2008 Presidential Campaign

I'm rooting for McCain.

I wouldn't call Hillary unelectable, but we need to get out of the Bush and Clinton eras.

Here's my take on it:

Probable Republican Candidates with a chance to win the nomination (listed in order of their chances of winning):
- John McCain
- Rudy Giuliani
- Mitt Romney
- Mike Huckabee (I <3 him)
- George Pataki
- Tommy Thompson

Republicans on the outside looking in (It would take a miracle):
- Duncan Hunter
- Newt Gingrich
- George Allen

Probable Democratic Candidates with a chance to win the nomination (listed in order of their chances of winning):
- Hillary Clinton
- John Edwards
- Bill Richardson
- Tom Vilsak
- Evan Bayh
- Chris Dodd
- Barack Obama

Democrats on the outside looking in (It would take a miracle):
- John Kerry
- Joe Biden
- Tom Daschle
- Russ Feingold

Wrong.

What was it that got Bush elected in 2000? People wanted to have a beer with him and Gore was boring. In 2004 Kerry was painted as a flip flopper, weak on terror, and a pussy.

2008 will be more about personality and presentation. Obama kills all other Dems in that department.

As for Sen. Clinton she may not even run. Was watching Chris Matthews a week ago and in the prediction segment one inider claimed Sen Clintor wanted to be Senate Majority Leader and stay in the Senate. That she can do more there and probably knows she can't win or that Obama is going to run. We'll see shortly if she is right.

The more experience Obama has, the worse candidate he becomes.

If it is a wartime election, then Obama does not win. And Bush had a record from 6 years of running Texas. I think Clinton runs and wins the nomination, unless the DailyKos/MoveOn.org wing of the party Lamonts her.

I think the results of this election almost guarantee that a neocon will not win the Republican nomination.

I can't see Hillary winning the election, and it would probably be an uphill struggle for Obama as well.

Is all hope gone of Colin Powell ever running?

It's not much of a guarantee. If the Dems screw things up royally in the next 2 years there could be a swing back to the right.

Fuck centrists. Grow some balls already.

Powell won't run because he allowed himself to be used like a muppet. Every TV ad is just going to show him convincing America that Iraq had WMD.

Why would anyone have voted for him before that, anyways? What has he ever done to show people that he'd make a good president?

I would propose getting people in office who want to do what needs to be done, and knows how to do it. You think centrists get anything accomplished? By definition, they placate both sides, which inevitably just keeps up the status quo.

Ugh, the Manchurian McCainididate? No thanks. Actually, I hope the Republicans run an old familiar face in '08, preferably one that was a staunch supporter of the policies of the last 8 years. It'll make the election all about Bush.

And Obama is perfectly qualified to run. More electable than Powell. More inspiring than anyone else on JVC's list. And is likely to win many moderates and liberals.

It all depends on what part of the political spectrum "what needs to be done" appeals to. I for one have grown tired of extremism on both sides and look forward to more openminded and levelheaded leadership.

So you look forward to Presidents who look at the polls and then decide what to do?

How about Presidents that say "Yes, I do agree that women have a right to choose, but I also agree that we need to protect the children" "What does that mean Mr. President?" "It means, I'm staying the fuck out of it"

No, I look forward to one who does what he thinks is best for the country, regardless of what the far right or far left have to say about it.

What you call "extremist" I call standing up for Democratic principals. The only reason those people are called extremists is because conservatives call them that, and liberals don't call them on it.

My top 3: Joe Biden, Russ Feingold, John Edwards. Those are three candidates who don't back down from their positions, who are willing to fight for liberal principals. Unless there's some governor I don't know about, they can each make their appeal to get my vote over the next two years. However, I would vote for someone else if it seemed necessary to keep a really, really bad candidate from getting it. And that bad candidate would be Hillary Clinton.

If it came down to it, it might take either Barack Obama or Al Gore to defeat Hillary. Obama has the charisma, he has the principals, and I believe he will eventually be a U.S. president, but I really don't think he's ready. Gore, I really believe has learned from his mistakes, and would run a much better (ballsier) campaign, but I'm not confident he can sell it the way someone like Biden can.

So if I have to make a prediction two years before the race, I'll say it's going to be a Gore/Obama ticket.

That's not a centrist. People who do what's best for the country tend to be extremists, because if you want to change the country, you can't be a waffler. Unless you believe the best thing for the country is for it to never change.

That's the same thing - kissing ass on both sides and never making a decision.

Bullying by Cheney and the Supreme Court. Certainly wasn't a mandate from the people.

I'd vote for a Gore/Obama team in a heartbeat. If I had a vote. Or a heartbeat.

Democrats consider (and call) Republicans extremists too, so it's all the same to me.

Oh God no, no more Gore. He was already vice president and had his chance, let other people take a shot at it.

Extremists tend to listen exclusively to a small group of likeminded fanatics who certainly don't hold a monopoly on good ideas.

That's not true. Your idea of 'extremism' has been manipulated by the right. Your language in this post may as well have come from a talking points memo regarding judges.

What the majority of people want isn't always the right thing to do. That's why centrists suck. You think the Voting Rights Act would have passed if LBJ was a centrist?

Let me guess your politics...you're generally a conservative who feels beat down by the current administration. So, you can't vote for these dopes again, but at the same time you still have an ingrained fear of liberals. Your hope is that the dems choose someone who will kiss enough conservative ass that you can feel comfortable voting for someone who's not considered conservative.

Anyone who thinks Nancy Pelosi is as radical as Tom Delay is listening to the phony hype. Yeah, she's liberal, but she's not equivalent.

How is it incorrect then? It certainly sounds to me like an apt description of the Bush White House.

all this bullshit about moveon.org being extremist is what republicans came up with years ago when moveon was created. the republicans were scared of a liberal group that wasn't going to back down from a fight and started labeling them as extremist. it makes me fucking sick when i hear "liberals" call moveon extremist. i really wonder if these people have even taken the fucking time to go and even read what moveon.org supports. last note, who do you think funded and supported a lot of local gotv efforts yesterday for the dems?

just like the "centrist" lieberman.

Hillary and Lieberman are both in bed with the warmonger crowd.

I wouldn't vote for Hillary simply because she's married to Bill Clinton.

Goodness gracious people, look at the past administrations ...

(vice pres Bush), Bush, Clinton, Clinton, Bush, Bush

C'mon!!! This is ridiculous!

When did I say it wasn't? The problem here is that you're equating extremism with being right or left and that not being extreme means being in the middle. That's not the case. The Bush White House is extreme because they pander to the Christian Right. That doesn't mean anyone with conservative values in an extremist.

That's what Centrists do. She should be your dream candidate.

I'd vote for McCain if he'd just rediscover the balls that the current administration took from him. It's almost sad to watch him now, like he's being controlled by brain slugs.

from drudge

WHITE HOUSE: PRESIDENT BUSH WILL MAKE 'SIGNIFICANT ANNOUNCEMENT' AT 1 PM ET...

could it be bin laden related?

Can Sen Clinton really win when she hasn't apologized for her vote for the war? Kerry and Gore are old news. Obama is the only one left with name recognition and more importantly the ability to raise lots of money.

Obama/Richardson 08 is my guess.

Obama had seven years in the state Senate before coming to Congress. He's not entirely a newbie, and as others have noted, is possibly the most well-spoken and intelligent candidate the Dems have. The best way to run the 08 campaign is on change, and what better embodiment of change can we have than a man who's young, fresh faced, and doesn't look like he's been taking it up the ass from lobbyists for the past thirty years?

And Bush's run as Governor of Texas wasn't exactly inspiring. Not only does a Governor in Texas not have much power (he's got a pocket veto he can wave around, but that can be overridden so easily by the Texas Senate it's pretty much worthless), and a bunch of the policies he helped get enacted before leaving to fuck up the country have fallen apart or turned out to be bad ideas. So yeah, I think Obama's qualified.

Then you don't want a centrist. That's the whole point I've been trying to make.

damn, just sounds like his reaction to last night. hardly significant.

huh?

I forgot to add Al Gore to my list. I doubt he runs. But if he does, we'll have two 800 pound gorillas in the Democratic primaries. Gore would be huge with the left wing of the party where Hillary is weakest. If, for some reason, Hillary declines to run and does it soon, the party may look to Gore as the de facto frontrunner. Global warming and the environment in general will obviously be his big issues. If those issues continue to gain traction with the voters in the next year or so, Gore is in good shape. And you can't say he's inexperienced on the world stage. Of course, he will have to deal with attack adds that feature the fat, bearded, screaming, distinctly non-presidential Al Gore from two years ago.