Five Democrats surge to the front

So ... if you’re going to point a loaded pistol at my noggin and demand that I pick the Democratic frontrunner for the 2028 presidential nomination, you would have to settle on hearing me recite five names.

I rate them all equally, but understand that it remains far too early to single any of them out.

Here goes: Former Vice President Kamala Harris, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Arizona U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, Georgia U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff. I haven’t ranked them. The is a random one. There might be a sleeper or two, maybe three, out there hiding in the tall grass. I’ll stick for now with the obvious choices.

Harris was the 2024 Democratic nominee. She should have won that race. But she ran out of steam down the stretch. Newsom is “telegenic” in the extreme, but I hear from my California family members and friends that he has a mixed record out there. Buttigieg is brilliant but it pains me to say this ... he’s also gay. Say what you will about strides we have made in this country, I don’t believe we are going to just yet elect a gay candidate as president. Kelly keeps harping on how he’s “not afraid” of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. He needs to develop a forward-looking message. Ossoff has scored huge in his dressing down of the GOP and the POTUS. Plus, he has a certain “swag” that a candidate seems to need these days.

Who might the GOP offer? Vice President J.D. Vance. That’s it.

Do I have a favorite? Not really, although I believe Ossoff has the widest path to the top of the heap.

Polls at this stage of an election season mean nothing. Zero. They only speak to who’s leading in the moment. An hour is a lifetime, right?