Steyer leaves the race standing as he suspends his campaign

The South Carolina Democratic Primary produced a clear winner, Joe Biden, a bunch of also-rans, and a casualty, Tom Steyer.  CNN broadcast Tom Steyer ends 2020 presidential campaign last night and uploaded the clip to its YouTube channel.

Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer announced he will suspend his presidential campaign after former Vice President Joe Biden won the South Carolina primary.

Steyer managed to fall below even the low expectations I had for him, which were that "I think Tom Steyer could win a delegate or two in South Carolina," as I wrote in Drinks and drinking games for the 2020 Democratic Primary debates.  He ended up winning none, even though he came in third.

Honestly, I'm not surprised Steyer dropped out now.  As I wrote in Happy Trails to Yang, Bennet, and Patrick after New Hampshire from Colbert, FiveThirtyEight, and Newsy, "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."

On of my bases for writing that was FiveThirtyEight's second drop out draft in November, which picked Steyer eighth.  Considering that everyone they picked before him has dropped out already, leaving only Amy Klobuchar from the draft, that looks pretty good.  Eight down, one (from the draft) to go.

Follow over the jump for the drink suggestions and memes I'm retiring (or reassigning) now that Steyer has suspended his campaign.

While I didn't stick with the suggestion, I did make one in the post I wrote about Steyer's announcement, Drink, because Tom Steyer is running on National Mojito Day 2019.

Since Steyer is a billionaire, I'm sharing the ritziest mojito recipe I can find on Tipsy Bartender's YouTube channel, the Champagne Mojito.

CHAMPAGNE MOJITO
1 1/2 oz. (45ml) White Rum
Splash Champagne
1 oz. (30ml) Lime Juice
Splash Simple Syrup
Mint Leaves
Ice

PREPARATION
1. Rim edge of coupe glass with lime juice and sugar. Set aside.
2. In a blender combine ice, rum, lime juice, simple syrup and mint leaves and pulse until combined and ice is lightly crushed.
3. Pour mixture into glass and garnish with a lime wheel. Enjoy responsibly!

I settled on a different drink for Steyer in Drinks for the candidates who didn't make the debates, which I recycled for both Drinks for candidates at the September and October Democratic debates and Drinks and drinking games for the 2020 Democratic Primary debates.

I have just the drink for him, the Billionaire's Margarita.  Take it away, Skyy and Sophia!

Get your big pimpin' on with the....BILLIONAIRE'S MARGARITA!  This is a small twist on a classic, made with the intention of morphing it into a manlier drink!  It's a refreshing mix of tequila, Grand Marnier, and lime juice.  Drink like a billionaire!

I might rededicate this to Michael Bloomberg for the rest of the primaries and Trump in the general; it's too good to give up.

Next, the memes, beginning with the one I made for On The Issues shows most of the Democratic candidates have moved left during the campaign, too.

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.  On The Issues considers Steyer to be a Moderate Liberal.

Steyer moved to the left and gained company in the meme from Democratic candidates continue to drift leftwards according to On The Issues.

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.

He continued to move left and had new company again in the meme I made for Democratic candidates from left to center for the 2020 primaries just last week.

While Klobuchar has shown the most movement to the left according to Voteview, Tom Steyer has exhibited the most movement to the left according to On The Issues.  He went from scores of 38 economic and 60 social to 30 economic and 73 social in July to an economic score of 23 and a social score of 73 in August.  When I checked in November, his economic score had decreased to 20 while his social score had increased to 75.  Now, Steyer has an economic score of 18 and a social score of 83, placing him as the fifth most liberal candidate still in the contest and, rounding to the nearest multiples of 10, in the same general ideological location as Biden, although still being 3 points more moderate economically, placing him as the fifth most liberal.

With Steyer out of the race, Biden now has an ideological position and any meme I would make all to himself, just like all the remaining candidates.  That shows the contest has successfully sorted out the candidates ideologically, with each in a unique position on the Nolan Grid.  That appeals to me.

I conclude by saying "So long, Steyer!"  May your money continue to work for the causes you believe in, even though you are no longer running!