As long as this country can elect a Barack Obama...

[LakeArenal]

I’m not giving up on it.

All the doom and gloom I hear on DU is not going to bring me down.

Our candidates are great. Those who compare this primary like the Republicans in 2016 are wrong. Republicans hated their own candidates. Ted Cruz was hated by everyone.

This time around all the Democratic candidates are loved. We will be happy with any of them. My concern is picking the one that can actually win.

With that we have to realize a smear tactic when we hear one. Don’t fall into the traps they set to trick us or dirty our candidates.

[Karadeniz]

1. Well said!❤❤❤❤❤

[Bettie]

2. And yet, the two most loathesome of the GOP candidates

were the "finalists" Cruz and Trump.

Says a lot about how filled with hate and devoid of ethics that party is.

[TwilightZone]

3. "Ted Cruz was hated by everyone."

His approval in TX was never lower than about 40% (and was at 51% among likely voters in October 2018, shortly before the election). Combined with the turnout issues Democrats have here in Texas and the consistent turnout on the right, it was always going to be an uphill battle for Beto.

It's mostly just a myth that won't die. It's, unfortunately, also used against Beto as some kind of negative, i.e. he couldn't even beat Cruz even though everyone hated him, etc.

https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/set/ted-cruz-favorability-likely-voters-october-2018

[LakeArenal]

4. I stand corrected.

However, I think I meant more of the fellow candidates hated him. But yes I did think everyone else did hate him.

[TwilightZone]

5. The other candidates, certainly, and the rest of the country outside TX.

Unfortunately, none of those people got a vote in TX.

[IronLionZion]

8. Cruz is a troll, he wants people to hate him

being divisive is his thing. He feeds off it. Trump just happened to do it better.

[The Mouth]

11. Well Said. EOM

[BarbD]

6. Our wonderful candidates also get a forum.

We should also remember Obama won on Hope and "Yes we can!"

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Absolutely. 100% with you. Thank you for posting positively, counteracting the trolls. . . . nt

[G_j]

9. Obama also won the popular vote

2x

[Lonestarblue]

10. In fair elections, Democrats win.

We have great candidates, and I like their messages. And more important, I think some independents and even some of the more moderate Republicans (those few whose brains haven’t been taken over by the evangelical belief that Trump is the returned Messiah) may react favorably to a message that we need to be looking to the future and what is needed to prepare for it instead of looking to a past that never was.

The potential Democratic voting group that we need to get and keep interested in voting are younger voters like the millennials. In the 2016 election, 69% of eligible baby boomers voted while only 49% of millennials did. Our candidates need to hold on my generation of boomers but also motivate younger voters that their future hangs on their vote—because it does. For example, if nothing is done about climate change, I most likely won’t suffer because I won’t be around anymore, but they will.

All the Democratic candidates need to get better at answering a question that will be thrown at them over and over, and that is the one on late-term abortion. Mayor Pete did a fairly good job with his response today on Morning Joe, but every candidate needs to be able to respond quickly without evasion that late-term babies are absolutely wanted but something terrible has gone wrong with the pregnancy. The question is, do you want an untrained politician telling you what medical care you can have or do you want a real doctor whose profession is the very protection of life?

[Hekate]

12. YES

[DirtEdonE]

13. "Republicans hated their own candidates."

And yet somehow the repubicans won the Senate in the midterms and that proved to be all they needed to continue their hostile takeover of the U.S. government.

Having control of the House is nice but they actually have to DO SOMETHING CONCRETE like maybe enforcing THE RULE OF LAW or IMPEACHMENT because these continuing statements and dates weeks in the future and all the rest of the bullshit ISN'T ACCOMPLISHING ANYTHING BUT TO GIVE THE REPUBICANS MORE TIME TO COMPLETE THEIR TAKEOVER.

[Heartstrings]

14. Absolutely!

We stand behind our candidates! Any one of them would be better than what is currently occupying the WH....

[Mr.Bill]

15. Regardless of which Democratic candidate wins the nomination.

when I look at the current slate of candidates I see the most qualified cabinet department heads in history.

[Stuart G]

16. Outstanding...Terrific Post. Yes, I didn't think Barack could be elected....K AND R.

And he was, ....TWICE...........AND...I was so glad that I was wrong. What a terrific President!!!!

[pnwmom]

17. Right. And we won the popular vote by 2.9 million votes last time, with only 80,000 in 3 states

between us and an Electoral college win.

So in Hillary we would have had our first woman President, too, if Comey hadn't made his asinine announcements, and the Russians hadn't interfered. We were so close! And we can do it again, only this time, increase our turnout even more.

[JI7]

18. without the Russian attack , Republican suppression (SC striking down voting rights) we would have

had a female president, a black female govenor in the deep south, liberal leaning Supreme Court etc.

even with the system which gives more power to right wing leaning areas they still need to cheat to win.

also, Trump and all the shit going on is a backlash to Obama and other progress we have made in this country.