Running Against The Party

I consider myself a mainstream Democrat. If you want to measure me, my contested caucus track record this century is Bradley-Dean-Obama-Clinton-Warren.

I recognize that Mainstream Democrat is not the most popular thing to be these days. But I'm a voter too, and I don't really care for it when people run within a party by running against the party - whether that's Rob Sand's "parties are bad and we should all just work together" approach, or the clenched fist Well ACTually, What Socialism Means Is approach. I want to make the party better and stronger and I don't think attacking the party helps that.

Neither one of those approaches speaks to me. They're both assuming "mainstream Democrats will vote for the nominee." Which is what we do and what you're supposed to do. Buy into the process, accept the outcome. Sometimes YTIИU is a punch in the face.

But: of those two approaches, I believe Sand's approach is more likely to produce a general election win in Iowa.