General 2028 Election

  • Thread starter Thread starter ZenMode
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies: 148
  • Views: 4K
  • Politics 
Beshear was Kentucky's Attorney General and won his first race for governor against a very, very unpopular Republican incumbent. Beshear won by 0.37 percentage points, receiving 49.20% of the vote to Bevin's 48.83%, a 5,146 vote margin out of more than 1.4 million votes. Beshear won his first statewide race, for Attorney General, by 2,194 votes, 0.2%.

His father was a popular 2-term governor of Kentucky. Beshear graduated from Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia School of Law.

Beshear’s handling of COVID was controversial, but his handling of natural disasters in 2021 ( tornadoes in western Kentucky) and 2022 ( flooding in eastern Kentucky) earned him respect in rural parts of the state, and he was able to win reelection against sitting AG and Mitch McConnell protege, African-American Daniel Cameron. McConnell's popularity in the state had waned and Cameron's skin color didn't help.

Beshear has managed to win 3 times (barely) in an increasingly conservative state by being plain spoken and addressing real world issues. Just as most Kentucky high school basketball heroes' skills fail to enable the transition to the next level (Reed Sheppard being a recent notable exception), I fear Beshear’s record and political skill won't be enough at the next level. He also has practically zero foreign policy and military background.
 
Centerpiece said:
Well I don't agree with Reich on everything in that piece... but there are reasons we got Trump for 2 friggin terms. It's either the because Dems fucked up by running 2 women, or because of "Other stuff". I'd like to think it's because of "other stuff".

But as to the OP: I still like Andy...
Click to expand...
It's usually not one single issue, but a combination of things. Both of trump's victories were against women and their personal characteristics along with Republican focus on culture-war issues.

If Democrats can make the race about facts and kitchen table issues, they can win. If Republicans succeed in derailing the campaign to be about emotional, culture-war issues, no Democrat can win.
 
BillOfRights said:
Beshear was Kentucky's Attorney General and won his first race for governor against a very, very unpopular Republican incumbent. Beshear won by 0.37 percentage points, receiving 49.20% of the vote to Bevin's 48.83%, a 5,146 vote margin out of more than 1.4 million votes. Beshear won his first statewide race, for Attorney General, by 2,194 votes, 0.2%.

His father was a popular 2-term governor of Kentucky. Beshear graduated from Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia School of Law.

Beshear’s handling of COVID was controversial, but his handling of natural disasters in 2021 ( tornadoes in western Kentucky) and 2022 ( flooding in eastern Kentucky) earned him respect in rural parts of the state, and he was able to win reelection against sitting AG and Mitch McConnell protege, African-American Daniel Cameron. McConnell's popularity in the state had waned and Cameron's skin color didn't help.

Beshear has managed to win 3 times (barely) in an increasingly conservative state by being plain spoken and addressing real world issues. Just as most Kentucky high school basketball heroes' skills fail to enable the transition to the next level (Reed Sheppard being a recent notable exception), I fear Beshear’s record and political skill won't be enough at the next level. He also has practically zero foreign policy and military background.
Click to expand...
Thanks for making my case for Andy. He can be another Reed Sheppard. Foreign policy notwithstanding. And GTF outta here with military background. Trump and Cal Cuminhand say: "what"?

His wins in deep red Kentucky speak volumes.

Andy for Prez 2028 bumper stickers for sale here:
www.givemeyourmoneyforandystickers.com
 
Centerpiece said:
Thanks for making my case for Andy. He can be another Reed Sheppard. Foreign policy notwithstanding. And GTF outta here with military background. Trump and Cal Cuminhand say: "what"?

His wins in deep red Kentucky speak volumes.

Andy for Prez 2028 bumper stickers for sale here:
www.givemeyourmoneyforandystickers.com
Click to expand...
What were Bill Clinton's Foreign Policy chops No one cared
 
Some of that DEI stuff is just dumb anyway. Seems like every 6 months I have to take a test that goes, "Diego, LaMarcus, and Brad walk into a job interview..."
 
mpaer said:
What were Bill Clinton's Foreign Policy chops No one cared
Click to expand...
I wouldn't say "no one cared", and Clinton had the benefit of a 3rd party candidate that definitely made a difference in 1992 and probably in 1996. He didn't win 50% in either election.
 
BillOfRights said:
Beshear was Kentucky's Attorney General and won his first race for governor against a very, very unpopular Republican incumbent. Beshear won by 0.37 percentage points, receiving 49.20% of the vote to Bevin's 48.83%, a 5,146 vote margin out of more than 1.4 million votes. Beshear won his first statewide race, for Attorney General, by 2,194 votes, 0.2%.

His father was a popular 2-term governor of Kentucky. Beshear graduated from Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia School of Law.

Beshear’s handling of COVID was controversial, but his handling of natural disasters in 2021 ( tornadoes in western Kentucky) and 2022 ( flooding in eastern Kentucky) earned him respect in rural parts of the state, and he was able to win reelection against sitting AG and Mitch McConnell protege, African-American Daniel Cameron. McConnell's popularity in the state had waned and Cameron's skin color didn't help.

Beshear has managed to win 3 times (barely) in an increasingly conservative state by being plain spoken and addressing real world issues. Just as most Kentucky high school basketball heroes' skills fail to enable the transition to the next level (Reed Sheppard being a recent notable exception), I fear Beshear’s record and political skill won't be enough at the next level. He also has practically zero foreign policy and military background.
Click to expand...
I don't disagree with anything you said, but Jimmy Carter won the nomination and election in 1976 despite being a virtual unknown nationally when he started his campaign. Carter's entire political experience when he ran for POTUS was four years as an obscure state senator in Georgia, a failed run for governor in 1966, and a successful run for governor in 1970, where he served a single obscure term. Virtually no one nationally had heard of him when he announced his candidacy for the 1976 Democratic nomination. He won in large part because he turned out to be the perfect candidate for his time - in the aftermath of Watergate he had no connection to Washington nor was he seen as a party insider, and he ran as an outsider who was untainted by DC scandals, said he would never lie to the American people (as LBJ and Nixon had), and would be a fresh face on the national scene. He ran as much on his personal character and integrity as he did on the issues, which would also seem to be a strength of Beshear. He also had no foreign-policy experience at all, although he had served in the military in the Navy and had graduated from the Naval Academy.

Admittedly, Carter's single unhappy term as POTUS may only add to your point, but I do think that the liabilities you mentioned for Beshear may not hurt him at all, and his status as a DC outsider may well help him in 2028, especially after what will no doubt be four exhausting and chaotic years of Dear Leader's authoritarian rule.
 
Mulberry Heel said:
I don't disagree with anything you said, but Jimmy Carter won the nomination and election in 1976 despite being a virtual unknown nationally when he started his campaign. Carter's entire political experience when he ran for POTUS was four years as an obscure state senator in Georgia, a failed run for governor in 1966, and a successful run for governor in 1970, where he served a single obscure term. Virtually no one nationally had heard of him when he announced his candidacy for the 1976 Democratic nomination. He won in large part because he turned out to be the perfect candidate for his time - in the aftermath of Watergate he had no connection to Washington nor was he seen as a party insider, and he ran as an outsider who was untainted by DC scandals, said he would never lie to the American people (as LBJ and Nixon had), and would be a fresh face on the national scene. He ran as much on his personal character and integrity as he did on the issues, which would also seem to be a strength of Beshear. He also had no foreign-policy experience at all, although he had served in the military in the Navy and had graduated from the Naval Academy.

Admittedly, Carter's single unhappy term as POTUS may only add to your point, but I do think that the liabilities you mentioned for Beshear may not hurt him at all, and his status as a DC outsider may well help him in 2028, especially after four exhausting and chaotic years of Dear Leader.
Click to expand...
All good points, but I think we can throw 20th century political precedents out the window. The electorate is no longer tethered to reality, foreign countries have successfully influenced our elections, AI will have an unpredictable impact, who knows if any rules will still apply. I like the way Newsom is fighting back, but California will be defined as a failed communist experiment now being run by MS-13. If we could use AI to make Gavin Beshear or Andy Newsom the candidate, then maybe....
 
BillOfRights said:
All good points, but I think we can throw 20th century political precedents out the window. The electorate is no longer tethered to reality, foreign countries have successfully influenced our elections, AI will have an unpredictable impact, who knows if any rules will still apply. I like the way Newsom is fighting back, but California will be defined as a failed communist experiment now being run by MS-13. If we could use AI to make Gavin Beshear or Andy Newsom the candidate, then maybe....
Click to expand...
I get what you're saying, but if all of that proves to be true in future elections then it is very likely that any Democratic candidacy is hopeless and no Democrat will be able to win future presidential elections without some kind of freak miracle or event. In which case there's not much need to even care about future elections as all Democratic candidacies will be hopeless and doomed to failure from the beginning because the electorate and political system and money and AI will all be so rigged against them that their candidacies will be hopeless. I know that liberals are justifiably deeply cynical and pessimistic right now, but if the argument is going to be that no Democrat can win then we're all screwed and perhaps just need to move on and focus on happier aspects of our personal lives. And you may well be correct - I could easily see Republicans rigging or overturning future elections and Democrats may not have a chance going forward - but I would like to think there is still some light at the end of this nightmare tunnel we're currently traveling through.
 
Mulberry Heel said:
I get what you're saying, but if all of that proves to be true in future elections then it is very likely that any Democratic candidacy is hopeless and no Democrat will be able to win future presidential elections without some kind of freak miracle or event. In which case there's not much need to even care about future elections as all Democratic candidacies will be hopeless and doomed to failure from the beginning because the electorate and political system and money and AI will all be so rigged against them that their candidacies will be hopeless. I know that liberals are justifiably deeply cynical and pessimistic right now, but if the argument is going to be that no Democrat can win then we're all screwed and perhaps just need to move on and focus on happier aspects of our personal lives. And you may well be correct - I could easily see Republicans rigging or overturning future elections and Democrats may not have a chance going forward - but I would like to think there is still some light at the end of this nightmare tunnel we're currently traveling through.
Click to expand...
I just think it's gonna take something different to win in the current environment, and I don't know what it is. Some combination of Beshear, Newsom, Mark Cuban, and Jesus Christ, although I doubt any of them could win as a standalone candidate.
 
BillOfRights said:
I just think it's gonna take something different to win in the current environment, and I don't know what it is. Some combination of Beshear, Newsom, Mark Cuban, and Jesus Christ, although I doubt any of them could win as a standalone candidate.
Click to expand...
Beshear likely has as good a chance as anyone, but certainly somebody else not even as prominent as he is could come from nowhere to get the nomination as Carter did in 76. Given the current political environment, I wonder if a celebrity would have more chance of winning than a traditional pol, although I have my doubts as how effectively they would govern. One sign that we're living in an idiocracy is that so many people seem to prefer celebrities to experienced politicians now.
 
Bobfripp said:
Please explain.
Click to expand...
Your premise is that Democrats ran on issues of identity politics. That is how they were framed by the Republicans when in fact they ran on plenty of dinner table, working class issues. They just got drowned out because the media repeated the nonsense about school children getting sex change operation#s without parental consent and Haitians eating people pets in Ohio or defunding the police.
 
farce© said:
Your premise is that Democrats ran on issues of identity politics. That is how they were framed by the Republicans when in fact they ran on plenty of dinner table, working class issues. They just got drowned out because the media repeated the nonsense about school children getting sex change operation#s without parental consent and Haitians eating people pets in Ohio or defunding the police.
Click to expand...
Point taken. But how to flip the narrative to fit the mold? It shouldn’t be a negative to speak out on behalf of the disenfranchised, until it is.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top