wins. i think beto pace of passes tha. second question is is it about me or is it about them? i read the vanity fair story this morning, there was a lot about me and why i want to do this and not a lot about why i want to get what i m going to do for the people. the last thing i d say is, you know, politics is an often where you re defined by who you re up against. he was up against ted cruz, one of the most despised politicians on both sides of the aisle in the united states. he s now going to be compared with cory booker, kamala harris, bernie sanders, elizabeth warren. it s a harder thing. i m not saying that he doesn t come in here strong, but the thing that really struck me about the vanity fair, it could just be the way that vanity fair wanted to cover the story, it was all about him. and i think that doesn t translate as well when you re truthing arou trudging around the fields of iowa and in new hampshire. i want to show you iowa that
multiple african-americans running on race reform. hasn t ever democrat acknowledged that the ticket, when it finally happens, will include a woman and/or a person of color? bernie sanders came out and said that he thinks people need to be judged on the basis of their ideas and not just well. not their age, not their gender. sure. bringing the berlington to the national race. i think part of what is inspiring folks about beto, he did inspire people, is that punk rock politics ethos. and we will see how it translates. but that authenticity is his greatest strength. in the profile he s comparing this race to lord of the rings and star wars, the generational struggles. and if he can keep that narrative and if he can keep that authenticity, he will continue to inspire people in a way than ore politicians try and fail. we shall see. we re 14 minutes in. thank you guys very much. we have another big breaking story.
harry, there s been some slippage for beto the last couple months. if we look at the polls, whether they be in iowa with our poll or the national average, back in december he was breaking double digits. that s why a lot of us thought this guy could really go places. look what s happened over the last few months. he s dropped by seven points nationally, he s dropped by six points in iowa, and now he s in fourth or fifth place depending on how you rank the nukes. bnumbers. but that might have changed. this is one of the reasons why we think he might be able to good back up and why we re enthusiastic about his campaign thinking he could rise again. look at the money he was able to raise from individuals in his 2018 senate. he raised $80 million in a field that s going to be a dozen, 15 people where you re going to have to outlast people on the democratic side, the ability to raise money, he raised more than double the next highest frern individual contributors. so we think if he s
go on is the question. historically democrats have gone for the hot hand, they don t go for next in line. that s why it will be fascinating to see a biden/beto dichotomy. he s been the hot hand. but among the criticism he s going to get is this vanity fair treatment. this is the largest sort of announcement being held in check by vanity fair since caitlyn jenner. and here he s going to no one gets that. and he s got to also be very careful to put the folks on the we, not the me, because that s an achilles heel. i hear him doing that. it sounds to me that he s very conscious of that. he starts with why i want to do it and for us, and for we. he catches himself. iread i m reading it in prin. does this change joe biden s calculus? absolutely not. biden is in and he s looking for the right way and time. i go back to my old boss, bill clinton as a great political mind. he says a couple things, which is that the optimist generally
strategists over the last couple days, because they ve been anticipating this would happen whether it s today or next week, it s the candidates who are banking on a mood of really generational change who feel the most nervous about this. if you re a kamala harris, a cory booker, it s a little counterintuitive if you re bernie sanders and you re counting on the yucker people who are rejecting the system as it is, beto is somewhat closer to the political middle from the is just something about the way he talks and his personality and his mindset about the system that easy pos a re that poses a real challenge to these others. a lot of young people who might have gone on line to contribute to somebody who they liked that that first debate that they hadn t seen may have their man now. there s something about him, according to vanity fair, not