Democratic primary - who's your pick at this early stage?

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

I wanted to get yall's thoughts on this since I've been paying very close attention to the race as it unfolds. Currently there are close to 20 serious candidates for the Democratic nomination. Who's your pick? Why? Non-Americans please feel free to weigh in. I'm interested to see where you everyone stands on this.

The currently declared candidates (or exploratory committees) in alphabetical order are:

Cory Booker, US Senator from New Jersey and former Mayor of Newark
Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend, Indiana
Julian Castro, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, former Mayor of San Antonio
John Delaney, US Representative from Maryland-06
Tulsi Gabbard, US Representative from Hawaii-02, former Democratic National Committe Vice Chair
Kirsten Gillibrand, US Senator from New York, former US Representative from New York-20
Mike Gravel, US Senator from Alaska
Kamala Harris, US Senator from California, former Attorney General of California
John HIckenlooper, Governor of Colorado, former Mayor of Denver
Jay Inslee, Governor of Washington, former US Representative from Washington-01 and 04
Amy Klobuchar, US Senator from Minnesota
Wayne Messam, mayor of Miramar, Florida
Beto O'Rourke, former US Representative from Texas-16, Democratic nominee for US Senate in Texas in 2018
Bernie Sanders, US Senator from Vermont, former US Representative from Vermont-AL
Elizabeth Warren, US Senator from Massachusetts
Marianne Williamson, spiritual leader and lecturer, former candidate for Congress in California
Andrew Yang, founder of Venture for America

This thread is just for discussion. Who's your pick right now? I know it's early and it will probably change over the course of the debates and as front-runners become established, but I'd love to hear what everyone thinks about this wide-open field. I'm considering running a sort of lecture series in the University over a series of a few weeks where I profile each one of the candidates, discuss their proposals and the strengths and weaknesses of their candidacy. It might be a fun thing for all of us to explore.

Dive in!

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

Alright, you all who are on Discord know I'm super hype about this guy and will not stop shilling for him there, but I can't believe I didn't post this sooner. For those who haven't, my pick has become very clear in the last couple of weeks: I will in all likelihood be voting for Pete Buttigieg in the primary.

Cynical you says, he's the 37-year-old mayor of a town of 100,000 people. What the hell makes me think can or should be president?

Well, for one, he's basically everything Trump isn't. He speaks eight languages: English, Spanish, French, Italian, Arabic, Maltese, Dali, and Norwegian. He learned Norwegian for the sole reason of reading a book. He's a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. He speaks openly about his faith, but doesn't wear it on his sleeve. He's a Rhodes Scholar, Harvard grad, guitarist, concert pianist, and he's married to another man. (Who is a school teacher, and is also awesome and has a fantastic social media presence.) If you wanted a checklist of the perfect personal traits for a Democratic presidential candidate, he'd tick pretty much all of them.

And that's all before you've heard him say a word.

"There's no such thing as 'again' in the real world. You can't look for greatness in the past," he says in his campaign announcement video. And that's exactly what he's doing. The way he talks about the issues is so well-reasoned and thoughtful. His proposals - especially when it comes to things like healthcare and the military - show an obvious understanding of the past and its implications, but they also understand that this electorate, at least in the party, is not one that is looking to try and go back to some idyllic time in the past. He's insanely electable, insanely well-spoken, so thoughtful and refreshing, and he's got an absolute boatload of relevant experience despite his age.

Go watch his CNN town hall if you haven't already. He's amazing. He'll say it better than I can. But right now, I think we might be looking at the next President.

"We stand for the better America that we know we can be."

[Jabberwocky]

The field is far too fragmented to pick at this stage. I like Harris, but I don't think she's likely to win. Sanders is just too old. Warren might be a good choice.

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

I will say this: basically anyone would be better than the current administration. Trump has demonstrated time and again that he's incapable of such things as... reading or... speaking in complete sentences. Even people I find less than ideal, like Booker or Biden, would be leaps and bounds ahead of what we have at the moment. But I don't think either of them are capable of winning a general election in this environment, nor do I want to vote for someone who has big donors shoved so far up their asses they're practically sock puppets. Biden's 90s New Democrat "good ol' boys" politics and Booker's creepy ties to Big Pharma are not where I want to be.

For the ones you mentioned, I agree with you on Bernie. He's the godfather of the movement, but I think his time is past. I have questions about Harris' prosecutorial record and donor ties that she has not sufficiently answered. Warren could be alright, but the whole botched "native heritage" thing is really a sore point for me and a lot of voters, and I think it could come back to bite her in a general election showdown. And that sucks because she's awesome and otherwise on policy she is fantastic.

I think of the candidates, in my opinion the people with the best shot at beating Trump are Beto, Buttigieg, Gillibrand, and Klobuchar.

While Klobuchar and I differ pretty greatly on policy, she is my senator in Minnesota, and she is hell of a senator at that. She works her ass off for Minnesotans and for Americans everywhere and I can't say I would be unhappy with her as the nominee.

Gillibrand is similar, but while she began her congressional tenure as one of the most conservative Democrats in either house of Congress, she has shifted well to the left and now definitely aligns well with my views. Her advocation for women's rights and work with sexual assault and rape survivors makes her a very strong choice to embarrass Trump on a debate stage.

Beto is a different case. I love his energy but I'm a little worried that it's all energy and no substance. I want to see him develop more on policy before I make a decision about him.

Buttigieg I've already explained. I was very hesitant to make a decision until I found out about him. It's easy to see why he's going viral. He represents just about everything the Democratic electorate is looking for in a candidate right now.

[Tuga Nation's Dragon]

He speaks 8 languages but not portuguese? For shame! I wouldn't vote for him...

[Dominion of Compassion]

Mar 25, 2019 9:22:36 GMT -5 Tuga Nation's Dragon said:

He speaks 8 languages but not portuguese? For shame! I wouldn't vote for him...

Desculpe. Falo português (falo um pouco portugês).

[Mutanatia]

There's a natural pairing between John Delaney (D-MD) and Andrew Yang (D-NY). Delaney understands the problems of Washington political culture, while Andrew Yang understands American society probably the most of all of the candidates (Say what you will about his proposed solutions).

How many other "natural pairs" can you come up with?

[Mutanatia]

Who do I want to win? Andrew Yang.
Who is leading right now? Joe Biden.