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After the Civil Rights Act of 64-65 the Progressive Democrats started to lose nationally, especially at the highest office, except for 4 years of Carter we had republican presidents from Nixon till Clinton in 92. With the loss of the ERA in the 70's progressives were on the wane and in full decline with Reagan. Only a few exceptions most Democrats were right leaning by 94 when the GOP took the House. We lost the narrative. Clinton ruled center-right effectively. As a progressive I love OAC, Bernie, Liz and Beto but I also understand the path is still not clear for Progressives. We want it all right now, but can we get it? Is it safer to vote for a Biden and move slower toward our goals or straight to Beto and hope enough new voters carry us over. What is clear is that another 4 years of Trump could ruin our nation-these are the stakes. Anybody that is confident that a progressive can beat Trump has it up on me, because it scares the crap outta me thinking about the chances. For those that think there is a war in the party over progressive vs center they are wrong, the fight is over who the base thinks can get the most votes and beat Trump, they will support any candidate, progressive or center-right, question is, can we get the young voters, the Latino and Black vote.

clarkatticus 7 Mar 1
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We are not ever going to win elections by trying to get back 3% of racist Trump voters.

Appeal to the 20-30% of progressive young people that have given up.

Another old white man.

Yeah.

That sounds like a winner.

Elections are won by 2 to 3% .I hear your voice, are you 100% sure 30% of the young vote will show up? They haven't yet, at least nation wide. My favorites in order are: Bernie, Liz, Kamala, Biden. I would vote for any Democrat candidate though, all would be a step forward. I'm just playing reality here. Bernie can get the young vote but has trouble with minorities, Liz has the most focused platform that I relate to but her argument might be too nuanced to play. Kamala has the best chance with California in her pocket, Biden is who he is. Klobuchar I like but is too middle of the road, Tulsi and Gillibrand have past politics that bother me. What do you guys think?

@clarkatticus So you think we should try to woo racist dtrumph voters?

@BufftonBeotch I don't think we can, at least not Trump base supporters. If we can get some to stay home like we did in Alabama that would be nice. A candidate like Kamala isn't going to attract them anyway. Bernie thinks he can attract some of them but I don't see how.

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I agree with your assessment. I'm scared shitless that the young progressives will alienate the moderates and that the old moderates will similarly alienate the progressives. I've seen too many wonderful candidates lose because the two forces tore the party apart -- Gene McCarthy, George McGovern, Hillary. I've taken a vow not to badmouth any Dem candidates. I hope others will do the same.

I completely agree. I think if Hillary had reached out and asked Bernie to be her VP, she would have easily won. (If memory serves, polling indicated such at the time also.) Maybe that was a nonstarter, maybe Bernie wouldn't have done that, etc., I don't know. But if we can't reach out to each other in our own party, how are we ever supposed to appeal to independents or anyone else?

I think if Biden ran for one term with a younger, more progressive VP--passing the baton, so to speak-- I don't see how they could lose. Maybe I'm naive. But we need some kind of strategy to tie together the moderate and progressive wings of the party to give something for both moderates and progressives to vote for. If we only give moderates something to vote for, or only progressives, we're going to lose again. Trump will win again, and easily.

@greyeyed123 many think Biden/Beto would be a good match, hard to say without proper polling.

McCarthy was a heartbreak. I was younger than and anti-war Democrats we're hard to find

@clarkatticus Not really. It was often referred to as a children's crusade. McCarthy had inspired a whole generation of young idealists, anti-war protesters, and even what we used to call hippies. The 1968 Democratic convention resulted in a soul-crushing defeat ("the whole world is watching" ). leading to Hubert Humphrey becoming the nominee, and the ultimate election of Richard "scumbag" Nixon. The protests tore the party apart. There were attempted reforms and George McGovern got the 1972 nomination but again the party was fractured and Scumbag Nixon again took an easy victory. So this is what scares me about the 2020 election. Those who don't learn from history are destined to repeat the same mistakes over and over. I'm not optimistic, but still hopeful.

@jerry99 McCarthy had no support from the Convention. Mayor Daly discovered that a Diners Club card would work as a convention pass and packed it with center leaning war Hawks. Riots in the street were suppressed by Chicago PD, it was a dumpster fire.

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