Buttigieg, Klobuchar and Steyer all dropped out in the last 2 days (well, Klobuchar's plan to drop out is announced but not yet actually completed). With that in mind, it's time to update the summary of Democratic "contestants" as Bloomberg called the stage:
Before we begin, yes, there are actually 5 Democrats still running, but one of them is polling between 0 and 2% so I'm going to ignore her for the sake of this discussion, sorry Gabbard fans.
Biden: If you're one of those people who thinks that the moderates will overcome Trump and that people who are disgusted with Trump won't come out to vote for a progressive, Biden's the one for you. He's been running for President for almost as long as I've been alive. He's made a big deal of having worked with Republicans and hasn't ruled out having a Republican as a VP running mate. By the way, if you want to consider how well it'll go "working with Republicans", look at who we have leading the Senate, look at the bills the House has passed and where they are (stuck on McConnell's desk going nowhere) and get back to me when they start getting passed.... or when a Democratic President's Supreme Court nominee gets brought up for debate in the Senate (because that still won't happen even if the nominee is announced the year after the President is sworn in, if McConnell has his way).
Bloomberg: If you're reading this and you're thinking of voting for Bloomberg in the primary... I don't know what to say. I guess I'll point out that he's a Republican who implemented a racist policing policy and only when he decided to run for the Democratic nomination did he begin to walk back that policy, that having walked it back a little he then lied during the debates and suggested that he had learned about the issues the policy was having and had decided on his own to change things (when in fact it was a court order due to a lawsuit), that he has spent tons of money getting Republicans into office, that he has been a part of the keep-women-quiet-through-NDAs culture and only when beaten over the head with it did he start to change the tune.... Putting it simply, his tagline should be "Bloomberg: The Other White Billionaire Racist with Sexual Skeletons in his Closet"
Sanders: His ending of the the last debate was spot on. He's not as left as you may think. He doesn't want to nationalize everything, just healthcare and prisons. He wants to make college affordable, sure, but he's not trying to take over the college system. He wants to reduce our footprint overseas. He's also exciting to the younger crowd and the more liberal end of the Democratic base than Biden. We need to excite the base and get out the vote this year! There's no chance of winning over Trump supporters but there is a chance of people being excited enough about a candidate to come out to vote when they wouldn't otherwise.
Warren: Similar to Sanders, she's not as far left as you may think. She and Sanders are pretty close in terms of the end-goal but she has plans to transition us to get there. She's also against needless wars but hasn't really come out as strongly against overseas interventions as Sanders has. Another similarity with Sanders? She appears to have relatively broad support among the Democratic coalition that we need to excite and get to the polls.
It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway... I would urge you to vote for Warren or Sanders (in that order). Massachusetts' Secretary of State expects a higher-than-usual turnout tomorrow and I'm hoping that's true for all the Super Tuesday states... and that we paint the town Progressive as the polls suggest we might in most of them.
