Some people call it "The Race" for the Presidency, but the truth is that it's a slow, drawn-out struggle. Most of the Republicans seem to be holding off on any official announcements yet, while the Democats are eagerly throwing their hats in the ring. I've listed the candidates and detailed the ones I'm more interested in (not necessarily because I like them). Which one would you vote for and why?
Some current entrants are:
Sen. Joe Biden (D)
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D), former First Lady for 8 years, Senator for 6 years. Originally very liberal, but she's learned to tone it down these last 6 years. It is speculated that she is taking a middle-of-the-road position to be more marketable, with the intention to resume her liberal preferences once she's in office.
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D) of Connecticut
Sen. John Edwards (D)
Mike Huckabee (R), a conservative former governor from the largely Democratic state of Arkansas. He's a devout Christian and ordained Baptist minister. Unabashed supporter of Bush's war efforts.
Senator John McCain (R)
Barack Obama (D), published author and seemingly more moderate than Sen. Clinton. He is multiracial (his mother was what he calls "white as milk" and says his father was "black as pitch"). He experimented with drugs as a teenager, justifying it by saying he was trying to deal with the issue of being a multiracial child. He encourages other Democrats to reach out to evangelicals and other religious people.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D)
Congressman Tom Tancredo (R) of Colorado. Tancredo is very opposed to illegal immigration and is one of the few Republicans who have openly and vocally stood against Bush's position.
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (D)
Potential Candidates:
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R)
Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas (R)
Former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore (R)
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R)
Former NY City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R)
Former V.P. Al Gore (D)
Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska (R)
George Pataki, Governor of New York (R)
Condoleezza Rice (R)
Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner (D)
I may have missed some on both sides, so please feel free to add to the list.
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23 comments:
You double posted again!
I would take Rice off the potential list. She is damaged goods from the current regime. I would also take Jeb off the list for the same reason. I do not think America will vote another Bush into power. Two is enough. Maybe this should be a new law or something?!?!? Just a thought.
I would also scratch Al Gore. He is also damaged goods - to a point. Newt was unelected by his people in Georgia. So scratch his ass off the list.
I do not know enough about the others.
What I find to be interesting is the conservative talking heads comments about Hillary and Barack.
They say "Barack has no experience". As if Bush had TONS of experience. Before he was Gov. of Texas he was CEO of a string of failed businesses. And Texas has a weak Governor form of government. His major accomplishment there was getting a baseball team he was partial owner of a brand new domed stadium built with tax money. So he could then sell his share of the team for a tidy profit.
So at this point, really the bar has been lowered pretty far. No experience huh? Not a lot of time in public office huh? Why does this suddenly matter? It is a valid point, I just think it is funny that 6 years ago these same people did not think that mattered.
And Hillary. Formerly very liberal huh? Possibly. But what about her elected office record? Her time in unelected public office (wife of a Governor and President) does not really count, as these figures have very limited power to create policy. So you would have to judge her leanings by her Senate record - which is fairly moderate. No wigging out and going far to the left. Yet.
So is it fair to "speculate" that she would go off the deep end as President? I do not think so. She may do so - but then there is the safety net of the Congress! Would she be able to push a far left through Congress? Probably not. At least not for very long.
This will be a long, drawn out, and somewhat bloody battle. By the time whoever takes office in 08 I think we the people will already be fed up with whoever it is.
PS - I do not think Barack can win. I also think Hillary will have a tough time winning. Neither will do very well in the south. In some states, Hillary is a fightin word. The hit machine has already made her name her biggest adversary.
I definately agree that Hillary is more moderate than many people believe. The military-industrial complex can trust her to keep 'em in business. The only reason Clinton cut the military forces by 40% was for the "peace dividend" well before 9/ll.
My dad loves Joe Biden, btw. Biden's an old-fashioned tough New England Democrat. Old school.
Like Sen. Lieberman, however, I am a democrat who's going to consider--for the first time--voting for a republican. Not Guiliani, though....
I am 100% edwards. Unless Al Gore runs again (and you cannot rule that out just yet). If a republican had to win, I would hope to get New Yorks own Rudy. Bush makes moderate republicans like him, who can speak english and get results, look like gods. So I would rather have Rudy if it means I dont have Bush, or Cheney, or any other Reganite.
You can scratch Gore off the list as he officially said he wasn't running.
I don't know who I like yet. Up until just a few months ago I thought I like McCain but he seems to have gone off the deep end lately and is sucking up to Bush big time. I'm not sure if I can vote Republican after six terrible years of Bush. I'm from the state where ex-governor Tom Vilsack is running for president and I'll definitely not be voting for him. I don't know if I'm ready for Hillary, not sure if I know enough about Obama. In fact, I'm not sure if I'm ready for so much campaigning still almost two years away from the election. Since I'm a registered Constitutionalist, I think I'll have to wait for the primaries to sort out the candidates and weigh the lesser of two evils.
Interesting points so far! I agree with LI and Matt about Barak Obama: I think I would prefer him over Hillary, but I am also intrigued by your take on Hillary.
R2K, trust me: Bush and Cheney are not Reaganites. Reagan's true successor would probably be Rudy or Arnold Schwarzenegger (who shouldn't and can't run, because it would take a change to our Constitution and we should never tamper with that document).
Edwards? Really? Why?
Ed, oh that's right. I'd forgotten that about Gore. And I wasn't sure how heartfelt the "step away" really was. After all, Jeb has said HE wouldn't run, but others are speculating that he WILL. What's Vilsack like?
Rudy is very unlikely to get the Republican vote in the primary. He is not far enough to the right. The Republican power base - the Evangelical Right - will never accept him. Hell, he is OK with gays getting married. So no need to even bring up his stand on abortion or his ex-wife problems. Truly Rudy is a piece of work. If we want 4 years of Comedy Hour he would be a good choice for President. Otherwise it is better to elect anyone else EVEN Scooby-Doo.
Sorry Rudy - you are out. Get off that high horse and accept that fact. Put your ego to rest and just enjoy being a dude with money. Go on a speaking tour for $10,000 a pop or something. Anything - just get off my TV :)
And by the way Saur - I do not dislike Hillary. I just can not get too excited about her either. I do not think she would make a bad President - nor do I think she would make a great President.
She is well educated, very well educated, but......well....she is just sooo "blah". I think we need someone with more zaz.
I personally like McCain, fresh in my mind from reading his autobiography. I believe him to know both war and politics, two critical issues that will need addressing when the present administration closes up shop.
Hilary is a horrible choice. Why? Gee, I can't remember, although I'm sure she would understand, it happens to her a lot, too.
Tom Vilsack is very liberal but was held in check because we had a mixed Congress. Thanks to the Republican backlash, we now have a liberal replacement along with a Democratic congress. I'm holding onto my billfold with both hands now.
Even in Iowa polls, Vilsack doesn't stand a chance against Obama or Hillary and we get to throw our input out first with the caucus a year from now. I'm guessing you won't see anymore of him then than you do now.
"R2K, trust me: Bush and Cheney are not Reaganites."
But they ran Regan like they do bush right now. Who do you think was behind regan? It was Cheney, Rummy, and Bush Sr. Who is behind Bush today? The same losers who cant shoot their way out of a wet paper bag. And they break the law while failing. Iran contra. Support of Saddam during the Iran Iraq war. Support of Bin Laden. All the crazy ultra con plans that have gotten us into so much trouble today.
Why edwards? Seems the most normal, good points, I agree on most of the things he says. I want anyone but bush. As we move away from bush, into McCain, then Giuliani, then into democrats... things get better. When something is so very bad, you just want to move away from it.
I would support people like obama or hillary if I thought they had a chance of winning. But simply put, more than half of america is not ready to vote for a black man (who happens to have the middle Hussein) or a woman. Sorry but most americans (looking at the same people who elected bush, quite frankly) may not hate black people, but they dont really like them. And most dont want a woman president, they dont love women all that much but as house wives. And this is probably 55% of voters, maybe more.
It is definitely going to be interesting!
if that list was a buffet I would walk away hungry. I dont see any of them that excite me. I think That Woman Mrs. Clinton would be a train wreck. The black fella might be ok the jury is still out. Best I can tell the folks in Fl liked Jeb but hed never win a national election, not this next one anyway. I never have liked Mccain either I dont know why I just never have. Edwards makes my sick at my bowels I'd vote for Hillary before I voted for him or Gore, that cat needs to in a padded room. Its going to get iterestinger and interestinger.
js
LOoks like an interesting list of candidates. Your US presidential elections / race seem to last so much longer than ours ... of course, we don't have a president, just a prime minister (who has become a George Bush clone !!).
Anyway, politics is something I know nothing about !!
Hope you are having a great week.
Take care, Meow
It's way too early to tell how things are going to shake out, but if a year and a half from now the "polls" still show the same thing, you can be sure that the fix is on somehow.
I like Obama, he seems to be a straight-shooter, but I'd be very suprised if he won the National Election, though not so much that he might win the Dems primary. I liked Edwards last time around, and thought he got rooked (how did Kerry win the nomination? I still dont get it). Dont care much for Hilary, ever since she moved to NY just to become a senator; that just seemed wrong to me. Richardson is intriguing, but I'm still waiting to see.
I used to like McCain, but his rolling over on the torture issue and the Military Commissions Act soured me on him permanantly. Most of the other Republicans are too much like Bush (or wackier, see: Brownback), except maybe Guiliani.
Watch for the candidates positions on Iraq issues (including BushCo abuses of the Constitution), because I think that'll be the major issue. I'd sure like to see someone with the balls to ask questions, accept answers they dont like, and who understands that they work for us, not the other way around. Most of all, though, I'd like to see someone elected who will actually say, "Yes, I fucked up, and I must be held accountable". Bush has never admitted to any error, always "apologizing" using weasel words as carefully phrased as any beauty-cream ad.
At least Kerry ain't there...
Vote Obama!
Giuliani never gets the GOP nomination. The right wingers may be in love with the guy from 911, but would they really nominate a pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, anti-gun, thrice married guy who stayed with cohabiting homosexual men while separated from his second wife and just happens to be a North East Italian Catholic?
Pardon the run on sentence. I wrote it better at another blog...
Trust me, I like Rudy. Well, everything except the law and order fascist part. He is definitely the most liberal of the real contenders on both sides.
The next two years will be a political bloodbath, and we get ringside seats!! Oh joy!
I'm a Guiliani fan.
I've heard Mitt Romney interviewed a couple of times, and I'd like to learn more about him.
I've heard Huckabee speak LIVE and IN PERSON in AR, and he has a good, charismatic presence about him. I don't know much about him though.
I an not a great fan of McCain, but I would not be opposed to voting for him should he get the Rep nomination.
John Edwards and Hillary make me ill.
I need to learn a lot more about Obama before I can even begin to judge the man. He has great charisma about him, but that's not enough to get my vote.
I really like Jeb Bush, but I hope to God Almighty that he doesn't throw his hat into the ring. I will be greatly surprised if he does.
just a question since I know folks check back here often. Doesn't it suck that people like Rudy G and independants (libertarians or otherwise) dont stand a chance because they dont drink the kool-aid on either side?
I like Rudy the best out of these that I know anything about and I think that most of the country comes down along libertarian lines but having to choose far left or far right sucks.
js
JS - You would vote against your principle's to support someone who can win? You would support a gun control advocate?
Did you know he was the guy behind suing 26 gun manufacturers in 2000? He believes guns are the problem, not the people who stupidly use in this culture of fear.
His administration in NYC proposed that guns be licensed nationally and all gun physically inspected by the government once a year. He proposed a written test for gun owners that would administered by the federal government.
In other words he wants the government to decide who has guns. He wants to know where they are and want gun owners to bring them in to be counted once a year.
That doesn't sound like "shall not be infringed" to me.
Everyone, I'm sorry I couldn't get back yesterday, but my computer has developed a little nervous tic: The power source fan is on the fritz. My brilliant son diagnosed it for me and we did what we could, but we finally had to bring in the Big Gun... his father. So the two of them are getting ready to perform a brain transplant and move my current computer to another tomorrow.
Anyway, all your input was very interesting and I read every one.
Cranky, I didn't know that Giuliani was pro gun control. I agree... that's scary territory. Rudy Giuliani has often been the darling of the moderates, but another strike against him is his infidelity. Many people are still conflicted over Clinton's and JFK's, and theirs was only discovered after they were in the Oval Office.
JS After all these years, I think it's time for a strong 3rd party. The logical choice here is a party of moderates. But the problem is that moderates don't polarize everyone enough to probably create one.
Here is a speech that Rudy gave on the subject. Back in 1997. He has not backed off this stance in any way.
He also vociferously supported some of the more egregious abuses of the PATRIOT Act and as the people of New York will tell you he has no problem trampling on individual rights.
I think the GOP is going to tear itself apart nominating somebody. It should be fun to watch.
JACK BAUER FOR PRESIDENT!!
Who is Jack Bauer? Is he that short religious nutjob that creeps around every election season with Alan Keyes trying to get nominated?
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