Gabbard's recent Syria trip/ meeting w/ Assad... Help or hurt her in 2020?

[publicunofficial]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say meeting with war criminals at the behest of an unknown benefactor, without telling anyone you're doing so, is a definite "minus" going into 2020

[publicunofficial]

I mean she never had 2020 prayer anyway. Backbench unknown congressman without a fundraising apparatus don't win the presidency

I wouldn't count Gabbard out at all. She is a populist who is young and styled almost like Bernie Sanders in some respects. All she needs is that one spark to ignite that campaign and it shouldn't be difficult at all.

People are too willing to dismiss a candidate's flaws just because they fit a certain mold. It's like when the press kept asserting Rubio was going to be the winner because HE'S REPUBLICAN OBAMA.

[publicunofficial]

...OK but Hillary was a prominent and influential figure in the Democratic Party, not a a backbencher Congresswoman not even from the continental US who has no fundraising apparatus, refused to initially endorse her party's nominee at first and hadn't even expressed interest in running anyway.

I'm not trying to one up you or anything, but there are no backbenchers in Congress. A backbencher is someone who is not either in the governing party or the opposition party. She's in the opposition Democratic caucus, so she is not a backbencher.

That's not what the term means in the US since it would render it useless. A backbencher in the US typically means not in a leadership role of a prominent leader of any caucus or faction.

Backbencher is not widely used in the US, but okay.

I've heard it used plenty of times to describe congresspersons that are not prominent in leadership or in media presence, and are never talked about for higher office. Like say, Rick Larsen or Bob Gibbs.

[publicunofficial]

America will not elect a 39-year-old Hindu woman in 2020. She's less appealing than Hillary to the Obama voters who either switched to Trump or seriously considered it.

Could America elect a 59-year-old Hindu woman in 2040? Maybe, but let's table this Gabbard talk for at least a decade.

-No; she may well be more appealing than Obama. Romney wasn't a Christian, and still won 90% of Trump voters.

Mormons are Christians, unless you're a moron