Happy Trails to Yang, Bennet, and Patrick after New Hampshire from Colbert, FiveThirtyEight, and Newsy

I finished PBS Eons explains how evolution works for Darwin Day 2020 by telling my readers to "Stay tuned for more politics tomorrow when I write about the candidates dropping out after the New Hampshire primary."  I got my wish, as FiveThirtyEight reported Andrew Yang And Michael Bennet Drop Out soon after the polls closed Tuesday.

Galen and Geoffrey react to Andrew Yang and Michael Bennet dropping out of the presidential race.

I've been waiting for this since John Delaney dropped out and people actually noticed.

When Cory Booker dropped out, I was hoping Michael Bennet would drop out next.  That didn't happen and I'll probably have to wait until at least Monday night after the Iowa Caucuses, as four candidates bid farewell after Iowa four years ago.

Instead, it was just over a week later.  About time!  Seven down, two to go from FiveThirtyEight's second drop out draft in November, although I think Tom Steyer is more likely to drop out soon than Amy Klobuchar, who finished third in New Hampshire and will probably last until Super Tuesday.

That wasn't all, as Newsy reported that Deval Patrick ends presidential bid on Wednesday.

The former Massachusetts governor confirmed his decision in a statement Wednesday.

Those were the serious news reports.  Last night, Stephen Colbert had some fun with the three dropping out in Biden Campaign Shook, Democratic Field Narrows After New Hampshire Primary.

In contrast to the messy Iowa caucus, the New Hampshire primary produced clear-cut results. And while they weren't good for Joe Biden's campaign, the Granite State vote tally meant the end of the road for Andrew Yang, Michael Bennet and Deval Patrick.

Fury Road to the White House?  That's a good idea, but I still like The Hungry for Power Games better.  In any event, three candidates are now eliminated from the campaign, at least until one of them gets chosen for a running mate.  That's five months off.

Follow over the jump for the drink suggestions and memes I'm retiring now that all three have suspended their campaigns.

As I have all campaign, I begin with the drink suggestions.  I suggested some for Bennet and Yang in Drinks for the Democratic debates, Part 2.

Michael Bennet told Eater that his favorite comfort food was “An Italian sausage sandwich at Pass Key in Pueblo, Colorado.”  That inspired me to look at Pass Key's menu, where I found the following five adult beverages: Budweiser, Bud Light, Chelada, Corona, and Dos Equis.  If one wants an easy drink for Bennet, I would settle for either the Corona or Dos Equis, but I once I found out that a Chelada was a stripped down version of a Michelada, I had to suggest that instead.

Looks like a beer Bloody Mary, which means I'd probably like it.

Last but not least, Andrew Yang told Eater “Kind bars are my comfort food.”  I don't find that inspiring.  Instead, Yang's singature issue of Universal Basic Income and his entrepreneurial background had me look at Silicon Valley's favorite cocktails, and I found a good ironic choice, the Old Fashioned, a basic cocktail for the basic income candidate.

Of course, if that's not basic enough, one can always drink beer, like Yang is in the photo above.

Skyy John of Tipsy Bartender came up with a better drink in Andrew Yang talks about robot bartenders as an example of automation coming for our jobs.  Watch Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang on Robot Bartenders.

Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang stops by to try Giant's Milk, and to talk about bartenders being automated away!

As for Patrick, I didn't bother to come up with anything original.  Instead, I was a good environmentalist in Recycled drink suggestions for Bloomberg and Patrick.

For Deval Patrick, I'm recycling my suggestion for Seth Moulton Spoon University's unofficial cocktail for Massachusetts, the Cape Codder.

With Ocean Spray cranberry juice headquartered in Massachusetts, their signature cocktail MUST feature this yummy drink. What’s better than a basic as f*ck vodka cranberry? Add a lime and call it a Cape Codder.

Yes, I'm taking this drink out of retirement for Patrick.  Surprise!

No surprise, it didn't work any better for Patrick than it did for Moulton.

Now the charts, beginning with Bennet's from Senators and Representatives running for the Democratic nomination are drifting to the left as they campaign.

The most conservative/moderate of the members of Congress running for the Democratic nomination is still Michael Bennet, who had an ideological score of -0.209 in May, making him more conservative than 88% of Democrats in the 116th Senate.  His score is now -0.211, which has allowed his relative placement to change, as Bennet is now more conservative than 86% of the Democrats in the upper chamber of Congress.  Even Bennet has become relatively more liberal as he has compaigned for the nomination to compete for the highest office in the land.

I updated Bennet's score in An update on Democratic candidates' Voteview scores before Congress returns from August recess.

Michael Bennet became more slightly more liberal according to his Voteview score, moving slightly to the left from -0.211 to -0.212 while becoming relatively more conservative at the same time.  Bennet was more conservative than 86% of the Democrats in the upper chamber of Congress in July but is now more conservative than 88% of Democrats now, which is where he sat in May.

Bennet has continued to drift to the left, as his score is now -0.219, returning him to being more conservative than 86% of Senate Democrats.

Next, the charts from OnTheIssues.org's take on the Democratic presidential candidates from left to center.

Three candidates tie with an economic score of 15.  The one with the highest social score of 85 and therefore the most liberal is Jay Inslee.  That makes him appear more liberal than his Voteview score, but that's eight years out of date.  Again, he's probably moved left since he went from Congress to the Washington statehouse.  Two candidates tie with social scores of 80, Tim Ryan and Andrew Yang.  This makes Yang the most liberal non-politician in the contest.  Considering that his signature issue is Basic Guaranteed Income, that shouldn't be a surprise.  On The Issues considers all three Hard-Core Liberals.

Speaking of Pete Butigieg, he and Michael Bennet tie at 23 on the economic scale.  Butigieg is more socially liberal with a score of 73, while Bennet is more moderate with a social score of 68, tying him for the second (or third, depending on how on resolves ties) most conservative candidate socially running with Steve Bullock and John Hickenlooper.  Only Klobuchar and Marianne Williamson are rated as closer to the center socially with scores of 65.  On The Issues rates both Butigieg and Bennet as Populist-Leaning Liberals.

Next, the versions from On The Issues shows most of the Democratic candidates have moved left during the campaign, too.

The three candidates who had economic scores of 15 in June, Jay Inslee, Andrew Yang, and Tim Ryan, still have that score and two of them, Inslee and Ryan, kept their social scores of 85 and 80, respectively.  However, Yang now has a social score of 83, three points more liberal than his score of 80 in June and breaking his tie with Ryan.  Inslee, Yang, and Ryan are now the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth most liberal candidates running, falling from either seventh through tie for eighth or eighth through tie for ninth, depending on whether to count Sestak in the original rankings.

Michael Bennet had been tied with Buttigieg at 23 on the economic scale in June.  He has now moved slightly to his right economically, as his score along that dimension is now 25.  However, his social score has moved five points in the liberal direction from 68 to 73 for net shift of three to the left.  Still, because I prioritize economic over social policy, he has dropped three places from seventeenth to twentieth.  He maintains his classification as a Moderate Liberal.

I continue with the charts from Democratic candidates continue to drift leftwards according to On The Issues.

Beto O'Rourke moved to the left economically from 18 to 15 but became more moderate socially from 88 to 83.  That put him in the same spot as Andrew Yang, who held in place with an economic score of 15 and a social score of 83.  In O'Rourke's case, that moved him left from thirteenth to tied for twelfth.  In Yang's, it dropped him from eleventh to tied for twelfth.  Once again, staying in place will get one passed.

On November 23, 2019, Yang was still at 15 economic and 83 social.  When he dropped out, he had moved slightly to the right on economics with a score of 20 but remained at 83 on the social scale.

In July, I observed that "in the space of one day, Tom Steyer went from scores of 38 economic and 60 social to 30 economic and 73 social, making him jump from being tied for the third most moderate candidate, to the left of only Steve Bullock and John Hickenlooper, to being the twenty-second most liberal to the left of Tulsi Gabbard."  Steyer has continued to move to his left, decreasing his economic score seven points from 30 to 23 while maintaining his social score at 73.  He is now tied with Michael Bennet, who also has an economic score of 23 and a social score of 73 for the fifteenth most liberal candidates.  That's a jump of seven places for Steyer and five for Bennet.  It helped that three candidates to their left dropped out and another moved to their right.

On November 23, 2019, Bennet had moved to 25 on the economic scale while remaining at 75 on the social scale.  Since then, he moved to the left on both measures of ideology, to an economic score of 20 and a social score of 78.  As a result, On The Issues rates him a Hard Core Liberal.  Bennet couldn't resist moving to the left as he campaigned.

Finally, here's Patrick's chart from Deval Patrick and Michael Bloomberg at On The Issues.

Despite his moderate reputation, On The Issues designates Patrick as a "Hard-Core Liberal" with an economic score of 23 and a social score of 90, tied for second most liberal socially with Joe Sestak and Marianne Williamson.  However, using my methodology of ranking the candidates first by their economic score and then by their social score, Patrick currently ranks as the 12th most liberal active member of the Democratic field, two places to the right of the median candidate, which is now Cory Booker, whose scores at On The Issues are still 18 economic and 80 social.  This is very close to Bill de Blasio's vacated position on the Nolan Grid, so Patrick gets a graphic all to himself in a position that is no longer occupied.  Flanking Patrick to his left is Tom Steyer in 11th with an economic score of 20 and a social score or 75 and to his right is Michael Bennet with an economic score of 25 and a social score of 73.  I guess Patrick may actually deserve his moderate reputation, despite what On The Issues thinks.

Patrick actually moved slightly to his right, ending his campaign at 25 and 88, where On The Issues considers him to be a Libertarian-Leaning Liberal.

That's it for politics.  Stay tuned for a Valentines Day entry tomorrow.