nick.langdon's blog

Between 2003 and 2015 there were five national elections in Israel. That number is not unusual for a parliamentary democracy, where who forms government is decided by which party or coalition of parties can command a majority in the legislature, while states that use a presidential system tend to have longer, fixed terms. However between 2019 and 2022 Israel also had five elections, including two in 2019 separated by just five months. The most recent election, in November 2022, produced yet another weak and fractious six party coalition that seems unlikely to last.

Updated rankings for the 2020 Democrats after the 6th and final debate for the year. This time only seven candidates made the cut which makes things easier to talk about, but whether many people are paying attention this close to Christmas/just after Donald Trump's impeachment remains to be seen.

Updated rankings for the 2020 Democrat candidates. I didn't get a chance to do another of these after the last debate, but honestly we're beyond the point where anything other than a complete meltdown on stage would have any effect on individual candidates' standings. In fact there's no better illustration of the irrelevancy of the televised debates to the overall race than the flatlining Kamala Harris campaign.

Updated rankings for the 2020 Democratic candidates. The third debate was something of a nothingburger with no major gaffes committed by the big names but also no real breakout moments from the lesser lights, and with very few highlights overall. Joe Biden came out far more aggressively and despite a couple of his usual Joe-isms put in a strong performance. Elizabeth Warren was more muted and still is wishy washy on her health care proposal that will involve middle class tax rises but she can’t seem to admit this, however she managed to mostly float above the fray.

Biggest takeaway from the second round of debates was Kamela Harris delivering a weak performance. She benefited first time around from being a low-profile candidate whose campaign thus far hadn't made much of an impact and who wasn't a well-known figure outside of California. However this time she fumbled under criticism from all sides and is, ironically considering her attacks on Biden in the first debate, having to defend her "problematic" record and not doing a very good job of it.