Bennet ends 2020 bid after poor showing in New Hampshire
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet ended his long-shot presidential bid
Tuesday, failing to break out of a crowded Democratic field dominated by
other moderate candidates, including Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Amy
Klobuchar.
Bennet, 55, was a late entrant to the race who staked
his bid largely on trying to win New Hampshire. He only formally
announced his candidacy in late April, after completing treatment for
prostate cancer. He was the seventh senator and second white Colorado
moderate to join the field, which made it difficult for him to stand
out.
Bennet ran on a centrist platform and made a point of
bucking the trend among some candidates for splashy, liberal proposals.
Instead of embracing “Medicare for All” and free college, Bennet ran on
what he called his “Real Deal” platform of more modest but still
ambitious goals. Those included annual payments of at least $3,000 to
families with children under age 18, allowing people to buy into an
expanded form of Medicare and a $1 trillion housing affordability plan.
But
while his articulate and passionate centrism won plaudits from pundits
and experienced Democratic professionals, Bennet struggled to register
in the polls and he hovered in the bottom tier of the field even as he
campaigned more in New Hampshire than other candidates, with 50 town
halls in the final ten weeks.. After July, Bennet never polled high
enough or raised enough money to qualify for the debate stage again.
The
main obstacle to Bennet was Biden, who as the moderate with
establishment backing took up the space that the Colorado senator’s
campaign was counting on. Bennet’s late entry also hobbled him. Because
of his cancer diagnosis, he had to delay his candidacy, and he barely
qualified for the first presidential debate. Bennet quickly began
pushing back against the Democratic National Committee’s increasingly
stringent debate qualification rules, complaining it was an unfair
advantage for the staples of cable television who had been campaigning
months, or even years, earlier.
In the end he staked his bet on
the path blazed by his political mentor, former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart,
who scored a surprise win in New Hampshire in the 1984 Democratic
presidential primary and almost won the nomination. Bennet pledged to
hold 50 town halls in New Hampshire during the final weeks of the
campaign and spent almost every spare moment there.