* Lights, cameras, talking points and posturing. Twelve candidates on stage for a “debate” is oxymoronic.
* If the impeachment process gets as far as the judge-and-jury Senate, look for Sen. Kamala Harris to make her closing argument for why she should have been the Democrats’ presidential nominee.
* It’s not unfair “ageism,” to cast doubt on a 78-year-old presidential candidate coming off a heart attack. Bernie Sanders, well off the record, would likely agree–in terms of what’s best for the country and for his own health in the uber-stressful process that is the unfolding 2020 campaign. But what Sanders can’t do is hang on too long and too loudly, such that too many of his dejected and disillusioned far-left supporters reprise 2016. Just ask Hillary Clinton.
Septuagenarian candidates are also reminders that the vice presidential choice has to be Oval Office ready, not just a standard, politically-strategic fit. Even Sarah Palin might agree. Might. In fact, a 70-something presidential nominee should be open to the prospect of a one-term reset of what America stands fervently for and adamantly against–and then revitalization follow-up by the incumbent vice president, who did more than balance a ticket.
* Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has raised a few Democratic–and Republican–brows with frequent drop bys on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show. She’s an Iraq war veteran with an antipathy toward a “world’s policeman” role for the U.S. Gabbard’s isolationist foreign policy views resonate with many–including on the right–including the occupant of the Oval Orifice. Last electoral cycle she endorsed Bernie Sanders–not Hillary Clinton.
* One sign of a candidate’s campaign confidence and expected longevity is the number of campaign field offices operating in the first four primary states. To date, the leaders are Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg.