Each comes in a different-colored candy cellophane wrapper, but once unwrapped, they all taste the same. Kind of like the gray, comradely socialism they collectively expound in the end.

It's not easy being in a clown car full of candidates, the designation for the dozen at least of Democratic Party candidates seeking to lose the election against President Trump.

So what are we seeing now? Desperate bids to stand out — all from the same thing Democrats do reflexively, which is pandering to special interests.

Get a load of the promised gravy.

Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke, via Breitbart:

O'Rourke was asked if he would sign Sheila Jackson Lee's bill which would consider reparations proposals for Africans-Americans. O'Rourke said, "Yes. Civil rights are not just those victories that began with at the outset of my comments, but the injustices that have been visited and continue to be visited on people. We will never get the change that we need to live up to the promise of this country. So absolutely, I would sign that into law."

Kamala "Heels Up" Harris, via LifeZette:

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), along with several other Senate colleagues, introduced a bill on Wednesday that would allow so-called dreamers to work as staffers or interns in Congress. Current provisions, added within annual appropriations bills, bars non-citizens from working in the federal government. The new legislation, known as The American Dream Employment Act, would, according to Harris, allow Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients to "give back to their country."

Bernie Sanders — and his lesser light rivals, via NBC:

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard all endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders' College for All Act in 2017. The $47 billion plan would eliminate undergraduate tuition and fees at public colleges and universities. It would also lower interest rates on student loans, and allow those carrying existing debt to refinance their loans.

Joe Biden, via his own blog post, seems to be on the same page, too, but with a smaller package:

Let's instead figure out how we're going to train them for the jobs of the future. And retrain them. Because in today's economy, given the pace of technological change, there is a need for workers to retool or retrain even to keep up with the jobs they already have. At a minimum, that means recognizing that 12 years of school is no longer enough; two years of free community college should be available as well to meet the needs of today's jobs.

Pete Buttigieg, via NPR, is offering something called "Inter-generational justice" as a vote-getter:

In a conversation with NPR about his memoir Shortest Way Home, Buttigieg says that the 2020 election should be focused on what he calls "inter-generational justice." He says he worries about what the United States will be like in 2054 — the year he would turn 72, the current age of President Trump.

Does any of these people have anything to offer other than free stuff? Not a one of them, save possibly Warren or Biden, has any policy ideas, any vision for America that involves how government will interact with the people and how people will shape their futures accordingly based on their options. President Trump has a grand record of reducing government, allowing the private sector to expand, and projecting a strong America abroad. The Democrats' collective philosophy seems to be to just shovel the pork and free stuff and get the votes in return.

It's pathetic. And they're all doing the same thing. It's the same shoddy construction projects made ever and ever more ornate with newer and more baroque offerings on top. It's stale. It's boring. It's entirely predictable — and leaves voters with only the personality factor to distinguish the Democratic candidates. And I am going to argue that none of this is going to win against Trump.