Electability

[H2O Man]

32. Very good.

I usually am among the last people I know to identify one candidate in the Democratic primaries to endorse and campaign for. Up until that point, I try to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each one. Then I try to identify two things: the person I like the most, and who I think would have the greatest chance of winning in November. As the process flows along, the field usually narrows, until I can select "my" candidate.

There have been a few exceptions. Obviously, in 1996 and 2012, we had a president running for re-election. The other exception was Rev. Jesse Jackson. Because his beliefs and positions were so close to my own -- though he is a bit more conservative than me -- there was no question of who I was campaigning for. His concept of the Rainbow Coalition is, for all intents and purposes, the general model of what our party's best potential is. Plus, his two runs came at a time when many Democrats in DC were attempting to blend our values with those of the republican establishment .....though this would become even a more toxic blend in recent times.

I also remember at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, when John Kerry picked a young man named Barack Obama to speak. I was extremely impressed, and I remember thinking that I hoped this kid would eventually run for president.