The Update Desk: Who Loves Me, Baby? (v12)

I skipped last week's update on my social experiment with what was once the top ten Democrats running for president, given that it was Thanksgiving. Here's a link to the last update, from November 21st. That was the one where I dropped both former Vice President Joe Biden and former HUD Secretary Julian Castro from the weekly tracking.

For this past two weeks, here's the breakdown of the 262 emails received from the remaining seven candidates: Pete Buttigieg, 45; Kamala Harris, 42: Cory Booker, 40; Andrew Yang and Amy Klobuchar, 38; Elizabeth Warren, 34: and Bernie Sanders, 25.

So, what were they talking about, other than the regular requests for money?

• the November debate and how they did;
• who's on the stage for the December debate and how they got there;
• who's not on the stage for the December debate and how we can get them there;
• billionaires in general, not just the one already in but the one who just joined;
• Iowa, barely two months away;
• the end-of- November fundraising deadline; and
• diversity, or the lack thereof, in the remaining candidates.

That last bullet stems from the decision by Kamala Harris to suspend her campaign, announced on December 3rd. In her email, she noted that she's tried every day to "speak with decency and moral clarity and treat all people with dignity and respect."  And, she added,

So here’s the truth today.

I’ve taken stock and looked at this from every angle, and over the last few days have come to one of the hardest decisions of my life.

My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue...

In good faith, I can’t tell you, my supporters and volunteers, that I have a path forward if I don’t believe I do.

Some of the other candidates, notably Cory Booker, lamented her departure and the corresponding loss of diversity on the trail in general, and on the debate stage in particular.as of now, there will be no person of color in the December debate.. Booker, Castro, and Andrew Yang have not yet qualified.

Here's his personal message on Harris leaving the race, in which he included a couple of pictures of them on the trail:

Long before she was a presidential candidate or a U.S. Senator, Kamala Harris was my friend and my sister. We may have been competitors this last year, but it was with sadness that I learned Kamala announced she’s ending her campaign.

Kamala Harris’s campaign changed this country. So many people got to see -- for the first time -- someone who looked like them on a presidential debate stage. Someone fighting fearlessly and unapologetically for a better future for them.

I’m so proud of her for championing values we share, and know she’ll continue that fight as strong as ever. I pledge to do the same.

Elizabeth Warren talked about both Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand (who left the race weeks ago), noting collectively they "won more than 11.5 million votes in their last elections," but her email was all about money and how "Running for president shouldn't be a passion project for bored billionaires." 

Last week was Thanksgiving, and Bernie Sanders was the only candidate not issuing some kind of Thanksgiving message. No surprise there, honestly. The other candidates all gave it a whirl.

• Warren included a link to a new app her team has developed to help canvass and bring others on board, and she offered some tips, such as "Have fun watching a Thanksgiving parade, and take a minute to laugh at the parade of billionaires who think they can buy this election."
• Harris and Klobuchar talked about spending time with their families; Harris even sent a video of her making one of her mom's special recipes; 
• Yang sent a video thank you message on Thanksgiving Eve; and
• Booker included a picture of a snowman doormat his mom put out at his house with his holiday message.  

Our email of the week award goes to Mayor Pete for his Thanksgiving message:

Thanksgiving is an opportunity for Americans to come together -- as families, friends, and as a nation.

We know that after a year of avoiding getting into political debates with some relatives on Facebook, we’re going to find ourselves sitting across the table from each other.

We sense those walls going up between us in our communities, our churches, and yes, even within our families. We feel the pain of what I can only describe as a crisis of belonging in America, with so many of our fellow Americans wondering where they fit in and whether they belong at all.

But on the day after this presidency comes to an end, we’re going to need to pick up the pieces of our divided nation and come together to tackle the urgent challenges we face.

So in the midst of a heated political season, I hope we remember the values we share -- especially today, on Thanksgiving.

Let’s take inspiration from the extraordinary Americans I’ve met throughout this campaign. Veterans who didn’t hesitate to answer our nation’s call. Farmers in rural Iowa discussing how they can be a part of addressing our climate crisis. Young people demanding we act on guns. DREAMers making this country their own, and conservatives who recognize immigrants as a credit to their communities.

If we focus on what we hold in common, then I believe we can knit back our country and deliver a future where every one of us belongs.

I hope everyone has a meaningful Thanksgiving.

Pete

I hope you had a meaningful Thanksgiving, no matter how you spent it. 

This is my last formal update on the social experiment, with a changing cast of characters (and likely more changes in the next week or two), and with a decided tone in the emails of money, money, money and little else, I think we're run the course. I'll have a final wrap up next week, along with any plans for moving forward.