Feel the Bern

With Daddy Starbucks already old news, the Bern prepares himself for a second coming despite the fact there is a load of talented, progressive younger candidates to choose from among the Democrats.  His campaign claims to have already generated $6 million in the first 24 hours of his presidential bid, making him the front runner for now. 

The Bern is asking voters to turn a blind eye to all the diversity in the Democratic field and pick a crotchety old man who may or may not be able to survive a full term in office.  Like Trump, he claims he has been blessed with good health, noting that he was a long-distance runner in high school and has the energy to be a full-time president.

At this point, the only thing he has going for him is name recognition, but that will change once we get to know the other candidates.  Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Amy Kobuchar,  and Cory Booker all have prominent positions in the Senate, and given the number of hearings we will see in the coming months will each see a lot of exposure.  That's a lot of free advertising.  Meanwhile, Bernie will do what he does best -- grumble.

If the Democrats want an old white man that would be Joe Biden, who blew away the field in a South Carolina straw poll recently, but his popularity would wane quickly should he choose to run.  The same will happen with Bernie.  Remember that Hillary was polling double-digit leads over all potential Republican challengers this far out of the 2016 general election, and a 40-point lead over Bernie.

So, why does Bernie bother?  His issues have all been co-opted by the other candidates, not that he had any copyright on them.  Progressivism runs deep in the Democratic Party, and Liz was pushing the very same issues when she first ran for her Senate seat in 2012.  Ditto, Kamala and Amy.  There will be no battle this year at the Democratic convention over what issues to adopt.  The Democratic Party has gone back to its roots and we can expect to see a very progressive platform.

Bernie's success in 2016 was largely predicated on all the animosity toward Hillary.  He gained a huge number of crossover votes in the open primaries and cleaned up in the caucuses, where his organization did a better job of coordinating supporters.  No big surprise that so many Berniecrats crossed over to vote for Trump in the general election.

So what is Bernie this time around?  Another spoiler or does he really think that we live in a color and gender blind society that will recognize him as the best choice because of his self-professed purity of vision.  There is no one to really hate this time around except Trump.  The Democratic electorate will wait to see how the field shakes out come next February when the first primary is slated.  I'm sure it will be a smaller field of candidates.

With California pushed up to Super Tuesday, Kamala will get a big chunk of delegates early.  If Beto should choose to run, he would mop up in Texas.  Liz would most likely take Massachusetts.  Where does that leave the Bern?  The only state he can be guaranteed on Super Tuesday in Vermont.  Then come the Midwest states, where he will be challenged by Amy Kobuchar.  You look on down the list of primaries and caucuses and Bernie will have other tough challenges.  However, Bernie has never been one for delegate math.

Of course anything can happen and usually does.  All we can do is speculate at this point, but I know one person I've crossed off my list and that's the Bern!