In an appearance on CNN on Thursday morning, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois confirmed he'd run for a fifth term in 2020, but his exchange with news anchor John Berman is instructive for a couple of reasons:
BERMAN: Are you running for re-election?
DURBIN: I am. […] But I haven't made a formal announcement, John. Don't take that as a formal announcement.
BERMAN: You just announced it. You just said you're running. That's a formal announcement. Whether you like it or not, you just announced you're running for re-election formally.
DURBIN: Well, let me tell you, what I've said is, and I'm raising money and trying to lose a few pounds, and that's a good indicator that I'm looking forward to 2020.
Of prime importance is Durbin's simple and direct answer to Berman's question. He didn't hedge by saying "I'm planning to" or "I anticipate running"—he made it plain that he is indeed seeking re-election. That's a crucial distinction in our book: Durbin is now a confirmed "yes," and we'll mark him down as such. Had he fudged at all, we'd still have to regard him as considering retirement.
But then there's the "formal announcement" charade, which Berman rightly pushed back against. So what's Durbin on about there? In all likelihood, he's got some kind of splashy kickoff event planned for later this year, complete with balloons, music, and cheering supporters—and, he'd very much like, some news cameras in the back of the room taking it all in. These kinds of launches are good for some favorable media coverage and Durbin, we'd guess, just wanted to remind Berman (and his audience) that his is yet to come.
At Daily Kos Elections, though, we don't care one bit. We're with Berman on this one: Once a candidate says they're running, that's all we need. If later there's some formal, stage-managed affair at a campaign HQ or union hall or public park, that's just pageantry. That's not to say that that pageantry is unimportant (to the campaign in question, at least), but when you're tracking hundreds of races across the country, as we are, then the candidate's say-so is the only thing that matters.
Of course, sometimes candidates drive us absolutely nuts, with pre-announcements that they're going to be scheduling an announcement of some kind of announcement of maybe a campaign. But we’re not shedding tears for our poor, beleaguered spreadsheets. Rather, by dragging out the launch process, you can blunt the momentum that a big, loud, all-guns-blazing kickoff can bring you. If you've forced reporters to put up with half-dozen prefatory press releases before your "formal announcement," then by the time it finally rolls around, they're much less likely to care.
That could explain why Durbin hastened to tell Berman he still had something official in store, though for a long-term incumbent like Durbin, these sorts of theatrics tend to matter less. And regardless of what he was hoping to accomplish in this interview, we're grateful that he left no doubt about his intentions for 2020. If only every candidate could be so candid.