DEMOCRATS EYE 2020
Les démocrates visent 2020
De la même manière que le président actuel, Donald Trump a, dès le lendemain de son élection, repris les meetings aux quatre coins des Etats-Unis, le camp démocrate commence à s’organiser pour 2020. Quelles stratégies mettre en place pour obtenir une majorité dans son propre camp ? Qui sont les candidats pressentis à la primaire ? On commence déjà à voir se profiler quelques figures avec lesquelles il faudra compter !
MANCHESTER, N.H. — A vast array of Democratic leaders, divided by generations but uniformly emboldened by President Donald Trump’s perceived vulnerability, have begun taking palpable steps toward seeking the White House in an election that is still 3 1/2 years away.
2. A prominent member of that group, former Vice President Joe Biden, may have sounded a starting gun for the 2020 race last month as he delivered a tough-love manifesto for the party’s future to a crowd of Democrats here. Biden called on Dem- ocrats to deliver an optimistic message aimed at the needs of struggling Americans and to emphasize issues like health care and education, which he described as largely sidelined in the last election. “I’m absolutely positive they want to be with us,” he said of people in economic distress. “We have to prove, again, we understand that hopelessness.”
3. Biden said he was prepared to storm the country to help revive the party, and boasted of his comfort in wooing areas that voted for Trump. “Wherever you want, just let me know, because it’s important,” he said.
WHO WILL RUN?
4. His appearance in New Hampshire brought into the open some of the maneuvering among Democrats that has already gone on for months behind the scenes. The list of candidates may ultimately be the largest since 1976, when Democrats lined up after Watergate for a nomination seen as offering a short path to the White House.
5. In a largely leaderless party, two distinct groups are emerging, defined mostly by age and national stature. On one side are three potential candidates approaching celebrity status who would all be older than 70 on Election Day: Biden, and Sens.
Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
6. All three are fiery speakers inclined toward economic populism, and they have urged the Democratic Party to shift in that direction since its defeat in November.
7. Competing against the Democrats’ senior cohort is a large and relatively shapeless set of younger candidates who span the ideological spectrum: governors, senators, mayors, wealthy executives and even members of the House. They are animated by the president’s turbulent debut and the recent history, from President Barack Obama’s victory in 2008 to Trump’s last year, of upstart candidates’ catching fire.
8. In the Senate alone, as much as a quarter of the Democrats’ 48-member caucus are thought to be giving at least a measure of consideration to the 2020 race, among them Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Kamala Harris of California. All are closer to 40 than 80.
9. Trump’s lack of conventional qualifications for the presidency may also draw outside-the-box challengers who see him as having opened a range of unconven- tional paths. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., a 38-year-old veteran of the Iraq War who has been a pointed critic of Trump, has not ruled out running in private conversations. High-profile city executives, like Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, 46, and Mayor Mitch Landrieu of New Orleans, 56, may also consider the race.
THE ELDERS
10. For now, however, it is the party’s septuagenarian trio that is casting the longest shadow over 2020, and all three have taken steps to extend or expand their leadership status in the party. Biden’s appearance in New Hampshire was bathed in allusions to the presidency. While Sanders is mistrusted by much of the Democratic establishment, including many leading donors, he retains a huge political network, and his advisers view him as a favorite for the nomination. His decision on whether to run will shape the Democratic race, most notably for candidates like Warren, who shares much of his political base.
Two distinct groups are emerging.
THE YOUNG GUNS
11. While some Democrats worry about running yet another candidate of Trump’s generation for president, Susie Tompkins Buell, a prominent Democratic donor, said in an interview that 2020 might be too soon for some of the party’s biggest talents. Younger Democratic hopefuls are unlikely to share Buell’s reservations. In the Senate, Booker, Gillibrand and Klobuchar have been reaching out to national donors and planning travel beyond their home states.
12. Booker, who has long cultivated a donor network on the West Coast, visited Los Angeles in April to raise money and collect an award from the Humane Society. Steve Westly, a former eBay executive and major fundraiser for the Obama and Clinton campaigns, said Booker had privately indicated that he was open to a 2020 campaign. “He’s saying: Look, we’re all doing our best to sort out what the Trump presidency means and push back in the appropriate way,” Westly said.