Democrats hunt for their Goldilocks candidate

Democrats want a nominee who motivates more voters than he or she scares away. Easier said than done.

Voters.
(Image credit: Illustrated | AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, Asya_mix/iStock)

Forget for a moment the unwieldy Democratic field and all the talk of different "lanes" to the nomination in Milwaukee. The Democrats have basically two paths to defeating President Trump and making it back to the White House: turn out their voters who stayed home (or voted Green Party) in 2016 or win back the Rust Belt Obama-Trump voters who turned the Electoral College red. To do that, they need to identify a nominee who motivates more voters than he or she scares away.

Unfortunately, that is easier said than done. The remaining Democratic contenders are split between those who are safe with swing voters but might not sufficiently excite the base and those who could get key progressive constituencies to the polls but risk frightening other potentially gettable voters into casting their ballots for Trump.

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W. James Antle III

W. James Antle III is the politics editor of the Washington Examiner, the former editor of The American Conservative, and author of Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?.