AND NOW FOR 2020
Readers weigh presidential picks
Re: “Please, Bernie and Elizabeth, don’t do it,” Nov. 13 commentary
To the Honorable Gov. John Hickenlooper:
Regarding the Ann Mcfeatters plea to Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, you fit our 2020 presidential needs: Smart; ethical; business savvy, forward-focused; strong, but adaptable; a geologist by trade, reasonable about the environment; an even temperament; will work toward needed compromise; and a person who others will put faith in and follow.
I hope you are listening and will step up. We know that this is a lot to ask. You have considered the implications of being America’s president. You take leading seriously. You anticipate the results of your actions. You are tested. Please run for president. You are the reasonable, moderate person who can lead others and work for positive, realistic change.
Many of us will back you. How tough this will be we can’t ever imagine. But we can do it. Make America a positive leader again. Pat Sullivan, Erie
Ann Mcfeatters’ column is right on! Politicians of any stripe all seem to have an abundance of ego, and feel that they alone are the best qualified to take on society’s problems and solve them.
I’m sure that those in the left wing of the Democratic Party are thrilled to have either Bernie Sanders (who actually isn’t in the Democratic Party, but is self-identified as an independent democratic socialist) or Elizabeth Warren as possible nominees for president in 2020.
What they seem to forget, or ignore, is that no one can win the presidency with the votes of party faithful alone.
In many of the recent elections, it was the Democrats espousing the moderate aspects of the Democratic Party’s past platforms that carried the day, especially those in traditionally Republican areas; witness the loss of the charismatic Beto O’rourke in Texas.
In Colorado, and in many other states, the winner of any position had to gain the votes of a significant percentage, if not a majority, of registered independents.
If the Democratic Party has a candidate for president in 2020 that espouses the left wing’s tax increasing, pie-in-the-sky, feel-good promises, they aren’t likely to capture enough votes from independents to be successful, which means another four years of Donald Trump.
I suspect, and hope, that they would like that even less than a moderate Democrat winning. Gary Teegarden, Erie
Now that the midterms are over I’m finally glad the TV can get back to regular shows instead of constantly being bombarded by political ads. No, wait, on the front page of The Denver Post they’re already talking about the 2020 elections and which Democrat will challenge Sen. Cory Gardner. I give up. Leroy M. Martinez, Denver
Because of the convincing way Colorado voters rejected the Trump agenda in the mid-term election, I expect that Sen. Cory Gardner will start a concerted effort to conceal how much he has supported Trump during the past two years.
A recent study by statistician Nate Silver showed that Sen. Gardner voted with Trump much more than one would have expected from the level of support given Trump by Colorado voters in 2016.
He’s been dependably in Trump’s camp in our state that just voted solidly against Trump-supporting candidates. Silver’s analysis exposes him for representing his constituents worse than any other U.S. senator represented theirs.
Gardner can run, but he cannot hide from his record of voting with Trump 91.1 percent of the time in a state that just solidly rejected that point of view.
Colorado voters will remember that in 2020 regardless of how much he tries to conceal it. Bob Kropfli, Golden