Who to Support in the Democratic Primary

I take the question of who I am going to support in the Democratic primary very seriously. Now I know that I have only one vote in the election, and I am also certain that I will be voting for the eventual Democratic nominee no matter what; yet, when I vote in the primaries next year, I will be voting as if I alone am choosing our nominee, and hopefully our next President. So here is how I’m making this decision.

First, the candidates who I take seriously. My criteria for this is consistently polling at at least 1% and collecting individual contributions worth multiple million dollars. Now this criteria in no way means that all candidates who reach it have a realistic chance; I believe that nobody outside of the top 5 is going to be the nominee (more on that in my previous post). But if a candidate demonstrates that he/she is a serious candidate, I can comfortably vote for him/her in the primary. The candidates I take seriously are Biden, Warren, Sanders, Harris, Buttigieg, O’Rourke, Booker, Yang, Klobuchar, Castro and Gabbard.

If you read my post about the summer debates, you’ll know that while I don’t consider it a determinative factor, there are two candidates whos performances were disqualifying: O’Rourke and Yang. Biden and Klobuchar did okay, the rest were all very impressive.

Let’s also remember an old fashioned idea that a President must have a good record and be experienced. Warren, Sanders, Harris, Booker and Klobuchar pass with flying colors. Biden, while incredibly experienced, has dozens of skeletons in his closet, so we’ll give him a C in this area. Their lack of experience put Buttigieg, Casto and Gabbard in this category as well.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly: the issues. I characterize myself as falling somewhere between the Sanders and the Clinton wings of the Democratic party. I support Medicare-for-All and free college, but think that breaking up the big banks and regulating Facebook are government overreach into the free market. I do agree that there are fundamental problems within the system, but argue that they can’t be solved with this vague idea of a “political revolution”; we must do what Obama was supposed to do, and fix the system from within. I can go on and on about every single policy proposal I agree and disagree with, but the result is that there are three candidates who perfectly match my ideology and vision: Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg. (Buttigieg has a red flag here; everything he has said so far I agree with, but he does eventually has to say more.)

So, after comparing the overall campaign performances, backgrounds and experiences, and ideologies and policy proposals of the candidates; my favorites in the race are Warren, Harris and Buttigieg. Now this doesn’t mean that a breakout debate performance or a completely revised policy platform can’t change my mind. But, after six to nine months that the campaigns have had, it seems very unlikely.