And they’re off!

THE HOLIDAYS weren’t even over before the 2020 election began. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Planned Parenthood) is the first Democrat to pull the lever, but there’s more to winning a race than bursting out of the gate.

If you’ve ever had the “pleasure” to run a 5K before, you might notice those runners who take off full sprint from the moment they hear the gun. You’ll usually pass them a couple hundred feet later either walking or on the side of the road. Pacing is important. And being first out doesn’t guarantee victory.

The Democratic senator will be quick to prove herself as the progressive champion, hoping to put some distance between her campaign and those of other likely contenders Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. It looks like any hopes for new blood in a Democratic presidential candidate continue to drop.

Sen. Warren has a history of picking fights with the president, but she can ask her counterpart Marco Rubio how he fared doing the same in 2016. Want to impress American voters? Put down Twitter and get with the smart policymaking.

Speaking of policy, a glance at the senator’s short political career (she’s only been in office since 2012 and was in academia before that) shows little ability to work across the aisle and get legislation moved through either chamber.

But perhaps her biggest problem, the one that has us shaking our heads, is this continued thread of identity politics she somehow works herself into. Remember a few months ago when she released a DNA test showing she had a tiny piece of Native American ancestry? (As if that’s a rare thing among Americans.) But identity politics is a cancer to the election process. There’s nothing of less value in an election than demographic box-checking.

When looking for well-crafted policy, a candidate’s ancestors aren’t really that important to the process. If you’re a good candidate, be a good candidate. Don’t rely on DNA makeup to win over voters.

Over the next few months, the 2020 Democratic primary is going to escalate in terms of noise and socialism. Sen. Warren isn’t the right pick, and she’s probably not going to be the left pick, either. There’s not enough political experience, too many populist ideas, too heavy an emphasis on her cultural identity. But we doubt she’ll get that message until sometime in the summer of 2020, when the nomination goes to somebody else. Until then, brace yourself, Gentle Reader.