A Suggestion for Tom Steyer

NEWS - @TomSteyer told his staff last week that he's jumping into the presidential race after all, and is planning an announcement on Tuesday https://t.co/GttjRy0DRK

— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) July 8, 2019

You know, it was just the other day last week last couple of weeks ago when I noticed that Joe Sestak entered the 2020 race that I found myself musing, "See, there's a guy who understands what we need in this country at this point in time--more people running for president." Sure, we have a lot of people running already, and two nights of crowded debate stages, with a handful of people left over. But unless every eligible Democrat tries to run for president, how in the hell will anyone understand how seriously we intend to beat Donald Trump? And now, Tom Steyer is moving closer to making my dream of "Everyone's running!" a reality.

I kid. But only a little bit. To be honest, I don't feel that marrow-deep annoyance for Steyer that I felt for Howard Schultz (whose campaign is, I guess, indefinitely suspended?) and actually agree with him on his two big issues--it's imperative that we treat climate change with the seriousness that it deserves and also, while an electoral victory over Trump is entirely doable and desirable, his unfitness for office and attitude towards the law and our democratic norms warrant impeachment.

But still and all, I don't think the problem is that we need a billionaire to run directly for office as if the people already on the field can't do the thing. So I would like to suggest that Mr. Steyer do something a little different: spend about as much money, give or take, as he would on a presidential election for himself, and still concentrate on winning offices--but just not for himself. That way he does something really great and helpful, but doesn't have to be president which looks like a drag anyway. And he could, I don't know...maybe try to ensure Democrats flip the US Senate, because that's really where good ideas go to die right now.

I'd also recommend that some of the other people we have running for president right now think about running for the senate before it becomes too ridiculously late to even start that thing.