Do the Democrats Have a Next Act?

Politico ^ | 16 Jan 2016

[mandaladon]

As the Republican presidential contenders ratchet up their uncivil war —the carnival debates, the Twitter shootouts, the talk of third-party challenges and a brokered convention — the dominant political headline is the crisis in the GOP.

But look more closely: The Republican Party isn't the only one in trouble. The real identity crisis may be the one in the party in which none of this was supposed to happen—the party with a well-financed, brand-name candidate who suddenly finds her coronation interrupted by a 74-year-old socialist with a Brooklyn accent as thick as Junior’s Cheesecake.

That’s not the script anyone predicted for the Democrats when Bernie Sanders announced his long-shot challenge to Hillary Clinton last year. Few could have expected to see Sanders in the lead this close to the New Hampshire primary, or surging in Iowa, even besting Clinton’s support among younger women voters in some polls. But that reality has forced the party establishment to deal with an unwelcome prospect: As the Republicans energetically recast their pitch to disaffected Americans, it’s mainstream Democrats who are grappling with the more severe deficit of fresh messages, and new ideas.

Twenty-four years ago, Bill Clinton ran for president as a new kind of centrist Democrat, offering a “New Covenant” that emphasized both individual opportunity and collective responsibility, and promised an emphatic end to “the brain-dead politics of the past.” He won and repositioned his party for success for years to come.

But today’s America is a different country than it was when the first candidate Clinton urged voters not to stop thinking about tomorrow. Tomorrow is here, with an even more beleaguered middle class, less economic security, vastly greater racial and ethnic diversity and a world in which global economic interdependence and the threat of global terrorism

[Constitutional Patriot]

Exactly. Joe is a train wreck when he is in the public eye.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

You certainly have a point. Much as I prefer Cruz to Trump on intellectual grounds, IMHO Trump might win a landslide by taking purple and even red states. Politically he might be very potent.

Trouble is, Trump might also be a loose cannon. There is something to be said for a Head of State who is not an example of serial polygamy . . .

Were Cruz to win and Trump to split, the Electoral College might deadlock. Which would leave the Republicans in the House to decide among them, since the vote would be held by state - one vote per state - and the Republicans have a natural gerrymander helping them because of the tendency of Democrat voters to concentrate in cities while the Republican voters are more evenly distributed. Thus, Democrats win the governorship of PA and win the presidential electors - but they win a few House seats overwhelmingly, while the Republicans win the most House seats in PA, by smaller margins.

Thus, even were the Democrats to win a simple majority in the House, Republicans would control the most state delegations unless they really got blown out. And under the Constitution the House could only consider the first three finishers in the Electoral College. In that scenario I would think the House would find Cruz to be least distasteful of the three.

OTOH the Senate could choose a VP other than the running mate of the president selected by the House. And likely would, if the Democrats took control of the senate.

[XEHRpa]

I agree with your assessment, but that won’t necessarily stop the party from doing it. But I think they would get Berned badly, by a revolt from the left, if they just chose to replace Hillary with a more viable establishment stand-in at the last second. And rightly so... how would that be “Democratic”?

Going down “with style”. That’s a great quote which I like, though I think it may actually have been coined by Buzz Lightyear.

[GOPJ]

Trump might also be a loose cannon.

The appearance of being a 'loose cannon' can be disarming ... that works in Trump's favor - and strangely enough - works in Bernie's favor too.

Both men are alphas...

The 'Awe shucks' stuff is a diversion. Contrary to the useful illusion Trump and Sanders are both highly intelligent tightly controlled workaholics...