clubgop wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2019 5:08 am
StCapps wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2019 4:56 am
clubgop wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2019 4:48 am
Have to credit Shapiro here but he has Biden on point.
Biden's best day will be the day he announces and it will be downhill from there. He is leading polls based on one primary thing, name recognition. If and when he gets in he is going to take attacks from all sides, same with Sanders. As it stands right now, I am getting a whiff of '04.
If it's like 2004, Biden is the most Kerry like candidate in the field. Shapiro underestimates Biden, and while he might be right that Sanders is the most likely to win, if it's 2004 all over again, Sanders isn't going to take it.
I said a whiff, not fully. Also Kerry didn't have Biden's name recognition nor was he leading in national polls. He snuck in there. Dean and Gephardt were tearing each other to shreds and were taking fire from everyone else. Kerry was able to emerge from the wreckage. He was no one's first choice but everyone's second choice. Biden and Sanders are going to have hit each other and take incoming, who benefits from that?
Beto- probably not
Harris- likely
Booker- strong maybe
Warren- longshot
I don't see anyone benefiting more than Sanders from Biden going down in flames. Sanders is the second-choice of far more Biden voters than Harris, Booker, Warren or Beto.
Also Sanders gains a lot more from Harris, Booker, Beto and/or Warren going down than Biden would, he's running in the far left lane after all, so there is plenty of incentive for him to not focus strictly on attacking Biden. Hell this is a guy who refused to attack Hillary on the emails, despite the fact that it would have been a great benefit to him to do so. What makes you think he'll go after Biden with any ferocity? History says he uses kid gloves on the centrist lane candidates. Everyone else is going to attack Biden, Sanders can play the high ground card and just let them do it for him.
The three candidates I see going after Biden the hardest are O'Rourke, Warren and Gabbard as they are trying to run in centrist lane, hoping Biden torpedoes himself so they can benefit, but the problem for them is Bernie will likely benefit more than them. Bernie has to worry more about Harris splitting the far-left vote than he has to worry about Biden.
Biden wins if the far-left is split, Sanders or Harris win if the far-left unites against the centrist or Biden torpedoes himself via gaffe and the centrist pre-dominant second choice is one of them. Biden bringing down Sanders would increase the chances that enough of the far-left unites behind Harris, he wants as many viable far-lefties splitting the vote as possible, so I also don't think that Biden will go after Sanders as hard as you think he will either.
Biden is being seriously under-estimated by Shapiro, considering how clogged the far-left lane is this primary season. I think Shapiro is right about Bernie being under-estimated and being more likely than Harris to consolidate enough of the far-left vote to win in early primary states, while also being more likely to win the centrist vote if Biden goes down. I also think Shapiro is right that Kamala's chances of winning have been seriously overblown, but she's still the third most likely winner.
At this point, I don't think it's wide-open at all, this primary season is a near coinflip between 2012 and 1972, Biden wins very similar to the way Romney won, or Sanders/Harris unites the far-left like McGovern.
As of now, I'd make the odds - Biden 40%, Bernie 35%, Harris 15% and the rest of the field 10%.