As we head into the Iowa Caucuses, like the historic blizzard that hit the East Coast, the presidential campaign outlook provides only limited visibility.
Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post is justified in his astonishment that a 74-year old mayor of Burlington, VT is ahead in some polls over Hillary Clinton, but it's very easy to see why he's in that position and it isn't so astonishing. Senator Sanders is to the Democratic Party as is Donald Trump to the Republican Party - the protest against the status quo. Also, many of the young voters who are turning out for Mr. Sanders have been reared on a diet of disparagement of Mrs. Clinton and the big memory of her is when she lost to President Obama so that voting block isn't excited by her. They weren't a part of the working world in the go-go 90's that Bill Clinton spearheaded.
David Brooks of The New York Times explained that Senator Sanders' has honed his message to one of change and optimism whereas Mrs. Clinton's message lacks enthusiasm and inspiration, relying on the 'experience counts' quality. Given the fact that Mrs. Clinton is not a great campaigner, as Kristen Welker explained, while having the most scrutinizing light put upon her, we'd flip the switch and say that these indicate her strengths. In the political season in which none of these candidates have to actually lead or legislate on what they're telling the electorate, Mrs. Clinton has the most experience and meddle of any candidate to do so; to run a government as Secretary Robert Gates outlined later in the program. Running the government is NOT the same as running a company, as Sec. Gates pointed out.
Mr. Brooks is apparently one of the few who is still rooting against both Mr. Trump and Senator Cruz, still holding out hope for the emergence of Marco Rubio, but if you take not just the Republican intellectuals such as Mr. Brooks, The National Review, Erick Erickson, et al. who are anti-Trump but consider the Party writ large with Republican legislators lining up against Mr. Cruz, the establishment is clearly dissatisfied with both and the estimate is that Mr. Trump is really just the lesser of two evils, so to speak. However, as we have alluded to before, we're leery of a Marco Rubio presidency and one of the reasons is in fact David Brooks' hope for his emergence. Mr. Rubio isn't his own guy and is/would be too easily molded by what the establishment wants him to say and do.
Obviously, the Democratic Party, even given the unexpected hugely strong showing of Senator Sanders against Mrs. Clinton's campaign, is in a much healthier state ideologically than the Republican party, without question. With that said, if Sen. Sanders were to become the nominee, and especially if his opponent was Donald Trump, this would be the impetus for fmr. New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg to jump into the race. We would agree with Mr. Sanders here, that is not a good look for our democracy to have two billionaires running for president of The United States in the same election year, at the very least.
It's for you to decide how bullish you are on Mrs. Clinton's statement that a Bloomberg candidacy will not happen because it will be unnecessary because she will in fact get the Democratic nomination because the primary is her biggest hurdle. In the general, unless it's Jeb Bush, she'll sound like the greater voice of reason because in some ways Mrs. Clinton could be considered a moderate Republican, by Roosevelt (Teddy) and Nixon legislative standards.
All due respect to Mr. Bloomberg, but he definitely isn't the solution to none of the above.
Snow Aftermath Panel: Chris Cillizza, The Washington Post; Kacie Hunt, NBC News; Kristen Welker, NBC News; David Brooks, The New York Times
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