Joe Biden 2020 campaign megathread v3 (pg 45 - mass-dropout aftermath)

[CellarDoor]

This was the plan all along. Biden was never going to lose SC, the party was just waiting for him to win to coalesce. They're uniting behind a deeply flawed candidate who is going senile. Big mistake.

Yeah, he's a worse candidate than Hillary was but whatever he's the chosen one and I'm so excited to watch him insult voters and tell then not to vote for him on the campaign trail, flail around like an idiot on the debate stage then lose in November.

I really think we need to distinguish clearly between someone's quality as a candidate and the perception of that candidate's abilities if they were President.

I wouldn't say that Biden is a worse candidate than Hillary at all.  Donald Trump is president and that tells us quite a bit (ignoring that he is only President because of the electoral college) about what folks are looking for in a candidate.  For all his faults, which are too numerous to list, Trump doesn't come across as a scripted politician.  He lies through his teeth but many people ignore that because he isn't telling the same types of lies they used to hear from politicians.  For all her great qualities, which I would say are plentiful, Hillary struggled to let people in and see the qualities that distinguished her from an ordinary politician.  She came across as scripted and calculating.  She is also a woman, which unfortunately is still hurdle in American politics. 

For all his faults, I think Biden comes across as a sincere man and has a reputation for meaning what he says.  He has trouble communicating at times and is a gaffe machine, but people generally don't care about his types of gaffes.  It's different from lying.  In this day and age, I think that makes him a better candidate than Hillary.  I do think Hillary would make a better President, however.

[CellarDoor]

I accept Biden as the nominee. My one hope is that he does campaign on a public option in the general so that the national conversation continues to move leftward on that subject. I'll be very disappointed if the topic disappears like in the latter half of 2016.

I can't imagine that he'd abandon that position in the general.  It has widespread support among all voters.

[CellarDoor]

This was truly an epic performance. Malarkey was destroyed, etc. After settling all family business, it seemed Biden was shaping up to have a good night, but he did even better than expected. I'm glad the candidate I support did so well, but beyond that, I'm comforted that he proved to have support with an extremely broad, multi-regional, cross-demographic coalition that could win everywhere. Any demographic of size, white or black, college-educated or not, Joe Biden had a major showing in it.

The results in Maine, Massachusetts, and Minnesota were the most surprising wins considering he spent no time, money, or effort in them. But I'm struck by the results in my home state:





Biden did stronger than Hillary Clinton! Sure, she got a higher percentage of the vote, but underneath the surface, Biden won and with big turnout across the board. In Fairfax County, Biden got 38% more votes than HRC. In Chesterfield County, Biden got 48% more votes. The story is consistent across the suburbs. But even more impressively, this held everywhere, even in areas Democrats are thought to be hemorrhaging support. In mountainous Giles County (Romney +25, Trump +48), Biden got 34% more votes. In the heavily evangelical Bedford County (Romney +44, Trump +50), Biden got 90%(!) more votes.

I don't know what the general election will look like, but there are clearly a lot of people beyond the 2016 electorate comfortable voting for Joe Biden. That's a good sign moving forward.

It's almost like Hillary Clinton was a terrible candidate who many people hated, while no one hates Joe Biden.

This can't be said enough.  I've seen many posts stating things like "Well I guess democrats haven't learned their lessons from 2016."  I think those posts are missing the main lesson from 2016, which is that Hillary was not well-liked by the American electorate.  Biden has his faults but people love the guy, myself included.  I was actually a big fan of Biden in 2008 and would've voted for him if he had a chance by the time my primary came around.

[CellarDoor]

I'm very much in the Val Demings for VP camp if Joe ends up winning the primary.