Super Tuesday

Keep Calm and Carry On

March 2, 2020

Have you heard there’s a presidential election in the United States this year? If per chance you partake in social media, maybe you’ve seen, and even been drawn into, a “discussion” among your “friends” about who the Democratic Party will nominate to take on Donald Trump in November. Will it be Quid Pro Joe? Mini Mike? Alfred E. Neuman? Crazy Bernie? Pocahontas?(1)

Before you have your “Asteroid 2020” bumper sticker printed, or have a panic attack, or rant about the pros or cons of any of the people vying for the Democratic nomination…relax. Breathe. Keep calm and read on.

Modern day presidential primaries follow a fairly predictable and general outline. The end results may not, but the process by-and-large does. Rolling Stone political columnist Matt Taibbi famously referred to the last Republican primary field as a “Clown Car.” The 2016 primaries started much like the current Democratic primary: more than 20 candidates including well-worn names, no names, and everything in between. At the beginning these folks were not at all in agreement on the direction in which their party should go. The person who ended up with the nomination, and ultimately became president, was not considered a serious candidate (at first or presently) and was ridiculed by most everyone he was running against (along…