John Kerry overheard saying he might enter the race to prevent Bernie Sanders from "destroying the party".

Former Senator and  Secretary of State John Kerry. The Hill/Getty.

Former Senator, Secretary of State and 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry was overheard saying he might enter the race to prevent Senator Bernie Sanders from destroying the Democratic Party. The Hill. Kerry was overheard at an Iowa hotel outlining the steps he would have to take in order to qualify, including stepping down from the Bank of America's board of directors. He would also have to raise millions of dollars from donors scared of Sanders. However, even in the overheard conversation Kerry wasn't sure if he should run or not. Publicly Kerry denied the idea that he was running and said he will continue to campaign for Joe Biden, whop he has endorsed. 

As I told the reporter, I am absolutely not running for President. Any report otherwise is categorically false. I’ve been proud to campaign with my good friend Joe Biden, who is going to win the nomination, beat Trump, and make an outstanding president.

— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) February 2, 2020

My Comment:
It appears that Bernie Sanders is ruffling some feathers in the Democratic Party. John Kerry isn't the only person considering a run just to stop him. I'm convinced that's what Michael Bloomberg's run is all about as I think he would much rather be wasting his money on new gun control laws. And Hillary Clinton too has been in the news trashing Sanders. It's clear that the old guard in the Democratic Party don't want Sanders to win.

But is John Kerry the guy to beat him? I kinda doubt it. John Kerry famously lost against President George Bush in 2004 and he ran a pretty terrible campaign. Not only did he have next to zero charisma, voters did not forgive him for his actions in the Vietnam War where he was active in far left antiwar politics. There were also questions raised about his supposed heroism in combat with many of the veterans he served with saying he was far from heroic and felt betrayed by his actions.

On the other hand, the Democratic field is extremely weak right now. It's so bad that Michael Bloomberg has seen a rise in the polls. If Kerry were to enter the race he would probably be doing better than Bloomberg and might even top Joe Biden. Name recognition is pretty huge in the primaries and most of the country knows who John Kerry is. 

I think this is also an admission from the Democrats that they really don't have anyone that can beat Bernie Sanders. Joe Biden was their guy but he really is not going to do well in the early, mostly white states, when his base of support is minorities. Not to mention he's been a gaffe machine on the trail and may even be showing signs of senility. He won't win in Iowa or New Hampshire and will have to make up for an early lead by Sanders.

And the other candidates are doing no better. Elizabeth Warren pretty much destroyed her campaign when she attacked Sanders and his supporters as sexists and told the world that Sanders said a woman couldn't win the presidency. This fairly transparent attempt to take Sanders down did the opposite and boosted his popularity as nobody believed the accusation was true. Warren is also extremely unlikable and doesn't have anywhere near the charisma that Sanders has.

Pete Buttgieg was the great gay hope for awhile there but he never really caught on. He's well spoken and generally centrist but has zero appeal for the minority portion of the Democratic base. And that isn't hyperbole, in some polls he got zero percent support among black people.

Michael Bloomberg may have a chance as he is currently having a moment, mostly because he is spending an unprecedented amount of money. I don't know how that money is working for him as I don't see Bloomberg appealing to anyone on either the left or the right due to his radical centrist views and love of gun confiscation. However, if he does get the nomination it could blow up the party just as fast as Bernie Sanders would. The rest of the candidates listed might have seen Sanders supporters holding their nose and voting for them but Bloomberg? No way are they going to vote for a billionaire who bribed his way onto the debate stage specifically to screw over their candidate. It will be 2016 all over again.

I think that the Democrats realize all of this and think that Sanders is likely a lock to be the 2020 candidate. It's also clear they don't want this to happen. There are several reasons why. The first might be that they don't think Sanders can win against President Trump. I agree with them but I also say that there isn't a candidate in the race that can. Plus I had the feeling that the Democrats haven't been sincerely trying to defeat him via an election as they know that incumbents basically never lose unless some disaster happens, which is why they tried to impeach him instead. 

Secondly I think the Sanders gets some of the blame for Hillary Clinton losing in 2016. I don't think that is deserved since Sanders did campaign for her and told his supporters to let bygones be bygones but they mostly stayed home or voted against Clinton instead after it was clear that she and the DNC rigged the primaries against Sanders.

Third, there is some resentment over the fact that Sanders isn't really a Democrat in the first place. He has always had his party affiliation set to Independent and that just rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Why this would matter is beyond me but it does seem to be a factor.

Forth, the Democratic Party views Sanders and his coalition to be an existential threat. Much like the Neocons and President Trump, the Democrats fear if he becomes the face of the party they will lose their hold on power only to be replaced by someone they disagree with politically. The neoliberals or whatever you want to call the Democratic establishment desperately want to keep the party together and the know now that the only thing doing so is a mutual disdain for President Trump. If Sanders takes over it's very possible the party splits.

Fifth, I think a large portion of the Democratic Party dislike Sanders and his socialist ideas. They may realize that Sanders talks a big game but will not be able to pull off what he wants to do with free college and free healthcare without tanking the US economy. Their donors are also in Sanders crosshairs which would cut off the Democratic Party from their source of cash, possibly permanently.

All this means I expect the Democratic Party to pull out all stops to prevent Bernie Sanders from winning. We have already seen that at the CNN debate where the questions against him were so biased it almost beggared belief. I expect more of this in the future and if there is anything but an overwhelming Sanders victory by the time of convention I expect the Democrats to ignore the results of the elections and just install whoever they like instead. The convention in Milwaukee looks to be very interesting as a result...

As for John Kerry though? I think it's possible he will run. If you hear that he resigns from the board of the Bank of America you can bet that he is joining the race. But my guess is that this conversation was just speculation on his part. He may want someone to jump on the Bernie Sanders grenade but I doubt it's going to be him.