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Wow, that was fast. Must've realized he wasn't going to be voted president with as little exposure and money he was going to get and just wanted to not waste more of anyone's time or money. Unfortunate as I really liked him and was looking forward to what he'd bring to the debates -- would've called out candidates for their bullshit.

EDIT: Also, Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, announced the launch of his exploratory committee. Never heard of the guy, and I grew up in Indiana, so don't know why he'd even think about running.

Well, there are always the legion of also-rans to any election. My main concern is that if more people stand for the democratic side, and I think they will, it would look a lot like the mess that was the 2012 and 2016 Republican Primaries.

That's true. I'm worried if Tulsi, Bernie, and Warren all run that they split the progressive vote to allow someone else to win. I'm not too worried if 20 other moderates run, though, since that'll just split up their votes.

But I doubt any of them would likely pull out the boxing gloves like Trump. I think they'll try to emulate Obama in their decorum to try to show how un-Trumplike they are. So I doubt it'll be as much of a circus as 2016 -- that is unless some long-shots take pot-shots at the progressives to come across as tough since they know they won't win themselves and they hope to take them down with them. That would drag the progressive(s) into a fight and allow the higher-ranked moderates to stay above the fray and call for "unity". You never know after the games the DNC played in 2016 -- hope I'm wrong, though.

I don't know, I'm just a tad skeptical that there will be a progressive revolution in this primary. I have doubts about that. Perhaps I am wrong.

Yeah, I doubt we'll get as much of a progressive turnout as 2016, which is why I hope we have just one person to rally behind to get as much bang for our buck. So if there are several different moderate candidates to split votes, we just might be able to pull it off. Hopefully.

Well, if I am entirely honest, the person Bernie Sanders and, by extension, the progressive base, reminds me most of is Rick Santorum. When they ran against incredibly weak candidates they did ok but still faltered, albeit for slightly different reasons. Now, I suspect that they would not do so well a second time around, especially against a less polarizing candidate. I may be wrong but that's the feeling I get.

Fair enough, though the progressive movement as it is today is still relatively new, so it's still trying to gain momentum. It will take time before it takes off. But it's quite telling at its growing influence when all the candidates so far have said they support core progressive policies such as taking no corporate PAC money and supporting Medicare-for-All, a $15 minimum wage, and some form of free college.

New candidates: Sen. Cory Booker announced his candidacy on Friday, and Marianne Williamson, a celebrity that for some reason is being listed on political websites, announced last Monday that she is also running.

In other news, the establishment propaganda machine has already started attacks on Tulsi: an NBC News article claims her to be supported by Russia, but the Intercept's Glenn Greenwald responds to the smear.

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar is going to stand for election as well.

And Elizabeth Warren made her candidacy official yesterday as well.

Jesus, anybody want to make a bet on how many more candidates there will be?

I'd say 12.

Price is right rules?

Sure, why not?

Also like to add, Minnesotan Senators who stand for President tend to.....do poorly. Just ask Hubert Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy, etc etc.

So. Bernie is running again. This will be interesting.

Two more candidates and I win the sweepstakes.

I think it's a bit crazy how long the campaign season has gotten over the last decade in the US. Like, 22 months and we're getting people who want to run? That seems a tad absurd to me. In Canada our election season was like 2-3 months? or so. I don't really see the need for a campaign season to be as long as it is. Maybe putting in some of the work in the backend but public stuff? Less so. I mean, it's 2 years worth of campaigning, that's a lot of time to dedicate your primary focus away from your constituents and point it towards a race that doesn't even start properly for at least another year.