The “Who is running in 2020?” tea leaves thread

[Los Angeles Swag Boss]

Interesting tidbit from a podcast earlier this month:What if Cory Booker actually isn't running for President??

Here's an interview from Sen. Booker on Pod Save the People from 5.2.17, where he gives a pretty forceful (but not Shermanesque) denial to a very straight forward question on presidential ambitions.


Here's the full quote:

Deray McKesson: First question, I have a lot of things to ask you, but I will start with the simple one first. Are you going to run for President?

Cory Booker: Uh, no that's not my plan. And I frankly think that anyone who is saying that they are running for President is suspect right now. That is three plus years away...... I think that it's just foolish to be focused on something like that right now.

[Los Angeles Swag Boss]

"major role" sounds a lot more like endorsing than running to me.

That's what I'm thinking. I don't think Sanders will run in 2020. He'll likely try and rally as much momentum as possible into the progressive challenger in the race once the field narrows down. Whether that's Warren, Brown, Franken, etc. He'll do his best to get them through the primaries. His support and his wing of the Party will definitely put that candidate at a significant advantage.

I actually think he might take a bit longer to endorse and want certain candidates to proverbially "kiss the ring." I mean, the main reason he was in the race last year from April-June was so that he could pick up delegates to shape the party platform. If it's Warren vs. Booker, yes, he likely endorses right away but it's likely the field will be much bigger than that.

Yep.  To the extent that one can influence the candidates in the race, leverage is maximized by dangling the possibility of an endorsement out there for a while (but not yet granting it), so as to encourage the candidates to run on more Sanders-friendly policy platforms, in order to win his favor.  Once he actually endorses a specific person, then the other candidates have no reason to listen to him anymore.

On top of all of that, the best way to stay the top "progressive" in the ring is by dangling a run over everyones head. That keeps his name at the top of the rung and makes his endorsement much more valued. Imagine a Bernie who "plans to run in 2018" but decides against it "for family issues" then he goes and dangles an endorsement. His legacy becomes the father of American progressives and bestows a successor.

[Los Angeles Swag Boss]

.....

Anyway, Booker gave a speech at the end that brought the house down. Don't really know how else to say it but he's really, really good at this. Evoked Langston Hughes, the Gospel of Matthew, "liberty and justice for all," and it seemed like he absolutely owned the crowd. Also impressive that he held the iPhone camera for a couple hours himself before the other senators started taking turns doing the recording.

(Appropriately right before he started his speech he was getting heckled by a protester that he managed to shut down)

I can't emphasize how good the ending speech on the live stream was. Was never a huge Booker fan, but that speech turned my head.

Also, there were a ton of prospective 2020 candidates in the video making speeches.