Winnowing the Candidates – Three Must Flee

This is really getting ridiculous. I can’t cut Democratic presidential candidates fast enough before more take their place. Here’s a recent poll from Emerson, and I have lined-out in red the candidates I have already eliminated.

Now we have Montana Governor Steve Bullock and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio entering the race. I hate to do it, but it’s time to cut three. Here we go.

Before I start cutting, I was glad to see that my cutting of Mike Gravel was justified. How? He endorsed a Sanders/Gabbard ticket. Yuck.

But wait, isn’t Gravel running for President? Looks like he changed his mind a bit later.

That is a good segue to our first cut today. All those names Mike Gravel mentioned have been cut except for one. I donated $1 to get that one on the debate stage in June. I love his work in the House. He was my dark horse candidate to emerge from the back of the pack and grab the nomination. However, polling at 0%, House Rep. Eric Swalwell has not emerged and has to go. Maybe he can take over as Senator from California after Senator Kamala Harris finds herself in the White House as President or VP or in the Cabinet as AG.

Next up is Mayor Wayne Messam of Miramar, Florida who is also polling at 0%.  In his defense, Miramar is a 40% larger city than South Bend, IN where Mayor Pete presides. But the more important number is that Mayor Pete is polling at 8% and Mayor Wayne seems to be perpetually stuck at 0%. The sunsets are beautiful in Miramar.

And the sun has set on Mayor Wayne’s presidential run.

Our third candidate to be cut is not polling at 0%, but at a robust 1%. In fairness to him, he’s only been at it since October of 2017. That’s well over 18 months, and with about 18 months left to election day, he’s on pace to pull 2% of the vote. I love Andrew Yang’s Universal Basic Income plan, but I’m afraid that his campaign is running in quicksand. The yin of this Democratic presidential primary is that we will get a great candidate. The yang is that it will not be Andrew.

Let’s see how that field is looking now.

It is starting to appear a bit more manageable, until you add Bullock and de Blasio. More winnowing ahead!

All three candidates removed from the race today will receive written notice that they are out of the race along with a complimentary Perot-Stockdale ’92 coffee mug in honor of their fruitless efforts.