Fewer moderates in Dem field
Those interested in the race for Democratic nominee for president will have to sit through only one debate this time around as the field of debaters has been narrowed to 10. Those interested in hearing moderate views, however, will be left wanting.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the front-runner since entering the race in April, is among the 10 who made the cut for the Sept. 12 debate in Houston. Biden is considered a moderate Democrat, although his recent desertion of his decades-long support for keeping federal money from being used for abortions and his pledge to eliminate fossil fuels makes it harder to differentiate him from the rest of the pack.
Biden, however, isn't nearly as extreme as Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who are driving the party further left all the time and who will flank Biden on the debate stage next week. Sanders and Warren support Medicare for All and
want to turn “greedy” corporate America on its head. Sanders also has proposed a $16 trillion energy/climate plan, wants to forgive $1.6 trillion in student debt, and last week proposed canceling $81 billion in U.S. medical debt.
Sanders and Warren also are gaining ground on Biden. A recent Quinnipiac poll had Biden at 32% support among Democratic voters, followed by Warren at 19% and Sanders at 15%. In the most recent Real Clear Politics polling averages, Biden was at 28.9%, Sanders at 17.1 and Warren at 16.5.
In an Aug. 29 story, Politico quoted the CEO of a giant bank who said bankers fear an “anti-Wall Street crusader” winning nomination. The nominee “can't be Warren and it can't be Sanders,” the banker said. “It has to be someone centrist and someone who can win.”
But the centrists in the field are being winnowed out. Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper recently left the race to run for Senate. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock didn't make the cut for Houston, nor did former Maryland U.S. Rep. John Delaney, Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado or Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio. These candidates have been voices of reason on such policy ideas as Medicare for All and free health care for undocumented immigrants.
But Delaney and others mentioned here didn't meet the polling and fundraising requirements for debate No. 3 that were set by the Democratic National Committee — at least 2 percent support in at least four recent DNC-approved polls, and 130,000 donors.
Joining Biden, Sanders and Warren next week will be Pete Buttigieg, Andrew Yang, Beto O'Rourke, Julian Castro, and Sens. Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar. Klobuchar has centrist leanings — The Wall Street Journal deadpanned that she's “a liberal who understands the need for a private economy” — but slowing the progressive freight train may take the performance of a lifetime.