Sinister Trend Shifting My Political Allegiances

I don't know whether others are feeling as I do, but I'm starting to feel a shift...a fundamental one...in my political leanings.  Not that the so-called "leaders" and candidates that I'm starting to lean toward are themselves worthy of following, any more than those I've preferred up until now...they're full of their own flaws and demagoguery.  And the chief one among them is, sorry to say, a complete buffoon who defines the word narcissism.  But I see something sinister and foreboding going on in my society, and it's being pushed primarily from the end of the political spectrum that I have been supporting for many years.  Comedian/commentator Bill Maher has covered this phenomenon extensively in his monologues on Real Time with Bill Maher, and I see it all around me in the media and corporate environment.  So that buffoon I mentioned notwithstanding, where I go this November 2024 election is up in the air.  But I'm realistic about it all, knowing that my one vote is just a drop in the ocean, and I don't pretend to tell you or anyone else what to think or do... 

Hey, Where's the 2024 Presidential Campaign (and Do I Care?)

With the two major political parties virtually already nominating their candidates for president, this 2024 presidential campaign has been on the back burner in the news...thankfully, although to be perfectly truthful (as former House Speaker Tip O'Neill used to say) I haven't exactly been paying much attention anyway.  This 2024 election between an authoritarian fascist and a seriously declining incumbent should be a big, big deal to me, and I plan to march drive right out there to my precinct first Tuesday in November and vote.  To further complicate matters, a vaccine conspiracy theorist with an impressive political name has thrown his hat into the ring by declaring his independent candidacy...doesn't change anything with me, though.  I will vote for the doddering decent dude over the fascist and the nutcase, and then let the chips fall where they will as I already recognize that I am on a runaway train and the easily manipulated American public is at the controls...democracy in action!  So the Florida primary is next month...I think I'll vote in it anyway despite the preordained outcome...my polling place is the nearby Senior Recreation Center and I'd like to see what they've done there in the years since I've been there last.  So yes, I'm cynical about politics, but to quote former president Barack Obama, "And may God bless the United States of America"...  

Hurricanes and Conventions

This week is marked by two named tropical systems invading the Gulf of Mexico and making landfall, along with the Republican National Convention...taking place in a virtually televised format as was the Democratic Convention the previous week.  I studiously avoided the Democratic Convention and will continue in this regard this week with that of the Republicans...I've known for some time how I will vote.  The real question I have is how can anybody planning to vote this November NOT already have made up their minds?  Yet I am supremely confident that, as has been the case in the past five presidential elections, this one in 2020 will be decided by a relative handful of dunderheads who will still be undecided with less than two weeks to go and who will allow some contrived last-minute "news" story to manipulate their vote for one candidate or the other, thus tipping the election.  So already knowing this will happen, why should I waste my time and attention keeping up with the Trump and Biden campaigns, as if my awareness of what is happening will somehow influence anything or anyone?  My answer is that it won't, so I'm not.  If you want to get all bent up out of shape over what's going down and are filling your Facebook page with partisan political rants and posts...some of which were probably planted by Russian intelligence...then you can rest assured that I've already "unfollowed" you until after the election...

Just a few days ago the big story was how two twin hurricanes were going to hit land at the same time...possibly even the same spot...on the Gulf coast, an unprecedented occurrence.  Now, though, the two storms Marco and Laura have diverged a bit, both with their relative strengths and their trajectories.  Marco, at one time on Sunday with minimal hurricane intensity, got severely hit by wind shear and reduced to a manageable tropical storm level.  It only skimmed the Louisiana coast as it diminished to a depression...most of its storms were over southern Alabama and far western Florida.  Laura, which not only has been projected to reach level two hurricane status, is also on a different path than Marco, slated to hit land late Wednesday or Thursday in east Texas/west Louisiana.  Both Marco and Laura thankfully have been speeding along quickly and once Laura dumps its storm surge, wind, and rain on its targeted area, it should rapidly go on its way inland...no doubt unfortunately causing flooding and damage while dissipating.  I'm thankful that Florida is being spared...at least until the next storm comes around...

Biden's Pick of Kamala Harris as Running Mate

After months of speculation, presumed Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden has selected California senator and former presidential candidate Kamala Harris to be his vice-presidential running mate.  The choice wasn't unexpected; Harris was generally considered the frontrunner.  I wasn't too thrilled over the way she ambushed Biden in the first debate, but it's clear to me that when her campaign began to stall not very long thereafter she realized her mistake and was one of the first candidates to withdraw from the race.  Since his campaign's dramatic recovery in March she has been vocal in her support of Biden and because...unlike our current president...he has a forgiving, live-and-let-live gracious aspect to his personality, he buried their "spat from the past".  It brought to my mind the bitterly-fought 1980 Republican primary campaign between Ronald Reagan and George (H.W.) Bush.  Reagan was the clear odds-on favorite, but Bush came on strong early and openly challenged him, calling him an advocate of "voodoo economics".  I was living near the University of Florida campus at the time and, just before the Florida Primary that year, walked a couple of blocks over to Norman Hall to hear Bush's son Neil give a speech for his father in which he derided Reagan's opinions.  Yet in the convention later that year Reagan picked Bush for his VP and the rest is history...

The Republican Party and the Russian government supporting Trump had plenty of time to conduct extensive opposition research on whomever Biden would ultimately pick as running mate.  Kamala Harris would not have been my first choice as I preferred Georgia's Stacey Abrams or Florida's Val Demings...and I'm glad he didn't pick Susan Rice who, while very knowledgeable and intellectual, I feared might seem a little too distant to a lot of Americans.  But had Biden picked Abrams or Demings or Rice or one of the other leading contenders, you can rest assured that, like yesterday and today's immediate attacks against Harris, they would also have their supposed faults quickly exposed.  For this reason and others expect Biden to drop in the public opinion polls, tightening the race...that's no reflection on Harris but rather that Biden, whether you personally like him or not, was already going to be the generally more liked figure on the ticket regardless of his pick.  Also, expect people to criticize Harris for being aggressive and ruthless...just as Hillary Clinton was pilloried for her assertiveness and articulation in 2016.  To me that's sexism since male candidates generally get lauded for exhibiting the same traits...let's see, Trump's already wasted no time in calling Harris "nasty".  Should be interesting to see how the campaign progresses...

Tuberville Defeats Sessions in Alabama: Should Conservatives Rejoice?

Tommy Tuberville defeated Jeff Sessions in this past Tuesday's Alabama primary for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Democrat Doug Jones.  It marked the final nail in the political coffin of Sessions, a long-time popular conservative senator for that state before he avidly supported Donald Trump in their 2016 presidential primary and was later rewarded with the post of Attorney General in the new administration.  Because Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation, Trump never forgave him and often publicly berated this crucial campaign supporter before he was finally pushed out of office.  Seeking his old Senate seat, which Jones had won in a 2017 special election upset in this strongly red state, Sessions was thwarted by Trump's hearty endorsement of former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, who has consistently led in the polls over both Sessions and Jones.  So in all likelihood, next January we'll see that seat return to the Republican side...but if you're a conservative you shouldn't be rejoicing...

Jeff Sessions to me was the great, articulate spokesman in the United States Senate for the conservative positions on the various issues coming before it.  Ever since C-Span2 began live floor coverage of this body nearly twenty years ago, I enjoyed watching him get on the floor with his polite, soft-spoken demeaner and then proceed to thoroughly thrash in the most civilized way the other side's arguments, and he was a powerful voice on the Judiciary Committee...conservatives should mourn that he won't get a chance to return.  Instead we have a good ol' boy political neophyte who is totally in the pocket of the current president and won't express a single independent thought that doesn't have the White House's seal of approval stamped on it preapproved.  The only problem with this is that as things now stand, Trump's probably going down in November and we'll have a Democrat as president two weeks after Tuberville gets sworn in.  And poor old Tommy will be standing there all alone without anybody besides the typical radio and TV hacks to tell him what to say...that's what I mean when I said conservatives shouldn't be rejoicing: Jeff Sessions would surely know what to say and how to say it.  I was sadly shocked in '16 to seem him so whole-heartedly supporting and campaigning for Trump in Alabama when that primary campaign was still up in the air and Ted Cruz, a true, consistently conservative standard-bearer, had performed so well on the trail.  Cruz was Sessions' natural choice but he instead made a political mistake that later came to haunt him, and he's paying for it now...maybe FoxNews will hire him on as a political analyst, though.  I often disagreed with Jeff Sessions' opinions as a senator and some of his actions as Attorney General, but felt that he was treated very disrespectfully during the Senate hearing for his confirmation as well as by Trump when the President decided he was no longer useful to him and openly turned against him, a pattern that this individual has repeated with many, many others...

Florida Primary in Gainesville Has City Commission Elections

So the Florida Presidential Primary is going to be held Tuesday, March 17th...early voting began yesterday and will last through Saturday the 14th.  Although four names are on the Republican ballot for president, aside from Bill Weld I imagine that President Trump will receive all the votes.  On the Democratic side the ballot looks like a graveyard of failed campaigns with sixteen names on it...for all practical purposes now it's between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, and Biden has a huge lead in the public opinion polling in our state.  For Gainesville voters, even though you may think, regardless of your party affiliation, that the presidential primary is pretty much already decided, your participation in this election is significant because you can vote in one or two of the city commission races on the same ballot.  They're officially non-partisan, so the same names are on both Republican, Democratic, and "no party affiliation" ballots.  An at-large seat is being vacated in May by Helen Warren due to term limits...four candidates are vying in this city-wide vote for her spot: Sherwin Henry, Gabe H. Kaimowitz, Paul Rhodenizer, and Reina Saco.  Of these Rhodenizer seems to be the conservative candidate and Saco is the establishment liberal who will probably win it.  In District 2, where I reside, Harvey Ward is running for reelection against a more conservative challenger, David Walle.  And in District 3, incumbent David Arreola faces Jennifer Reid.  I believe that if the at-large election winner doesn't receiver a majority of votes, then there will be a runoff election in a few weeks...the elected commissioners will begin their terms in May.  I will vote for the two aforementioned conservative candidates although I'm a Democrat...the commission needs a better diversity of informed input and right now is composed of seven hardline liberals obsessed with social engineering as opposed to being public servants: well, that's just my opinion for what it's worth.  I'm also skeptical of my district's commissioner, Ward, with his efforts at local gun regulation...for any such laws to truly benefit society and law-abiding citizens they need to be enacted on a much broader level as otherwise anyone could just drive outside the city limits and bypass the local law...I don't think the gun laws within Chicago and Washington, D.C. are making their residents safer by any stretch of the imagination.  There are other issues I'm at odds with Ward on...I think Walle has the best chance of getting in there, but realistically I think at the end of the day we're still going to have a unanimously liberal, uniform commission who think it's their job to dictate to their constituency what to think...unfortunately, this seems to be what most of my hometown's fellow voting citizens like.  As for the presidential primary, I was going to vote for Amy Klobuchar but now plan to fill in the bubble next to Joe Biden's name...now that he's in the driver's seat I hope he doesn't muck it all up...

Quote of the Week...from Joe Scarborough

Biden won without any money.  He won with hardly any political organization.  He won on momentum, reputation and name recognition.              ---Joe Scarborough

The above quote by MSNBC's Joe Scarborough appeared yesterday morning on his Twitter feed...I follow him on that site because he seems unwedded to ideology and calls things as he sees it...sometimes I agree with him and sometimes I don't, but I always respect him for his independent approach.  In the immediate aftermath of Super Tuesday in which Joe Biden, whose presidential campaign was given up for dead just a week ago, won ten of the fourteen states holding their primary elections...including shocking upsets in Texas, Maine, Massachusetts and Minnesota.  He is now the clear leader in the Democratic Party's race for the nomination over Bernie Sanders.  I agree with Scarborough's above quote but think it's incomplete: voters chose Biden also out of fear...fear that having Sanders as their party's nominee in November would spell disaster, not only with Trump winning reelection by successfully casting his opponent as an extremist but also with the House of Representatives going back to the Republicans as moderate Democrats would be vulnerable in their districts with Sanders heading the ticket.  I think the voters last Tuesday had a choice between Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg as the more moderate alternative to far-left Bernie, and the verdict was clearly on the former vice-president's side in spite of the billionaire former New York mayor's unprecedented blanketing of television and social media with his ads.  Now that Bloomberg and Elizabeth Warren have left the race, only Biden and Sanders remain as the major candidates on the Democratic side.  "My" Florida primary will be March 17th, and a poll just came out giving Biden a 61-14 percent lead here over Sanders with Warren at 5.  In all probability Joe Biden should make it to the nomination, but what happens on the national political landscape during the eight months between now and the final presidential and congressional elections is beyond my control...I'll vote every chance I get, but realize that the presidential election will in the end probably once again...this seems to be a recurring pattern...be decided by a relatively few dunderheads who allow themselves to be manipulated by last-minute propaganda and who tip the scales for one side over the other.  Sorry, but that's just how I see it...

Fatcat Political Candidates

The notion of very wealthy individuals capitalizing on their financial resources and position to successfully enter politics isn't anything new...we've seen this done on a dynastic scale: just look at the Rockefellers and Kennedys from the past century.  But recently the idea has arisen that since candidates who are already super-rich cannot be corrupted by special interests and don't need to seek campaign resources, then they are somehow nobler than the "rabble" of less-affluent aspirants who must seek out others for contributions.  Our current president is obviously one of these fatcats and has made much of his wealth, not only to give him an image of integrity and independence among his supporters but also as a sign that here is a success story, someone who works hard and knows how the system works on many levels.  In the wake of Donald Trump's 2016 election, we're seeing more of this type using essentially the same strategy, albeit with different takes on the issues. I remember billionaire real estate entrepreneur Jeff Greene's candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Florida governor in 2018 and three billionaires who either were or are running against Trump for president in 2020: former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who has since dropped out due to professed health concerns, retired hedge fund manager Tom Steyer, and former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg.  As for Greene, after essentially torpedoing the efforts of his chief rivals through vicious negative ads, Florida Democratic voters in the primary rejected both his candidacy and those he attacked, resulting in a weak, fourth-tier candidate getting the nomination.  Steyer and Bloomberg are both faced with Democratic Party rules for their debates which require a certain threshold number of people giving them campaign donations before they qualify.  The silliness of this rule, which was originally intended to keep candidates from funding their campaigns primarily by cash-rich special interests (with implied strings on the contributions), is actually making giving money as important as expressing voting preferences in public opinion polls.  Steyer has tried to adapt to this rule while Bloomberg is bypassing it, blanketing the media with ads and placing his presidential hopes on "Super Tuesday", March 3rd...when many states vote for their delegates...

Where do I stand on the super-rich and politics?  It depends on their political philosophies and where they stand on the issues.  Do they have an elitist notion that by dint of their wealth and social status they are better than everybody else and merit privileged treatment or do they recognize that this great nation is a pluralistic and diverse society whose 300+ million citizens have their own legitimate contributions and concerns?  But since just about all the major candidates for president, billionaires or not, are comfortably affluent and probably think they're a cut or two above the rest of us, I would ask the same question about each one of them.  Of course, I have just one vote for president in the primary election (in Florida) on March 17th and then just one more on election day in November...who knows in which direction the malleable electorate will allow itself to be manipulated and swayed, but that's democracy for you...I can only do my own miniscule part and then brave whatever the results are...

"The Conversation" Post-Debate Reveals Surveillance Society

Being at work Tuesday evening, I missed most of the Democratic Party presidential campaign debate, broadcast on CNN.  There were six candidates on stage, including senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, both competing for the support of the party's more leftist progressive wing.  From what I did hear at the end after I got home, each candidate seemed to express their positions and philosophies pretty well and were able to adequately answer the questions posed to them.  Apparently, though, earlier on there was some kind of squabble between Warren and Sanders...following the debate, with the candidates still onstage congratulating each other, the two seemed to be engaged in a hushed argument, obviously not intended for others to hear.  Initially unaware of the ongoing spat, one of the other contestants, Tom Steyer, approached them and was seen momentarily taken aback at the quarrel.  Later on CNN he was asked what they were talking about and he responded by saying that he didn't hear it...a most diplomatic position when in all likelihood he did hear their conversation.  Yesterday the news buzz wasn't about the actual content of the debate itself but that very brief disagreement between the two senators.  And yesterday morning while I was waiting for the Senate to begin its proceedings on C-Span2, I watched CNN play an audio-enhanced recording of what they said, which eerily brought to me memories of an old 1974 movie starring Gene Hackman...

In The Conversation, Gene Hackman portrays a techno-geek who is known in his trade as an expert on bugging and surveillance.  A powerful business magnate, suspecting infidelity on the part of his young wife, hires him to spy on her and bring to him evidence of what she is up to.  Much of the movie revolves around a conversation he picks up...from his electronically souped-up van...between her and her suspected lover in an urban public park.  The movie explores how he is able to filter out extraneous noise and enhance that conversation, giving the clear impression that nothing is private anymore and that anyone who can afford it can spy on anyone else...the movie's ending clearly places an exclamation point on that notion.  Tuesday night following the debate, the CNN analysts did not as yet have access to the conversation between Warren and Sanders...only after a day of technical processing on somebody's part did they receive the audio.  Now of course the two senators weren't really having a private discussion since they were front and center on the national stage, but it wasn't meant for outside ears nevertheless.  Steyer was right in refusing to discuss what they said...unfortunately, CNN has revealed the depths to which they will go to push a story, in the process also demonstrating the utter lack of privacy or discretion left in our society...

Presidential Primaries and Caucuses Nearly Upon Us

It's January 12, a little more than three weeks before the Iowa caucuses kick off the voters' actual participation in the 2020 presidential campaign after months of media spin, dubious debates, and endless opinion polling.  With the Republicans, incumbent Donald Trump will be the nominee although he has some opposition on different state ballots from opponents like Bill Weld, Joe Walsh and Rocky De La Fuente.  Most eyes will be on the Democratic contests, as no one really knows how the votes will go in the different states.  One thing is certain: once Iowa and the February 11 New Hampshire Primary take place, we'll have a couple more contests and a little breathing space until March 3's Super Tuesday when many, many states will be simultaneously holding their primaries...Florida's won't come until March 17 and by that time we may already have a runaway leader.  By the way, those three Republican candidates running against Trump will be on the ballot in Florida.  And Florida's primary is closed, meaning you only vote within the party you're registered for...a compelling reason to never register without a major party affiliation.  The primaries will go on to the first week in June...and then it will be the national conventions, the Democrats holding theirs July 13-16 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin while the Republicans have theirs August 24-27 in Charlotte, North Carolina.  I already know which candidate I will vote for in the Florida Primary, but if she drops out of the race by then...a distinct possibility...then I'll just have to rethink it a bit...

Maybe Joe Biden Doesn't Need to Be So Lucid

Joe Biden is starting to sound more lucid...I'm not sure that's a good thing as he clearly answered a question during Wednesday night's Democratic presidential candidate debate on CNN that yes, he would be willing to sacrifice blue collar jobs in his fight against climate change if elected.  Maybe if he had been a little more confused and incoherent as in earlier debates his answer might have escaped the attention of those many former Obama voters who switched parties and voted for Trump in 2016 in states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania (and by this electing him president)...I doubt that our former vice-president is even remotely aware that through his comments he's driving them all back into the arms of the Orange Man in 2020.  But the CNN talking heads after the debate thought that ol' Joe had performed really well...of course, none of them are blue collar workers, are they? I'm not against Biden being against global warming and having us as a nation being better stewards of our resources, but you don't just flat come out and say you're bad news for working people and then expect their votes, sheesh.  As for President Trump, it saddens me that he has thrown his lot in with climate change deniers as I thought he could have pushed for a more equitable Paris Accord agreement that actually put some pressure on China to be responsible about its carbon emissions...under the current pact they can keep building coal burning plants and increasingly spew carbon dioxide in the atmosphere until 2030 when they're supposedly going to then "cap it": that is completely unreasonable, in my opinion, especially when other signatory nations had much more stringent standards to uphold.  But unlike with trade Trump doesn't want to negotiate anything about climate change since he thinks it's just another hoax.  I am equally at odds with Democrats who think that by punishing our own economy regarding the use of our energy resources we'll somehow be setting some kind of shining example for the rest of the world to follow: tell that to China and give our own workers a break, please...

A Begrudging Article about Politics

I have deliberately held back for the last several days from writing overtly political articles, and with good reason.  If you follow the news to any extent you know that much of what passes for "news" is one political party and its leaders and supporters trashing those from the opposing political party.  And since presidential election season seems to now be in perpetual mode with no letup it only intensifies this sideways bickering.  I got home from work last night and CNN and FoxNews were discussing the same issue...only from their differing approaches you would think they were completely separate in nature.  Back while he was vice-president Joe Biden's son had some business dealings in Ukraine...and Biden may or may not have intervened to try to get a prosecutor there fired.  The Trump side suspects conflict of interest on the part of Biden on behalf of his son and wants it investigated while the Democratic side says it's already been looked into and there's nothing there.  Well, here's my problem: If your party's controlling the government and there's alleged corruption within your ranks, the tendency is to circle the wagons and resist any investigations while attacking those who are doing the alleging.  On the other hand, if your party's controlling the government and there's alleged corruption on the part of some within the other party, then if you want to investigate that you're accused of engaging in improper campaign activity (remember, the campaign season is now perpetual) and abusing your power.  Hence NO investigation of any corruption is permissible by any functioning government except when one or both houses of Congress is run by the opposition...and then THEY seem to be empowered to investigate everything (about the OTHER party, of course) to their hearts' contents.  The Republicans certainly did this during the Obama administration with numerous investigations and hearings (Benghazi and the IRS stand out in my mind) while the current House of Representatives, now controlled by the Democrats, are scrutinizing with a microscope anything and everything that Trump has done or might have done.  As an American citizen more concerned with the serious issues actually affecting us and our future than all this crap, maybe you can then understand why I've been staying away from the political articles.  And I only see it getting worse as the perpetual election season intensifies...

How about instead discussing issues like...

---The future of Social Security and Medicare
---Border security
---Sustaining and encouraging economic growth
---Working against gun violence
---Lowering the high cost of prescription drugs
---Dealing with the opioid epidemic
---Climate change
---Police-citizen relations, especially with minorities
---Fair international trade, especially with regard to China
---Dealing with adversaries Iran and North Korea
---Keeping as law health insurance guarantee for preexisting conditions
---America's role as international policeman
---America's relations with its allies
---Homelessness and mental illness
---How much to build up our national defenses
---Maintaining national security against terrorism

And I'm sure that there are many more issues as well...it's too bad that with all of their resources the major media outlets continually go for all this sideways political bickering and controversy...

Democratic Party Unity in 2020 Might Not Translate Into Votes

Talk show hosts are like washing machines...in a way.  Sometimes they're in full spin cycle, showing their highly partisan and ideological colors as they go off on their rantings to their faithful audience of true believers.  But sometimes they're in a different cycle, one in which they may go off-topic or even be a little personal...it's these times that I like the most whenever I happen to tune in to one of them.  Usually, though, they're putting a spin on different subject matters...but even with this they can sometimes bring up interesting points and not cause me to switch the station.  Case in point: the other day while driving to work I checked in to see what ol' Rush Limbaugh was up to and whether he was doing a "heavy spin".  No, but he was giving his audience of loyal Trump supporters some advice: you may think that the Democrats are self-destructing with this rift between the "Squad" of four progressive congresswomen and party leadership, along with the various candidates for president going after each other during the debates.  But Limbaugh maintained that the Democrats are all united by their hatred for Donald Trump and that, come the fall of 2020 as the election approaches, the President will have his hands full trying to win reelection.  And I get what he was saying...just that I disagree a bit with it...

If you just go by the registered voters for Republicans vs. Democrats in each state, then the Democrats should win the Electoral College for president each and every election with no problem.  Also, there are many independent voters not affiliated with either party, many of them this way because they feel that neither major party represents them and their interests.  It is the disaffected Democrats and independents who turned the 2016 election against Clinton and in favor of Trump, and it is the same groups that can return him to office in 2020 should the Democrats nominate someone whose ideology and attitude betrays their interests or insults them.  So whatever the Democratic Party leadership and their candidates say or do in 2020 to heal the rifts among them after the convention and a nominee is selected, this in itself does not mean that the voters at large will buy into this so-called unity...and even I, having voted Democrat in the past four elections, will not automatically fall in behind leadership if they nominate someone who ignores my interests in favor of political correctness and pie-in-the-sky policies.  And right now I'm looking at a number of such candidates among the crowded field that I would have a great difficulty voting for...

Will Tom Steyer Influence Presidential Campaign as a Candidate?

Hedge fund billionaire and long-time Democratic Party political donor and activist Tom Steyer has just declared himself as a candidate for president and will join the already heavily crowded field jockeying for media attention and name recognition.  Steyer has the advantage of having placed nationwide television ads throughout the past two-plus years calling for Donald Trump's impeachment and has built up a large database of supporters from which he may draw upon to obtain the necessary diverse source of contributions that the party demands in order to qualify for its televised debates.  It is doubtful that he will make tomorrow's cut to qualify for the second round of the debates to be held at the end of this month, but he's probably looking further ahead anyway and has plenty of his own money he can spend on television ads.  Steyer, besides his "Impeach Trump" movement, is known as a long-time advocate for the environment, especially when it comes to fighting climate change and developing alternative sources of energy.  Besides that, he should be more of a moderate along the lines of current frontrunner Joe Biden and might end up cutting into the former vice-president's support. I'd like to see him on the stage next to the other candidates and hear what he has to say, but then again I thought there were already way too many participants and the number needs to be whittled down.  But don't expect that to happen with the second round at the end of this month...it will be the same format with two debates, each featuring ten randomly selected candidates.  As for Tom Steyer, his being very wealthy doesn't bother me in the least, but I'm afraid that this won't fly very far with many other Democratic voters who are wary after real estate mogul and reality TV celebrity Trump's election...