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Promoted from the diaries by streiff. Promotion does not imply endorsement.
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We are barely past the midterms and Democrats are lining up for a 2020 presidential run already.  It did not take long, although two of them announced well before the midterms.  Here, in alphabetical order, are the candidates that have officially declared their candidacy, or are forming or have formed exploratory committees.  This list will be updated every three months.

1. Former San Antonio mayor, US Congressman and Obama administration official Julian Castro.  A lot of people think that he may be a better VP choice and he might be angling towards those ends.  Castro came out blasting against Trump’s border wall and one can expect more as the Hispanic candidate panders to the Left all the way to his exit from the field.
2. Former Maryland Congressman John Delaney.  He left his district this past year to concentrate on his run for the Presidency.  One note here:  rarely does a presidential candidate go directly from the House of Representatives to the White House.  The only one ever elected directly from the House to the Presidency was James Garfield.  Unless they are some rabble rouser, the fact is Congressmen are best known to their constituents- not statewide and certainly not nationally.  Hence, you are likely to hear, “John Who?”
3. Current Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.  It is isn’t saying too much, but Gabbard may be one of a small handful of reasonable Democrats left on Capitol Hill.  Let me put it this way: at least she isn’t calling for the abolition of ICE.  She is also clearly the most pleasing on the eyes than the other folks here… and she surfs!  One thing running against her among Democrats?  She had the nerve to meet with President Trump shortly after his election in 2016.  Some say she was even considered for a cabinet position.  To boot, she has a military record and she opposed Nancy Pelosi and had her reservations about Hillary Clinton in 2016.
4. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.  Before she announced her candidacy on late night television, she met with a gaggle of female leaders and feminists.  This indicates her campaign trajectory: “I have a vagina!  Vote for me.”  The ICE-abolishing firebrand also recently came out in favor of driver licenses for illegal immigrants.  She is a perfect example of the Democratic Party tacking to the far, far Left.
5. Former Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez.  Another House member who decided to forego another stint in the House in favor of a presidential run.  He is basically a one-trick pony: immigration.  The problem for him is that the more pleasing looking and sounding Julian Castro is now officially in the mix.  This may steal some of his Latino thunder.
6. California Senator Kamala Harris.  She is using the Obama method to run for President: get yourself elected to the Senate from a blue state, do nothing, then run for President.  She even has the right skin pigmentation!  But, she has one thing Obama never had- female plumbing, so give her a leg up in this department.
7. Washington Governor Jay Inslee.  Yikes!  Not exactly one of the nation’s best Governors is apparently looking for a new job come 2020 being that he is term-limited as Governor.  Given his resume in his current job, he has some work to do.  He will likely find some friends in traditionally liberal enclaves, but beyond that his chances are nil.
8. West Virginia state house representative Richard Ojeda.  Exactly!!!  Who?  He ran in the 2018 midterms in the Third Congressional district and lost.  By West Virginia standards, it was a “close” loss and apparently this leads Mr. Ojeda to believe he can succeed in an astronomically large long shot bid to win a presidential nomination.  Keep dreaming, sir, keep dreaming.
9. And finally, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.  The motherly (actually, great-grandmotherly) matron of Leftists throughout America has formed- surprise, surprise- an exploratory committee.  She checks the female box on the Democratic Party’s list, but she isn’t a minority like Kamala Harris despite her claims to the contrary.  She may want to reconsider the closer the microscope zooms in on her.  There is the Indian casino controversy, her claims of being Cherokee and that God-awful video of her imbibing beer.  This writer thought Hillary Clinton’s voice was obnoxious, but Warren’s is even worse.  Can you imagine her in a debate against Trump?

We are only halfway through January, 2019 and already there are nine names on the list.  We have yet to hear from the likes of Spartacus Booker, Drunk Uncle Joe Biden, Hillary “You Owe Me the White House” Clinton, the political world’s Ichabod Crane- Bernie Sanders,  John “The Man with the Funny Name” Hicklenhooper, Robert “Call me Beto” O’Rourke, Eric “Its Racism, I Tell You” Holder, Michael “I Hate Guns” Bloomberg and others to announce their intentions.

One thing is certain: the 2020 Democratic Party’s field is less a clown car of candidates and more like a collection of refugees from the Island of Misfit Politicians (shout out to “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”).   It is almost making the GOP field look sane in 2016.

Check back in three months to see the expanding list of losers running in the Democratic Party’s presidential sweepstakes.