Wanted: Straight, white, Christian man. Sounds like an old personal ad before the age of swiping. But it actually relates to a story we had in yesterday’s newsletter concerning Democratic conversations about who could best win the White House in 2028. Holly Otterbein and Alex Thompson wrote the piece for Axios and say this is the type of conversation largely taking place behind closed doors.
Today’s poll question asks if those criteria are in the party’s best winning interest. I’m a “No” vote. Here’s why. Mark Halperin has been ranking the most likely 2028 Democratic nominees and we have often discussed his evolving list during his Wednesday appearances on my POTUS program. His March list in descending order – again, most likely Democratic nominee, not who could actually win the general – Newsom, Shapiro, Pritzker, Mayor Pete, Kamala, Mark Kelly, Rahm Emanuel, and AOC. Well, applying those criteria to that list, you are left with only Gavin Newsom and Mark Kelly. But you would have eliminated the two I think are most electable in a general: Josh Shapiro and Rahm Emanuel. Shapiro and Emanuel, along with Kelly, are the most electable in general in my view, recognizing that it’s early, and Mark Halperin’s list is missing some names, e.g. Andy Beshear. BTW, some conservative outlets have been seeking clicks by noting that Hillary Clinton is headed to a Democratic fundraiser next month in New Hampshire. She’ll be 81 in 2028. That ship has sailed.
Circle Monday on your calendar with regard to this newsletter. We’ve been hard at work on a re-imagining that we think you will love.
Semiquincentennial. Say that 3 times fast. BTW, it’s also called the Bisesquicentennial, not that there’s anything wrong with that. But as you know, it’s the 250th birthday of our nation. A caller a week ago told me I should be discussing it more often. She is correct. So when I see something interesting on the subject, I flag it for the newsletter. Don’t miss my link today to some data from Pew Research. They note how the country has changed in the last 50 years, since we celebrated the Bicentennial. I remember that well. Philadelphia was set to be a focal point of the nation’s celebration. It didn’t end well. Mayor Frank Rizzo, for whom I would later work, called out the National Guard which seemed to instill fear and impact attendance. And the legendary Bellevue Stratford Hotel became infamous for Legionnaires’ Disease. I was fourteen at the time and in the 8th grade at a suburban Philadelphia junior high school. BTW, why did we ever transition to calling them “middle schools”? On July 4, 1976, I convinced my parents to get on a SEPTA train in suburban Doylestown and go to Reading Terminal Station, then onto Independence Hall where President Ford was to speak. We never got near the speech, but the visit was part of love for and fascination with Center City Philadelphia, where I would later reside for a decade. But back to Pew. Their analysis focusses on how the nation has changed in the last 50 years and I think it’s a fun and worthy read. Here are some headlines on how we’ve changed: Today we’re an aging population; with more diversity; more living in the South and West; gains in higher education, especially among women; wider earnings gap; less marriage; fewer children; and a shrinking middle class.
Bonus course: In that same Bicentennial era, my parents would occasionally take me into Center City for another reason. I was an amateur magician… we all were, on account of Doug Henning’s success on Broadway with The Magic Show. Well, there was a legendary Philadelphia sleight of hand conjurer named Jack Chanin, and he had a walk-up at 1212 Walnut Street where my parents took me. Pretty sure I bought an “egg bag” from him, which a few of you will understand. Twenty-five years later, I would practice law across the street at 1125 Walnut Street with the legendary trial lawyer James E. Beasley. I wonder what my parents would have said if you’d spun them around on the block coming out of Chanin’s and pointed to the future Beasley Building and said, someday this amateur magician will practice law in that building…
