Jonathan Bernstein, Columnist

The 2020 Race Is Still Wide Open

The media seems to have settled on a few favored front-runners. But let’s not jump the gun.

Don’t write ’em off yet.

Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty

Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

The lineups are set for the next round of Democratic debates, and the media seems to be settling on a storyline. There are four candidates who matter, the story goes: Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who will meet on July 30, and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who will face off the next night. Oh, and eight other candidates will be on stage each night, but all of them, with the possible exception of Pete Buttigieg, are no longer serious contenders.

Those candidates were the top five in second-quarter fundraising, after all, and they sit in the top five spots in national polls. It’s true that usually, by this point in the campaign, that group will include the eventual nominee.