Why underdogs run for presidents.

By Nicholas Ward

With the withdrawal of Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, and Tom Sawyer from the Democratic Primaries many inside and out of the USA are wondering who the hell were these people?

America’s presidential race is sometimes jokingly said to begin the day after the presidential election. And with wall to wall 24 hour a day 7 day a week coverage for four years of every would-be president. It seems impossible that the primaries would come around and the majority of the candidates would be virtually unknown outside of their powerbases.

Yet every presidential cycle dozens of unheard-of would-be nominee put their names down.

The race catapults some to fame like Andrew Yang. For others it’s a slow slog from obscurity then back into obscurity like Tom Sawyer.

Outside of America we don’t see the kinds of power competitions that America does. When Scomo, or Turnbull, or Gillard take the leadership these are senior party members, country wide names taking the leadership not completely unknown mayors or delusional billionaires.

So why do so many people contest the presidency? And where does all the money come from?

Everyone loves an underdog story. But with very few exceptions the final candidates in an American election are almost always known immediately.

This coming contest has been called as Biden, Sanders for the last four years. And though Warren and Bloomberg are putting up valiant fights few are predicting any serious contention from them.

But while Bloomberg and Warren have been well known names in the democratic (and republican) party for years many candidates are not.

Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg despite a strong initial showing was the mayor of South Bend. A town that doesn’t make it into a list of the 300 most populous cities in America.

After garnering zero delegates and virtually zero votes for the bargain basement cost of $500’000’000 many are still confused who Tom Stayer was.

Andrew Yang and the Yang gang were the breakaway success of failures in this primary. Yang has gone from a virtual unknown into a possible successor for Sander’s mantle of king of the progressives.

Yet a dozen more people announced candidacies. And while it’s easy to brow beat a few thousand people into signing a document to make you a candidate each of these candidates has raised hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of dollars in donations.

For a candidate like Yang the rational for running is clear, attention. Even if he did not expect to win. He has turned himself into a national figure and greatly expanded his profile. His loyal supporters poured money into his campaign. And its end is no great loss for him. He has a fairly bright future ahead of him politically.

The big four, Warren, Biden, Bloomberg, and Sanders, all have loyal bases, strong political and financial connections and a legitimate hope of becoming president.

But who the hell is Amy Klobuchar? Or Pete Buttigieg and how have they convinced people to pump millions into there campaigns? Why do they run with such a slim chance of victory? And why does squandering tens of millions of other people’s dollars not have the slightest effect on their political fortunes?

National Recognition

Anyone who runs for president is generally extremely successful and well known in their circle. Klobucher is a successful Senator who has served Minnesota for 13 years. Pete Buttigieg is a successful consultant from one of the most cutthroat consultancy firms in America as well as the former mayor of a minute city. Tom Steyer is a billionaire. And on and on.

Despite their success gaining national attention is often difficult with so many people constantly vying for it across America. Running for president is a simple way of gaining this attention and many politicians with higher aspirations for later in life will have a failed Presidential bid or two under their belt that brought them to the national spotlight.

Power Games

That does not explain how people like Buttigieg raise tens of millions in futile bids. Lobbyist across Washington will generally pump a certain level of cash into any and all campaigns from either side of the isle to hedge their bets. But why do the rich get behind lost causes?

Part of it is certainly hedging of bets, if someone surprisingly gets into the white house you don’t want to be the one group who forgot to grease those palms.

But the other is that known or unknown these are generally powerful people with a large amount of influence.

A few wasted dollars on a failed president will probably earn you a favour or two from a US Senator, or an important businessman.

This may sound borderline corrupt but bear in mind that is simply how politics works. In any and all countries. Reward your supporters. Punish your enemies. You don’t want to be putting an application into an agency controlled by someone you snubbed for funding.

And despite a universal pledge amongst Democratic candidates not to take corporate money all but two major candidates, Warren and Sanders, had lavish ‘fundraisers’ hosted by their good friends from corporate lobbying groups who conveniently found huge amounts of ‘private’ money to put into their campaigns.

Or in Biden’s case he simply reneged on the pledge.

Power games of a different kind

Klobuchar, Buttigieg and Sawyer have all dropped out following the South Carolina primary. Biden with an incredible showing went from third to second. Yet two of these three candidates were still running strong campaigns and with the vast majority of the campaign still to go. Suddenly left.

Klobuchar has since endorsed Biden. And this is being seen as an effort to not split the vote of mainstream democrats in order to weaken Sanders.

Did they have a crisis of morals? Do they hate Sanders that much? Why after going through so much did they contest four of fifty-two primaries then drop out?

It’s possible they had a crisis of faith however it should be noted that Clinton did not pick Sanders as her Vice President. Obama did not pick Clinton. Trump did not pick Jeb or Cruise. In fact, virtually no President has ever picked their key opponent in the primaries even though that would logically seem like the best person to pick to unify the party base.

Instead Presidential candidates select prominent allies who were early in supporting their bids.

While this certainly will not ever be confirmed by any party. Prominent people who aid or in other cases get out of the way of Presidential candidates can always hope for hefty rewards down the line.

Getting out early and endorsing Biden may be a matter of conscience. Or it may be political horse trading so that Klobuchar Buttigieg and Sawyer can call in favors of Biden. In the White House preferably, or from the wealthy and well-connected businessman if not.

It is easy to see politics through rose coloured glasses of right and wrong, and moral ideals. But the truth is politics is a power game. And power is sold and bought at a heavy cost. The presidential election is no different.