Kanye is out (UPDATE: Kanye is in again)

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

Damn, he sent out that tweet an hour ago and he's already got like 3 threads

This is a political forum after all.

True that. I just think the reaction is a bit overblown. Then again, it's been nothing but 4 years of Chicken Little here. The reason to this "story" being particularly hysterical

Just remember most people thought Trump was joking when he declared.

Please making it f**king stop

Stop what, this is a blog, freedom of speech

Not you.. just the insanity... I want it to stop

Deep breaths, Bomster.  I mean it.  If these discussions on an internet for--uh, blog are contributing this much anxiety and stress, there's no shame in taking a break. 

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

If Kanye actually follows through on a full-out Indy bid, I suspect it would have a relatively negligible impact on the black vote.  It may have had a more pronounced effect if he hadn't been so ardently pro-Trump during the past couple of years.  

His race aside, though, it helps that he already has extremely wide name recognition.  But he's running short on time.  Across the past forty years, the biggest third-party "spoilers" all began their third-party campaigns in, at the very least, January or February of the election year.  Both Gary Johnson and Ralph Nader had run in previous elections (though with much less name recognition than in 2016 and 2000, respectively).  And in 1992, Ross Perot had a surprisingly clear and resonating set of policies that took advantage of the growing resentment towards establishment politicians.  

I'm not confident that Kanye can pull together a viable third-party campaign in a matter of months, but then again: it's 2020 -- who knows?

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

Source: https://www.etonline.com/kanye-west-is-serious-about-running-for-president-source-says-149208

Kanye West's presidential hopes are real, a source tells ET. Days after the 43-year-old rapper took to Twitter to share that he intends to run for president in 2020, a source close to him tells ET that the announcement wasn't a joke.

"Kanye is telling people close to him that his announcement of running for president is serious," the source says. [He] has been toying with the idea for a while and has been getting more and more into politics."

The source notes that West's wife, Kim Kardashian West, and his family and friends "fully support his dream to run for president," adding that they "feel he has more to offer than what people think."

"Kanye has talked to several high-powered friends over the years about his idea and has gotten their support behind closed doors," the source adds.

Game over dems

High-powered friends and being "serious" is fine, but if Kanye actually wants to launch a late Indy bid, he needs to book it.  He's already missed the ballot filing deadlines for a number of states. 

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

Source: https://www.etonline.com/kanye-west-is-serious-about-running-for-president-source-says-149208

Kanye West's presidential hopes are real, a source tells ET. Days after the 43-year-old rapper took to Twitter to share that he intends to run for president in 2020, a source close to him tells ET that the announcement wasn't a joke.

"Kanye is telling people close to him that his announcement of running for president is serious," the source says. [He] has been toying with the idea for a while and has been getting more and more into politics."

The source notes that West's wife, Kim Kardashian West, and his family and friends "fully support his dream to run for president," adding that they "feel he has more to offer than what people think."

"Kanye has talked to several high-powered friends over the years about his idea and has gotten their support behind closed doors," the source adds.

Game over dems

Ah well the famous reliability of anonymous sources...

It wouldn't shock me if Kanye was serious about running for President.  But there's a big difference between being serious about a run for President and actually getting the proper infrastructure and ballot filings behind you. 

His biggest issue right now would likely be actually collecting the required physical signatures in each state. 

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

The way BRTD dismisses Kanye's whole campaign as frivolous is not sound. Take a look at all the no-accounts who ran for president -- if those people could manage to file a few papers with the FEC and get their names on enough state ballots to register a few tens of thousands of votes in a nationwide election, then certainly someone like Kanye West can as well.

Besides, even if he is late*, no one should dismiss the ways West can market his brand and to have the media fawn over a new celebrity campaign, because this one was just so dull from Super Tuesday onwards.

*If he doesn't form an exploratory committee or publicly file soon, then yes, he should be dismissed. But being lazy is not the same as being incapable.

I'm not dismissing Kanye outright (with regards to his making efforts to actually run), but those individuals that you mentioned weren't dealing with a pandemic that restricts the physical collection of signatures.  

As we speak, a number of states already have proposals in place to allow electronic signature collection, but some of these states are tied up in legal challenges to those proposals. And others don't have any system in place for electronic signature collection.  

It appears (and I'm no expert, of course) that Kanye would need to find a way to collect enough physical signatures in the states where he is still eligible while also navigating around COVID-related restrictions on large gatherings. And that's not even taking the state deadlines into account.  It's not going to be easy.  

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

The way BRTD dismisses Kanye's whole campaign as frivolous is not sound. Take a look at all the no-accounts who ran for president -- if those people could manage to file a few papers with the FEC and get their names on enough state ballots to register a few tens of thousands of votes in a nationwide election, then certainly someone like Kanye West can as well.

Besides, even if he is late*, no one should dismiss the ways West can market his brand and to have the media fawn over a new celebrity campaign, because this one was just so dull from Super Tuesday onwards.

*If he doesn't form an exploratory committee or publicly file soon, then yes, he should be dismissed. But being lazy is not the same as being incapable.

I'm not dismissing Kanye outright (with regards to his making efforts to actually run), but those individuals that you mentioned weren't dealing with a pandemic that restricts the physical collection of signatures.  

As we speak, a number of states already have proposals in place to allow electronic signature collection, but some of these states are tied up in legal challenges to those proposals. And others don't have any system in place for electronic signature collection.  

It appears (and I'm no expert, of course) that Kanye would need to find a way to collect enough physical signatures in the states where he is still eligible while also navigating around COVID-related restrictions on large gatherings. And that's not even taking the state deadlines into account.  It's not going to be easy.  

This is why I am hoping that this is all bluster. I just don't see how he can get the legwork done with less than a week to go for key filing deadlines. I think he has already missed some states' deadlines as well, right?

He's missed the deadline in six states by my count. 

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

He'll run. And he's gonna win.