The “Who is running in 2020?” tea leaves thread, Part 2

[MAINEiac4434]

Wayne LaPierre of the NRA calls out Tom Steyer (?), Andrew Cuomo, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren in his CPAC speech today.

Steyer is funding and is the face of the largest #ImpeachTrump movement.

[MAINEiac4434]

Here's another dispatch from Garcetti's South Carolina trip:

https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/as-democratic-primary-warms-up-la-mayor-eric-garcetti-stakes/article_2bd52b80-188d-11e8-97e8-43d6a1ccd959.html

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I dunno, Mr. Mayor, I think you’ll drop out after finishing 9th in Iowa.

[MAINEiac4434]

McAuliffe now throwing caution to the wind in his 2020 hints, by asking the rhetorical question “Who better to take on Trump than me?”

How much time does he have?

[MAINEiac4434]

He’s running



Promoted tweet in a year he’s not running for re-election.

[MAINEiac4434]

He’s running



Promoted tweet in a year he’s not running for re-election.

How does this tell us he's running though?

He spent money to promote a tweet. He's not up for reelection in 2018. He has no reason to do this...unless he's building name rec for a presidential run.

[MAINEiac4434]

Any politician coming out with a book is pretty much officially running for President.

[MAINEiac4434]

Latest from Biden:

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/380079-biden-if-i-dont-run-in-2020-its-not-because-im-afraid-of-losing

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I actually think this may play much better than the now-standard non-denials.

I think Biden actually doesn’t know what he’s going to do, unlike those who give non-denial denials, who are obviously running for President.

[MAINEiac4434]

Why is O'Malley even pretending he's not running for President again?

[MAINEiac4434]

Brian Schatz not running for president:

http://www.civilbeat.org/2018/04/schatz-for-president-in-2020-dont-count-on-it-he-says/

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Aww.

[MAINEiac4434]

Here’s more Biden talking to Al Sharpton about 2020:

https://www.facebook.com/PoliticsNation/videos/vb.280920811923248/2156144961067481/?type=3&theater

Biden still sounds shaken by his son’s death, and seems to suggest that that’s what’s still holding him back emotionally from being able to commit to a presidential run.  On a 2020 decision timeline, he says:

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Does anyone else feel Biden is looking for reasons not to run rather than to run? i think he's gonna pass and assume the elderly statesman role

Absolutely. I think he thinks highly of Harris, however, so maybe if she's in he won't be.

[MAINEiac4434]

Harris is definitely running, and may be the first to announce.

[MAINEiac4434]

Pete Buttigieg is the keynote speaker at the South Dakota Democrats' "McGovern Day Dinner."

South Dakota, of course, shares a border with Iowa.

http://www.sddp.org/mcgovernday2018/

[MAINEiac4434]

This is the reason why I reckon Biden either won't run, or will drop out very early. I have a great deal of respect for him, but he appears to have the same tone deafness that Hillary had

Super cool how, decades after his plagiarization of Neil Kinnock torpedoed his first Presidential bid, Biden thought it would be a good idea to appropriate the One Nation Labour schtick for whatever reason.

On his deathbed he’ll start quoting Corbyn.

[MAINEiac4434]

What is the thing about Patrick? Why do they want him so much?

Because he won’t take their money.

[MAINEiac4434]

Joaquin Castro keynoting Maine’s Convention.

[MAINEiac4434]

Joaquin Castro keynoting Maine’s Convention.

Joaquin's not running for anything besides re-election.

But he may be a surrogate for his brother.

[MAINEiac4434]

Chris Murphy has hired Jenna Lowenstein, who was the digital director for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign:

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2018/05/18/house-immigration-votes-discharge-petition-271094

Bad sign if he runs. I did a term paper this semester on the digital campaigns of Trump and Clinton, and my conclusion was basically that Trump wiped the floor with Clinton because he was able to use Twitter to become more "authentic" while Clinton seemed distant and cold via her digital campaign.

[MAINEiac4434]

She’s definitely running.

[MAINEiac4434]

So is Stein gearing up to be the sacrificial lamb of the Greens for the third time in a row, or...? It would be interesting to see how much media attention she'd receive given her now infamous status post-2016, TBH.

They should run Nader again for the hell of it. He might break 5% if the Dems nominate some centrist.

[MAINEiac4434]

The Boston Globe has a story about the potential presidential ambitions of two Massachusettsians (or whatever people from Massachusetts are called)

Massholes.

Can confirm. Massholes is the correct term.

I thought it might be Massochist.

And what about people from Maine?  Are they Mainiacs?

Just me, and the old hockey team.

[MAINEiac4434]

Merkley's been running for like at least a year now. When I started getting targeted ads for him on Twitter asking me to donate to him and I live a continent away (and near New Hampshire), I knew.

[MAINEiac4434]

Crazy Cuomo inserts foot in mouth:

https://www.twitter.com/Joel_Searby/status/1029798017082294272

Cuomo finally says something that's true.