Could anyone Dem. nominee do better than Biden?

[Pres Mike]

Had Beto not been an idiot, I could see him being Obama 2.0

1. Joining the race at his peak popularity
2. Running from the left
3. Not doing stupid things like that magazine interview, drive in the desert and live streaming his dentist appointment
4. Not saying things like “We are going to take your guns”

[Pres Mike]

I sometimes wonder what could have been if Jason Kander had won in 2016.

If Jason Kander won in 2016, everyone in the party would be begging him to stay in the senate. Why throw away a senate seat and let a republican governor pick his replacment

This can only happen if Kander wins in 2016 and Democrats do even better in 2018 and win the senate. If we assume Kander wins and Doug Jones wins in Alabama in 2017, this means 50-50 senate. Democrats would need to win 1-2 seats in the midterms.

This means picking up seats like NV and AZ. They are going to lose Indiana and North Dakota. I suppose Bill Nelson can win Florida since it was 0.12% margin. And lets say Clair wins Missouri from Kander supportors.

Democrats now have a 52 seat majority. Kander might run since he won't cost Democrats the majority

[Pres Mike]

I sometimes wonder what could have been if Jason Kander had won in 2016.

If Jason Kander won in 2016, everyone in the party would be begging him to stay in the senate. Why throw away a senate seat and let a republican governor pick his replacment

This can only happen if Kander wins in 2016 and Democrats do even better in 2018 and win the senate. If we assume Kander wins and Doug Jones wins in Alabama in 2017, this means 50-50 senate. Democrats would need to win 1-2 seats in the midterms.

This means picking up seats like NV and AZ. They are going to lose Indiana and North Dakota. I suppose Bill Nelson can win Florida since it was 0.12% margin. And lets say Clair wins Missouri from Kander supportors.

Democrats now have a 52 seat majority. Kander might run since he won't cost Democrats the majority

Chris Koster could have picked his replacement. If you're butterflyeffecting a Kander victory, you might as well butterfly Koster too, he only ran two points behind.

Republicans have a 70% majority in both houses of the Missouri State Legistaure. They could pass a law saying that the governor has to pick someone from the same party. Even if Koster wins in 2016 his veto would just get an overide.

In 2004, the MA state assembly changed the law and overided Governor Romney veto to protect Kerry senate seat had he won 

[Pres Mike]

Biden seemed to hit the sweet spot of appealing to rust belt centrists, and African-American voters.

Klobuchar and Buttigieg might've done a little better with the center, but would likely have worse turn out with African-American voters, while Booker and Harris wouldn't do as well with Wisconsin moderates.

This

Biden is the only one who could get everyone from Bernie Sanders to John Kasich. Biden is the only one who could get 2016 Jill Stein voters and just enough 2012 Romney voters.