Norman Goldman said there could be as many as 20 Democratic Presidential Candidates

[Quixote1818]

with tons of women this next round. I have a few favorites but am excited to see who does well in such a wide field. It should be exciting and interesting to watch.

For those of you who don't want to discuss this topic before the midterms. Sorry Just found Goldman's broadcast on the subject interesting.

[Glamrock]

1. Man...

You just trying to push buttons now...

[elleng]

2. That's because Quixote is . . .

exceedingly idealistic; unrealistic and impractical, according to the dictionary anyway!!!

[Quixote1818]

3. I just fucking hate windmills!

[Quixote1818]

4. Actually, the reason I became interested in Don Quixote was because of the Gordon Lightfoot song

Later found out the novel was a favorite of Thomas Jefferson and most of the Founding Fathers, because to many of them, the novel is about the dialogues we each have with ourselves. The part of us that wants to reach for the stars (Don Quixote) and the part that is more grounded and reasonable (Sancho). I think Jefferson liked the novel because he felt ultimately a Country should be about high goals but be governed with balance. That being said, I love Don Quixote's character MUCH more than Sancho's.

http://www.mondaymorningmemo.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/The-Impossible-Dream-of-George-Washington-Thomas-Jefferson-John-Adams-Benjamin-Franklin-and-Alexander-Hamilton.pdf

[elleng]

5. Thanks for refreshing our recollection about these great ones!

[Initech]

6. ...

We cannot go through the Sanders / Clinton thing again. We need a candidate, not 20.

[Quixote1818]

7. This seems completely different from 2016

That election had basically 3 dem candidates because no one thought anyone could beat Hillary. The bulk of candidates he mentioned are popular Democratic women.

[Garrett78]

9. 2. O'Malley dropped out after Iowa.

Once Biden made it clear he wasn't running, it was over. Clinton had it wrapped up.

[OnDoutside]

11. I agree, I think the quality of potential candidates will ensure an excellent Dem Primary season.

And it's not just Dem women, the new generation of Dem men will bring a vibrancy. I know some think Sanders will challenge strongly after 2016, but he had advantages then, that he won't have in 2020.

[mythology]

12. We had a long and rough primary in 2008 and it didn't hurt us

[phylny]

14. I often wonder how many takes it took for Steve Carell to finish this scene. A real favorite.

I'm just hoping no matter they don't attack each other, no matter how many candidates we have.

[shanny]

15. lol

I'm sure you're not advocating somehow picking a candidate in advance of the voters?

[Garrett78]

8. 20 seems like a low estimate.

It'll be a circus at first, but hopefully we'll be down to no more than half a dozen before too long.

[Willie Pep]

10. Yeah that is likely.

I think a lot of people see Trump as weak in 2020 so there will be many hats in the ring in the Democratic primary. I actually think this is a good thing because it will help produce a strong candidate after everyone gets to see their relative strengths and weaknesses.

[Lee-Lee]

13. A crowded ticket almost assures Bernie the nomination

Unless one of those 20 is a clear front runner that we haven’t seen yet.

Bernie will be the only one with an established base going in.

If it’s a 2-3 person race and one is a front runner then his 20-30% or so base won’t be much.

But if there are 12 candidates on the ballot and everyone splits the vote all over and they all share single digits or can’t pass 20% and Bernie gets 28% he walks away with a primary victory.

And he has enough base to do that in those early primary states until the field narrows a bunch. And if it’s a 10-15-20 person contest early that narrowing will take a while, meanwhile he can use his base to keep racking up state primary victories with 20-30% being enough to win.

A lot of anti-Trump conservatives on the right say that’s what happened to them, too many others splitting the vote among what they called “real” conservatives so Trump swept in with his brand and by the time enough dropped out it was too late.

[NCTraveler]

16. Sanders wins without effort under this scenario.

He could lose considerable support from his last run and there is a good chance it would still be a blowout.