Gov. Steve Bullock, after missing out on June Democratic debate, qualifies for July face-off

[Celerity]

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gov-steve-bullock-missing-june-democratic-debate-qualifies/story?id=63785068

Despite missing the cutoff for the first Democratic debate scheduled for later this month, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock might get a shot at the second round of debates in July, the Democratic National Committee confirmed Tuesday.

An Iowa poll conducted by CBS News and YouGov qualified the governor for the debate under the DNC's rules, a DNC spokesperson told ABC News.

POLITICO first reported the governor's qualification, which was immediately celebrated by Bullock's team.

"As the only candidate who has won a Trump state, we are excited that Gov. Steve Bullock’s important voice will be on the stage for the second debate," Bullock's campaign manager Jenn Ridder said in a statement.

The Montana governor's qualification for the debate does not, however, guarantee Bullock's place on the stage -- a nuance triggered by the DNC's participant cap for the debates, which stands at only 20 candidates. Bullock is the 21st Democratic candidate to qualify for the July debate in Detroit, which means tie-breaker rules outlined by the DNC are expected to come into play to decide which of the candidates actually take the stage.

snip



Steve Bullock makes other plans for debate night

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/18/bullock-makes-debate-night-plans-1366752

Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, after failing to qualify for the first Democratic presidential debates, announced on Tuesday morning that he would be participating in locally televised town halls in Iowa and New Hampshire on the days of the dueling events next week.

Bullock will appear June 26 on Iowa’s WHO-TV with Dave Price, and June 27 on New Hampshire’s WMUR with Adam Sexton. The appearances will be televised ahead of the debates in Miami rather than concurrently.

Bullock and his campaign have been hustling to turn his debate-outcast status into an advantage, with a round of free media coverage prompted by his willingness to attack the Democratic National Committee for its rules on polling and donor thresholds.

“DNC is saying Governor Bullock doesn’t qualify for the debates. That’s horses**t,” one Montana voter said in a campaign web ad (see below) released last Friday.

Bullock did not enter the race until mid-May and was virtually unknown nationally, making it difficult to reach 1 percent in three qualifying polls or collect 65,000 donors. Twenty other Democrats met the threshold and will appear in the debates.

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One thing I am puzzled on is why he is (other than the almost 90 year old fringe candidate Gravel) the only one of the twenty-four 2020 Democratic candidates to NOT be attending Rep. Jim Clyburn's SC Fish Fry. Seems like a mistake to miss that. I just hope, if he doesn't see a path to the nomination (or being picked as a VP) that he re-considers and runs for the Senate against Daines in Montana. (Yes, I say that every time I post about him, because he and Stacey Abrams are the two biggest refusals to run for the Senate so far, as both are probably the only candidates who can flip MT and GA to Blue. I might add Susan Rice in Maine to that list, as the repugnant Susan Collins was still polling pretty high (62% approval several months back) and I just do not know if anyone other than Rice has the statute and buzz needed to take her arse out. Hopefully that drastically all changes.

[hlthe2b]

1. Good for him... Now if we can just bump a select few from the June debates

[Celerity]

4. my cut down list

Alphabetically, and this does not include several I would never support in the primaries, but are too high in the polls atm)

14

Michael Bennet
Bill de Blasio
Julián Castro
John Delaney
Tulsi Gabbard
Kirsten Gillibrand
Mike Gravel
John Hickenlooper (his complete pro-fracking stance and his red-baiting make him a no-go for me)
Wayne Messam
Seth Moulton
Tim Ryan
Eric Swalwell
Marianne Williamson
Andrew Yang

leaving 10

Joe Biden
Cory Booker
Steve Bullock (unless he stays at only 1 or 2 %)
Pete Buttigieg
Kamala Harris
Jay Inslee
Amy Klobuchar
Beto O'Rourke
Bernie Sanders
Elizabeth Warren


Only 3 of those 10 would I never support in the primaries, JB, AK (probably, not nearly as set against her as the other 2, still could be persuaded), and BS.

[hlthe2b]

5. Yes. Mine would be similar.

[Sherman A1]

7. Mine would be very different but likely include

Buttigieg

[Celerity]

8. Pete is polling around 8% in multiple national polls and is at 14% (almost 2nd place)

in Iowa, so that alone makes saying he needs to get cut out not valid at all.

[Sherman A1]

9. It is still very, very early

Lots can happen. I prefer candidates that have their plans and policies available before they announce they are running.

[Celerity]

12. Buttigieg has laid out plenty of eloquent and detailed policy already and had a major foreign policy

rollout recently.

Not at Warren level (she is in my top 3, along with Harris, and is by far the most detailed) but still more than the majority of other candidates.

Pete: America & the World: National Security for a New Era -Video of his Foreign Policy speech

The program starts at 24:00. Pete comes on at 35:45

Pete Buttigieg just gave his first foreign policy speech. He offered 5 clear proposals.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/6/11/18661329/pete-buttigieg-foreign-policy-speech-indiana-university

Pete Buttigieg is the first Democratic presidential candidate to actually articulate foreign policy proposals beyond general themes and ideas.

In a high-profile address on Tuesday at Indiana University, the South Bend mayor used the opportunity to lay out his worldview, hewing closely to progressive tentpoles like combating climate change, challenging authoritarianism, and renewing America’s economy. That put him in the same company as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who have released like-minded visions.

What separated Buttigieg from that crowd, though, is that he put some meat on the conceptual progressive skeleton. Specifically, he said he would:

“Repeal and replace” the 2001 congressional authorization that the US military still uses to this day to fight terrorism and engage in foreign wars around the world

Recommit the US to the Iran nuclear deal

Withhold some US taxpayer money from Israel if it annexes parts of the West Bank

Rejoin the Paris climate accord

Increase investment in renewable technologies to reverse environmental degradation

“Not only must America do this in order to prosper,” Buttigieg told the friendly crowd, “but the world also needs America to do these things.”

snip



Buttigieg On The Issues



Democracy

Pete believes in our democratic republic, but knows that our government has not been nearly democratic or accountable enough. Too many communities have been denied their voice in the political process while our democracy has been captured by special interests and those with the greatest economic power.

Voting Rights

Democracy means protecting voting rights so every eligible voter has a voice.

The American quest to build a more perfect union starts with a democracy that includes every citizen. Voters must not be denied their rights because of badly run elections or because some people on one side think it’s better if fewer eligible voters are able to vote. The federal government has a responsibility to prevent voter suppression and expand voting rights to give us all a voice in our democracy.

ADDITIONAL POLICIES

Introduce automatic voter registration
Expand early voting
Restore voting rights for the formerly incarcerated
Institute voting by mail
Make Election Day a holiday
Protect birthright citizenship
Provide access for people with disabilities
Protect voting rights on tribal lands
Ensure an accurate and depoliticized Census count
Special Interests
Democracy means that dollars shouldn’t be allowed to drown out the will of the people.


KEY POLICY
Small-donor matching system for federal elections

Our democracy should work for the interests of ordinary Americans, not corporations and special interests. We need to have a strong public financing system that provides matching funds to small donations so that average citizens can run for office, not just those with access to big donors.

We also need to create common-sense campaign finance rules that clearly establish that corporations do not have the same political rights as people, and dollars cannot outvote human beings. If necessary, we should do this by constitutional amendment. Our democracy is at stake, and the reason the amendment system was created is to fix problems like this.

ADDITIONAL POLICIES

Strengthen the Federal Election Commission
Overturn Citizens United and Buckley v. Valeo, if necessary by constitutional amendment
Gerrymandering
Democracy means ensuring that our districts can’t be drawn by politicians seeking to choose their voters.


KEY POLICY
Establish independent, statewide redistricting commissions

Voters should choose their representatives and be able to hold them accountable. But as long as politicians are drawing the lines of their districts, they will pick and choose voters to their own partisan advantage. We need to have independent, statewide redistricting commissions that don't favor one party over the other. Our representatives deserve to be reelected for serving their communities well, not because they’re able to select whom they represent.


KEY POLICY
Political Representation

Democracy means that U.S. citizens from Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico deserve political representation. True political representation for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico
The problems faced by people living in D.C. and Puerto Rico are no less important than the problems faced by U.S. citizens in our 50 states. Americans in the District of Columbia are entitled to a House member with voting power and two Senators. Puerto Rico should have immediate representation in the Electoral College, and if the people of Puerto Rico want statehood, that should be welcomed by the United States. We saw the direct consequences of Puerto Rico’s disenfranchisement with the Trump Administration's disastrous denial of aid after Hurricane Maria -- every citizen deserves a full voice.

Electoral College
Democracy means that nothing should be allowed to overrule the vote of the American people when it comes to choosing our nation’s leader.

KEY POLICY
A national popular vote to replace the Electoral College

It’s simple: the candidate who gets the most votes should win. States don’t vote, people vote, and everyone’s vote should count exactly the same. The Electoral College has to go.

The best route to removing the Electoral College would be a constitutional amendment. Recognizing that this cannot be done overnight, Pete supports the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact to ensure the president is chosen by the American people while we seek constitutional reform.

Judicial System
Democracy means depoliticizing our judicial system.

KEY POLICY
Depoliticize the Supreme Court

We need to reform the Supreme Court in a way that will strengthen its independence and restore the American people’s trust in it as a check to the Presidency and the Congress. One promising idea is to restructure the Court so that ten members are confirmed in the normal political fashion, with the other five promoted from the lower courts by unanimous agreement of the other ten. Others have proposed implementing term limits. As president, Pete will create a bipartisan reform commission for the purpose of recommending structural improvements to protect the Supreme Court from further politicization.

National Service
Democracy means more shared experiences in the service of our country.

Expand opportunities for national service
We need to grow our national service programs to give more opportunities for young Americans to serve. Service provides a deeper sense of community, tackles critical national and global challenges, and can help heal our divided nation.

When Pete was a Navy Reserve Officer, he learned to trust and collaborate with women and men from radically different backgrounds -- including different races, religions, and political leanings. Right now, we turn away hundreds of thousands of young people who volunteer to serve. Military service, Peace Corps service, and domestic service-year opportunities through efforts like AmeriCorps should be expanded until service becomes a universal expectation for every American youth.

Bringing together people of different backgrounds in pursuit of a common shared purpose -- from climate adaptation to supporting disinvested American communities and neighborhoods -- is America at its best.

snip

More detail on the following policy areas at the link above:





snip



There also has lots of topics up here


Hear Pete Speak

https://hearpetespeak.com/

A catalogue of Pete Buttigieg’s responses sourced from publicly-available interviews.

[Sherman A1]

13. Indeed

https://www.yang2020.com/policies/

[Celerity]

14. on healthcare, it seems he wants to go straight to M4A with no public option for transition

That is going to be a really hard sell.

In fact (and this is so discouraging for me to admit), I see almsot no path to a public option. The same forces that aligned to smash it back in the ACA's formulative days (and almost took out the ACA itself, with a massive hundred-plus million dollar push the last year or so) have vowed to do the same to ANY public option plan.

The president of the biggest insurance industry groups against it (Dan Hilferty, the CEO of Indepence Blue Cross, his group is America's Health Inusrance Plans aka AHIP) was one of Biden's co-hosts at his very first fundraiser.

Biden has already switched from a Medicare-based public option to now saying he wants it to be Medicaid-based. Medicaid's provider-reimbursement rates are far below either Medicare or private, for profit health insurance rates, which leads to many physicians refusing to take it. The doctors and nurses and hospitals will unite to strenuously oppose a Medicaid-based model, so the public option's failure is probably already baked into the cake, unless we are talking about a massive overhaul of the entire Medicaid-model itself. Also, at a mass socio-psychological level, Medicaid carries a social stigma that will cause millions of voters to start out from a negative philosophical stance towards it expansion (especially those coveted suburban and rural moderate middle class swing voters, and even more so, those types who dwell in the crucial Midwest, make-it-or-break it swing states).

[Sherman A1]

15. Not from my understanding

Yang wants to transition via a public option or but in proposal which will move the process along to Medicare for all.

[Celerity]

16. ok, but he does seem a bit ambiguous in this interview, and he (Yang) did remove the public

option from his website.

Here is the previous version of his website (taken from the video)



and now the present version (via his website, whose link you gave me above)





The interviewer is a Medicare For All purist, who wants to end all private health insurance, so there is that to be forewarned about.

Andrew Yang on Healthcare: Does He Support Medicare For All or a Public Option?

[Sherman A1]

18. Again from my understanding and having seen videos of his discussion on the topic

He wants to add the public option as the transition to Medicare for all, essentially letting the then changed market take the customers to the new system. Realistically there will have to be a transition period no matter who is elected or what version of it comes into place. There are a lot of people who work in the health insurance system we now have and we just can not toss them out of work at the end of a given week. This as you are aware is a complicated issue that not only involves our health care but also a significant segment of the economy. It will take time to adjust.

[thesquanderer]

2. Even if he had met the threshold, he might well have ranked last in some way...

...meaning he still wouldn't have been in the top twenty, and still not in the debates. Once there were 21, one who "qualified" would be knocked out regardless. Likely him, I bet, since he'd be so close to being disqualified anyway. Someone has to be last...

[Celerity]

6. not if he starts to gain more though, it's still early days

He would make a great POTUS, he is the only one of all 24 who has been elected (and not just once) statewide in a Red State, he has years of executive experience, he is very charismatic, and he has a long history of bending Rethug legislatures to his will.

[Funtatlaguy]

3. I've heard him interviewed a few times. Sharp guy.

[mtnsnake]

10. I predict Bullock will become one of the more pleasant surprises of the campaign

and possibly challenge some of the front runners by Fall.

[Jose Garcia]

11. He waited too long to begin his campaign

[Celerity]

17. he didn't have much of a choice, Montana's legislature meets for a very short time every odd year

The Montana Constitution dictates that the legislature meet in regular session for no longer than 90 days in each odd-numbered year.

He would have had to semi-abandon his duties as it was only in session from January 7th, 2019 to April 29th, 2019.

https://leg.mt.gov/content/sessions/66th/2019sessioncalendar4-19.pdf

Bullock announced 2 weeks after it ended.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/14/politics/steve-bullock-president-2020/index.html

[JI7]

19. not really. the ground game is more important than day by day polls

this is why i think Beto O'Rourke still has a good chance .

and one reason i can see Biden not doing well is not because of the gaffes or anything like that but just his lack of interest in campaigning and the usual work of competitive campaigns.