Actually more like campaign ender – I hope.
I’m pretty open to the Democratic field in 2008. I’m no longer interested in who looks good on paper, but instead I want a Democratic candidate who isn’t afraid to say he or she is a Democrat. Someone who clearly understands the Republican noise machine and is capable of fighting it is a plus.
I’m on the fence and will probably remain so for some time to come, with Al Gore being the only possible candidate who I’d line up behind and run into the fires of hell with right now. I’ve been a Gore fan since 1988, when I first watched the Democratic convention at the tender age of 10.
That said, there are two possible candidates who are quite simply a no-go from now: John Kerry and Tom Daschle. They are both good men, but they’ve hit as high as they’re going to go electorally. Kerry lost the important 2004 race, while Daschle presided over a Democratic majority that rolled over for Bush and sent us off for war. They’re both great party loyalists, but are simply no-go.
My current rankings for 2008:
1. Al Gore – right on Iraq, right on global warming, right, right, right
2. John Edwards – owned up on Iraq, his time is now
3. Mark Warner (tie) – being a governor is a plus, but he’s gotta “show me something”
3. Hillary Clinton (tie) – the juggernaut with no definition
4. Russ Feingold – right on the issues, but too many roadblocks
5. Evan Bayh – probably too conservative for my tastes, but could make a splash somehow
6. Bill Richardson – Wildcard. He’s a governor, riverboat gambler, and part of the New West
Barack Obama is the only other person than Al Gore who I’d line up with right now, but he isn’t running until 2012 or 2016 (hopefully 2016, taking the handoff from the Democratic president). Barack will win when he runs.
“Barack will win when he runs.”
I love hearing that confidence. Obama is probably the most impressive person in Washington today.
As usual no mention of Wesley Clark. He has something that all these candidates lack: A willingness to talk about the war and present sollutions rather than just say he is opposed(Fiengold has had the balls to openly speak about Iraq). If not Clark for president he needs to be running as VP or in a cabinet position. I would love to have a liberal, but our country is better build for change and not overhaul like Bush and company have overseen. I liked Al Gore, but he also showed NO backbone when he lost and do you remember how many people came to his side? Not many. Unless he is the prodigal son, it is a hard sell. Mark Warner should stay home because he hasn’t “show me anything”. Richardson is viable, especially on the issue of the border which should break the Republicans because they want it both ways, but don’t count out this issue for Republicans. I wish Richardson would be more vocal. John Edwards is another candidate that Republicans shit their pants about. They can’t label him as a fringe liberal, swiftboat him, call him elitest or say he is loose with facts. Now he isn’t as saintly as Jimmy Carter(Savage thinks he is like Hitler, more proof that cons hate honesty and integrety), but Edwards can reach more swing voters than most candidates. Evan Bayh? WHo..? His name is thrown around so much, but as usual thier is NO light on what he is doing, opinions…. He is another “Hey lets pick the dullest candidate we can because it can’t fail again?” (I have loved Kerry of late, but like Gore, he showed no backbone, was lethargic, and didn’t take on the bullies of the right on the national stage. I mean he allowed his service to be besmearched by chickenhawks and took it up the tailpipe!) Hilary will win hands down ONLY if her runningmate is a powerful VP. The Republicans don’t mind having our country run like the tv show Dynasty or more fitting Dallas because voting Bush is a vote for elitism( I thought only liberals were elitist?) and eugenics. They can sink on this but the Dems need to put Hilary as the alternative to a Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton voting cycle and only her runningmate will decide this outcome. VP can no longer be toys that sit in the office. They need to be powerful…. Maybe just not Dick Cheney powerful. My only request is that our candidate is intelligent and a leader. Bush is the most idiotic man to hold office and like cartoons, Pinky is funny (in Pinky and the Brain) but I can’t take anymore stupid humour crossed with evil humour(Brain or Dick Cheney if you like). Its good comedy when eating cereal in the morning, but not for our country.
Also, I agree that Clark is a deserving candidate for almost any position in a Democratic admin.
Whale; I think what makes Gore so appealing as of late is that he now realizes his mistakes in 2000 and seeks to correct them. Gore will not be Swift-Boated, and he won’t knuckle under to the same hostile press attention (his willingness to laugh at the “I invented the Internet” meme shows as such). He won’t make the mistake of tapping somebody like Lieberman again. But most of all, he understands that he needs to stand and fight against the ugly tactics of Rove and Co., not just ignore them and hope they’ll go away.
Gore, at least, believes something different on Wednesday after what happened to him on Tuesday. So to speak.
Nixon suffered a worse defeat–PR wise–to Kennedy than Gore did to Bush, and he came back to win the POTUS. I don’t think Gore’s down for the count.
Anybody but Hillary. Has there ever been a politician with fewer of her own ideas, testing the wind every minute to see what she should think?
Even though all Bush’s ideas are wrong, he doesn’t deviate from what Karl tells him he thinks, no matter how few people agree.
I am curious as to what you think of Wesley Clark. I think his taking a position on Fox as analyst is brilliant in terms of getting his message across as a strong Democrat that would be great in terms of national security.
Talk about taking the fight to the enemy, as well as talk about exploiting your enemies weakness.
I still like Howard Dean for his forthrightness. He may say stupid things sometimes, but at least he’s got the cojones to say them out loud and take the heat for it. I like the kind of guy that will say to Congress (or the joint chiefs or whatever) “That’s bullshit and you know it.”
I think we should watch Emmanuel (can’t remember his first name) also. If anything, he might be a strong Hilary running mate.
And I agree with BD and wWhale about Clark, though I think he may need to be repackaged.
OT, just saw the new ad for Sheldon Whitehouse running against Chafee in RI. Gotta love his tag line: “Finally, a Whitehouse in Washington you can trust.”
Plus the fact she’s a bad liar.
Still dreaming? You are delusional about this Frank, but at least you stick by your woman. I think the Southern baptists will not take too kindly to a woman running the show. Just my opinion based on the amount of rasicts I encounter in the South, but a black woman is also a hard sell. I have always said that a women NEEDS to win the presidency and so then an African American, Asian, etc… can win. Women got thier right to vote and then eventually blacks were treated as equal citizens. Coming from a white male, I am just aliiiiitle tired of seing the same sort of people run our country. I think Big Head Bill will cry if the almighty white christian power structure is broken.
Rice vs. Clinton
Rice wins all three debates, and 30 states, 301 electoral votes
Except Rice has said over and over she isn’t running… And besides, she has got a ton of baggage. If most republicans are trying to distance themselves from Bush, being his lapdog isn’t the best way to run.
Wouldn’t it be nice if people voted based on the content of a person’s character and not on the color of their skin?
I had this dream…. but now I can’t remember it.
She will get more women, blacks and hispanics than he did which will cut into Sen. Clinton s purported base.
Stop it, Frank, you’re killin’ me.
No one could have anticipated how low her level of credibility could have become.
LB, she has said she doesn’t want to run. A little different.
She has very little baggage. According to the pollsters, she’s the most popular member of the administration. Right now, the only Republicans running away from Bush, are doing so in Oliver’s feverish imagination, or they are running to the right.
duros: If you don’t believe Bush, why believe Rice? What are you saying, liberals won’t vote for her? They didn’t vote for Bush, either. She will get more women, blacks and hispanics than he did — which will cut into Sen. Clinton’s purported base.
No mention at all of Joe Biden? He’s the one person who we can say with absolute certainty is a candidate at this very moment.
I could swear I clicked “submit” after I typed that other comment…
Frank, what makes you think she’s popular with African Americans? I haven’t seen any polls, but I don’t know any African Americans who have any respect for her. Besides, you think Buba in S.C., the likes of which make up a huge bulk of your enlightened party, would ever vote for anything other than a white male?
I’m not going through all that again. The polls are of Republicans and Democratics, white and black, men and women.
That’s how I know.
The idea that southerners won’t vote for a black candidate is a myth, that I defy you to disprove.
For president? I defy you to prove that could ever happen.
I asked you for evidence that southern Republicans won’t vote for a black candidate, and you want me to predict the outcome of the 2008 election, without knowing who the candidates are.
I get it.
You — and about a zillion other Denocratics — have been saying the same thing for so long, you’ve never had to demonstrate the truth of it.
When I ask for some evidence, I’m called a troll.
Our honored hosts line-up for 2008:
Just one question, Mr Willis: where do you find a winner in all of that? Maybe Governor Richardson, but the rest all look like losers to me. And I’m not sure that Mr Richardson could win in the Democratic primaries.
Fabulous Frank wrote:
I’d add here that the only black man ever elected governor since Reconstruction was Virginia’s Douglas Wilder, a moderate Democrat, who governed as a centrist as well as campaigned as one. (He’s moved more to the left now that he’s the Mayor of Richmond.)
I’m not sure why you’re calling me fabulous…
Is it because I am good at creating fables, or because I am the stuff of legends?
Just one question, Mr Willis: where do you find a winner in all of that? Maybe Governor Richardson, but the rest all look like losers to me. And I m not sure that Mr Richardson could win in the Democratic primaries.
I think there are probably 3 or 4 potential winners in that list. And probably a darkhorse who could surprise everyone.
Plus, I’d not be surprised to see John Kerry again.
And let’s look at the other side of the equation: the GOP.
McCain: Not a real favorite of the GOP mainstream. Plus, he’ll be 72 in 2008–making him older than Reagan when he was elected in 1980.
Frist: Hahhahahaha. I’d love to see Frist as the GOP nominee and I say that as a Dem partisan.
Giuliani: He’s pretending he’s running–just for the attention. A pro-gay, pro-choice, messy divorce and infidelities, and some assorted NYC corruption for the GOP nomination? Naaah.
Newtie: He’s trying very hard to rehabilitate the image but he just can’t himself sometimes.
Huckabee: Who?
Jeb: Bush fatigue.
To Dana and everyone else:
I think Oliver’s list is way off the mark too … IF the Democrats want a prayer of winning in ‘08. Why? It’s the same list of has-beens and retreads that keep popping up year after year after year.
If the Dems want to win, they need to find another Bill Clinton. I mean a relatively unknown yet effective governor without Washington DC baggage, around whom the party can build a popular candidacy. Bill Richardson might be that man.
Richardson is not a divisive figure and he is not known as a hard-core liberal. Remember how well those hard-core liberals do in presidential races? McGovern? Dukakis? And Richardson (as far as we know) doesn’t have nearly the connections to scandal that plagued Bill and hillary.
Rice vs. Clinton – Rice wins all three debates, and 30 states, 301 electoral votes
Bring it on. Rice is the only woman in GOP politics who can make Clinton look likeable.
Dana–
Well, Gore actually did win in 2000.