What If Bernie Doesn't Run? Are There Other Good Candidates Who Could Beat Trump And Govern America Progressively?

Short answer: absolutely. If you've visited the DWT ActBlue page this year, you've probably noticed that we're still raising money for Bernie-- as well as for a small handful of other non-presidential 2020 candidates. I know a lot of people in Bernie-world. When I talk with them I ask if he's running. Everyone tells me the same thing-- maybe, although, lately, the odds (guesses?) have been better than 50/50. But what if he decides to not jump into the snake-pit?

Well, we have an on-going series, The Worst Democraps Who Want To Be President and none of them fit the bill. I'm still working on Frackenlooper but the post isn't done yet. Not every prospective candidate who I'm unethused about gets into the series. Example, I'm not a fan of a Julián Castro or an Eric Holder candidacy but I'm not going to call either of them a Democrap. Ditto for Sherrod Brown, Beto, Amy Klobuchar, Eric Swalwell. With some of them, I hope-- in fact I know-- that if I ignore them long enough, they'll just disappear off the board-- Steve Bullock, Oscar de la Hoyer, Pete Buttigieg, The Rock, the Starbucks guy... Angelina Jolie? She seems nice. I'd have to learn more about her.

My idea of a president is someone who understands and enthusiastically embraces a full-bore progressive agenda, of course. And someone with the strength of character to move a tough agenda and to be president-- opposite of Trump. And speaking of the opposite of Trump-- someone who values honesty and integrity. Does it seem like I eliminated the whole field? I don't think so. Two people I would absolutely love to see as president are Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR).

Everyone already knows Elizabeth Warren. Her name ID is through the roof. But Jeff Merkley? I feel like we need to build that up a little. This is from a Blue America fundraising letter from 2014:

Not only has he stood tall on all the important social issues, from health care to LGBT rights to the war on women, he's taken strong stands against Wall Street and the Big Banks and fought hard to preserve the signature Democratic achievements of Social Security and Medicare. You can't say that about all of our Democratic Senators unfortunately. He's been a leader on the environment and worked hard for legislation to fight climate change. And Senator Merkley is one of a very few independent-minded progressives who have taken the gutsy position of publicly siding with civil liberties advocates Mark Udall and fellow Oregonian Ron Wyden in their criticism of the Obama administration's surveillance policies. Down the line he has delivered on the progressive agenda.

In 2008, when he first ran against Republican incumbent Gordon Smith-- and beat him-- Earl Blumenauer urged Blue America contributors to back him by voting for him in a contest we were running online to raise money for the best Senate candidates nationally, calling him "a real progressive leader in Oregon and has the record to show he will be in the U.S. Senate. I've known Jeff for over two decades and watching him in the subsequent years, I know what kind of leader he will be. As Oregon's Speaker of the House, Jeff led one of the most effective, efficient and progressive legislative sessions in Oregon's history. He will continue the fight to end the war, pass universal health care and combat climate change in the U.S. Senate. Even more pressing is that Jeff has a real chance to defeat a Senator who supports the same people and policies that have gotten our country so far off course. Gordon Smith has done everything he can to hide and confuse the public about his record and recently has taken part in one of the most despicable attack ads I have ever seen in my 35 years in public service. Please help us put an end to failed policies and the politics of obfuscation and help send Jeff Merkley, a real progressive, to the U.S. Senate by casting your vote today!"

Former Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts chimed in as well. She told us that as state House speaker, "Jeff Merkley has always fought for Oregon families and has never backed down to the powerful special interests. I’ve seen him take on the drug companies and the insurance companies and win. That’s the kind of leader he’s been in Oregon and that’s the kind of leader he’ll be in Washington!" He won and she was proven right. Right out of the gate he proved us right for supporting him.

One of the aspects of Merkely's approach we particularly liked during the first Senate campaign (2008) was how dogged he was about reforming the abusive mortgage lending industry. And once he got in a position to do something about it, he's set right to work towards doing something about it. He was a big-time backer of Durbin's legislation to allow bankruptcy judges to alter mortgage agreements to keep families in their homes and quickly introduced two solid bills that were a clear vision of what a progressive perspective is when it comes to fairness in the country's housing policies and agenda. The bills sought to ban abusive practices that were leading to hundreds of thousands of foreclosures: secret steering payments to brokers who led homeowners into deceptive mortgages that they couldn't afford and prepayment penalties designed to prevent homeowners from refinancing into more affordable loans. Here's how he explained it at the time:

“Irresponsible lending practices like secret steering payments and prepayment penalties have turned home mortgages into a scam. These deceptive practices have had devastating consequences. Approximately 20,000 Oregon families will lose their homes to foreclosure this year and millions more foreclosures are expected across the country. The bills I am introducing today will help families feel confident they are receiving a fair deal when applying for a mortgage... Instead of fulfilling a dream and contributing to a secure financial future, home mortgages have become a vehicle for stripping wealth from working Americans. This new legislation will restore transparency to the mortgage lending process and help make home ownership a stable investment for families once again.”

The problem was that these deceptive lending practices, which had created a ripple effect that had a great deal to do with creating Bush's economic meltdown, were extremely profitable, so, of course, corrupt conservative politicians who were getting paid off by the banisters, opposed any and all reform measures. (Of course, those who were profiting most were sharing their ill-gotten gains with many of Merkley's colleagues.) Then, as now, the finance/insurance/real estate sector had put more money into lobbying and direct payoffs to members of Congress than any other sector-- now more than $2.75 billion into direct payoffs in the form of campaign "contributions" (since 1990) and even more billions in lobbying.

It was no coincidence then-- as it is not now-- that some of the most insistent defenders of the banksters were and are among that senators who had profited most generously from the sector. Merkley knew to expect major opposition led by half a dozen of the most corrupt members of the Senate, like Mitch McConnell ($12,899,072), Joe Lieberman ($11,477,109), Rob Portman ($10,946,983), John Cornyn ($9,331,016) and Richard Shelby ($8,311,054). These 5 are walking, talking advertisements for serious campaign finance reform. Every lobbyist in Washington knew then and knows now that these are among the most corrupt members of the Senate whose votes are always for sale, regardless of how badly they hurt their constituents-- for whom they have no respect and no regard.

Under the rules then current, mortgage lenders had been allowed to purposefully steer families into bad loans, even when they qualify for loans under affordable terms. This practice had significantly contributed to the then-current mortgage crisis. A study for the Wall Street Journal found that 61% of the subprime loans originated in 2006 went to families who qualified for normal prime loans.  Nationwide, an estimated 2 million families lost their homes in 2009.

I suspect Merkley, the only U.S. senator to have endorsed Bernie in 2016, is waiting to see what his colleague decides to do before making his own decision. With Merkley's help Oregon primary went heavily for Bernie. With the exception of tiny Gilliam County, where the vote was split 101 for Hillary and 100 for Bernie, Sanders won every single county in the state and finished with a 56-44% win over Clinton. This was the primary vote in Merkley's own four biggest strongholds:

• Multnomah County:
• Bernie- 87,247
• Hillary- 65,735
• Trump- 16,894

• Washington County:
• Bernie- 41,841
• Hillary- 36,321
• Trump- 24,057

• Lane County:
• Bernie- 41,883
• Hillary- 26,772
• Trump- 21,467

• Clackamas County:
• Bernie- 27,962
• Hillary- 26,378
• Trump- 24,884