Adios Amy and Bye-bye Bloomberg as both drop out and endorse Biden

When I told my readers to "stay tuned for Marching Music Day and a follow-up post to both Super Tuesday and Mayor Pete packs up his campaign" at the end of A drum corps Super Tuesday 2020, I knew I would be writing about Amy Klobuchar dropping out right before Super Tuesday.  Only the timing was a surprise, as "I expected Amy Klobuchar to drop out next, but only after Super Tuesday."  What I didn't know was who else would drop out.  Well, as CNN reported earlier today, Michael Bloomberg suspends 2020 presidential campaign.

Michael Bloomberg has dropped his bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and is endorsing Joe Biden, his campaign announced.

With that, every single moderate connected to the Democratic Party establishment other than Biden has dropped out and all of the ones I listed in Democratic candidates from left to center for the 2020 primaries have thrown their support to him.*  Talk about The Party Decides!

Speaking of which, watch CBS This Morning interview Klobuchar in Klobuchar says "Joe Biden is the answer" to beating Trump.

Senator Amy Klobuchar dropped out of the Democratic primary race on Monday after outlasting higher-profile rivals in the race. She joined fellow former contenders Pete Buttigieg and Beto O'Rourke in endorsing Joe Biden ahead of Super Tuesday. Klobuchar joins "CBS This Morning" to talk Super Tuesday and her support for the former vice president.

With that, all of the candidates picked in FiveThirtyEight's second drop out draft in November have now dropped out.  Nine down, none to go.  I can now close that tab, which I've had open since December.

Follow over the jump for all the drink suggestions and memes I made for Bloomberg and Klobuchar, which I will retire unless and until either become the running mate for either Joe Biden (possible for Klobuchar) or Bernie Sanders (ha) or runs again in the future (still a possibility for Klobuchar).

I begin with the drink suggestion for Klobuchar I first made in Drinks for the Democratic debates, Part 1, then recycled for Drinks for candidates at the September and October Democratic debates and Drinks and drinking games for the 2020 Democratic Primary debates.

Amy Klobuchar's favorite comfort food, a baked potato, doesn't inspire much in the way of drinks besides vodka, and that's not very inspiring.  Neither is the video of her drinking a beer; I've already recommended a beer to salute Elizabeth Warren (see below).  However, Minnesota does have an official cocktail, The Bootleg.  Watch Lunds & Byerlys show how one is made.

Mix up a batch of refreshing, citrusy Bootleg cocktails.

The booze used is Prairie Vodka, so the drink does tie into potatoes after all!

Next, the suggestions for Bloomberg I first made in Recycled drink suggestions for Bloomberg and Patrick and recycled in and Drinks and drinking games for the 2020 Democratic Primary debates.

Since both the candidates entered the contest late and are from states that have already produced candidates, I'm going to be a good environmentalist and recycle my drink suggestions.  For Bloomberg, I'm reusing three recipes from Drinks for Republican candidates: Graham, Pataki, and Gilmore that I suggested for George Pataki.  Since Bloomberg used to be a Republican, I think it's appropriate.

First, the New York Sour.

This is a crazy cocktail the mixes red wine, lemons juice and whiskey to create and sweet tasting layered cocktail.
...
NEW YORK SOUR
2 oz. (60ml) Bourbon
1 oz. (30ml) Lemon Juice
1 oz. (30ml) Simple Syrup
Tops with Red Wine (Shiraz or Malbec)

Next, The Manhattan.

Ladies and gentlemen a classic cocktail....THE MANHATTAN. This is an old school cocktail that is still relevant today. It is the perfect mix of whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters. If you love whiskey then you must try this drink.
...
MANHATTAN
2 oz. (60 ml) Whiskey
0.5 oz. (15 ml) Sweet Vermouth
2-3 Dashes of Bitters

2 oz (60 ml) Whisky
0.5 oz (15 ml) Sweet Vermouth
2-3 Dashes of Bitters

If that's not enough, About.com has a recipe for a New York Cocktail.

Ingredients

    2 ounces blended whiskey
    1 ounce lemon juice
    1 teaspoon superfine sugar
    1/2 teaspoon grenadine
    Lemon twist for garnish
...
Preparation

    Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice cubes.
    Shake well.
    Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
    Garnish with the lemon twist.

I'm also going to steal Saveur's recipe for the Billionaire Cocktail from Drinks and drinking games for Donald Trump and the GOP debates.

Ingredients
2 oz. high-proof bourbon, such as Baker's
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz. simple syrup
1/4 oz. absinthe bitters or absinthe
1/2 oz. grenadine syrup made from pomegranate, such as Employees Only
Lemon wheel, for garnish
Instructions
Combine bourbon, lemon juice, absinthe bitters or absinthe, and grenadine in a shaker over ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with the lemon wheel.

Bloomberg deserves this drink more than Trump.  Besides, Tom Steyer already has the Billionaire's Margarita.

Of course, if one wants something non-alcoholic to toast Bloomberg, one can always drink the soft drink of one's choice in a Big Gulp cup.

Hahahaha!

Now the memes, which I made a lot of for Klobuchar, probably more than for any other candidate, and fewer for Bloomberg because he got into the contest so late.

The first one I made her was for OnTheIssues.org's take on the Democratic presidential candidates from left to center.

Four candidates tie for next most liberal economically with a score of 10.  However, all have different social scores that break the tie.  Elizabeth Warren has the highest social score, 85.  This makes her the second most liberal candidate overall.  Kamela Harris has the next most liberal social score, 78, placing her third.  So far, no surprises.  However, On The Issues considers Joe Biden to be the next most liberal candidate with a social score of 75 to place him fourth.  Well, it's been ten years since he was in the Senate, so his Voteview score may be out of date and Biden has probably moved to the left since then.  That certainly applies to his position on the Hyde Amendment, which might change his social score, as the three point difference between Biden and Harris appears to be based on the two candidates' stances on abortion.  On the other hand, that does not apply to Amy Klobuchar, who is still in the Senate and also has an economic score of 10.  Considering that she was one of the most centrist candidates according to Voteview, that's even more surprising.  However, she is tied for the lowest social score with 65, which leads On The Issues to consider her a Populist-Leaning Liberal in contrast with the other four candidates so far, which have the label of Hard-Core Liberal.  It's possible that her social ideology influences her votes.  I may have to use another method to figure out where she really fits on a left-right number line.*
...
*I'm thinking of graphing all of the candidates' scores on a Nolan Grid and then projecting the locations of the dots onto the line that extends from the left corner to the right corner, then measuring and ranking the result.  That might serve as a better determination of left to center than ranking the candidates by the economic score and then by social score.  If I do that, I'll post the results.  Stay tuned, but my readers shouldn't hold their collective breaths.  This entry was quite the project!

I tried that, but it was a mess, so I didn't follow through.  Sorry.

I reused the meme for On The Issues shows most of the Democratic candidates have moved left during the campaign, too, where I had the following comment on the ideological positions of Klobuchar and Gillibrand.

Both Amy Klobuchar and Kirsten Gillibrand earned classifications as Populist-Leaning Liberals from On The Issues, which they have retained.  However, their scores have converged to 10 economic and 68 social.  In Klobuchar's case, that meant that she became 3 points more socially liberal, so she is no longer tied for the most socially conservative (or moderate) candidate with Marianne Williamson.  First, Williamson's social score has changed from 65 to 90(!).  Second, that position now belongs to Wayne Messam, although I think that, too, will change.  In Gillibrand's case, her score dropped three points to make her more economically liberal, although her social score dropped at the same time from 70 to 68, making her slightly more socially moderate, all of her tending bar and shopping at Pride Month events notwithstanding.  I still consider Gillibrand to be more liberal now than last month because of my emphasizing economic over social policy and because three points more liberal economically minus two points more moderate socially is still a net movement of one to the liberal end of the Nolan Grid.  Despite their moving to the left, either socially or economically, both dropped to sixth and seventh most liberal candidates because of the entry of Sestak.

I reused the graphic again for Democratic candidates continue to drift leftwards according to On The Issues, where I made an observation that surprised even me.

Because I prioritize economic policy over social policy, I have a surprising candidate in fourth place, Amy Klobuchar.  She now has an economic score of 8 and a social score of 65.  She has moved to the left 2 points economically but to 3 points to the center socially, which returns her to where she was in June on the social axis, tying her for the most moderate socially with Wayne Messam.  This combination makes Klobuchar even more populist (possibly the most populist — I'd have to graph all the candidates) and the third most liberal candidate still in the race according to my methodology.

Klobuchar finally got a meme to herself based on her rating at On The Issues in last month's Democratic candidates from left to center for the 2020 primaries.

Amy Klobuchar had an economic score of 8 and a social score of 65 in August.  She has become slightly more moderate economically with a current score of 10, returning her to where she was in June and July.  On the other hand, she has become more liberal socially, moving 5 points to the left to 70.  Even after moving to the center economically, she managed to rank as the third most liberal candidate according to On The Issues, thanks to a whole raft of candidates dropping out and another, Joe Biden, moving to the center during the past six months.

While On The Issues showed Klobuchar's consistency, Voteview told another story, as I wrote in Senators and Representatives running for the Democratic nomination are drifting to the left as they campaign.

Amy Klobuchar has shown the second strongest move to the left after Gillibrand.  Between April and the end of May, Klobuchar moved slightly to her left from -0.250 to -0.253, which was more conservative than 75% of Democrats in the 116th Senate.  As I first noted in Joe Sestak at Voteview and On The Issues, she moved more strongly to her left since with a current score of -0.265.  Klobuchar moved farther to her left mostly by voting against confirming a bunch of nominees, mostly judges, and a defense construction bill.  Voteview apparently scored these votes as making her more liberal economically, even if they don't seem to be explictly about economics.  Her more liberal score has allowed her to pass two or three Senators on her way to the left, as she is now more conservative than 70% of Demcrats currently serving in the Senate.

Klobuchar's shift to the left prompted me to create a meme highlighting her movement for An update on Democratic candidates' Voteview scores before Congress returns from August recess.

Amy Klobuchar continues to move to the left according to both Voteview and On The Issues.  Her Voteview score was -0.265 in July, which placed her as more conservative than 70% of Demcrats currently serving in the Senate then.  Now, it's -0.269, which is more conservative than 68% of Democrats in the current Senate.  This is the largest score change to the left of any of the candidates.

I two more memes for last month's Democratic candidates from left to center for the 2020 primaries.

Amy Klobuchar continues to move to the left according to Voteview.  Her Voteview score was -0.265 in July, which placed her as more conservative than 70% of Demcrats currently serving in the Senate then.  It was -0.269 in August, which was more conservative than 68% of Democrats in the current Senate.  Now, it's -0.276, which is more conservative than 67% of Democrats in the current Senate.  Once again, Klobuchar earned the largest score change to the left of any of the candidates.  Even so, she is still the most moderate current member of Congress running according to Voteview, although not by very much.

While her current Voteview score remains unchanged, Klobuchar's relative position has, as she is now more conservative than 65% of Democrats in the current Senate.  Not a bad trick!

Bloomberg kept me less busy simply because he entered the Democratic nomination contest at the last minute and because he was never in Congress, so no Voteview score.  Instead, the first ideological graph I made for him was for Deval Patrick and Michael Bloomberg at On The Issues.

On the other hand, Michael Bloomberg has no problem being labeled as a moderate, as On The Issues considers him to be a Libertarian-Leaning Progressive with an economic score of 33 and a social score of 78.  This makes him the 18th most liberal candidate in the field to the right of Steve Bullock, whose economic score is 30 and social score is 70, and to the left of only Tulsi Gabbard, whose economic and social scores remain at 35 and 85, respectively.  Even Bloomberg can't outflank Gabbard to her right.  Bloomberg also manages to share a graphic with John Delaney, whose scores of 28 economic and 83 social places him three places to the left of Bloomberg, but on the same point on the Nolan Grid when rounded to the nearest multiples of 10.  I think the two of them belong together.

I created a new meme for Democratic candidates from left to center for the 2020 primaries.

When I first looked at Michael Bloomberg's ideological scores in November's Deval Patrick and Michael Bloomberg at On The Issues, On The Issues considered him to be a Libertarian-Leaning Progressive with an economic score of 33 and a social score of 78.  He has become more liberal since, with current scores of 30 and 80, a total of 5 points in the liberal direction.  Between his moving left and Pete Buttigieg continuing to move to the right, Bloomberg is no longer the second most moderate candidate in the race.  Just the same, On The Issues still rates him as a Libertarian-Leaning Progressive.

Bye-bye, Bloomberg and Adios, Amy!  The contest is now between Biden and Bernie Sanders, which makes me, an Elizabeth Warren supporter, worried.  I might just cast my ballot in next week's Michigan primary for her as a protest vote even if she drops out.  Stay tuned to see if she stays in the race.  I definitely will post about it if (when) she does.

*Tulsi Gabbard may be the most economically conservative candidate in the contest, but she is definitely not an Establishment figure.  Quite the contrary!