POTUS is the commonly-used acronym for President of the United States, the most powerful person in the world, at least for a few more years, until the President of China becomes more powerful than him.
There are two main political parties in USA – the REPUBLICAN party and the DEMOCRATIC party. Other parties do not matter.
One candidate from each of these parties will be elected the next POTUS on Tuesday, 3rd November. Presidential elections in USA are held every four years on ELECTION DAY, which is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
All other elections – be it for Governor of a State (like CM of an Indian State), United States Senator (like Rajya Sabha Member in India) or State Senator (like MLC in USA), US Representative (like Lok Sabha Member in India) or State Representative (like MLA in India), Mayor of a City, Sheriff in some towns, Attorney General of a State, and all other elections for any elected post – are held on Election Day once every 2, 4 or 6 years.
To know more about the system of government and elections in USA, read my book “MR.PRESIDENT…YES, PRIME MINISTER” available on Amazon India at Rs.349 for the Paperback Edition HERE or Rs.103.95 for the Kindle Edition HERE
Who will be the Democratic Party challenger to President Donald Trump, who is standing for re-election?
The frontrunner is Joe Biden, who will be almost 78 on Election Day 2020, and thus not much younger than Bernie. Donald Trump will be >74. Biden was a 6-term U.S. Senator (like Rajya Sabha MP) from 1973 to 2009, and Vice President of the US from 2009 to 2017, under Obama. Trump was the oldest president sworn-in at 70 years 220 days. Will Americans vote for someone 7 years’ older at the time of taking office?
The second most likely candidate is Bernie Sanders, who will be >79 (even older than Biden) and >83 when he finishes his first term, if he gets elected. Bernie was Mayor of Burlington (Vermont), a town with a population of just 42,239 people, from 1981 to 1989. He then had 8 terms (of 2 years each) from 1991 to 2007 as a U.S. Representative (like Lok Sabha MP). From 2007 till date, he has been a U.S. Senator. He is therefore a third-term Senator after being an 8-term Representative. Barack Obama had not even completed 4 years out of his first term of 6 years in the U.S. Senate, when he won the presidential election. Bernie lost the democratic party nomination to former Secretary of State (like our Foreign Minister) Hillary Clinton by 1846 delegates to her 2205. A Secretary of State in the US is considered the second most powerful person after POTUS. Yes, the Vice President is NOT the second most powerful, unless the President dies or is removed from office. Again, you have to read my book “MR.PRESIDENT…YES, PRIME MINISTER” to learn more about US cabinet members and also what delegates are.
Currently No.3 on the list is Elizabeth Warren. At >71 on Election Day, she will be younger than Trump. She was a Republican until 1996, when she decided to change her political party. She is a second-term US Senator, serving since Jan 2013. In my opinion, if Hillary could not beat Trump, Warren certainly can’t.
Then there is also Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire businessman who was the Republican party Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013. His most famous businesses are Bloomberg Terminal, Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Television and Bloomberg BusinessWeek. At various times in his life, he has been a Democrat, a Republican and an Independent. Since launching his campaign on 24 November 2019, Bloomberg has spent over $500 million of his own money on his campaign, one of the greatest single campaign expenditures in American history. Bloomberg’s debut debate performance on 19 February 2020 was poorly received, with some pundits saying that his performance was “among the worst in the history of presidential debates”. Warren and Biden challenged him to release women who had signed non-disclosure agreements with Bloomberg and his company from the requirement to not discuss their allegations in public, a challenge he refused. It is reported that there are at least 64 women named in at least 40 lawsuits alleging sexual harassment or gender discrimination.
In my opinion, none of these candidates will have any chance against Trump come the 3rd of November, Biden and Sanders because they are just too old, Warren as she doesn’t quite have the requisite experience, and Bloomberg because he is much too controversial.