Let's continue looking into the presidential candidates from the left, there are officially 11 right now with another 7-10 possible in the not to distant future. I'll try to keep up with them as best I can, but it looks like I'll be chasing a moving target. For now I'll try and go from the most known to the least.
Former Newark, NJ mayor Cory Booker has tossed his hat in the ring. As a New Jersey democrat, you might imagine that his views on the 2nd amendment are not positive, and in that you'd be correct. He is also one with at least one known skeleton in his closet, an article from his college days in which he claims to have groped a high school friend, then tried again when she pushed his hand away. This same man tried to bock the appointment of Justice Kavanaugh because of an uncorroborated accusation from 30+ years in the past of similar activity. If we are to judge the left by the standards that they use to judge the right, this man should already be dropping out of public office. Instead, he is seen as a rising star. You may hear the story of him delivering diaper to a lady who was snowbound, but what is missed in the story is that she was snowbound because the city didn't get out to plow her out for over 3 days. He did good things for Newark, of that there is no doubt, but he also let basic things like plowing fall down. As a senator he has consistently voted for social programs that would increase the federal influence, against defense spending and voted against keeping the government open He personally sponsored 6 bills (as opposed to co-sponsor) most of which were for monuments or renaming post offices, not exactly productive use of his time. He also supports the Green New Deal, a socialist (not environmental no matter what AOC says) program that, if implemented, would cost this country in the first 10 years alone $93 TRILLION. Not the type of person I want in the White house, but you can make your own decision.
Next up would be Amy Klobuchar, senior senator from Minnesota. This one calls herself a centrist but reports from those who know her better than I put her a bit farther left than she will admit. I think we've all seen this before, before the election "I support this, this and that" and after "Well, I've evolved in my views". It happens on both sides of the aisle, so don't think I'm just picking on her. There are also reports of her being abusive to staffers. Her voting record matches that of Comrade Sanders 87% of the time, so the centrist label can be thrown away. Also a partial supporter of the GND, but she thinks it goes too fast and would implement it more slowly. Another who voted against protect survivors of attempted abortion, I position I just can't fathom from anyone. Even China, with their now-defunct one child rule, would not kill or allow to die a child that drew breath after a forced abortion attempt. No friend of the 2nd amendment, she supports Sen. Feinstein in her attempts to enact an "assault weapons ban" ( not that there is such a thing, but that's for a different discussion). She does, however, support higher taxes. She doesn't support "medicare for all" right now, but hasn't ruled it out in the future It would seem that her plan is to position herself as somewhere to the right of the full on socialists, hoping to fool those on the left that aren't completely blinded to the horrors that socialism brings, then move left after election. She doesn't have the name recognition of the other so far mentioned, but that may change with her campaign position being more palatable to Americans than the hard left. Just keep in mind that, like most politicians, her view and positions are not only subject to change after election, but likely to, sometimes drastically.
And now we get into those with virtually no name recognition outside of their home states, unless you count the author of spiritual books, evidently best sellers (never heard of her myself).
The first to officially enter the race was John Delaney, former Maryland congressman.While he seems to be a fiscal conservative in most respects, he still supports boondoggles like "universal healthcare", aka socialized medicine. Strangely for a business man, he supports raising corporate taxes, thinking it will help him raise a trillion dollars for infrastructure improvements (raising taxes doesn't raise revenue, something the left has yet to learn). He also supports the federal $15 minimum wage, which as a business man he should know it will cost jobs. He doesn't support the GND simply because it tries to do too much at once. He wants to "fix(ing) climate change tomorrow" not worry about it being tied to healthcare. In reality he wants both, but is enough of a realist (a rarity on the left) to realize the the whole package is unworkable. He also has been on the campaign trail since July 2017. Unfortunately for him, that time invested hasn't translated into name recognition.
In case you're wondering why I keep mentioning name recognition, I have a quick story to tell. When Ted Kennedy died and they had to run a special election in Massachusetts, there were actually 3 candidates running. The democrat, Martha Coakly, basically ran on the premise that she was a democrat and so should have the seat that Kennedy had occupied for 40 years, even going so far as to vacation during the campaign. The republic, and eventual winner, Scott Brown, campaigned as a man of the people, using his own truck for getting to campaign stops. In my opinion, he should have won simply for one statement during a debate, when Coakly (and I think the moderator, but I'm not sure) called the seat in question the Kennedy seat, he responded by saying it was not the Kennedy seat, it was the peoples seat. The third person in the race, a libertarian by the name of Joseph Kennedy, who got over 22,000 with virtually no campaign time. I'd put good money on some people voting for him because they thought he was one of THE Kennedys, which he isn't.
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