The 2020 Democratic Field Narrows

Following the results of the South Carolina Primary, in a period slightly over 24 hours, no less than THREE Democratic contenders have quit the race.

In a seemingly slow burn of  announcements, California businessman Tom Steyer, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar made their announcements in that order, that they were “suspending” their campaigns to be the Democratic Party’s Presidential nominee.

There are now only three contestants remaining on that island: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. While Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard technically remains in the race, she has garnered very little popular vote support, and won no delegates.

Tom Steyer, who was unashamedly the solitary candidate of the entire lot of Democratic contenders to support reparations for Blacks, who as a group have categorically continued suffering the effects of racism long after the Civil War ended, was the first to go in what appeared to start out as a flurry of announcements. His supporters, however, remained enthusiastic, as did he, as he began dancing with the entertainer/rapper on stage.

Next, Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay candidate of any Presidential Primary, and the only United States military veteran of the entire lot of candidates, made an unannounced diversion of his campaign’s private jet from their scheduled stop, to South Bend International Airport, Indiana, where he made official the announcement of his resignation. Buttigieg’s husband Chasten, made introductory remarks to the assembled supporters.

Then, Amy Klobuchar announced that she too, was hanging up her spurs. She made her resignation announcement in much more ideal conditions than when she initiated her campaign however, when she stood outdoors in a Minnesota snow storm for over an hour to stake the claim of her candidacy in significantly less-than-ideal condition. Klobuchar, who frequently boasted of her mid-West moderate bona fides during debates, is the only one of the 3 who has endorsed any candidate, and tossed her support to Biden.

South Carolina’s first-in-the-South primary status was undoubtedly a turning point for all three candidates, who walked away from the Palmetto State empty-handed. Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, both respectively took all the delegate cake, with 39 for Biden, while Sanders got the crumbs with 15. Biden also won a majority of support in all 46 counties, and won 261,897 Popular Votes to Bernie’s 106,362. Expressed as a percentage, Biden won 48.66%, while Sanders won 19.76% of 538,259 votes cast.

Biden’s win, is for many establishment Democrats, a cause for celebration, who have staunchly opposed Sanders agenda which they castigate as either “radical,” or “socialist,” and are actively and openly working diligently to quash his campaign’s success, which he describes as a “a grassroots movement… [which is] gonna’ sweep this country.”

In the history of American politics, there has rarely been such intra-party divisiveness. While the 2016 Trump campaign was a source of significant disgust among many, more were shocked when he became the party’s nominee, and many more were shocked to see him win the White House. Bernie’s campaign is shaping up similarly among long-time Democratic political insiders.

Republicans, who have no such thing as “superdelegates” like Democrats – party “insiders” who are elected office-holders, and other high-ranking officials, who can put a check on the party’s nominee – were aghast that Trump became the GOP’s nominee in 2016.

In a somewhat similar fashion this election cycle, some Democrats are hand-wringing that Bernie could become the party’s 2020 nominee, and are actively working to stop his path toward the nomination, despite the fact of his overwhelming grass-roots support in the 2016, election, and this year, as well.

In what was to become a stinging blow to his campaign efforts, to his supporters, and to the party, it was discovered that long before she clinched the party’s nomination – only four months after her candidacy announcement, and well over a year before she became the nominee – Hillary had been in control of the party, having had it handed over to her by DNC Party Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in a quid pro quo for fund-raising because of its indebtedness. The revelation that she and other DNC officials were also partisans in an allegedly-non-partisan role was equally indicting of corrupt insider practices, though not illegal.

However, contrary to almost every poll – the exceedingly, and overwhelmingly vast majority of all polls – Trump won the necessary number of Electoral College votes to win the Presidency. To say it was shocking, was an understatement of unparalleled proportion. His 304 Electoral College vote win was a squeaker, even though Hillary won the Popular vote by a similarly small margin 48.2% to 46.1%, and 227 Electoral College votes.

But, just as in the effort to become the party’s nominee, only delegates count – Popular Votes are useless.