Former Hillary Adviser Says The Race Is Down To Biden, Warren, Sanders: ‘It’s Too Late In The Game To Keep Saying It’s Too Early’
The 2020 Democratic presidential pick is down to three candidates, warns a former Hillary Clinton adviser: former vice president Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. (Related: Democrats to Choose Nominee from Group of Old White People)
Longtime Clinton adviser Philippe Reines pointed out that Biden, Sanders, and Warren are the only candidates polling above single digits. Meanwhile, California Sen. Kamala Harris and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg hang on close behind, according to Politico.
Reines told Politico that something surprising would have to occur in order for a candidate other than Biden, Warren, Sanders, or Harris to win.
“It was legitimate to say ‘Top 5’ for a long time, but with the exception of Kamala Harris being at the outer perimeter of the top three … you’d have to have a strange confluence of events for someone outside those four to win,” Reines said.
“It would require all four failing. Like, you would need all four of them to be in a plane crash or something.”
Reines compared the upcoming 2020 presidential election to Clinton’s 2016 race against President Donald Trump. While Republican candidates dramatically rose and fell in the polls in the early stages of the primaries, Democratic candidates have not done so, according to Politico.
“It’s too late in the game to keep saying it’s too early,” Reines warned, referring to the other Democratic candidates polling below Biden, Sanders, Warren, and Harris.
Reines is not alone in this belief. More than two dozen Democratic operatives told Politico in interviews that it is unlikely any of these candidates will suddenly surge in polls.
“It’s a little bit surprising because compared to ‘16 on the Republican side, where it seemed like a number of people had their moment in the sun … there hasn’t really been anybody who’s taken a meteoric rise,” said Iowa Democratic National Committee member Scott Brennan, according to the publication.
Top Democratic pollster Paul Maslin told Politico that the format of the debates caused candidates to “only recently” begin spending “significant money” in the early states. Maslin believes that is why there hasn’t been significant poll movement.
“Really, the 1 percenters and below, they were the ones who really suffered. No one really told them, ‘Hey, you’re in a race where it’s impossible for you to grow at all. There is no room,” Maslin added.
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