The Point: Cory Booker's 2020 miscalculation

View this email in your browser   January 13, 2020  | by Chris Cillizza and Lauren Dezenski Cory Booker's 2020 miscalculation Cory Booker's theory of the 2020 case was a good one.   It went something like this: Donald Trump's presidency has deeply divided us against ourselves. What Democrats (and the country) will want -- and need -- is someone who puts optimism, unity and, yes, love forward as the antidote to the current President.   It made sense! Barack Obama ran and won on "hope and change." George W. Bush ran and won on "compassionate conservatism." Voters of all stripes want to be for something that makes them feel good rather than against something that makes them feel bad.   Booker leaned into his love message. Everywhere. At all times.   "Beating Donald Trump is the floor; it is not the ceiling," Booker said over Memorial Day weekend 2019 in Iowa. "It doesn't get us to the mountaintop. I am running for president because I want to get to the mountaintop!"   In October 2019, Booker framed his relentless positivity this way: "I was raised by parents who did not flinch in telling me about the wretchedness of life, about the bigotry, and hate, and violence," he told The Christian Science Monitor. "But they taught me that you don't combat that by abandoning your virtues, but by doubling down on them, and that that is in fact a harder way."   In every debate in which he appeared, Booker tried to keep his rivals from attacking one another -- insisting that the path to beating Trump was kindness and love, not division and anger.   And then Booker dropped out of the presidential race. Today, to be exact. "It was a difficult decision to make, but I got in this race to win, and I've always said I wouldn't continue if there was no longer a path to victory," he wrote in an email to supporters announcing the decision.   What happened? Booker miscalculated. Democratic voters were (and are) angry at the idea that Trump was elected president. They've only gotten angrier since they've seen the policies he has put in place while in office.   They didn't want an uplifting message, they wanted an undoing one. As in, the next Democratic nominee will undo all that Trump has done -- tearing it out root and branch. They want a nominee who is mad as hell and isn't going to take it from Trump anymore. And that wasn't ever going to be Booker.   The Point: Anger, not hope, is the defining trait of this year's Democratic electorate. Booker learned that lesson the hard way.   -- Chris QUOTE OF THE DAY "We just want Iran to behave like a normal nation. Just be like Norway." -- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a speech at Stanford University, adding that the US' strategy is to reestablish "real deterrence" against the Iranian regime. ON ENTHUSIASM A new Iowa poll helped CNN and the Des Moines Register take the temperature of likely Democratic caucus voters.   In it, 60% of those Iowa voters say they're fired up -- literally -- to head to the caucuses.   But they're also tired.    More than half (54%) say they are "exhausted by politics." CHRIS' GOOD READS The William Barr profile I've been waiting for   How Donald Trump is hobbling the FEC (and why it matters for 2020)   When (and why) Joe Biden voted for the war in Iraq   And the most checked-out library book is...   SNUBBED! MUSICAL INTERLUDE A St. Vincent remix of Beck's "Uneventful Days?" Oh, yes!     Today's episode: Excited & exhausted in Iowa -- the mood ahead of the caucuses. LAUREN'S CAMPAIGN TRAIL LATEST     Cory Booker: Has dropped out of the presidential race, bringing the field to 12 candidates (CNN reporter Rebecca Buck has a great thread on Twitter about what it was like to cover Booker).   Bernie Sanders: Told Elizabeth Warren in a private meeting in 2018 that a woman can't win the presidency, sources tell CNN. Sanders denies that characterization.   Elizabeth Warren: Said she is "disappointed" Sanders sent volunteers "out to trash me" after hearing about a memo containing talking points reportedly given to Sanders volunteers that called her attractive as a candidate only among the elite.   Michael Bloomberg: Writes that the current primary calendar, with Iowa and New Hampshire going first, hurts Democrats and helps Trump.   ONE BIG COUNTDOWN 21 The number of days until the Iowa caucuses.  We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Follow this link for daily coverage of the world's top stories, savvy market insights, an insider's look into the media, and more. Send your tips and thoughts via email to Chris Cillizza and Lauren Dezenski. Follow Chris and Lauren on Twitter. Subscribe to The Point unsubscribe from this list Copyright © 2020 Cable News Network, Inc., All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: One CNN Center Atlanta, GA 30303 Sign up to get updates on your favorite CNN Original Series, special CNN news coverage and other newsletters.