The Democrats’ never-ending story needs a new twist

Once upon a time, no one ever thought the young new guard would be shouldered aside by Biden and Sanders in the run up to the 2020 election. How times have changed, writes Phil Thomas

Third time lucky: Biden is attempting to claw the presidency away from Trump (Reuters)

On the wall of The Independent’s bureau in New York is a whiteboard on which are written more than two dozen names. All but three of them are crossed out: Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard.

The widest and most diverse field of Democratic candidates in history has now been whittled down to a fight between two familiar names. (Gabbard was yet to drop out at the time of writing but is not a serious contender.)

It’s taken a while. The sheer number of Democratic debates made one wonder at times whether the process would ever end. As quickly as a candidate threw in the towel and we were able to cross their name off with a marker, so, hydra-like, another hopeful would declare – Mike Bloomberg, Deval Patrick, Tom Steyer – and the whiteboard would reassert its power.

When, about a year ago, a (Republican-minded) former colleague told me that the Democrats would struggle to come up with any realistic candidates to take on Trump in 2020, I suspected he was overstating the case. After all, Barack Obama had appeared from nowhere in 2008, so it wasn’t impossible that another fringe figure would take his or her destiny in their hands and surge to the front.

It already looked back then like interesting characters such as senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand were preparing to run – as indeed they did. And who knew which little-known characters would throw their hat into the ring on top of that? An obscure former mayor from South Bend, Indiana, for instance.

My colleague and I mentioned Biden and Sanders, of course, but blithely predicted their time had probably passed and, whether they wanted to run or not, they would be swiftly and unceremoniously shouldered aside by a new guard.

Well, I guess you could say that shows how much I know. But in fact the way the Democratic primary has played out has taken many people by surprise. Pitting two elderly white men against each other to take on a fellow 70-something was never going to be Plan A.

The post-Super Tuesday reality represents the often bitter division between two wings of the modern Democratic party: the paragon of progressives against the ultimate establishment insider. At least no one can say their team isn’t represented. And after this week’s primaries, it seems unlikely that Team Bernie can claw back a win.

But whoever wins the nomination, November’s general election will not be about a fresh-faced young talent offering new ideas to a beleaguered nation.

If the former vice president does indeed wrap things up, he will need to bring the party together and present as united a front as possible to voters – not just to bring on board Bernie supporters and disappointed Elizabeth Warren boosters, but to inject a bit of enthusiasm and youthful vigour by putting his former (and mostly much younger) Democratic rivals front and centre.

November’s election could be so close – as was 2016’s, coming down to a few thousand votes in three key states – that the risk of putting off potential Democrat voters with an uninspiring option could make all the difference.

Some, like the New York Times columnist Thomas L Friedman, argue that the eventual nominee should present a formal coalition with specific cabinet roles already demarcated well before November: Amy Klobuchar for VP; Warren for health and human services; Harris as attorney general; Pete Buttigieg for homeland secretary; Andrew Yang at energy; and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for UN ambassador.

Even if he doesn’t spell it out in such specific terms, Biden will need to look carefully at that original field of Democratic hopefuls (and, as with AOC, beyond) and assess how best to use them in the epic struggle looming in November.

He’s very welcome to come round to The Independent and use our whiteboard as a useful reminder if he likes.

Yours,

Phil Thomas

US assistant editor