By the third debate the field had been narrowed to ten candidates. In reality only five candidates have any hope of winning the right to oppose Donald Trump. While the Democratic establishment has begun to target Warren, she remains strong as the "younger" alternative to Bernie.

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Some have refused to accept reality but if they are not on stage for this round they are no longer running for president.

The winnowing of the field has begun. It will continue at an accelerated pace from this point forward. The contenders at this juncture are: Former Vice President Joe Biden, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, California Senator Kamala Harris and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.

There will be others on the stage but their status has fallen to pretenders. There are of course reasons to run for president without actually contending for president.

Former Governor John Hickenlooper has dropped out to run for the United States Senate from the great state of Colorado. He is to be commended. He distinguished himself as a candidate and advanced to the next logical step.

MAYOR PETE

Pete Buttigieg has captured the attention of the nation. As the first openly gay man to run for president, he is a man to be reckoned with. He has a future in American politics. But he will not be president in 2020. The next opening for Indiana in the United States Senate is in 2022. Look for Mayor Pete to challenge Republican Todd Young. In the meantime, there may be a place in the next president's cabinet for a man of his knowledge and ability.

America's new mayor attempted to stake out ground between Biden and the Warren-Sanders position on Medicare for All. He claims to "trust" the American people to choose between Medicare and private insurance. It is a false choice. Anyone who receives the blessings of Medicare knows it offers a choice of supplementary insurance. No one wants to opt out of Medicare for private insurance. That would be foolish beyond belief.

KLOBUCHAR: THE MIDWESTERN ALTERNATIVE

Amy Klobuchar wants to be the moderate alternative to Joe Biden. She has a lot to offer the electorate. She has a reputation of being honest and trustworthy but I find her argument against Medicare for All increasingly disingenuous. She pointed out that on page eight of Bernie's "damn bill" it states that private insurance as we know it would cease to exist. This is a Republican talking point and it is deliberately misleading. Of course it would cease to exist. It would be rendered unnecessary. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that supplementary insurance would still be available under Medicare for All just as it is available now under Medicare. I don't need to go out on a limb to say that Americans are not in love with their private insurance companies. They're despicable institutions dedicated to denying needed services and boosting profits.

Maybe this is why her campaign has failed to gain more traction. As Joe Biden has faltered, Klobuchar is the next logical choice. But thus far those votes are going where the energy is: Warren and Sanders. Maybe that's because neither she nor Biden are willing to tell the stone cold truth: They don't want to lose support of the insurance industry the very same industry that wrote Obamacare to protect their own interests.

Klobuchar seemed to back away from Biden's Republican talking point shared by mainstream media that we can't pay for universal healthcare or alternatively that it will raise taxes. Whether you call it taxes, fees, co-pays or whatever, the fact is it will cost significantly less because we will no longer be paying for insurance company profits.

THE TEXANS: BETO & JULIAN

The Texans took different paths in the third debate. Both engaged in a desperate maneuver to climb the ladder of viability. Julian Castro took a shot old Joe and missed. That his greater point is correct does not matter. If your going after the frontrunner especially one that is sentimentally beloved by old school Democrats you'd better make sure you're standing on solid ground. Castro accused Biden of forgetting what he said "two minutes ago." Biden looked flustered but Castro got his facts wrong.

Beto O'Rourke stood apart from the lower tier crowd by boldly asserting that he would confiscate weapons of war from private citizens. While every old school Democrat shivered in his or her shoes at the proposal, Beto rose above. The real reason Democrats fail to take control of this country is that they bow down every time they should stand strong. They take their political advice from Republican strategists. The people have come along faster than the Democrats imagine. Beto may survive to the next round because he took a stand. Those who fail to stand up will surely peel away.

In the end, O'Rourke and Castro are vying to challenge Republicans John Cornyn in the coming election and Ted Cruz six years down the road. The first to drop out of the presidential race stakes claim to oppose Cornyn.

YANG & THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

Andrew Yang is still hanging around because his issue is one that reverberates with the American public. We see the writing on the wall. What do we do when the robots take our jobs? How will we survive? Until the leading candidates can answer that question, Yang will be there to remind them. This too is an existential crisis and one that is a lot closer than politicians like to admit.

Yang's giveaway of one thousand dollars a month for a year to ten lucky families was either genius or absurd and borderline immoral. I favor the latter. While ten lucky families are not going to get you elected president, it really should be illegal to pay your potential voters. But let that go.

THE STREET FIGHTER

Cory Booker continues to lean on his background as an underdog who lives in a tough neighborhood not because he has to but because he wants to. Booker strikes me as a good man but he is still searching for a political identity in this race. Is he the second coming of Barack Obama wanting to unite the country? Or is he the street fighter who knows firsthand what poverty and violence can do to a community? Three debates in, I'm still not sure.

KAMALA FROM CALIFORNIA

Senator Harris got a very temporary rise in the polls when she took aim at the frontrunner on the issue of bussing. When the facts proved far more nuanced than they first appeared, she began losing the advantage she gained. In the third debate, Harris had a moment when she compared Trump to the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz. Unfortunately, what lingers is her laughter. When no one else is laughing, Kamala, you should take a step back. Moreover, the California senator has not taken hold of any single issue. She was supposed to be the prison reform candidate but her position seems muddled even there. If you're always defending your record you're losing ground.

As the only black candidates, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker are hanging on because the South looms large. If Joe Biden continues to falter, who wins the South?

RAMBLIN' JOE BIDEN

Every day brings a new tweet of folly from the president and every night brings another gaff or misstatement or embarrassment from Joe Biden. The migration of voters from Biden's camp has begun with a trickle. It will continue and accelerate as Democrats realize he's not up to the task.

Donald Trump turned 73 in June. Joe Biden turns 77 in November. Trump looks like a crotchety old man fixating on Hurricane Dorian hitting Alabama. Biden make a habit of throwing up his hands mid-sentence and announcing he's out of time.

He's right. He ran out of time for the presidency back in 2012 when he became vice president. By all accounts he's a good man. He's done his part. It's time to step aside. For the good of the nation, it's time.

There are only two people who can tell him the humbling truth that he will listen to: his wife and former president Barack Obama.

The time will come.

BERNIE VERSUS LIZ

Bernie has come out swinging. He's 78 and he's determined to be the man who will lead his revolution to a new day in Washington. In case you forgot, he wrote the damn bill. In fact he authored the progressive platform of the Democratic Party.

The problem Bernie faces now is distinguishing himself from his progressive rival: Elizabeth Warren. Where Warren seems calm, collected and fully in command of the facts, Bernie can seem overwrought and angry. While Bernie falls back on the same speaking points he used four years ago, Warren remains in the moment. Despite rumors that she would be targeted in the third debate no one laid a hand on her. She remained the best debater on stage.

Off stage some have begun attacking Warren on the grounds that she has not ruled out taking corporate money in the general election. In an interview with Chris Hayes on MSNBC Warren defended her position, stating: "I do not believe in unilateral disarmament."

I understand her position though it worries me. No candidate wants to enter the general election without sufficient funds to defeat Trump. Then again, if you take big contributions how are you not obliged to the contributors?

Another controversy surrounds Warren's apparent approval of a large contribution from a California physician to obtain the Democratic National Committee's database of voters. Warren's campaign does not deny accepting the donation but states that there was no influence peddling. In fact no one has suggested there was.

Former Governor and Democratic Fundraiser Ed Rendell took aim at Warren for being a hypocrite. He sites her willingness to take big contributions as a senate candidate and applying much of her "war chest" to her presidential campaign. Sounds like a nuanced criticism with a harsh label to me but take note: When Rendell speaks he speaks for the party. Why would a Democratic operative attack a leading candidate? Naturally, he wants the party man to win but why Warren? Is the party more afraid of Warren than Sanders? Off hand it would seem so.

I suppose it comes down to trust. Do we trust Elizabeth Warren to fight the good fight against the one percent, the powerful corporate interests that traditionally control both major parties? If so, Warren has the momentum and the energy to take the president down. If not, then Bernie is the only choice.

Only Bernie is purer than Warren when it comes to taking big donations. Only Bernie refused to buy in to the DNC's extortion scheme. Besides charging big money for their database, they make you sign an agreement to fulfill specific obligations including attendance at a big money fundraiser.

I for one do not believe in the Democratic Party. I do not believe that the Party is dedicated to the little guy. I believe the Democrats are better than the Republicans but both are corrupt.

Still, I have not written off Elizabeth Warren as either a Democratic stooge or a corporate pawn. I find the accusations without substance to the point of absurdity. I believe she is sincere in wanting to fundamentally turn the system over so that it favors the little guy instead of the elite. I believe she stands with Bernie.

I also believe the best chance of beating Trump in the general election an imperative for anyone who values climate change, universal healthcare and the principles of equal justice and democracy lies with the progressive left.

At this juncture, that means Sanders or Warren must defeat Biden. That the party powers are taking aim at Warren suggests that they are afraid. If they are afraid, she's on the right track.

Jazz.

"I like Elizabeth Warren. Too bad she's a hypocrite." By Ed Rendell. Washington Post, September 11, 2019.

"Warren Will Forego Big Money Donors in Primary But Not General Election." Posted by Tim Hains. Real Clear Politics, February 26, 2019.

Authors Website: https://jazzmanchronicles.blogspot.com

Authors Bio:

Jack Random is the author of The Jazzman Chronicles and the founder of Crow Dog Press. His novels include Wasichu: The Killing Spirit, Number Nine: The Adventures of Jake Jones and Ruby Daulton, Ghost Dance Insurrection and A Patriot Dirge in the Jazzman Series, Hard Times: The Wrath of an Angry God and Pawns to Players - The Chess Trilogy: The Stairway Scandal, A Match for the White House and The Putin Gambit. His commentaries have been published at Dissident Voice and CounterPunch. His stories have been published at Lynx Eye Literary Journal, AIM Magazine, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change and Haight Ashbury Literary Journal. He is a retired speech pathologist living in central California.