Let The 2020 Presidential Campaign Begin
With the start of a new calendar year political junkies such as myself begin thinking about the next presidential campaign.
Believe it or not candidates, declared or otherwise, have already started making trips to Iowa and New Hampshire as they attempt to gain as much media attention as possible. The ultimate goal, of course, is to try and unseat President Trump.
It will be tough to top what all transpired during the 2016 campaign. An eye-catching number of Republicans competed in the caucuses and primaries and Trump shocked everyone by emerging as the winner. He eventually defeated Hillary Clinton in the general election.
Two years on the job and Trump remains popular with a large segment of America. He is one of the few people who have run for the office who does not care what anyone thinks of him or the decisions he makes. That type of attitude has actually helped him be an effective president in some ways.
A leader is one who does not look at what the polls say or what party insiders want. Trump has made conservatives and Republicans angry multiple times as well but that doesn’t matter to him and quite frankly it shouldn’t.
It will be interesting to see if President Trump has a challenge from within the GOP in 2020. Some potential names floating around have included former U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, former U.S. Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland, former Ohio governor (and 2016 candidate) John Kasich and U.S. Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska.
Kasich has even been mentioned as a possible independent candidate.
Any list of potential Democratic candidates for president in 2020 will be a very long one. Former U.S. Housing Secretary Julian Castro of Texas, former congressman John Delaney of Maryland, state senator Richard Ojeda of West Virginia and entrepreneur Andrew Yang of New York have already thrown their hats into the political ring for the Democratic nomination.
National Democratic Party leaders are anticipating a largely contested primary and have said each candidate will be presented with a chance to get their message out. There were so many Republican candidates in the 2016 primary that debates were often divided into tiers with those polling lower taking the stage first followed by the main event of those who were pulling in higher numbers.
Former Minnesota governor and professional wrestler Jesse Ventura has also been mentioned as a potential candidate on the Green Party ticket. Ventura, a decorated Vietnam veteran who served as a Navy Seal, has been critical of Democrats and Republicans throughout his time in politics.
Ventura is probably one of the few people who could stand on a stage and compete with Trump. Ventura is also a former wrestling announcer and has years of experience behind a microphone. In typical Ventura fashion he said in a recent interview that Trump knows he could not win a debate with him.
It will take a score card to keep track of all those involved in the 2020 race. With President Trump seeking re-election it will be entertaining, frustrating, fascinating and chaotic before all is said and done.
Also on the political front, the state of Georgia is set to do away with the questionable voting machines we have used since the early 2000s. A growing number of people, on both sides of the political fence, have been pushing for this change and it is actually overdue.
With elections under such scrutiny today states must have a paper trail to insure outcomes are legitimate. The use of paper ballots will do just that. Now if we can just do something about our archaic ballot access laws in this state then some real progress would be made.
Monticello native Chris Bridges is long-time newspaper columnist. He has earned awards for his columns from the National Newspaper Association, the Georgia Press Association and the Georgia Sports Writers Association. He welcomes feedback from readers of The Monticello News at pchrisbridges@gmail.com.