* “At the end of the day, we are going to need everybody. We will not win just by increasing the turnout of people who already agree with us completely on everything.”–Former President Barack Obama.
* It’s no secret that the now-suspended campaign of Kamala Harris, 55, had been tanking after a promising start. Personnel layoffs, financial straits and factions bickering over strategy were making more news than Harris sound bites. And it hardly helped that Harris’ younger sister, Maya, 52, was the unchallenged campaign chairwoman who reportedly played dual roles as sister and adviser. A family member, even one who has been a political analyst on MSNBC and a policy adviser to Hillary Clinton in 2016, calling too many shots does not make for a winning campaign. RFK and JFK were the exception.
* “Every older person was a younger person once. And maybe it demystifies a little bit the extent to which age represents readiness.”–Pete Buttigieg, 37.
* “In a state like Florida … Trump effectively has had the field to himself, running ads and starting his reelection effort. Mike has begun challenging him already, and is the only candidate doing so.”–Michael Bloomberg campaign spokesperson Marc LaVorgna, on Bloomberg’s focus on Florida, which includes a $3.5-million ad blitz in every major media market through Dec. 3.
* Ironic–and maybe telling–that Bernie Sanders, who would be the oldest person ever elected president, does better, according to polls, with younger voters than with the Social Security set.
* Still too many Democratic candidates? For sure. Maybe the possibility of a brokered convention keeps it turbulent, counterproductive and oversized.
* Joe Biden, as we know, continues to do well with African American voters. This was underscored again when he was endorsed by Florida’s top Democrat, Senate minority leader Audrey Gipson, who is also Florida’s most tenured black lawmaker. While acknowledging that a white candidate can’t “out-African American an African American candidate,” she’s committed to Biden for civil rights stands and for being the vice president chosen by America’s first black president.
* Imagine a Democratic primary with candidates ranging from a socialist to billionaires. It’s yet another reminder of the Democrats’ challenge: The critical need to unite behind one candidate out of this demographic and ideological stew to take down the menace in the White House and pivot to Democratic values and democratic norms.