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2020 Election Tag

Donna Brazile's revelation that the Hillary Clinton campaign co-opted the Democratic National Committee during the primaries was fairly devastating news to those still hoping for a Hillary 2020 run. The primaries being "rigged" further distances Bernie supporters, who provide all the energy in the party, from the Democrat establishment. But make no mistake about it. Hillary WANTS to run again. She feels cheated (a feeling she well knows). She won the popular vote, and in her mind and that of her supporters, the election was STOLEN from her by James Comey and the Russians. To run in 2020 is simply to reclaim what rightfully is hers, in her mind. I can envision a campaign slogan along the lines of: "Hillary 2020, Returning the Presidency to its Rightful Owner."

There has long been a lot of buzz about Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe (D) running for president in 2020.  In the wake of Tuesday's strong showing for Democrats in Virginia, McAuliffe's potential for a presidential bid in 2020 has improved. In an interview with MSNBC's Al Sharpton in which Sharpton asked about his 2020 plans, McAuliffe said "let's talk after I get out of here." The Washington Examiner reports:
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who has been stuck at the bottom of all the 2020 presidential polls, saw his political stock soar last week when his party scored huge election victories, cementing his legacy and giving him a platform to run on.

California's primaries are currently held in June; however, legislation is expected to be signed by Governor Jerry Brown (D) next week that would move them to March. This move would place California's primaries right after Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.  Further, the move would tilt the donor and electoral tables heavily in Senator Kamala Harris' (D-CA) favor. Politico reports:
California is pushing forward with a plan to change the state’s primary date from June to March, a move that could scramble the 2020 presidential nominating contest and swing the early weight of the campaign to the west.

Doug Schoen, a political consultant on Bill Clinton's 1996 and Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaigns, gained notice in conservative circles when he co-penned the 2010 WaPo op-ed, "One and Done:  To be a great president, Obama should not seek reelection in 2012."  An outspoken and vehement critic of Obama, Schoen is now positing former First Lady Michelle Obama as the 2020 cure for all that ails Democrats. Schoen remains a Democrat and stalwartly #NeverObama, but he says that he recommends Michelle as the last best hope for Democrats in 2020 in his role as an "analyst."

During the 2012 Senate campaign between Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren, I learned early on that The Boston Globe had Warren's back, and used its full political sway to promote and defend her, particularly on Warren's false claim to be Native American for employment purposes while climbing the law professor ladder to Harvard Law School. When The Boston Herald first exposed that Harvard touted Warren as its first Native American tenured hire, the Globe published a story that Warren was 1/32nd Cherokee, Document ties Warren kin to Cherokees:

Last Sunday, Ohio Governor and former Republican presidential candidate John Kasich said that he does not have plans to run against President Donald Trump in 2020 and is "rooting for him to get it together." Less than a week later, reports have emerged that Kasich may team up with Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper in 2020 as independents with Kasich taking the top spot.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is traveling the country, meeting with American workers, and doing other things which signify an interest in running for office. This includes hiring failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's pollster to work at his charity organization. Nothing is official yet but people are talking.

In many ways, former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick (D) was Obama before Obama was Obama.  Patrick was elected the first black governor of Massachusetts in 2006, and his entire campaign was based on the same nebulous "change" mantra that would sweep then-Senator Obama into the White House two years later.
At his first inauguration under uncommonly fair skies in January 2007, the man who a year earlier had been dismissed as a hopeless romantic with no chance of victory carried with him limitless hope for the future — for better schools, fairer housing, racial healing. “It’s time for a change,” Patrick declared, “and we are that change.”
Sound like Obama's "we are the change we've been waiting for"?  That's no mistake.

The Democratic Party is not only in disarray, but they seem to have no idea what to do to correct course. So far, the progressive wing seems to agree that it's best to push all the way left: to run on single-payer and "free" college, to establish a pro-abortion purity test, to curse at every public speaking opportunity, and to engage in unseemly and increasingly violent "resistance" efforts that insult the millions of Americans who voted for President Trump.

Remember Eric Holder, Obama's Attorney General. He down-played and lied about his and Obama's Fast and Furious fiasco, refused to prosecute Black Panthers for voter intimidation, pursued prosecution of journalists and labeled one a "c0-conspirator," used his taxpayer-financed "slush fund" to funnel money to Obama allies until it was dismantled by AG Jeff Sessions.  Holder also holds the dubious distinction of being the first sitting cabinet member to be held in (both criminal and civil) contempt of Congress.

Put this one in your political time capsule. On her MSNBC show this morning, Joy Reid played a clip of her recently asking Elizabeth Warren if she was "going to run" for president in 2020.  Her response is interesting, to say the least. What makes it significant is that Warren did not resort to the classic dodge of saying "I am not running," a meaningless non-answer for anyone who has not yet thrown his hat into the ring. The question was whether she was "going" to run, and Warren's "no" would, as a matter of logic, indicate that she has ruled out a run.

While the Democrats seem to be in denial about how and why they lost the White House and the Senate (and even the House) in 2016, they do seem to realize that their bench is relatively bare.  The "buzz" about 2020 Democrat presidential hopefuls has, until now, been centered on former Vice President Joe Biden, socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), and Sanders' ideological mini-me Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). These aging Democrat superstars, however, might just get pushed aside as Boston's left-leaning media pushes a handsome, articulate, combat veteran and former aide to General Petraeus who routinely insists that Trump's rise is just like that of Hitler. At 38, Representative Seth Moulton (D-MA) is currently serving his second term in the House, and while there was buzz that he might consider a Senate run, the Boston Globe and other local outlets have been building him up as a potential 2020 presidential candidate.

Elizabeth Warren says she's not running for president in 2020. She could have fooled us. Her actions suggest not only is she running, she has already begun. Still, she denies it. The Washington Free Beacon reported:
Warren: ‘I’m Not Running for President in 2020’ Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D, Mass.) stated that she is not running for president in 2020 during an interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Wednesday night.

The 2020 election is still way off but Trump has already made it clear that he'd love for the Democratic Party to nominate Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. The Hill reports:
Trump: Elizabeth Warren running against me would be 'a dream' President Trump said in an interview broadcast Saturday night that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) launching a presidential bid against him would be "a dream come true."