The former mayor of San Antonio, Texas, is the only candidate of Hispanic descent with even a remote chance of making it to the final stage. Castro served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration.
Castro is well spoken with an appealing immigrant back story but his campaign hit the road in low gear and has hardly picked up speed. He seems to be making his stand on education with a promise of free preschool through four years of college. Castro also promises to recommit the nation to the Paris Climate Accord and submit a plan for universal healthcare on day one of his presidency. So there's that.
The trouble is the candidate hit the stage without a message. Maybe he thought it would be sufficient to be the only Hispanic/Latino of substance. Some years it would be sufficient but not this year. There are too many candidates and too many issues of immediacy for identity politics to prevail.
For the life of me, I can't understand why these Texas Democrats don't take aim at the senate. I'll say it again: That's where the action is and if by chance Castro or O'Rourke should prevail the pathway to the White House would open like a bouquet of roses on a sunny spring morning.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO
With approximately 22 official candidates already in the race, the first question that arises with the addition of NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio is why? Does he fill some fundamental need that is as yet missing from the field? The mayor's signature issue is income inequality, an issue that is amply covered by presidential heavyweights Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. He is uniquely positioned to attack fellow New Yorker Donald Trump and wasted no time in calling him out with the nickname Con Don. I would recommend Don the Con if only because it sounds better. Trump fired back with the accusation that De Blasio is the "worst mayor in the history of New York City." That was it.
Come on, Donald. You can do better than that, can't you? It seems he won't take the mayor serious until he secures a place on the debate stage.
In many ways de Blasio is an appealing candidate. His family is multi-racial and multi-cultural. He has instituted universal free preschool in America's main metropolis. He put a stop to the city's stop and frisk law that targeted minorities and blatantly violated the constitution.
Unfortunately New York continues to have a number of serious problems, including dilapidated public housing, homelessness and deficiencies in America's most advanced and much neglected subway system. The mayor counters that much of what is wrong with New York is attributable to policies in Washington. Good point.
His popularity in the city has held in the low forties and most NYC voters, 76% according to Quinnipiac University, do not want him to run for president. Given those numbers and the crowded Democratic field, it's a little difficult to understand why he feels compelled to throw his hat in the ring.
GOVERNOR JOHN HICKENLOOPER
The governor of swing state Colorado, Hickenlooper has felt for a very long time that the nation needs a moderate and the Democratic Party needs someone from landlocked America. He considers himself a pragmatist who knows how to get things done. Unfortunately, that's the same line every moderate gives and there's no reason to believe that a Colorado governor would do any better than a former Illinois senator. Believe it or not, Barack Obama was a moderate who tried to work both sides of the aisle. We all know how that turned out. Sorry, Gov, the Republic has never had a four-syllable president. You're not likely to be the first.
At risk of sounding like a recording on continuous loop, Republican Senator Cory Gardner is up for re-election in 2020. Take him on, governor. Work on both sides of the aisle from the majority in the US Senate.
GOVERNOR STEVE BULLOCK
Governor Bullock of Missouri is yet another Middle America moderate. I don't know why every Middle America moderate thinks he or she should be president but they do. Bullock, Hickenlooper and others are stuck in the old way of thinking: that the political divide is all about ideology. I believe that notion once held great validity but not any more. Many of the policies advocated by yesterday's Democrats, from trade policy to first amendment rights, would find themselves more comfortable in today's Republican Party. Democrats are being held to a new standard: Voters want their candidates to stand up and be counted. They want a presidential candidate who will take on Trump and his minions. The moderates do not fit the bill.
This concludes my review of the underdogs. Each of them is technically qualified for high office and each has something to bring to the forum. Unfortunately, too many of them add little to the debate. The question for the second tier candidates is: How long can you last?
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