So Long, Julian Castro

Jonathan Bernstein: “The end of Julian Castro’s presidential campaign on Thursday offered another opportunity to complain about the nomination process, and plenty of pundits have been doing just that. After all, Castro has more relevant experience than South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who remains a contender, and he’s far more qualified than entrepreneur Andrew Yang or activist Tom Steyer, both of whom scored invitations to the November and December debates. Castro’s final debate was in October.”

“But while I’m a Castro fan (I live in San Antonio, where he was once mayor), it’s hard for me to see any legitimate complaints about the process in this case. I’d agree that Castro in some sense deserved to be one of the remaining candidates, but presidential elections aren’t really about what candidates deserve. Castro had his chance, and for whatever reason he failed to attract much support. He was going nowhere in the polls, both nationally and in the early states, and he ended up at only 1% in Nevada, where plenty of Latino voters joined white Democrats in Iowa and New Hampshire in ignoring him.”