Tomorrow, we have the eighth Democratic debate and I thought I’d provide a spreadsheet update before the candidates take the stage again. You can tune in at 9 pm Eastern/8 pm Central time on NBC and MSNBC. Like last time, I will be providing a recap the following morning, so feel free to check those out and share with your friends. The lineup likely won’t change before 11:59 pm tonight, so here is the tentative lineup:
Joe Biden, Former Vice President of the United States
Michael Bloomberg, Former Mayor of New York City
Pete Buttigieg, Former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana
Amy Klobuchar, Senator of Minnesota
Bernie Sanders, Senator of Vermont
Elizabeth Warren, Senator of Massachusetts
If You’re New
Welcome to this blog! If you haven’t read the original post, I encourage you to at least skim it to understand how this spreadsheet was developed. You can find it here.
The purpose of these additional posts are threefold:
1. Updating you on the major changes in the race (new candidates, if anyone has dropped out, etc.)
2.Highlighting what policy issues candidates are not devoting time to
3. Providing transparency on the information collection process (updating donation information, explaining any difficulties collecting candidate info, etc)
If you’re in a rush, you can find the spreadsheet here. But if you have a moment, here is a summary of the updates. Feel free to reach out at Comparison2020@Yahoo.com if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.
Candidates Added (in order since last spreadsheet release):
No one else has announced, but in the coming days, I will be updating the spreadsheet to incorporate Michael Bloomberg. I am uncomfortable with his methods of self-funding, but his polling combined with the fact people are actively voting gives me the obligation to put his platform into the spreadsheet.
Candidates Who Have Dropped Out:
- John Delaney, Former U.S. Representative from Maryland
- Andrew Yang, Activist & Businessman
- Michael Bennet, U.S. Senator of Colorado
- Deval Patrick, Former Governor of Massachusetts
Policy Observations (An Obituary):
We’ve honestly reached the point in the cycle where candidates will not be offering many new policy ideas. Yes, some candidates will be tweaking their positions, but at this point, the campaign has dived into broader, philosophical disagreements, rather than specific policy details. I will still be making updates to the spreadsheet, but I think, at least for now, there isn’t much for me to highlight in this portion of my list.
Info Collection Obstacles:
- Some candidates state multiple positions that appear contradictory. For instance, some candidates will support Medicare-For-All, yet also call for a public option. I do my best to list every position in the spreadsheet, even if they may conflict at times.
- Due to the high volume of candidates, I sometimes fell behind. Since the field is shrinking, I will be able to go through and make major updates to this spreadsheet in the coming weeks.
Donation Disclosure (A star (*) means it is new since the last post):
- Kirsten Gillibrand — $35
- Kamala Harris — $10
- Elizabeth Warren — $10
- Amy Klobuchar — $10
- Pete Buttigieg — $5
- John Hickenlooper — $5
- Jay Inslee — $5
Other Notes and Reminders:
- I always post the links to the candidate’s website so you can poke around on your own. This spreadsheet is meant to be a comparison resource for you to identify which candidates you want to do more research on.
Thanks again for reading this brief update. As promised, here is the link again to the spreadsheet. Be sure to watch the debate this week, and be on the lookout for the recap!