Jonathan Bernstein, Columnist

The Plausibles: Handicapping the Democrats’ Big Five

Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Sanders and Warren have demonstrated the depth, breadth and variety of support needed to win.

January 13, 2020 at 12:30 PM UTC

By Jonathan Bernstein

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics. A former professor of political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio, he wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.

Standing strong.
Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images

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While six candidates have qualified for Tuesday’s Democratic debate in Des Moines, Iowa, the first five to qualify appear to be the remaining plausible contenders for their party’s presidential nomination.

They are former Vice President Joe Biden, ex-Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, and three U.S. senators: Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. The sixth candidate to qualify, the California hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer, and the other seven still running? Anything is possible, but none have demonstrated the depth, breadth or variety of support that’s needed to have a realistic chance to win. Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg Opinion, is one of the other Democrats in the race.