It has been awhile since I updated the standings! Do not worry, I have been keeping track of things, but since there was not much happening, there seemed no point in updating the standings. However, with a week to go until Iowa there has been plenty of things happening.
There have been a bunch of notable endorsements (New York Times, Joe Rogan, James Carville, the Squad, and Tim Freakin’ Ryan!). We also had a bunch of people drop out of the race. I honestly thought more of them would last until after Iowa, but alas, running a campaign is expensive. Weird that John Delaney and Michael Bennet are still in it, but Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, and Julian Castro are out.
One of the things I realize about the setup of this contest is that when we do this again in 2024 (assuming the Democrats lose, because it seems like they are hellbent on screwing things up OR we could do this for the Republican primary in 2024,which will most definitely be a complete shit-show), I will set things up differently. I would price it out differently so people could have a chance to take more of the mid-tier candidates. Also, I wish I had given people the option to take a write-in or something (Steyer and Bloomberg may end up being competitive enough that someone having them could have made a difference).
So here are the updated standings…
Rich has the lead now and it is mostly because he has only one candidate out. Matt is right behind him and he is probably the favorite at this point since he is the only person to take Biden and Sanders. Now, things could get pretty crazy if Iowa shakes out in a weird way. Say Warren wins (highly doubtful) and that gives a bump in endorsements, then I could see this becoming a good battle, but as it stands at the moment…I think it is a battle between the top six.
I do think if Warren has a bad showing in Iowa that she may end up withdrawing from the race. I know some of you will think I am crazy, but she may decide that getting out and pushing her support towards Bernie will help defeat Biden. That could be worth it for her.
Here are the important dates for next month…
