US Election & Presidency

(04-11-2020 19:40 )Goodfella3041 Wrote:  I think the Democrats have the House pretty much locked down.

The Senate is looking unlikely for them, but still near enough to a 50/50 to make governing difficult but possible.

Electioneering bravado aside, Biden is a centrist and a former Senator who is liked and respected by many Republican Senators. He is not as divisive as Trump was or as Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren would have been.

So not winning the Senate could be a blessing in disguise. It would allow Biden to keep the progressive wing of his own party at bay, saying "I know you want to ban fracking outright and pass the Green New Deal, but I'll never get it through the Senate, so you'll have to compromise."

It could be a return to the calm, humdrum politics of old.

Keeping the progressive wing at bay is a mistake. There are some good policies that would be a big vote getter with progressives (medicare for all and legalising weed for instance) but instead the centrist dem establishment spit in the face of their base, it's part of why they lost to Trump last time. When they ignore their base they go all in to try and gain moderate Republican voters, like they did again this election, which failed spectacularly as Trump increased his vote among Republicans.

Just a note on legalising weed, it was on the ballot in Arizona which Biden won. It was a big issue for the Latino vote there and helped to drive turnout. The Latino vote that didn't work out for biden in Texas and Florida, check out Chuck Rocha on The Hill youtube channel from earlier today, very good analysis on this issue, especially with the dem failures with the Latino vote.