OLD FARTS CAN WIN IF YOUNG PEOPLE DON'T VOTE

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post explaining why I think Joe Biden has a serious shot at the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. I noted, among other things, that in this clip he seems to be treated like a rock star, in a way that other Democratic wannabes aren't:

"Most exciting day ever": This group of strangers ran into former Vice President @JoeBiden on the streets of Memphis -- and their reactions are priceless. https://t.co/bf4stgj8w5 pic.twitter.com/SReAu7O5Uu

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) October 18, 2018

Now, notice one thing: There are no young people in the clip. Not only is Biden old, but his fan base skews old. Won't that matter in 2020? Shouldn't the aging candidates get out of the way in favor of aspirants who might appeal to younger voters?

But it's not clear that younger voters care. Oh, they loathe Donald Trump -- but that doesn't translate to an interest in electoral politics.

I'm still reeling from this New York magazine story, in which twelve under-thirty voters explain why they probably won't vote in this year's midterms. One non-voter laments the insurmountable difficulty of sending a ballot through the U.S. mail:

When I was at the post office to register, this poor girl, clearly also a college student like me, didn’t know what “postmarked” meant and had no idea how to send an important document by mail. Most people my age have zero need to go to the post office and may have never stepped into one before. Honestly, if someone had the forms printed for me and was willing to deal with the post office, I’d be much more inclined to vote.

Others simply don't want to vote for anyone who's less than perfect:

I volunteered for Bernie Sanders. I went to many rallies, I was at the first presidential debate in Las Vegas. But when he folded, then immediately went and defended Hillary, a person who he’s been campaigning against for 18 months, that just really killed it for me. I just have no respect for that....

There are people that are exciting. Bernie was exciting, Cynthia [Nixon] was exciting, and Alexandria [Ocasio-Cortez] is exciting. So would I vote in the future? I don’t know. If somebody came along that was exciting like that? Yeah. Probably.

Or because Democrats lose legislative battles to Republicans who outnumber them:

... there’s still a lot of powerful people, especially in the Democratic Party, that are centrists, and that’s just a little frustrating when it comes time to stand up to this president and the policies he’s trying to pass. Like the Kavanaugh thing — I get that they’re the minority and that was an uphill battle, but I just feel like there wasn’t a big enough fight put up to that, and I think there continues to not be a big enough fight.

Fine. Be that way -- and expect the 2020 contenders to pitch their messages to us old farts, because more of us will show up at the polls, even if we're not head-over-heels in love with the candidates. And thus the nominee might be an old fart -- yes, even Biden, no many how many times he's lost before.

Kids, you can have the Democratic Party when you can pry it from-- well, actually, we're eager to hand it off to you. Seriously! Take it! You're the future! But if you won't, we'll pop some more glucosamine and stay in charge until you decide you're ready to take over.