Super Tuesday? More like Superfluous Tuesday.
On both the Democratic and Republican side, the 15 states and one territory holding elections — Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia — nearly unanimously supported the presumptive nominees of both parties. For all the talk of dissatisfaction with the leading candidates, voters express this to pollsters and not so much at the actual polls. While secretaries of states did not ditch the primaries and caucuses as unnecessary this year, the voters effectively did.
Vermont chose Nikki Haley over Donald Trump. The former Republican governor becomes the first woman to win a Republican primary, albeit — ancient history aside — in the bluest state according to the 2020 election results.
Elsewhere, Haley’s most passionate supporters all voted for Joe Biden. She went one for 15 last night. She would have become the Black Knight (“’Tis but a scratch”) candidate, fighting on without limbs, if she had continued to pursue her Holy Grail. One imagines Haley, despite the great honor of becoming the president of Vermont Republicans, cranked Bob Seger’s “Famous Final Scene” in a dark room last night as she pondered her future over a glass of Old Crow. This morning, she suspended her campaign.
Trump, to continue with the movie analogies, becomes the Zod of this election should he continue to kick his downed opponent (“Kneel before Zod!”). He needs to choose winning over catharsis. This means rejecting the temptation to call Haley “birdbrain” and instead courting her courtable supporters. If Joe Biden could add Kamala Harris to the ticket after she essentially called him a racist during one primary debate, then Trump can act as the bigger man here by at least welcoming the Republicans who voted against him inside a big tent. November, no matter what polls now say, witnesses a tight election. Trump needs Haley’s voters more than he needs the ego boost of insulting the candidate for whom they voted.
Last night, the former president delivered a subdued, general election-style speech that wisely steered clear of attacks on his intraparty rival, if one can call the Washington Generals a rival of the Harlem Globetrotters. He did not mention Nikki Haley. He did repeatedly mention Joe Biden, which seems appropriate because he no longer runs against Haley — he runs against Biden. He juxtaposed peace and prosperity during his administration with chaos in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Israel, and points beyond under Biden.
Biden went 15 for 15 last night in the state primaries. One guesses he learned that Wednesday morning upon emerging after his 12-hour hibernation. He did not deliver a victory speech last night. Despite trailing in the polls, his behavior suggests he plans to again stand (sit?) instead of run for president. Maybe, more accurately, he hides for president. Given his periodic unintentional speaking in tongues, shaking hands with invisible men, and aimlessly shuffling about stages, hiding for president probably amounts to his best strategy.
Marianne Williamson may wish to rethink her strategy of “un-suspending” her campaign. She performed better in Michigan last week after dropping out than she did in Minnesota last night after restarting her run.
In the territories, an election more super than superfluous took place. Jason Palmer, a man who lacked a Wikipedia page until yesterday, beat Biden in the American Samoa caucus. No word yet on whether the all-important Afa and Sika endorsement moved public sentiment on the islands.
Interesting primaries occurred not involving Donald Trump or Joe Biden.
In North Carolina, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson captured the Republican nomination for governor. It looks likely that the Tar Heel State will host the most competitive, and possibly most expensive, gubernatorial race this fall. Robinson’s profile necessarily transcends North Carolina in this race given the Trump campaign’s inroads among African American males.
Steve Garvey, an MVP and World Series champion with the Los Angeles Dodgers, emerged from California’s top-two-advance primary as a candidate for U.S. Senate in November. The Republican likely faces Democrat Adam Schiff, who appears somewhat less intimidating than Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, or Tom Seaver.
Last night marked the beginning of the general election, which, at eight months away, makes for the longest such campaign in American history.
A quarter of Minnesota Democrats checked a box not next to Joe Biden’s name. In Virginia and Colorado, a greater share of Republicans checked a box not next to Donald Trump’s name. The challenge of both campaigns involves peeling the disaffected from the opposing party into their camp. The candidate who does that, and most energizes his own base, wins.
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