Thread by @Zathras3

Inslee drops out: only slowly building a national fundraising base and gaining no traction in polls, Washington Governor @JayInslee is ending his Presidential candidacy. I had expected this but am very sorry to see it. Thread vox.com/energy-and-env…

A former Congressman and two-term Governor of a mid-sized State has a better claim than most candidates this year to be able to run the federal government. And @JayInslee had devoted the most thought of any candidate to the most critical issue facing the nation: climate change.

I think it’s probably true that Inslee’s presence in the race put pressure on other candidates (and on the Democratic Party) to increase the attention they gave to climate change. That’s a good thing. And frankly, Inslee’s inability to attract as much attention as, say,...

....two very elderly retread candidates, a small town mayor, a former junior Cabinet member & several former backbench Congressmen probably says more about Democratic activists than it says about Inslee.

The experience @JayInslee brought to the campaign was earned in the Pacific Northwest, a national media desert. He started out with low name ID; had no obvious way to connect with minority voters in early primary states; at 68 was older than is really desirable...

...for a “fresh face” candidate; & sometimes had so much to say his central message got muddled. It may be his campaign was doomed from the start. Recognizing he was getting nowhere with his target audience, he left the race decisively, without recriminations & in a timely way.

At least a dozen Democrats now in the race should follow @JayInslee’s example. The ones who remain should borrow liberally from his policy proposals to fight climate change, by far the most thorough and practical of any candidate, meat on the bones of the Green New Deal.

I understand @JayInslee is now considering running for re-election as Washington’s Governor. I hope he does. Everything he said about the mortal threat posed by climate change was true; he needs to stay in the arena, a check on Democrats who may prefer easier tasks.