Another one down, 17 to go.
As we move further into fall, the Democratic primary field is very, very slowly beginning to shrink. That is leaving behind a trail of people who have lived through the unique — and totally bizarre — experience of running for president.
We were curious to hear what it’s really like from the inside. Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio, who ended his presidential bid last week, was generous enough to grant us an exit interview.
Here’s what he had to say about where he sees the race going, why his bid didn’t take off and all that campaign food. (Our conversation has been edited and condensed.)
So you recently did something kind of crazy, which was run for president. What was the coolest part?
The energy on the ground and the excitement and the different events and all of that stuff. And obviously, the debates were pretty cool. I mean, I’m just a kid from Ohio. To kind of actually be in the mix of all that was really cool.
I’m reminded of how much you eat on a campaign. It was the pork chops wrapped in bacon at the Iowa fair. We spent a lot of time in South Carolina and I think I put on about 10 pounds in South Carolina alone. And so, that’s always fun.
The thing about it is that people are just people, and you can be in Ohio in my area of Youngstown or Akron, or you can be in Greenville, S.C., or Davenport [Iowa], and it’s amazing how most people just have the same basic concerns.
What did you learn from the experience?
Because you’ve never done it before, every day’s a learning opportunity. From how you organize your campaign, how you organize your message, how you strategize and plan and prioritize. The intensity of the presidential race is that it is all happening at the same time. It’s just completely engaging at all levels.
Just in the last few days, my body is starting to calm down, my mind is starting to calm down. Now, it’s like, I’m literally teaching my son how to tie his shoe. And I just laugh and I’m like, “Wow, this is hilarious, right?” You go from running for president to teaching your 5-year-old kid how to tie his shoe.
So, why do you think your campaign didn’t hit?
I didn’t have the money. I knew I wasn’t going to have what everybody else had. But I thought at some point people would start seeing me as the person who could best beat Trump. But what happened was the donors weren’t there. They weren’t going out of their comfort zone to me. They were going to give to people that they knew. A lot of them weren’t going to bet on a dark horse.
Where do you think your voters go?
I don’t know. A lot of them are calling me and asking me. I say, keep your powder dry.
Is that your plan, too?
I want to be a part of shaping the race. I’ve got calls and conversations from almost all of the top people in the race. But we’re just going to kind of hang loose for a little bit.
To me it’s like, who can win? For everybody, it’s got to absolutely be who can beat Donald Trump and who can beat him in the states we need to win. That was my motive for running because I thought it was me. But I think that’s got to be it. Who can win Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. Put Ohio in play and make them play there. And, potentially, Florida.
Do you regret running?
No, not at all. The more you process everything and you start to integrate the lessons of the last year and a half, you can’t get that kind of experience. It would take 20 years in Congress to accumulate the level of experience that running for president brings you.
Now, you can take that back to Congress for the impeachment proceedings.
Right back into the [expletive] show. Jeez, oh man, I thought they’d have it all taken care of by the time I got back.
(Photo credits: Bryan Woolston/Reuters; Mike Segar/Reuters; Alex Wong/Getty Images; Tom Brenner for The New York Times; Scott Olson/Getty Images; Rebecca Cook/Reuters; Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times; C.J. Gunther/European Pressphoto Agency, via Shutterstock; Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun, via Associated Press; Elizabeth Frantz for The New York Times)
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Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com. (As always, please include your name and where you live, which we may publish.)
Warren’s Answer on Medicare for All
Our colleague Ellen Barry is on the trail with Elizabeth Warren in New Hampshire this week, and sends us this dispatch:
When will you release a detailed plan explaining how you propose to pay for “Medicare for all”?
That question was lobbed repeatedly at Senator Elizabeth Warren this afternoon — including by a voter in the audience — as she addressed a packed hall at the University of New Hampshire.
Her answer, delivered repeatedly and with conviction: “Soon.”
Ms. Warren has faced mounting questions in recent weeks over whether she would raise taxes on the middle class to help pay for a single-payer health care system. For months, she has said she supported Senator Bernie Sanders’s Medicare for all plan without specifying how she would finance it. Only last week did she say she would release a plan to do so.
When pressed by reporters after the event today, she offered some insight into what was taking so long.
“I continue to work on parts of it that need more information,” she said. “One of them is talking about what the cost is. You may know the cost of Medicare for all estimates vary by trillions and trillions of dollars.”
She added that she would be happy to consult with Mr. Sanders, her leading progressive rival in the Democratic presidential race, on how to pay for Medicare for all, but had not yet done so. Mr. Sanders has said he would raise taxes on the middle class to fund a health insurance system that would eliminate almost all out-of-pocket costs.
Ms. Warren also brushed away the suggestion that frustration over her health care plan was beginning to hurt her campaign.
“I don’t see it as flak, I see it as people who are wrestling with the question of how we can make sure that Americans get covered by health care,” she said. “It’s the other side, the Republicans, who think it’s just fine.”
Concerns over paying for health care were just a blip among the fleece-and-water-bottle crowd today. The audience, standing 10 deep around the edges of the room, came to life when Ms. Warren arrived at the climax of her speech, about her plans to dole out the proceeds from a 2 percent wealth tax on the richest Americans.
The candidate provided extra evidence that her plan was catching on, noting that in Laconia on Tuesday, she had met “two little girls” who were planning to dress as 2 cents for Halloween.
… Seriously
In my small-child-dominated household, we are well into Day 5 of Halloween — a holiday my colleague Jessica Grose over at Parenting likes to call “preschool Mardi Gras.”
She might be on to something, at least among parents: Polling by Monmouth University says only 8 percent of Americans call the holiday their “most favorite.”
But the real winner of this poll? Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, by far, is the top pick for favorite candy. (That’s definitely a platform I can support!)
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