Democratic Presidential primary
With Hillary jumping into the race via this online video , the Democratic field is officially getting crowded. (And for what it's worth, I can't see myself voting for her, but the video is a good.)
But how crowded is it? I think it's eight declared Dems for now: Hillary, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Governors Bill Richardson and Tom Vilsack. And while most people seem to be relegating Richardson and Vilsack to irrelevancy, I'm a firm believer that Governors have a better chance, than Senators, of being elected President. (Although in the interests of full disclosure, I like Richardson and Vilsack better than any of the other democratic candidates.)
And if you're wondering why people seem to be "announcing" earlier than ever, I think this NY Times article (by Broder & Healy) does a good job analyzing recent trends in the timing of "announcing" one's intentions in our much coveted quadrennial Presidential sweepstakes. The article describes a cycle in which one needs to announce early, so as not to miss out on potential fundraising.
Tim White
7 comments:
Tim,
I think the two most viable and electable democratic candidates are Vilsack and Edwards. Vilsack has a very good history and reputation as a Governor. Edwards is much more of a people person than Hillary, without the baggage as well, and, he seems ot do well with average "joe's". I think that Hillary is going to have a very difficult time shedding her history and the negatives around her.
As for the GOP, I think McCain's support of Iraq is going to damage him. The two guys who I think are the best GOP candidates are Guliani and Governo Huckabee of Arkansas.
I agree with you, Governor's do better as candidates and have better shot at winning.
Edwards.......he is gonna be the nominee.....and President. Voters are fed up with the GOP and that includes many GOP voters. The Bush administration has such horrible favorability numbers and its going to take down the party in 2008 as well. Bush was a disaster (yes and I voted for him twice)....
I agree that one of the governors is the more electable Democrat. Probably Richardson, because he's better known and seen as more moderate than the others.
Was listening to a liberal talk show, and they were gloating over a Hillary-Obama ticket. Hillary may be the darling of the true believers, but her negativity ratings are over 40%. Unless the Republicans blow it, she'll have a hard time getting elected.
And once his charm wears thin, it's hard to imagine the nation will elect Barack Hussein Obama (yes, that's his middle name) to either President or V.P. He was only a state rep. three years ago!!
Personally, I like McCain. Mainly because of his mature character, honesty, and moderate conservatism. But if this Iraq surge doesn't work, he's going to have to distance himself from Bush and Iraq.
Most important for the Republicans: move away from Bush and the right-wing holy-rollers to a more sensible, moderate conservatism. Guliani could also win. Romney is too right-wing and an opportunistic flip-flopper.
McCain has completely turned me off> He has shown himself to be a political snake of sorts, he is wrong on the Iraq troop surge, is wrong on immigration, siding with Ted Kennedy of all people. No sir, he wont have my vote unless the candidate running against him is Hillary.
I am a republican and if Edwards is the democratic nominee he gets my vote over anyone except Huckabee and Guliani.
As crazy as this will sound the people who have jumped in this early will all fail. The majority are looking for money and support with no pla and no expectation of success. They will bail when they have enough money. Ego trips for them all. Hillary will collapse when she is forced to answer questions and define her positions on issues she has refused to address all of the these years. Time is on our side. Other than popuarity Hillary and many others do not have any qualifications for the job.
The same is for the Republicans. What happened to our political leadership training programs?
anon 6:52, exactly what qualifications did GW Bush have for the job?
One of the 3 candidates Hillary, Obama or Edwards is going ot be the candidate. My money is on Edwards.
anon 8:09
Did not say Bush was qualified. What this point out is like most everyhting else slick marketing, promotions, backing of Hollywood is causing the American public to be swayed into thinking who is good and who is not. The public does not seem to have the capability, the desire or the ability to intelligently look at issues or candidates. Like everything
what ever is the quickest, easiest and the majority appears to go for that is the decision people make. How sad.
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