#21

    May 3, 2019

    At first a little disheartened to learn yet another candidate joined the Democratic presidential race.

    “Now who’s running?”

    “Who?”

    “Colorado?”

    It’s a lot to follow, isn’t it. But here’s the thing. It’s early. And the first Democratic debate is next month…yep. June. Following the rules the DNC has set for the candidates to be on that stage, let’s help get them there with 65,000 unique donations ($1 to $5), and get them to poll at least 1%.  These debates will help us define the platform. And all candidates need to pledge to focus on the issues, and not disparage or debase each other. Indivisible https://indivisible.org is asking candidates and voters to take the pledge, #2020, to join us make the primary constructive, rally behind the winner, and do the work to beat DT. ✔Done.

    And read their platforms.

    Here’s Bennet’s. Impressive. Hopeful.

    Rising to the Challenge

    Building Opportunity in America & Restoring Integrity to Our Government

    “Expectations. Americans built our nation on the high expectation that, as a people, we could govern ourselves better than any tyrant. These aspirations to self-government take many forms. They include our elections, three co-equal branches of government, and shared rights and obligations as citizens. They include our commitment to pluralism, democracy, and the rule of law. And they include our most cherished beliefs: that we are created equal, that our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are inalienable, and that we have a collective obligation to seek a more perfect Union.

    We have never fully realized these aspirations, and more than once we have betrayed them. But over nearly two and a half centuries, even as we had tremendous disagreements, we struggled to make our country more democratic, fair, and free. The point has never been that we would all agree. Living in a free society means living with disagreement and people who disagree with me or with you. The challenge for us today, as it always has been, is to contend with those disagreements, even burnish them, in ways that will create imaginative and durable results to brighten the future for our children and our country.”

    More:

    https://medium.com/@michaelbennet/why-im-running-ba87375a427f

    Michael Bennet

    Bennet is the son of Mayflower descendants on his father’s side and Holocaust survivors on his mother’s.

    https://michaelbennet.com

    “Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, running for president as something of a moderate among Democrats.
    Prior to his Senate appointment, Bennet had never run for office and was serving as superintendent of the Denver public school system, so his promotion came as a surprise to many observers.
    His biggest moment in the public eye was probably when his shutdown speech went viral in January, as he attacked Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for hypocrisy over funding the government.

    He’s got a winning track record in a purple state, and he’s a moderate, both points he could use to sell himself as a good bet in the general election
    Should Biden struggle, it’s entirely possible that the field could open up for someone like Bennet.
    Bennet is the son of Douglas J. Bennet, a former State Department official and president of Wesleyan University.
    Bennet’s father was Christian and his mother is Jewish. Bennet’s mother, a Holocaust survivor who was born in Poland, emigrated to the United States with her family in 1950. Her parents survived imprisonment in the Warsaw Ghetto.
    Bennet’s father ran the US Agency for International Development under President Jimmy Carter,  served as President and CEO of National Public Radio (1983–93), and Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs in the Clinton Administration (1993–95). His grandfather, Douglas Bennet, had been an economic adviser in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration.  Bennet’s mother is a retired elementary school librarian.
     
    His father served as an aide to Vice President Hubert Humphrey, among others. Bennet was held back in second grade because of his struggle with dyslexia.
    Bennet also released a campaign video titled “7,591 words,” after the number of words in the Constitution. “The word ‘politics’ is not among them,”
    Bennet, 54, said he was inspired by the nation’s founders, and these were not limited to the founding fathers. He listed Abraham Lincoln, civil rights icons like Frederick Douglass and the suffragettes, and “Our parents and grandparents who stood up to tyranny in World War II. My mom and her parents who survived that tyranny and rebuilt their shattered lives in the only country they could, the United States of America.”
    Bennet’s mother and grandparents survived the Warsaw Ghetto.
    “Sound, stable government can’t be a perpetual game of shirts and skins.
     
    Electoral victory is not an end in itself. It is intended to set in motion a pluralist process to resolve our disputes and move the country forward.
     
    Finding our way will not be easy in the context of a national government awash in special-interest money and with elected officials who quake at the first sign of a social media storm.
    Demagoguery is not unknown in American history. Anytime Americans have become fearful or worried, there have been those, like our current president, who saw personal advantage in fanning those flames. But their names are not inscribed on the honor roll of history. Sowing division does not require moral authority.
     
    What we must decide in this election — now having seen what is down the easy path of our worst instincts and pessimism in our country and each other — is whether that is the road we will continue to choose.”

    FiveThirtyEight

    How Michael Bennet Could Win The 2020 Democratic Primary

    https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-michael-bennet-could-win-the-2020-democratic-primary/amp/

    “What else does Bennet have going for him? Well, he’s got a winning track record in a purple state, and he’s a moderate, both points he could use to sell himself as a good bet in the general election. Bennet was more conservative than 82 percent of Senate Democrats in the previous Congress, according to his DW-Nomination, which measures politicians on a scale from -1 (most liberal) to 1 (most conservative) based on their congressional voting record. His career -0.208 score puts him relatively close to fellow presidential candidates like Sen. Amy Klobuchar (-.252) and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (-0.304), which could make Bennet’s path a bit harder, and former Vice President Joe Biden’s entry  into the race has sucked up a lot of the oxygen for candidates ruining near the middle.  But should Biden struggle, it’s entirely possible that the field could open up for someone like Bennet. Bennet might also benefit from arguments within the Democratic Party about “electability” and identity given that white men often seem to get preference in those discussions. And his recent bout with prostate cancer gives him with a personal story to share with voters that can also double as a talking point about health care, a top issue for Democrats.

    It won’t be easy for Bennet, of course. Besides being relatively unknown — a Monmouth University poll in March found that nearly half (48 percent) of Democrats had never heard of him and only 20 percent were able to form any opinion of him — Bennet will also have to contend with not even being the only Coloradan in the race. Former Gov. John Hickenlooper is running, too, which might limit Bennet’s ability to get endorsements or raise money in his home state, and that will make it much harder to get his campaign off the ground.

    It’ll also be imperative that Bennet qualifies for the upcoming Democratic primary debates, which he could do by getting at least 1 percent support in three polls (he already has one) or by getting donations from at least 65,000 unique donors, which might be hard to accomplish before the first debates at the end of June.

    It’s entirely possible that Bennet’s bid is more of a play for the vice presidency, or simply an attempt to bring more attention to issues that are important to him, such as government dysfunction and money in politics. But as his first run for the Senate shows, Bennet shouldn’t be underestimated.”

    Rolling Stone

    ‘Bennet released a campaign video titled “7,591 words,” after the number of words in the Constitution. “The word ‘politics’ is not among them,” Bennet notes, before preaching the need to invest not in tax cuts for the wealthy and wars in the Middle East, but in social security, the VA, teacher pay, climate change and more. He also makes a point to say that he is not in favor of Medicare-for-All or free college, two progressive policy proposals that have gained traction among some of the Democratic frontrunners. “I’m not going to say there’s a simple solution to a problem if I don’t believe there is one.”’

    ‘Bennet’s announcement comes weeks after he underwent successful prostate cancer surgery. He noted last month that the initial diagnosis delayed his announcement. “The idea was to announce sometime in April,” he told the Colorado Independent. “That was the plan. We hired some staff. We interviewed people for positions in New Hampshire and Iowa. And then I went for the physical. In my last physical, my PSA was high. They did a biopsy, and it was clear. But this time, it was not clear.”

    He’s said that he was first inclined to run while writing a book about partisanship in Washington. He referenced the book and its message Thursday on CBS This Morning. “I’ve spent the last couple of years writing a book about our politics over the last 10 years or so,” he said. “I became convinced in that process that … if we keep going down this road, we’re going to be the first generation of Americans to leave less opportunity, not more, to the next generation,” he added. “I need to do everything I can do to make sure we don’t do that.”

    He’s said that he was first inclined to run while writing a book about partisanship in Washington. He referenced the book and its message Thursday on CBS This Morning. “I’ve spent the last couple of years writing a book about our politics over the last 10 years or so,” he said. “I became convinced in that process that … if we keep going down this road, we’re going to be the first generation of Americans to leave less opportunity, not more, to the next generation,” he added. “I need to do everything I can do to make sure we don’t do that.”’

    https://secure.actblue.com/donate/michaelbennetforamerica?refcode=g-b-a3&amount=10

     

    Posted by dayle at 1:53 pm
    Filed in: Café News

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