Prez candidates should campaign beyond fan base

A handful of the 2020 Democratic candidates running for president — Pete Buttigieg, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar and Bernie Sanders — have crossed over the TV aisle to the bastion of conservative media, Fox News, to participate in town halls. Some, famously (looking at you, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris) have opted out. But Warren will show up on MSNBC or CNN on demand.

Rising star Buttigieg is the latest to appear on Fox. For a network Warren labeled a Trumpfriendly “hate-for-profit racket,” the gay mayor was treated fairly and well. He even ripped two Fox hosts, calling out Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham by name.

That takes some fortitude, but Buttigieg delivered his pushback without ranting. The assembled crowd was anything but hostile to “Mayor Pete,” who seemed to even impress Fox’s resident hard-nosed journalist Chris Wallace.

And Democratic presidential candidates — well, some of them anyway — wisely understand that the way forward includes all Americans, not just liberals. And not just conservatives.

Candidates are free to run their campaign however they see fit. For example, if they decide to skip taking their case directly to the voters of historically blue states in the upper Midwest, so be it. What could go wrong?

Being POTUS is probably the toughest job in the world. No matter what you do, someone is going to find fault. The president has to be the president of all of us — even those with whom they virulently disagree.

The president himself could benefit by a wee bit more inclusiveness, but again: Candidates, and sitting presidents, are generally going to “dance with who brung ya.”

The ridiculous size of the Democratic field — they seem to be taking a literal approach to having a “party” — indicates that they’re not sure which direction to take to challenge the behemoth that is the Trump presidency. But whoever emerges from this mob would be wise to remember that the way forward will be to live up to those famous calls for transparency, tolerance and inclusion. Conservatives have shown Buttigieg, Gillibrand, Klobuchar and Sanders that they’re willing to listen to what they have to say.

But candidates have to have the courage to say it to everyone, not just fawning fan bases.