Two endorsements highlight the quandary for Democrats as they look for a nominee

[RandySF]

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa — Endorsements in presidential campaigns often have little impact, but sometimes they do help to clarify priorities and choices as voters decide whom to support. That's the case of the endorsement former vice president Joe Biden got last week from a first-term House member from Iowa.

Biden has bigger names on his roster of supporters than Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D-Iowa). He has the backing of the Democratic Party’s 2004 presidential nominee, former secretary of state John F. Kerry. In Iowa, he has support from former governor (and former Obama administration agriculture secretary) Tom Vilsack and his wife, Christie. But Finkenauer’s endorsement is important for reasons beyond her own personal political standing or national recognition.

Her support for Biden, paired with the earlier endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), crystallizes a strategic dilemma many Democratic voters are wrestling with a month ahead of the Iowa caucuses as they search for a candidate they believe can defeat President Trump in November: the choice between mobilization and persuasion.

The question still unresolved is if there is a candidate among the many running who can energize the party’s liberal grass-roots base to assure maximum turnout from key Democratic constituencies, while also being able to reach more-moderate swing voters to win back areas that Trump converted from blue to red in 2016. And if there is no candidate who can do both, which is the better path to victory?


https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/two-endorsements-highlight-the-quandary-for-democrats-as-they-look-for-a-nominee/2020/01/04/ff493d84-2f11-11ea-9b60-817cc18cf173_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

[RandySF]

1. For the record, I like both AOC and Abby Finkenauer

But I suspect AOC's hardcore followers were already behind Bernie.

[IronLionZion]

2. We need to maximize turnout from our base

Any Trump 2016 voter who could be persuaded to change their vote already has by now. The remaining ones are dug in and won't admit they made a mistake.

Also no matter what people say, they're not undecided on Trump. If they're not openly for the Dem candidate, they're quietly going to vote for Trump. It's the nature of the conservative mindset. It's different with liberals who might actually use critical thinking to compare candidates on issues.

[Thekaspervote]

3. Ha!! How true... no critical thinking skills needed to be a republican

[DownriverDem]

4. For Me

Biden can win enough states to beat trump. Biden/Harris? Biden/Abrams? We can't blow this.