This column was written after April 1, so don’t confuse it with an April Fools' Day joke.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo really could win.
Even if he just sat there, old school style, and waited to be drafted.
His popularity has soared due to his skill at handling daily press briefings.
Although New York state has the worst record in the country — tied with Italy for the worst in the world — his performance on television is comforting, human, competent, and reassuring.
His appearances with his brother, stricken by the virus, let us into the Cuomo family — a compelling soap opera.
Whether he's responsible for New York’s horrible health record or delayed acting when he should have (he only just this week closed playgrounds) is a debate for another day.
But his 84% approval rating in New York speaks for itself and is likely being replicated in other states — as they watch him on network television.
And the math shows he could be tapped to replace Biden, even over Joe’s furious objections.
With 1991 delegates needed to win the nomination, here’s how the count now stands:
Biden 1217
Sanders 914
Warren 81
Bloomberg 55
Klobuchar 7
Gabbard 2
So a draft Cuomo movement could succeed. There are enough unselected delegates and enough time.
Fifteen states have postponed their primaries amid the virus and others are likely to follow.
Here is the revised primary schedule:
- April 7: Wisconsin
- April 10: Alaska
- April 17: Wyoming
- April 26: Puerto Rico
- April 28: Ohio
- May 2: Guam ,Kansas
- May 12: Nebraska
- May 19: Georgia, Oregon
- May 22: Hawaii
- June 2: Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Indiana, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island , South Dakota
- June 6: Virgin Islands
- June 9: West Virginia
- June 20: Louisiana
- June 23: Kentucky, New York
So, June 2, 2020 is the new Super Tuesday with 686 delegates to be selected.
That is in addition to 565 that will be chosen, largely by mail ballots, between now and then.
New York, Cuomo’s bastion, has delayed its selection until June 23, the last in the country.,
New York's 274 delegates will, of course, go overwhelmingly for Cuomo.
Did he purposely make New York last for that reason??
The filing deadline in all states has, of course passed. It could be reopened by the an act of the legislature or, in some cases, by the governor or the secretary of state.
But Cuomo doesn’t need to be on the ballot.
A write-in campaign could sweep the country, harvesting not only delegates but enough of a popular mandate that the party elders couldn’t say no.
Those "elders" are, of course, the super delegates.
While now bound by party rules to vote on the first ballot as their states have voted, those rules could be changed and they could provide a considerable boost to the nomination.
Cuomo could run a 19th century front porch campaign, not electioneering or even declaring his candidacy. All he has to do to throw his hat in the ring is to not issue a Shermanesque statement. (William Tecumseh Sherman, the great Union general famously chased the door on a candidacy by saying in 1884, "If nominated, I refuse to run. If elected, I will not serve.")
But don’t think those words are coming from Cuomo’s lips anytime soon.
All of this momentum for Cuomo is due, of course, to Biden’s stumbling absent performance during the coronavirus crisis.
He's been mute.
It's as if he weren’t a candidate just an elder statesman or observer.
The difference between his passivity and Cuomo’s and Trump’s activism has not gone unnoticed.
Would Cuomo stand a better chance of beating Trump?
Yes. Would he win? Stay tuned.
DickMorris is the author of the best-selling book "Armageddon: How Trump Can Beat Hillary," written with Eileen McGann and published by Humanix Books, available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon. to read more of Dick Morris's Reports — Click Here Now!