Selling America’s No. 1 cup of coffee has done wonders for exiting Starbucks executive Howard Schultz when it comes to his future in politics.
The Republican National Committee, for example, considers the liberal a serious challenger in the Democratic primaries.
He also was backed by 21 percent in a 2020 poll.
And the Washington Post put their blessing on Schultz by calling him one of the 15 most likely 2020 Democratic candidates, an equal to Oprah Winfrey and ahead of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
But buzz about Schultz skyrocketed earlier today when he finally announced that he was stepping down and hinted about a public service career.
In a recent list of some 50 potential candidates, the RNC listed Schultz as a player. “While 2020 is still a long way away, Democrats have reason to worry about what’s shaping up to be the largest primary field ever, even if it’s not quite 50,” said Michael Ahrens, the Republican National Committee’s rapid response director.
A Morning Consult poll from last year found that 21 percent would back Schultz. In that poll, and in many others since, former Vice President Joe Biden led.
In it’s Top 15, the Post lumped Schultz in the 11 spot with Winfrey, Mark Cuban, Bob Iger and Sheryl Sandberg, saying, “it’s a real cop-out to put these five together. Winfrey is certainly a different kind of billionaire than Cuban, former Starbucks CEO Schultz, Disney CEO Iger and Facebook COO Sandberg. Schultz and Iger seem perhaps the most likely to run, but Winfrey would be instantly formidable if she did. And if Democrats decide to fight a billionaire president with a billionaire Democrat, any of these four make more sense to me than Zuckerberg. If I had to pick one right now, it would be Schultz.”
