Mob Rule

In 2016, the Republican primaries were a joke not just because so many who ran were ridiculous, but because so many ran. For the Democrats, 2020 looks even worse, with by one account nearly 50 infected with the presidential bug.

But what if all the Democratic senators were to get together in pre-primary caucuses to pick one from their ranks to run? (Sen. Gillibrand estimates, perhaps over-optimistically, only eight senators will finally do so.)

And what if all the independent senators (there are currently two, both affiliated with the Democrats); all the members of the House (like Seth Moulton, John Delaney and Sean Patrick Maloney); all the governors (like John Hickenlooper, Steve Bullock and Terry McAuliffe); all the mayors (like Bill de Blasio and Pete Buttigieg); all the former office-holders (like Julián Castro, Martin O’Malley, Al Franken, Eric Holder and Mitch Landrieu); all the former losing presidential candidates (you know who they are); all the celebrities (like Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry, Alec Baldwin, Chris Rock and The Rock); and all the gazillionaires (like Mark Cuban, Mark Zuckerberg, Howard Schultz and Tom Steyer); what if each of these factions gathers in caucus to pick one each to represent them?

Thus, instead of being absurdly overcrowded, the debates will be manageable and informative. We might reasonably expect to end up with something on the order of this: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Ind. Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Gov. Jay Inslee, Mayor Eric Garcetti, former Gov. Deval Patrick, former senator and presidential candidate John Kerry, celebrity Will Smith and billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

Nine candidates on the debate stage. That'd work.

Better than 50, anyway.