Dems fear independent run by Schultz could help Trump

SEATTLE -- Some of the most influential forces in Democratic politics revolted Monday against former Starbucks CEO Howard Schutz's prospective presidential bid, insisting an independent run would unintentionally help President Donald Trump win another four years in office.

The critics included the Democratic chairman of Schultz's home state, another billionaire businessman who long flirted with an independent run of his own, former President Barack Obama's chief strategist, and the most powerful super PAC in Democratic politics.

"If Schultz entered the race as an independent, we would consider him a target. ... We would do everything we can to ensure that his candidacy is unsuccessful," said Patrick McHugh, executive director of Priorities USA, which spent nearly $200 million in the 2016 presidential contest.

Specifically, he seized on Schultz's apparent willingness to cut entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security to narrow the federal deficit.

"The bottom line," McHugh said, "is that I don't think Americans are looking for another selfish billionaire to enter the race."

The pushback in the early days of the 2020 campaign reflects the intensity Democrats are bringing to the race. The party is singularly focused on retaking the White House and anxious about any hurdle preventing them from seizing on Trump's unpopularity.

While no independent has won the presidency since George Washington, Democrats fear Schultz would almost certainly split their vote and give Trump an easier path to re-election.

Democrats concede they had few tools to dissuade Schultz from launching an independent campaign -- as he told CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday he was considering -- though many were skeptical he would actually follow through.

Schultz indirectly addressed the uproar on social media.

"At this time in America when there's so much evidence that our political system is broken -- that both parties at the extreme are not representing the silent majority of the American people -- isn't there a better way?" Schultz said, noting he'd be traveling the country in the coming weeks and months meeting with voters.

"And what better expression of our democracy than to give the American people a choice that they deserve."

History suggests Schultz may do little more than play spoiler should he run. Michael Bloomberg, billionaire and former New York mayor, offered Schultz a direct message based on his own experience.

"The data was very clear and very consistent. Given the strong pull of partisanship and the realities of the electoral college system, there is no way an independent can win. That is truer today than ever before," Bloomberg, who is considering a Democratic 2020 bid, said in a statement.

He continued: "In 2020, the great likelihood is that an independent would just split the anti-Trump vote and end up re-electing the president. That's a risk I refused to run in 2016, and we can't afford to run it now."

The angry voices were far and wide, and they included Obama's former chief strategist, David Axelrod, along with Democrats from Schultz's home state.

"If Schultz decides to run as an independent," Axelrod tweeted, Trump "should give Starbucks their Trump Tower space rent free! It would be a gift."

Tina Podlodowski, the Democratic chairwoman in Washington state, where Schultz has lived for decades, encouraged him to run as a Republican instead of a Democrat.

"A billionaire buying his way out of the entire primary process does not strengthen democracy," she said. "It only makes it more likely that our democracy will be further strained under another four years of President Donald Trump."

Perhaps trying to elevate Schultz, who is not well known among Democratic primary voters, Trump himself weighed in Monday, tweeting Schultz "doesn't have the 'guts' to run for President!"

The 65-year-old Seattle billionaire launched a tour Monday to promote his latest book, "From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America." He has stops this week in New York; Tempe, Arizona; Seattle; and San Francisco -- but no dates listed for the early voting states of Iowa or New Hampshire.

He's been mentioned as a potential candidate many times before, and he's done little to quell speculation about his presidential ambitions since saying when he retired from Starbucks last June his future could include "public service."

On paper, Schultz offers a number of qualities maybe appealing to voters. He grew up in public housing in New York City's Brooklyn borough and became the first person in his family to graduate from college.

He took over Starbucks when it sold only coffee beans, not cups -- it had 11 stores and fewer than 100 employees at the time -- and grew it into a global behemoth with close to 30,000 stores in 78 countries. Along the way, he adopted an ethos of corporate responsibility, making Starbucks one of the earliest U.S. companies to offer stock options and health insurance even to part-time employees and more recently partnering with Arizona State University to cover tuition for workers who want to earn their bachelor's degree online.

He's waded into contentious social issues. In 2013, Starbucks asked customers not to bring guns into stores following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and in 2015, Schultz drew anger and ridicule after he urged baristas to write "Race Together" on cups to spark conversations amid tension over police shootings of black men. Last year, after two black men were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks while waiting for a business meeting, Starbucks closed 8,000 U.S. stores early so employees could take anti-bias training.

He's been a longtime Democratic donor, contributing to the campaigns of Obama, Hillary Clinton, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, and Washington Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, among others. He has also criticized Trump, telling employees the president was creating "chaos" and hurting business; calling Trump's tax cuts for corporations unnecessary and reckless; and vowing to hire 10,000 refugees after Trump issued an executive order banning travel from seven mostly Muslim nations.

But some of his views might clash with a Democratic Party gearing up to unseat Trump. While some potential nominees, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and California Sen. Kamala Harris, have endorsed single-payer health care, heavily taxing the rich or free tuition at public colleges, Schultz has criticized such proposals as unrealistic and instead emphasized expanding the economy and curbing entitlements to get the national debt under control.

"It concerns me that so many voices within the Democratic Party are going so far to the left," Schultz told CNBC last June. "I ask myself, 'How are we going to pay for all these things?' in terms of things like single-payer or people espousing the fact that the government is going to give everyone a job. I don't think that's realistic."

The Democratic National Committee declined to address Schultz directly. Spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa offered only this response: "We are focused on defeating Donald Trump, and anyone who shares that goal should vote for the Democrat nominee in 2020."