfan]

Yes--for both the Democrats and the Republicans. Who do folks think will be the VP candidates?

I could potentially get excited if Stacey Abrams was the Democrat VP pick.

[francis]

I may not agree with him but I imagine Trump will win again. Biden and Sanders will split the Democratic Party.

[appleman2006]

A year ago I would of given Biden a very good chance at beating Trump. After that impeachment debacle which ended up making only one man look really bad I find it really hard to believe the Democrats really want him. I think Bernie would have a better chance and that may not be saying much.

[MaxPC]

Yes--for both the Democrats and the Republicans. Who do folks think will be the VP candidates?

I could potentially get excited if Stacey Abrams was the Democrat VP pick.

Do you know she is very pro-abortion including the killing of babies who survive abortion? And pro-homosexual? Do you see that as being acceptable?

[Bootstrap]

Yes--for both the Democrats and the Republicans. Who do folks think will be the VP candidates?

I could potentially get excited if Stacey Abrams was the Democrat VP pick.

Do you know she is very pro-abortion including the killing of babies who survive abortion? And pro-homosexual? Do you see that as being acceptable?

References, please? Preferably to things she herself has said?

I don't know her positions, I just hear a lot of claims about the positions of various politicians that turn out not to be true.

[Ken]

My wild-card, out of left field pick for a Biden VP would be Val Demings. http://www.valdemings.com/meet-val

She is a mainstream Democrat who grew up poor in a one-room house in Florida, the youngest of 7. Her mother was a maid and her father was a janitor and she was the first in her family to go to college. She started out as a social worker than joined the police force in Orlando where she rose to Chief of Police, one of the first Black women to rise to the position of Chief of Police in a large southern city. Crime in Orlando was reduced by 40% on her watch and she did lots of innovative community policing and youth mentoring sorts of things to divert youth out of the criminal justice system.

Her three biggest political issues are: (1) jobs and the economy, (2) crime and criminal justice, and (3) education. She is not the lefty type but very middle of the road.

She's a Christian and member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which is the biggest mainstream black denomination in the US. She is a mother, grandmother, expert marksman (markswoman?) rides a Harley in her free time, and runs marathons at age 61 which in my book is seriously impressive.

This is her opening remarks during the impeachment hearings. I think she would be formidable foil for Mike Pence in the debates. she speaks with the same sort of gravitas as a Toni Morrison:

[Robert]

My wild-card, out of left field pick for a Biden VP would be Val Demings. http://www.valdemings.com/meet-val

Did not know of her before. I agree this would be a great pick. Challenge is Biden is considered moderate and he will need to go liberal to try to get Sanders voters on board. Maybe even pick Sanders as VP.

[JimFoxvog]

I wonder if the Democrat Party expects ...

FYI, the name of the party is the Democratic Party. Misnaming the party is usually seen as a partisan act.

[JimFoxvog]

Biden could have the honour of having his VP replace him before he can be inaugurated.

Especially if that VP would happen to be HilLIARy. Of course, age of the President would become irrelevant then — because the President would commit suicide, like Epstein.

I think this is inappropriate, Wojo. Do I need to say why?

[Ken]

My wild-card, out of left field pick for a Biden VP would be Val Demings. http://www.valdemings.com/meet-val

Did not know of her before. I agree this would be a great pick. Challenge is Biden is considered moderate and he will need to go liberal to try to get Sanders voters on board. Maybe even pick Sanders as VP.

Zero chance he picks Sanders. It will be someone younger who can take up the banner in 4 or 8 years. Sanders isn't even a Democrat.

What Sanders is finding as the campaign progresses is two things:

First, his "coalition" is about 1/3 smaller than it was in 2016. On Tuesday he only got 50% in his home state of VT, compared to 80% in 2016 and his numbers are down across the board everywhere compared to 2016. This suggests to me that a large portion of his 2016 vote wasn't really a pro-Sanders vote at all, but more of an anti-Hillary vote. Especially in more conservative areas like say West Virginia where people had been subjected to 20 years of anti-Hillary propaganda and Sanders wound up winning big in 2016. I think in retrospect this was largely an anti-Hillary vote in a conservative part of the country, not a pro Democratic Socialist lefty vote like the Sanders people believed. With Warren dropping out today his numbers aren't likely to go up much at all as just as many Warren supporters are going to Biden as Sanders, maybe more. Latest polls had only 40% of Warren supporters with Sanders as their second choice. Most people are choosing based on electability, not ideology. Now that Hillary is not on the ballot, Sanders doesn't look so great anymore.

Second, Sanders entire campaign has been based on motivating a groundswell of young and new voters to mobilize for his campaign. This simply hasn't happened. The electorate on Tuesday was older than 2016 or 2008. Obama brought out MANY more young people than Sanders. If he can't motivate young and new voters then his entire rationale for electability collapses.

If Biden maintains his lead I would expect him to offer all kinds of olive branches to the Sanders folks, but they are ultimately going to do their own thing and it will be geared to winning back MI, WI, and PA (which would be enough to win) and maybe NC, FL, GA, and AZ. Sanders doesn't really help with any of those. All he will do is bring out lots of extra lefty votes in places like CA, NY, MA, and WA that don't matter. Maybe someone like Klobuchar might. But Biden's VP pick will either be geared at shoring up support in the upper midwest, or else maybe a play for AZ and FL. Those are the two paths to White House for Biden.