Whenever the mainstream media awards a participation trophy to the loser of an election, it is sure bet they are awarding it to a Democrat. Such was the case with the June 17 Politico which awarded a participation trophy to Jason Kander who lost the 2016 U.S. Senate race from Missouri. No matter. As far as Politico is concerned he was really a winner as you can see from their title, How Jason Kander Won by Losing.
What makes this article particularly amusing is how far overboard Politico writer Edward-Isaac Dovere goes in hyping the future political career of Kander. Dovere made it seem like it was just a minor detail that Kander actually LOST the election.
MANCHESTER, N.H.—Jason Kander was wearing a mic pack here as he wandered around the Puritan Backroom, chatting with local activists and politicians at the Manchester Democratic Club chicken dinner. A videographer, who followed him around as he moved from table to table, was being paid out of his campaign account.
Kander’s Senate race ended seven months ago. He lost.
But since he won a Politico participation trophy he has already begun his 2020 presidential campaign in New Hampshire.
The 36-year-old Kander—who came shockingly close to ousting Missouri’s Republican Sen. Roy Blunt last November despite Hillary Clinton’s blowout loss in the state—has been a man in demand the last seven months, starting with a major Iowa progressive group that reached out after the election to ask him to come to its holiday party. He drew a slightly bigger crowd than Bernie Sanders had at the same event two years earlier. He’s kept doing presidential-ish travel and generating presidential-ish buzz, though the highest office he’s ever held is secretary of state—of Missouri.
Oh yes, in addition to New Hampshire, Iowa is another mandatory pitstop when running for president after having won a Politico participation trophy which allows him to engage in a "presidential-ish" fantasy campaign.
If Kander had beaten Blunt last year and been a freshman progressive Democratic senator from a red state with a history that includes fighting for voting rights and serving as an intelligence officer in Afghanistan, he’d be at the top of all the 2020 speculation lists. Now, “he’s a winning commodity—but there’s no elected position for him,” is how one high-ranking Missouri Democratic aide put it, despite the hopes of some local Democrats that he’d run instead of top GOP target Claire McCaskill next year.
Key word..."if." But keep your hopes up, IF McCaskill chooses not to run, Kander can pretend to serve a full six-year Senate term despite his obvious desire to run for president in 2020. The good news for the Politico groupies is that Kander still might run for president in 2020. Hey he did win that all important participation trophy for Democrat losers.
And maybe, just maybe, he’s running for president in 2020 anyway. By then, he would only be 39 — seven years younger than Obama was in 2008.
Finally, Politico assured us that Kander is a bonafide Democrat insider by listing his impeccable credentials:
The list of Kander’s admirers in Obama circles is long—a love affair that started when former Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry helped set him and Obama press secretary Josh Earnest up on what amounted to a blind friend date, since both are big Democrats from Kansas City...
And, oh yeah, please remind yourself again that he lost his senate race but what really matters is that Politico participation trophy that earns him fawning adulatory coverage.
