As It Stands Now

Are you excited gang?  It is only 57 or so days away from the Iowa Caucus.

Allow me to put on my History Major hat. Years ago, the nominees of the Democratic and Republican parties were selected in "smoke-filled rooms" (I'm sure you've heard that phrase before).

The party hotshots would get together and they would try to figure out who best represented their party in the coming Presidential election. They would meet in rooms, smoke cigarettes, and pick their nominee. Sometimes the selections made some sense (think FDR), then other times, it didn't (Alf London).  But the whole point is John Q. Public was blissfully left out of the loop until the nominating conventions.

There are many reasons for this change, one being Jimmy Carter winning the Iowa Caucus in 1976 despite nobody knowing who he was and where Iowa was and why they had a caucus in the first place.

Every four years since 1976, candidates have been schlepping up to Iowa to look at cornfields pretending to know what they are looking at.

It is important because it is the actual start of the Presidential election season, even though it has been underway since the last Presidential election.

There have been some changes in the Democratic party flock of candidates.  Several people have dropped out and several people have jumped in.

Here's a couple of the ones that have dropped out.

Beto "Beto" O'Rourke. O'Rourke became famous last year because he almost beat Ted Cruz. You know who beat Ted Cruz?  Donald Trump.

If Hyde on "That 70s Show" ran for president, he would be Beto O'Rourke.  He was for confiscating guns, taxing churches if they don't follow the current LBTQRSTVWXYZ mandate de jour, and whatever the Twitter trolls said he should do. Soon it became pretty clear that he didn't represent a "lane"  (moderate or progressive) of the Democratic Party unless you consider "goofball" a lane.

Beto dropped out and I don't think anybody noticed.

Speaking of people trying to please Twitter, Kamala Harris dropped out of the race last week.  In the beginning, Harris had what Obama had (race) and what Hillary had (gender).  What she didn't have: a reason why anybody that voted for Obama twice but for Trump in 2016 should vote for her. Soon, she got lost in the gaggle of candidates and became just another voice.

However, two other candidates have jumped in.

One is Michael Bloomberg, the former Mayor of New York.  Just what the Democrats need: another 77-year-old candidate. Bloomberg is the type of leader that unites people, mainly in disliking him. Liberals hated his "stop and frisk" while Mayor of New York. Conservatives hated his plan to confiscate guns.  Everybody hated his Big Gulp ban because it is just another example of the big old Nanny state wanting to control every aspect of a person's life.

I will say this. I have been to New York City when he was Mayor and I have been to New York City under Mayor Bill De Blasio.  It is like night and day.  Under Bloomberg, the streets were clean and everybody acted like they had some sense. Under De Blasio, people are sleeping on the sidewalks, bathing in fountains, and women are walking around topless with painted chests.  By the way, De Blasio was once running for President, too. He's dropped out because nobody likes him.

Another new candidate is Deval Patrick, former governor of Massachusetts. Patrick is now working for Bane Capital and if there is one thing we have learned is how popular former governors of Massachusetts who work for Bane Capitol are.

The rest of the candidates are sort of plodding along.  Elizabeth Warren had a surge there for a while until it was determined that most of her "plans" included a "money tree" that only rich people have and that she's still coming up with a definition of rich (oddly enough, it probably includes you).

Bernie Sanders is still plodding along, shouting at the American people like we can't hear. We hear you, Bernie. You want us to be Sweden. Gah.

Joe Biden is plodding along too. He's becoming more like Uncle Joe every day, except not in a good way.  He's telling stories about "Corn Pop" who was a "bad dude" and calling fat people "fat".

Trump can say some crazy things, but you are pretty confident that he's oriented to time and place. You're never quite sure if Biden knows where's he at half the time.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg is making some waves. He's everything the Twitter world loves: young and gay. However, he has little or no African-American support and he is the mayor of the fourth largest city in Indiana.

Just this past week, Buttigieg was blasted for, now hold on to your hats, ringing the bell for the Salvation Army Christmas kettles.  The Salvation Army is on the "naughty" list because of their belief in traditional marriage.

That's where the Democratic party is now: criticizing the Salvation Army Christmas kettles.

2020 is going to be a long year.