THERE ARE BOTH PRO’S & CON’S TO RISING UP THE CAMPAIGN LADDER

…Elizabeth and Kamala were the two stand-outs in the Miami debates

It’s about time that women got the attention for running for president

I will be the first to agree that Elizabeth Warren won the debate on the first night of the Democratic Debate.  I also agree that in the 2^nd evening, Kamala Harris won the Democratic debate encounter with Joe Biden, and that she left Miami on a wave of positive reviews.

But they were both, one-shot nights, and there are as many questions now as there were before those particular one night events.

On the 2^nd night, Kamala made her point in her conversation about a focus on Joe Biden’s history of being against busing and his dealing with segregationist senators, a generation ago.  Those issues definitely started her to be Biden’s chief rival for the party’s nomination, right out of the gate.

But when some of the media took some polls on how the majority of the Democrats saw the debate, the results were somewhat different.

A recent survey by The Washington Post and ABC News offers a somewhat different perspective.  It said that, yes, the judgment by Democrats was that the senator from California was the standout performer in the 2^nd debate.  But it showed that she still is trailing Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and she is tied with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Biden was definitely hurt by what transpired in Miami. He might still have more overall support than any other Democrat, but his performance has prompted serious questions about whether he is fully ready for the campaign ahead.  Harris certainly gained something from her exchange with Biden, but it was not cost free to her.

The Biden and Harris camps have spent some of the past 14 days squabbling with one another about the real meaning of the Miami debate.

Kamala has made it clear that she believes busing should be available as a tool for local school districts dealing with issues of integration, but she does not favor busing mandated by the federal government.

But the Biden side now asks, why was she criticizing the former vice president for opposing his state’s mandatory busing back in the early 1970s when he was a young senator?

What was that attack about if the two currently share the same position on mandated busing?

The Harris camp has responded saying that the real issue isn’t just the busing, it is whether Biden really regrets “working with segregationists against busing in the 1970s.” Does he really have any regrets about the position he took back then?

Biden’s campaign continues to try and turn the war of words to the question of whether Harris has had consistent positions on this and other issues, as they try to portray her as being opportunistic rather than truly principled.  So, their attempts don't seem to be working.

Biden’s people point to her position on the question of eliminating private insurance as part of a Medicare for All health-care system.  Harris has been criticized for appearing to take both sides on that question at different times during the campaign.

During the debate, Kamala raised her hand in answer to a question about giving up private insurance, but there was confusion because of the wording of the question.  Her support for Medicare-for-All would mean that, eventually, private insurance could be eliminated.  But she does also say she would accept some supplemental type insurance under a government-run system.  Harris was pressed on that issue immediately after the Miami debate, and the Biden campaign eagerly sought to amplify the charge that she was changing her position.

Instead of dealing with that question, it prompted the Harris campaign to point to Biden’s recent shift on an aspect of the abortion debate.  The former vice president long supported the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of public funds for abortion, but now he says he would support the amendment’s repeal.

It is interesting that Biden told CNN’s Chris Cuomo, he was prepared to be a Democratic target, but was not prepared for Harris to be the one who hit him hardest.  “She knew my late son Beau,” he told Cuomo. “She knows me.”

From my point of view, I think that’s a good sign that shows that Joe Biden at this time, may not be prepared to be in this campaign debate.

When a campaigner is early on the front runner, they had better be prepared to take on attacks from any of the other campaign candidates.  Who else does any running candidate want to go after?  Of course, it’s the guy that’s running in the first position.  You don’t go after those candidates that are at your level or below.  You don’t get ahead by striking at equal or lower levels, you go after those that will raise you to a higher level, and that’s exactly what both Elizabeth & Kamala, did, and it worked!

Harris threw Joe off balance and he responded ineffectively, resulting in an exchange that has plunged the Democrats into a strange discussion about of all things, race and busing.  Who would have anticipated that?

If there was to be a discussion about race among the Democrats, it should have been focused on going after the president’s record and his rhetoric.  Instead, the Democrats are now in a fight within their party, and not against the ultimate target.

 

The race against the president has now been set-back by a few weeks because the conversation about race just highlights the changing terrain of the new Democratic Party. 

Biden argues that his overall civil rights record of 40 years is one of which he is justly proud.  His support is among older African Americans, including some Democratic politicians who rose from the civil rights movement.  Joe uses this as his testament to how he is viewed by many in the black community.  That’s a traditional view from the party, shared by many, but in reality, today that is old news.

Kamala Harris is the embodiment of the new generation of Democrats, especially those of color, who see the world differently than those of Biden’s generation.  This new group will judge him through a totally different lens.  To this new group, Joe’s position on busing in the 1970s was wrong, and it was on the wrong side of history, regardless of what people today think about the use of busing in schools.

The Miami debate was much more than a debate between Harris vs. Biden, and the other candidates are working to take advantage of what happened.  Elizabeth Warren continues to chart her own path, and she is tightly focused.  Sanders is as always, Sanders, and little has changed in his approach from 2016.  He is focused and still determined, and he’s ahead of Harris in the polls.

So, what about the other candidates?

Just like Harris, Julián Castro, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), he got a boost in attention at the debate after challenging former congressman Beto O’Rourke on immigration.  South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, has also shown he can raise big money and he hopes to turn that into even more support.

As I had stated, those below Biden are the other Democratic candidates that are mostly watching one another.  However, the two nights of debate did highlight the potential general election vulnerabilities for a party that has pushed much more left since Obama & Biden left the White House.

So, what did the Republican’s learn from these two nights of debate?

Trump and the GOP have seized on the positioning of the Democratic presidential field as revealed in the debate.  They now know that the majority of the candidates are in favor of providing health care to all, including undocumented immigrants at some level. 

They know that most of the candidates are in favor of decriminalization of immigrants coming to the southern border.  In addition, they know that there is a serious internal argument about the future of private or employer-based health insurance versus a government-run health-care system.

Soon, these same Democrats will be back on the debate stage in Detroit, and we, and the GOP will learn more about the Democrats and in what position the candidates will have settled into.  They will be answering more questions about those past issues, but mainly the future issues.

There will be some unfinished business from Miami with which to deal, especially if both Harris and Biden are again on-stage together.

But even if they aren’t on the same stage this time, most likely, both will find the lights much hotter in Detroit than they were in Miami.

That’s what happens when candidates moves up the ladder for possibly being the one chosen to go up against our current pathological president.

Copyright G. Ater 2019