Experience of Democratic Presidential Hopefuls

Hard to believe, but there are 25 declared Democratic presidential candidates out there. How are we going to ever tell them apart?

Well, one very traditional method was to look at their experience. And here I mean political experience. Yeah, running a company or marshaling troops are great experience, they are a tad indirect. But it's just not the same.


Methodology

And by political experience, I don’t mean dog catcher or school board. I’m talking about something with some serious chops. Something at the federal level is an obvious choice. But even here there’s a big difference between VP or Senator and a clerk at the State Department or air traffic controller with the FAA. In particular, I see the following as totally legit:

• VP
• Cabinet secretary 
• US Senator
• US Rep

Now, how about something more local? Governor’s an obvious one. Not so sure about lieutenant governor though, or state senator, or anything below governor level really.

One thing I like about being governor is that it’s an executive position – i.e., it’s kind of like being the president of your own state. Same thing goes for mayors. Of course, Possum Lick, AR has a mayor, so they’re really not all equal, are they? Judgement call, right? So, Pete Buttigieg, you’re in! Wayne Messam, mayor of Miramar FL? Sorry.

Results

So, this is how it all broke out:

Notes:

• Biden wins pretty easily.
• Sanders is, not too surprisingly, pretty close on his heels.
• There’s a definite group at 12 years or so.  And that group represents some definite names – Booker, Klobuchar, Gillibrand – with some definite who-dat’s as well.
• There are no less than 9 with 6 years, including a fair amount of front runners – Buttigieg, Warren, O’Rourke. Some of the rest, though, I’d never even heard of before.
• Kamala Harris has been in the US Senate only a year! Well, I’ll be dipped.
• The actual nominee’s probably going to be either Andrew Yang or Marianne Williamson. I mean, it worked for Trump, right?

More Notes:

• Only 1 candidate was in 3 or more positions - Bernie Sanders.
• Amy Klobuchar had the most years in 1 position - 12 years as a US Senator
• The greatest number of candidates were US senators:

• The Senate also accounts for the most years in office - in fact, about half