* It can’t be encouraging to Dems that there is still some sentiment about a possible Hillary Clinton candidacy. It’s a frustrating function of a party that–minus a silver bullet candidate–could splinter over its nomination process. It should also be concerning that speculation regarding a Tulsi Gabbard third-party run is making the rounds. And it’s a still a given that hard-core progressives supporting Elizabeth Warren and, especially, Bernie Sanders might not be all in with a more moderate nominee. And what if the ticket doesn’t have a candidate of color? Will the we-still-miss-Barack black vote decline again? It was a difference maker in the swing- state cities of Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia last time.
The message to Democrats: No (more) unforced errors. The Trump base–for all of its White House and Fox News bully pulpits, is still outnumbered.
* It hardly helps the Joe Biden campaign, which has been off message more than on with inconsistent debate performances and the Hunter Biden embarrassment, that it no longer opposes–let alone denounces–Super PACs. “To speak to the middle class, we need to reject the Super PAC system,” said Biden in the spring. But that all changed when the campaign’s fund-raising, a barometer of viability and popularity, fell notably behind his leading rivals.