2020, the election campaigns have begun

[Labster]

And it's starting to look like we're winding down. After six states voted today, including Missouri, Michigan, and Washington, it looks like it was a Biden rout. Well, lets put it this way: Joe Biden gave a speech tonight congratulating Sanders supporters for their enthusiasm, and Bernie Sanders didn't give a speech at all.

Bernie went all-in on Michigan, which makes the loss there extra-painful. But his vote totals everywhere are worse than they were in 2016.

These results mean Bernie Sanders needs to step aside. It’s painful but it’s true.

[robkelk]

Two weeks ago, we were all saying the same thing with the names reversed.

It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings... but I think I hear her warming up in the wings.

[Dartz]

Nobody under thirty votes. They just complain about the results.

[Star Ranger4]

To which my classic response is "You didn't vote? then you have no right to complain."

[hazard]

And I'm with Star Ranger on that, with a caveat.

If you do not yet have the right to vote, you have every right to complain. If you have not been able to exercise your right to vote through no fault of your own, you have every right to complain. Voters whose vote were suppressed through any means have every right to complain. Loudly.

If you do not have the right to vote because you tried to skewer other people's voting rights though, shut up. You denied them their right to vote so why should you have it?

[Norgarth]

To which my classic response is "You didn't vote? then you have no right to complain."

Yeah, that's a long standing tradition in my family.

If you vote (win or lose) you can bitch, if you're eligible to vote but don't, you discard your right to complain.

[Labster]

Two weeks ago, we were all saying the same thing with the names reversed.

It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings... but I think I hear her warming up in the wings.

Sort of a late reply, but they were saying that three weeks ago before >1% of the peole had voted.  Once we started getting larger, diverse states to vote, things fairly rapidly coalesced behind Biden.

Here we are with the next set of large states: Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio.  Ohio being the most interesting case, because the governor asked a trial court for permission to postpone the primaries.  They ruled against him, and he said, fuck it, cancelling anyway.  The Ohio Supreme Court declined to intervene in his cancellation, which meant no elections for you.

As for the other three states, everything is coming up Biden.  Bernie can't keep eking out narrow victories or near-ties in smaller states alongside huge losses in states like Florida, where it looks like Biden gets a net gain of 80 delegates.  In a two-man race, you have to win most of the time.  Sanders has essentially no path to get to those wins.  His coalition seems to be young people (who don't vote that much), and Latinos (of the type whose ancestors didn't flee socialism in Cuba).  Except New Mexico, those states are pretty much gone.

And then, the electoral effects of coronavirus.  This is going to do a few things:

• College students sent home, depressing Bernie turnout
  
• Elections not happening, possibly at all?
  
• People in the party really wanting this to be over so they don't have to vote, or really just leave the house in general
  
• Taste for revolution, even in mild form, being reduced as people really just want to go back to "normal"
  
• Even Republicans are now advocating free money for everyone due to the current economic recession #YangGang
  
• No one is holding rallies, how do you even excite rare voters in these circumstances
  

Biden is giving speeches where he is trying to act like the President, and (arguably) doing a better job of it than the actual President.  Sanders has stopped giving election night speeches.  I mean, what do you have to say to losses?  "We're going to win 80% of the delegates in Pennsylvania to get back on track."?

NBC News is running a banner headline on their website "Reality sets in: America is shutting down".  The House passed a bill to provide money to workers on an emergency basis.  It's currently stalled in the Senate, as Rand Paul tries to force the US military to leave Afghanistan.  So reality has set in, but it isn't evenly distributed.  The mayor of New York City has instructed city crisis teams to assume the federal government will not contribute any aid to their emergency response, because that seems the most likely outcome.

And hey, does it even matter that Bernie is a climate hawk in a world where oil is heading near $30 a barrel from low demand?  Can he go through with his plan to ban imports of oil when oil drillers nationwide start going belly up?

So, sorry, this race is dead.  There's discussion that the Democratic National Convention won't even happen -- at least not in person.  The ground has moved beneath our feet, and there's been a sea change in the issues important to voters.

[robkelk]

Agreed - staying alive does tend to overrule other concerns.

So... the GOP primaries. I hear Trump now has enough delegates to clinch his nomination.

[Star Ranger4]

Damn. Considering his low opinion even in his own party, it is probably a case of those of us who refused to vote for him diluting the pool because no one really ran against him.

This nation is going to get what it deserves for this behavior.

[Rajvik]

Star Ranger, considering he has had better voter turnout than the previous three administrations at mid-term election, i would say that he has a ringing endorsement of the people.

I don't like that this virus will (and in one state has) delay primaries, but either way you slice it, whichever candidate gets the nomination, some people are going to either stay home or write in a vote because they can't hold their nose for the nominee

[Labster]

From the "You Might have Missed It" news: Tulsi Gabbard Finally Ended Her Increasingly Quixotic Campaign -- two days after she was mathematically eliminated from the race.  Notably, people kept talking about how there were no more women or people of color running and how sad that was on the cable news.  Every once in a while, someone would point out Tulsi was still technically running.

We're at a very weird spot in the campaign with only about 5% of the delegates available in the next four weeks, until five weeks out we finally see New York and Pennsylvania.  If those elections even happen.  If any of them even happen on time.  Bernie Sanders hasn't shut down his campaign yet.  But he's stopped running TV ads.  I'm not sure what he can get for quitting -- it's not like he's enough of a team player to be a rational choice for vice president to anybody.  But at this point, who knows, as all three of our delegate leaders are in a high risk group for the coronavirus.

Locally, we have a special election coming up in mid-May, because recently-divorced bisexual-hottie freshman ex-Congresswoman Katie Hill couldn't stop sleeping with anything that moved.  Something like 55% of the district is registered to vote by mail.  Could we make it 100% in time?  Probably.  Christy Smith (D) is trying to move up from the state assembly, and because we have a top-two primary, Republicans have already regained the assembly seat for one of their two candidates.  Please, keep it in your pants, kids.

[Star Ranger4]

Locally, we have a special election coming up in mid-May, because recently-divorced bisexual-hottie freshman ex-Congresswoman Katie Hill couldn't stop sleeping with anything that moved. 

Hate to say it, Labster, but to me that is sadly business as usual for them (the office, not the marital or preference 'them').  Something about getting elected?

[Inquisitive Raven]

We're at a very weird spot in the campaign with only about 5% of the delegates available in the next four weeks, until five weeks out we finally see New York and Pennsylvania. 

Dunno about New York, but PA has finally implemented mail-in voting in time for the upcoming primary.

[robkelk]

Bernie's out.

[SilverFang01]

About time. Biden is not my preferred candidate, that would have been Warren, but now they can start redirecting their energy into campaigning against Trump.

[Labster]

Our stock market went up 3% on the news that Bernie was quitting the race.  Which seriously makes me doubt the sanity of traders.  Not that avoiding a socialist president would be good for share value -- that seems legit.  But that anyone could have seen this coming at least two weeks ago; it should have already been priced into the market.

To me it feels like the bulls are so desperate for good news that they'll take non-news like this as an excuse to start the party again.  And this points to an extremely irrational market.

The next question now is whether the party will cancel the national convention and simply proceed with the coronation (pun intended).  The Republican party, in its wisdom, started cancelling primaries even before anyone knew about the coronavirus.  But it will take a bit of work to ensure we're not creating a national super-spreader event.

And then, of course, the risk that Trump will simply cancel the next election.  It happened in Hungary; it's got to be on his mind.

[Dartz]

Well, you've got a choice between Right wing and Far Right Wing.

Like a Mortons Fuck that.

[Rajvik]

to you Dartz Biden may look right wing, to me he is definitely NOT! Even bypassing his gaffe a day which is likely the onset of senility, the man is what the liberal left has been for the last 50 years, a slow slide of "Managed stagnation and loss"

the only thing i'll agree with the Bernie Bros on where he is concerned is that at least Bernie was something different.

I don't see Biden winning this, i don't even see him coming close,

[robkelk]

Well, you've got a choice between Right wing and Far Right Wing.

Like a Mortons Fuck that.

Well, that's the thing about the USA. The right wing goes to Washington, while the left wing goes to Hollywood. It's been that way for decades.

[classicdrogn]

I'd bring up Anthony Fauci (the only leader in Washington!) but he'll probably still be busy trying to mitigate Trump's Plague in November.

[Matrix Dragon]

I'd bring up Anthony Fauci (the only leader in Washington!) but he'll probably still be busy trying to mitigate Trump's Plague in November.

Speaking of, I see the bastard is firing and demoting more of the various oversight officials while everyone is distracted.

[Rajvik]

cleaning house like he should have in the first year is more like it, and don't say it's unprecedented, other presidents have gotten rid of more, and the left screamed just as loudly

[hazard]

It's curious that the right isn't screaming about a government without oversight. I thought that the evils of government were something the right was very worried about, and inspector generals and other oversight systems exist to keep those in check.

[Mamorien]

It's curious that the right isn't screaming about a government without oversight. I thought that the evils of government were something the right was very worried about, and inspector generals and other oversight systems exist to keep those in check.

But the evils of government are only evil when "the Democrat Party" does them, you see. Anything a Republican does cannot, by mathematical definition, be evil, just as anything a Democrat does must be evil at best and SOCIALISM at worst. No Republican can do evil, even by accident, and we must all bow down to God-Emperor Trump and kiss his beautiful feet, and anyone who says otherwise is a dupe of the pedovores. You're either a clear-thinking "Where we go one we go all!" intellectually-honest herald of the Storm or a brainwashed "orange man bad" zombie dupe of the Deep State.

[Labster]

cleaning house like he should have in the first year is more like it, and don't say it's unprecedented, other presidents have gotten rid of more, and the left screamed just as loudly

So, um, a couple points here. Trump of course can fire inspectors general Atkinson, Topeka, and Santa Fe if he likes, but he’s the one who hired them. He couldn’t have fired him as IG in his first year, because he wasn’t hired until 2018.

Second, removing the Acting Navy Secretary was the right call. Dude has to go. But why so many officials that aren’t confirmed? The Senate is controlled by Republicans, and they confirm. So why so many vacancies? I mean, he wouldn’t have to clean house so often if he hired people who could pass a job interview.

Past presidents have shown a lot of restraint on firing leaders. It was an open secret that Bill Clinton hated Janet Reno for years, but she remained in the job. Why is Trump different? Why do you make excuses for Trump when you would not tolerate it in another leader?