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America Is (Still) Serious About ‘President’ Pete Buttigieg
It would be totally ridiculous to describe the Iowa caucuses as anything other than a debacle for the Democratic party. And that's coming from me, a liberal, and a political scientist.
Most Americans don't know what the word "caucus" means in the first place, and the dictionary isn't much help.
In the simplest possible terms, this is always something of a "wonks only" affair, and to the extent average Americans were inclined to try and figure out, Monday night's abject buffoonery suggests they
He’s having his 15 minutes now, but it’s hard not to see this all as feeding into to Bernie’s momentum. Pete has no multi-racial support, no real staying power beyond early states, so this will likely only serve to hasten Biden’s demise.
Same could be said about Sanders’ support. His support is concentrated among young voters. He will not be the front-runner after Super Tuesday, and he won’t be the Democratic nominee. Brokered convention.
This all works to Bloomberg’s advantage ….. IMO. The race is going to be muddled going into Super Tuesday, with no clear winner and questions about electability on everyone’s mind. Iowa has 41 delegates, NH has 26 delegates……….Super Tuesday will be a contest for 1400 delegates.
The only saving grace about Iowa is the debacle happened early enough that by the time the general election comes it probably won’t matter in terms of getting votes. What will really matter is the trajectory of the economy at that time, and what scandals/problems weaknesses will come out about Trump and his opponent at that time. Will the Democrats be able to assemble a coalition big enough to offset an incumbent advantage? Will Trump be able to nuke his opponent?