If it seems as though the run up to the selection of the Democrat to challenge President Donald Trump has been a long one, that is accurate. But the chase is coming to a close soon, with Coloradans playing a role in the March 3 Super Tuesday primary.
Colorado is one of 15 states voting for a nominee on that date, and when a state has all mail-in elections, as Colorado has, that date begins right now. La Plata County voters received their primary ballots for both parties this week.
Given the number of starters in the race, do not be awed when you see the number of candidates: Eight of the 17 have dropped out, not having received the support that they hoped for.
Scratch Tulsi Gabbard, Marianne Williamson, Deval Patrick, Rita Krichevsky and John Delany. And, with poor results Tuesday in New Hampshire, line out Andrew Yang and Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet.
That still leaves nine, and Super Tuesday will further winnow the group. Prior are Nevada’s and South Carolina’s primaries.
The Durango Herald’s editorial board’s favorite is latecomer Michael Bloomberg, who is best known for making his money in communications systems and a business news service and for being a three-term mayor of New York City. Because Bloomberg built businesses, he is in the position of being able to fully fund his catch-up campaign. Hampered by Democratic rules that have kept him off the debate stage (he didn’t score in polls because of his late entry and he hasn’t had to receive financial support from a large number of donors), Bloomberg hasn’t yet laid out his platform in person alongside the others. But in individual settings, he has delivered strong arguments as to why he should be the nominee.
Stop-and-frisk, he has admitted, was a mistake, and one that he has learned from; and he shouldn’t be judged by his past advocacy for only small-sized sugar sodas.
Bloomberg has created real jobs, lots of them, both in manufacturing and in multiple other sectors, with his business-building. Want to continue the progression of job growth that began in the Obama presidency, especially with higher-paying jobs in manufacturing and technology rather than in services? We bet that Bloomberg can do it.
We are not a believer in this week’s caucus and primary leader, Bernie Sanders. He is not what would be good for the country. Free almost everything, with much higher taxes that still would produce inadequate revenue, and a government bureaucracy that would set rates and sizes on most everything, will not move the country forward.
Pete Buttigieg has a good education, a good mix of vision and practicality, and we like that he served in the military in a combat zone. But that he has only been the mayor of a 100,000-population city has not given him the experience we would like in a president.
Elizabeth Warren has correctly backed away from her signature immediate Medicare for All – impossibly expensive – and is known for her thorough analysis of most issues, but she is failing to connect with voters. Perhaps they have forgotten she alone stood up against the big banks during the 2007-2008 recession.
Amy Klobuchar can point to numerous bipartisan legislative successes as a senator, a significant accomplishment, and has that Minnesota appeal.
Her demeanor would be a welcome change from the current president’s.
But, right now at the end of this week, we favor Bloomberg.
We admit, however, that this is an election that may well move one way, then another, and that there is merit in leaving a ballot unmarked until closer to March 3.
And remember, unaffiliated voters, of which there are more than those registered in either party in Colorado, must select one party ballot. Vote two and neither will be counted.
Michael Bennet’s very rational Democratic platform never received much traction in this hyper-political environment. His “The Real Deal” included nationwide preschool, support for post-high school technical job-training and increases in the Child and Earned Income Tax Credits. Bennet rightly criticized Bernie Sanders’ free medical care and college education as unrealistically expensive, instead saying that it’s better to make college no-cost for those from families with less than a $75,000 income. Bennet also would have made a pathway to citizenship for the at least 11 million in this country who deserve it, an immigration issue he had worked hard on in a bipartisan way in the Senate.
We expect Bennet will continue to be a senator eager to find solutions to the country’s more difficult challenges.
An earlier version of this editorial mistakenly stated that Robby Wells of South Carolina was no longer in the race. He is still very much a candidate. Wells, 51, also ran for president in 2012 as a member of the Constitution Party, and in 2016 as an independent.
