We know that the Democratic Party is in a total state of disarray. They’re struggling to fundraise, they have no leader, they can’t win elections, and they have no message. There are 1,000 fewer Democrats in office than there were in 2008-09. While the media and the Democratic Party fawned and gloated over Barack Obama’s election and re-election, the GOP quietly moved to hallow out the party from the ground up, which they’ve done. Republicans control 69/99 state legislatures and two-thirds of the governorships. Around half the states are under total GOP control, and that’s not including the White House and Congress. The GOP is the dominant political force in the country, but that won’t last forever. Democrats will find a way to win again, but as the Left looks to 2020, the impact of having less of a talent pool for candidates is explicitly clear. The state and local level supplies these candidates and the GOP has plenty of them. For Democrats, it’s a choice between geezer world and pre-school concerning candidates. The age difference spans decades, with notoriety being just as steep. One on hand we have former Vice President Joe Biden, while the other has Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. You don’t need a poll to know who is better known, but Biden will be pushing 80 by the next presidential election. In the search for a 2020 candidate who is under 55 that can be a national contender, even former Democratic National Committee chairman and Vermont Governor Howard Dean admits that no such person exists (via Politico):
Old but well-known vs. fresh but anonymous: That’s how the 2020 Democratic presidential field is shaping up so far — and it’s causing anxiety within a party starting to acknowledge that President Donald Trump could be harder to beat for reelection than the base would like to admit.
The older generation — Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders — would be tested and experienced on the national stage, with high name recognition and built-in support. They’d also all be in their 70s, people who’ve been around forever for Trump to use as perfect foils for exactly what he stands against.
Then there’s everyone else looking at a White House run who could embody a new start, separate from the Washington and political establishment that repel voters. But they’re virtually unknown, and they’d be running against the most famous man in the world who’s proved he can dominate every news cycle.
If only, Democrats say, there was some person under 55 who had any profile.
“That person doesn’t exist,” said Howard Dean, the 2004 presidential candidate and former Democratic National Committee chair.
Dean, who’s 68, is clear on which option he wants: “I have nothing against any of the people my age who will run, but I really do believe that if we’re going to appeal to the younger generation, we’ve got to change the party."
Add that to the long list of existential worries gripping the party, from losing white working-class voters, to not connecting anymore with huge numbers of voters Democrats used to assume were theirs, to seeing Republicans outraise, outmaneuver and outperform them in races that they can’t offer any rational reason for not winning.
The piece also noted more awkwardness within the home of the merciful rest candidate tour; Biden’s resume, while accomplished, is hardly what the base is yearning for outside of the Beltway. Second, it’s going to be odd if Garcetti and Biden run due to the close relationship they have. Both men have appeared or hosted each other's respective fundraising events.
The publication added that former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley couldn’t really give a good reason why he backed Clinton in 2008, but then decided to run against her eight years later. The same could happen here. Nevertheless, there are ripples of a Biden 2020 run, especially with that op-ed he penned in The Atlantic about fighting for the soul of America.
Yet, we’re a ways away and things could get worse for the Democrats. The party is on the verge of all-out civil war, which is stemming from the leadership ulcers that have been afflicting the California Democratic Party; a Bernie Sanders-supporting insurgent, Kimberley Ellis, lost to the more establishment candidate, Eric Bauman, for the chairman position. Ellis has refused to concede after losing by less than 200 votes. There’s also the push for strict litmus tests on abortion and single-payer health care, the latter of which could boil over. California Democrats shelved a $400 billion dollar single-payer initiative because there was no funding mechanism, which prompted the progressive left to hurl death threats and insults at the legislators. It got ugly.
On top of that, they have to rebuild their army of small donors that has totally collapsed. The GOP has that now and they’re filling the Republican war chests like crazy. Yet, before that, they need a message. The Better Deal, the supposed new economically minded agenda from Democrats, has met a lackluster reception from pretty much everyone, most noting that it’s not new and a carbon copy of Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 platform. Then, there’s whether to double down on the cities or reclaim the Obama voters who flipped for Trump, which number in the millions. For now, white working class voters are not viewed as worthy of the Democrats’ time by the professional urban elites who dominate the Democratic Party. You know, the people who think transgender bathrooms and identity politics are far more important than job creation and economic growth. The ones who have become the insufferable political correctness and busy bodying police, which even some liberals are noting is becoming a problem. So, while candidates for 2020 are a priority item, the Democratic Party has to grapple that they could be stuck at bingo night with nowhere to go at present.
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