Flyover country's not interested in college. Flyover country finds any healthcare discussion socialist. Flyover hated Obamacare, and hates single payer even more. Flyover's more worried about immigrants and security than any economic issue. Flyover is happy to have the rich take 95% of a tax cut as long as they get to split up 5% (we have an expression for this down south which I won't use for propriety, but the irony is it's white folk who are falling for this, not black who seem to know a scam when they see it).

One reason Bernie caught on so nicely is the media and powers that be and other party all wanted a horse race, and did all they could to make that happen. Those early Feel the Bern donations picked up amazingly quick in May 2016 for a guy who hadn't toured. The Susan Sarandon ("Hillary's health" and "I don't vote my uterus/vagina" and Killer Mike memes got conveniently picked up by the GOP. I see Bernie as just another mostly hollow vessel who was filled with the traditional movement activism of the left, and then a bit more - "you're our boy, just make good speeches and we'll do all the social media and organizing". There's a ton of contradiction in what we hear people care about and what they do. Those trillion dollar tax cuts could have rather easily made up the difference between $12 and $15 minimum wage, or the existing $7 that Flyover Country voted for instead. 

Bernie didn't lead us anywhere - he played a useful distraction while CNN made a cool billion in profit and Trump spouted out rabid oft-quoted nonsense. As a leader, Bernie faced America's most dangerous threat - and stayed largely silent, helped him win, even tried to debate him outside the system when he wouldn't take defeat as an answer and thought he might game California - except Trump pulled his hand away, "gotcha! Sike!" and then Bernie played distraction a few more months, killing off valuable time until the Russians could get the hacked emails in order, and then he wasn't needed anymore.

 I largely trust the Parkland protests. These other contrived movements are half manufactured dissent, to riff off Chomsky. Time to move on and find some real legs for 2020, not the irrelevant curmudgeonly pied piper of 2016. I don't know who brought Bernie to the dance last time, but they're not bringing him twice.

I am thinking Corey Booker will run. He's just plotting and waiting for the 2018 elections and Mueller to shake out. Won't be surprised if Trump has an impeachment under Dem Congress that he takes a leadership role and makes a big effort to look reasonable and fair.  I look at this latest @ Vox: Cory Booker’s new big idea: guaranteeing jobs for everyone who wants one/His bill would guarantee jobs in 15 urban and rural areas to test if it works. It's a swing issue. The Vox author stresses the black unemployment issue but I note that Booker made sure to include "rural." In addition, you've got the appeal here for white flight suburban types who think the solution to the problem of inner city crime is that they need to work. From New Jersey, he totally gets the urban/suburban/rural divides and knows where there are winning coalition ideas and where one shouldn't go.

Look at the Committees he's on, it's the presidential  preparation plan:

• U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
• U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary
• U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
• U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works

Been watching, haven't seen any GOP colleagues complain about him yet, more like the opposite. He's already got bi-partisan creds. Most importantly, I think he knows how to play the Yale/Rhodes thing without seeming elitist,much better at that than Obama.Criminy, I see from looking at the wikipedia entry that he even played football at Stanford...it's like a plan, Stan