Subject: Re: NY Times Editorial Board -- Biden Must Exit Race
Without contributing to the current speculation, here's a handicapping of the current generation of Democrats who clearly have what it takes not only to BE President but overcome biases in the voter base to WIN the Presidency at this point.

Gavin Newsom -- This is a no-brainer. He has been active for four years at the national level, always playing the "team player" role while demonstrating consistently appearance after appearance he can do well in public appearances and debates.

J.B. Pritzker -- His name doesn't get mentioned but he inherited a financial disaster in Illinois, especially with its government employee pension system, and has run a clean Governor's Mansion and put the state on a much better financial footing and has also consistently played "team player" nationally.

Jamie Raskin -- One of the sharpest minds in government and capable of eloquently pitching complex policy to the public.

Here are two bright minds that nonetheless could probably NOT help, for different reasons, none reflecting flaws with the person or their abilities.

Adam Schiff -- Like Jamie Raskin, he's one of the sharpest minds in government at any level but he has multiple critical handicaps. First, he's from California so as a national player, he has that baggage ("another flake from California imposing their hippy dippy BS on us 'Muricans") that Jamie Raskin does not. Second, he is needed in the Senate to avoid having the Senate captured by Republicans. Third, his speaking voice sounds like a mix of Al Gore and Kevin Spacey making him SOUND very condescending. He's NOT condescending, but I can clearly see how he would have difficulty converting independents with that starting point.

Gretchen Whitmer -- I would rank her the same as J.B Pritzker, meaning she has allowed Democrats to retain control of an industrial state whose local industries have imposed great challenges on the state through their decades of mismanagement yet she seems to have reversed the sense of decline across the state. She has also worked well with other key figures in government. Her only drawback is that she's a woman and at THIS point, regardless of what voters SAY, I don't think the sliver of voters needing to be won over in each election to produce a Democratic win will vote for a woman for President. HOWEVER, this could be THE most important wildcard in politics in future elections, if we have any... How many women are grasping the reality of the Handmaid's Tale world that is taking over their lives already and will get WORSE if Republicans control the House, Senate and White House and have a 6-3 majority in the USSC? If women TRULY understood the ramifications, a Democratic landslide would be assured even if the candidate at the top was an empty box. If a woman candidate for President made abortion rights and contraception a top priority and it was clear how threatened those rights ARE, a woman could win at the top.


WTH