{"id":797096,"date":"2019-06-25T08:58:06","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T14:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=367905"},"modified":"2019-06-25T08:58:06","modified_gmt":"2019-06-25T14:58:06","slug":"opinion-mike-littwin-you-cant-write-off-bennet-or-hick-yet-but-in-2020-campaign-its-getting-late-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/opinion-mike-littwin-you-cant-write-off-bennet-or-hick-yet-but-in-2020-campaign-its-getting-late-early\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion | Mike Littwin: You can\u2019t write off Bennet or Hick yet, but, in 2020 campaign, it\u2019s getting late early"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Mike Littwin<\/strong>
The Colorado Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Let\u2019s agree, if just for the sake of argument, that it\u2019s still too soon to write off the bottom half of the 23-person Democratic field  \u2014 meaning those, like John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, who are polling in the barely visible 0-to-1 percent territory. <\/p>\n

Sure, it\u2019s tempting to write them off. We\u2019re pretty sure we already know who the top 7-8 Dems will be. But history, reliably on hand to ruin a solid narrative, tells us that early front-runners often disappear (Jeb? Rudy? Muskie? Howard Dean?) and someone like Jimmy Carter or Michael Huckabee comes from nowhere to contend, although the nowhere candidate may have already announced himself in Mayor Pete. Buttigieg gives Hickenlooper and Bennet hope, maybe especially Bennet, who can compete in the wonkish Warren-Buttigieg-Booker wing. <\/p>\n

And yet.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got a long way to straighten this all out, but, as Yogi Berra liked to say, it\u2019s getting late early. The good news is we\u2019re nearing the end of Stage One of the primary race \u2014 when the field came together \u2014 and heading toward Stage Two, the debates<\/a>, which should begin the culling process.<\/p>\n

Hickenlooper and Bennet \u2014 each polling under 1 percent \u2014 are clearly in jeopardy, but both got a break by drawing their way into the second-night debate on June 27. The two nights of debates will each feature 10 contenders. But, by luck of the draw, four of the five top polling leaders \u2014 Joe Biden, Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris \u2014 will be in the second debate.  Warren is the lone polling leader in the first debate.<\/p>\n

On the upside, Hick and Bennet will get ratings on the second night. On the downside, with the polling leaders on stage, they may have a harder time getting noticed. I mean, Biden and Sanders have never been on the same stage in this race. It will be hard to focus on anything else. But if Bennet and Hickenlooper are going to play with the big boys (and girls), this is their chance.<\/p>\n

So where does this leave us? This way: Trump is the most vulnerable incumbent since at least Carter while Biden may be the most vulnerable poll-leader since Rudy. No wonder the field is so crowded.<\/p>\n

We got two major hints Tuesday night at where the race is headed. In a Trumpian rally \u2014 what else? \u2014 Trump announced his re-election campaign, and if you had the stomach to watch it, you saw Trump spend the night airing grievances and blaming either the press or Mueller and his 13 angry Democrats or Crooked Hillary emails. It was back to the future, and if that doesn\u2019t scare every Democrat and never-Trump voter, you\u2019re not paying attention. <\/p>\n

And we heard the report of Joe Biden speaking to some wealthy donors while taking a Bidenesque journey into tone-deaf territory. In describing how as a senator, in the \u201870s and \u201880s, when the Senate could still get things done, he worked with Mississippi Sen. James Eastland and Georgia Sen. Herman Talmadge. Of Eastland, he said, \u201cI was in a caucus with James O. Eastland. He never called me \u2018boy,\u2019 he always called me \u2018son.\u2019\u201d For those who remember\u2014 which, I concede, is an ever-shrinking subset \u2014 these were two of the leading arch-segregationists from the Dixiecrat wing of the Democratic Party and a stain, even now, on the party\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

And, in 2019, when you\u2019re the old white guy in the race, the last thing you should want to do is brag about taking lunches with racists while making seriously unfunny jokes about not being called \u201cboy.\u201d Which is why I predict that Biden is definitely vulnerable.<\/p>\n

But, taking the local angle, it\u2019s pretty obvious how Hick plans to get attention on the stage \u2014prolonging his ongoing war with Bernie Sanders<\/a> and with the prospect that Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist, will bring socialism to America. He\u2019ll almost certainly get asked about it.<\/p>\n

This is Hick\u2019s Hail Mary pass. He\u2019s already up to Plan D. I\u2019m old enough to remember when he said he didn\u2019t want to be labeled as a capitalist because labels are \u201csilly.\u201d That was then. Now the socialist label, which differs significantly from democratic socialist by the way, is at the center of Hick\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n

Before going all in on anti-socialism, the only lasting impression he had made on the trail was his story of once having taken his mother to see \u201cDeep Throat.\u201d And while it\u2019s true that America has never been socialist and, I can pretty much guarantee, won\u2019t become socialist any time soon, Hick is betting that this argument will somehow separate him from the other-than-Bernie, socialist-free pack of Democrats.<\/p>\n

In fact, Hickenlooper, whose political career is a study on how to avoid confrontation, intentionally got himself booed by an audience of California activists for his anti-socialist stance and his assertion that many contenders had foolishly bought into Sanders\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n

When he says it next week, Sanders will be there on the stage with him, meaning there\u2019s every chance an actual debate could break out. <\/p>\n

Can Hick win that debate? Can Hick force others on the stage to join him in declaring their anti-socialist bona fides? Or will Sanders wipe the floor with him declaring that his brand of democratic socialism (at least as he describes it these days) is no more than a continuation of FDR\u2019s New Dealism and that Hick\u2019s anti-socialism reeks of Red Scareism?<\/p>\n

You might also note that Sanders is struggling to hold off Elizabeth Warren in the battle for the Democratic left. She has already declared herself a \u201ccapitalist to her bones\u201d in contrast to Sanders. When Biden and Bernie face off, will anyone remember that Hick is even in the debate?<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Bennet, who also likes to mention that he\u2019s not a socialist, thereby making it clear where Colorado\u2019s politicians sit on the spectrum, will certainly make his argument against Medicare-for-all, which he says most Americans wouldn\u2019t support if they understood it meant being forced to give up their employer-based insurance. Bennet wants to bring back the idea of a public option for anyone who wants it. Whether you agree with him or not, Bennet can make a strong argument on this. <\/p>\n

Bennet, who started late because of his surgery for prostate cancer<\/a>, is not quite in the same position as Hickenlooper, for whom this could be a make-or-break night, although he\u2019ll get another chance in the July debate. But Bennet is close. Bennet will also slam Mitch McConnell and the Freedom Caucus \u2014 both slams sure to be crowd pleasers \u2014 as the real dangers to democracy in America, and without whom, he says, there wouldn\u2019t even be a President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

From the start, Bennet conceded he was a long shot, but he said, looking at the field, he saw an entire lineup of long shots. That was true at the time. It might even be true now. But it won\u2019t be true for too much longer.<\/p>\n

Mike Littwin writes the biweekly column \u201cFair and Unbalanced\u201d for The Colorado Independent. He previously worked at The Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Los Angeles Times and Baltimore Sun. Contact him at mike@coloradoindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mike LittwinThe Colorado Independent Let\u2019s agree, if just for the sake of argument, that it\u2019s still too soon to write off the bottom half of the 23-person Democratic field  \u2014 meaning those, like John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, who are polling in the barely visible 0-to-1 percent territory.  Sure, it\u2019s tempting to write them off. We\u2019re pretty sure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-797096","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 04:02:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797096\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}