Republicans are all atwitter over the growing field of declared and expected Democratic presidential candidates.
The din kicked up a notch Tuesday when Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said, more or less - I'm back.
But here's what, so far, at least, is most delicious about watching this primary shape up: Unlike the Republicans in 2016, the Democrats are not eating their young, though its not from lack of dogged reporters eager for a new headline and soundbite to incite such a spectacle.
Think about it. In 2016, many of Sanders' ideas were then deemed too radical, even by many Democrats. Now, however, Medicare for all, raising the minimum wage to $15 and free public college tuition are seen as more mainstream.
Much of the conversation going on in the Democratic Party right now started in the run-up to 2016 with Sanders' campaign. That conversation endures now not because it was or is "radical," but simply because it is idea-based - ideas about real and important issues such as health care, closing the income gap, education and helping the middle class and poor climb ladders of success.
In contrast, on the 2016 Republican side, we saw Russia-aided wedges driven into our country to divide us over identity politics - race, gender, income, ethnicity. Walls became the parlance of fear in the most free nation on earth. We can count on more of the same from Donald Trump, if he's still around by 2020.
But Sanders - and now other Democrats - beat the people drum: "The only way we will win this election and create a government and economy that works for all, is with a grassroots movement," Sanders said.
It's a Democratic theme easily seen. We already have plenty of diversity in the candidate field. No matter how much the GOP pundits will try to claim it, the Democratic primary won't be about identity politics. It will be about ideas.
That's what was so sorely lacking in 2016 - ideas. That's why all that stood out in the 2016 election, especially in the GOP primary, were the insults: "Lying Ted," "Low-energy Jeb," "Little Marco" and, later, Crocked Hillary."
With the Dems this year, so far, so good. The candidates are carving out some lanes among their ideas, but not insults and dividers.
California Sen. Kamala Harris, in Pennsylvania after Sanders' announcement, was given an opportunity by a reporter to slam Sanders by explaining the difference between a Democratic Socialist and a Democrat. Harris paused a beat or two and said, "I believe we have got to have a system that recognizes that it has not been working for everyone equally. I support capitalism. It, in theory, is something that requires competition that will allow us to be better and evolve "
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, another early favorite, is choosing a more moderate Democratic path - a centrist and down-in-the-weeds-on-the-farm-policy kind of idea we've not seen work in so long that we may have forgotten it might.
Jill Filipovic, a self-described progressive who does not think Klobuchar's "no" and pragmatism can win, wrote Tuesday on CNN.com that she still liked Klobuchar's coherence and cogency during a Monday evening CNN town hall: No Green New Deal. No Medicare for All. No free college. Just competence, compromise, order.
"[B]land 90s centrism is exactly what was an offer from Klobuchar at Monday's town hall. But for those of us who think the Democratic base has moved further to the left than its representatives in Congress, this primary is a fight we want to have, Filipovic wrote. "Elections are usually much more about personality than policy, but with a crowded Democratic field and a slew of candidates who take the details of policy seriously, this contest could prove to be more about substance than optics."
Absolutely. Here's to hoping 2020 is not going to be a year when we pundits (or voters) will say this is the woman, this is the man, this is the person of color. Rather, we have all of the above. So far: five women, four racial minorities, a little-known white congressman and an openly gay mayor.
This is the year and the debate of ideas. Ideas to help the rest of the people - not just the 10 or 15 candidates who have or soon will announce their candidacies.
(As of Tuesday, announced Democratic candidates in addition to Sanders, Harris and Klobuchar included former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Indiana's South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Still in the wings are former Vice President Joe Biden, former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.)
For the Democrats, at least, we look forward to this being the year about we the people. And we'll bring our own glitter and star-power, thank you.