Your 2008 Presidential Candidate Speculation Thread

however, I think it's all about risk-aversion. picking her brings great strengths, but great risks. and i see no reason to take those risks if we have equally good candidates who present fewer of them. and I think we have a few of those.

This is just not true at all. There isn't a woman out there on the political scene who has a large chance of winning the Presidency because the US is not prepared to make a woman the Commander in Cheif of the Armed Forces.

Knox College, Commencement Address - June 5, 2005

and even tho this doc is a hatchet job, i still believe mormonism to be batshit.

and as has been discussed many times before, it is far more likely that the first woman or minority president would be a republican.

I would be surprised too, but I was surprised she won the Senate seat and I am consistently surprised by her rising level of approval in nationwide polling. She's very high-profile and is heavily associated with a period in history that I think people are becoming to remember more and more fondly. I have no idea what the next four years will bring, but at this point I wouldn't say she has any less of a chance than anyone else I can think of at this point.

i have nothing against voting for a mormon -- or a woman -- for president. but i'm not the target demographic here.

you wouldn't be so surprised if you lived in or around NY and saw what a total PUTZ rick lazio (her 2000 GOP opponent) was.

I don't think Hillary will run in 2008 unless she thinks that the Dems require someone to fall on a sword to save the party from extinction. She has a prestigious senate seat she can safely keep and she will stick to it like glue. 2012 is a better bet for her than 2008. That's my sense of it anyway.

Second, the Senate in general is a horrible stepping-off point for a presidential run - about as bad as being vice president. Governors tend to capture the presidency. I'd look for a Democratic governor from the border south or lower midwest to get the Dem nomination.

General Clark's run is over. By 2008 the Iraq war will be a sick horrid ache, but the voters won't be clamoring for a military man to step in and win the war for us. It will be clear by then that all we can do is grit our teeth, dig in or clear out. As a political campaigner, Clark was not able to connect with the public. All he had was an impeccable resume to flash at them.

In the twentieth century, only one current senator was elected president. No congressmen at all were elected.

"CHEAPER OIL"

The oil price bugaboo is going to get worse.

Whoever can manage to convince most Americans that his/her election will result in oil prices decreasing will have a huge advantage, even if the U.S. becomes a theocracy in the process.

Most people will deal with the church invading their rights if it means they pay less at the pump when they make their double 90 minute commute from Pleasant Faraway Suburb Heights to city center and back every day.

heh. It's a lot easier noting those who don't. Plus, I'm pretty repulsed by the party as a whole so it's hard to get enthusiastic about even wondering who might be on the ticket.

As for Harry Reid, Yancey's right--many Christians have HUGE problems with the Mormons. I grew up in a small town that was very pious and I was indoctrinated that the Mormon Church is a cult. That's not an outside opinion of Christians at all. I realize that the Mormons have glossed their views with a mantra of "strong family" and "values" and all the other rhetorical niceness, but the soft underbelly of the Church is ripe for exposure. I mean, Reid's got some nice things on his resume, but he's not a force of personality, his religion is a zealous force, and he's a Senator whose ability to raise money is pretty much an unknown. So I'd say he's a long shot despite looking decent on paper.

i could see how different crowds could read that differently. say the moderate republicans like reid and put him in, then the typical conservative christina justification will ignore the second idea and concentrate on the political check boxes bein appropriately checked. but yeah, if it's down to a dead heat between him and some good ole baptist boy, well...
m.

>Both Powell and Obama have incredible integrity<

That's hilarious. You do remember the UN slideshow? And Obama's voting record has been fairly New Democrat-as-usual:

http://www.davidsirota.com/2005/05/whats-happened-to-barack-obama.html

"Obama's second vote as a U.S. Senator was in support of confirming Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State. He also voted to confirm John Negroponte as Director of National Intelligence, despite Negroponte's involvement in Iran-Contra and other situations that clearly raise questions about his ethics and discretion. Obama also voted for a bill to limit citizens rights to seek legal redress against abusive corporations. During the bankruptcy debate, he helped vote down a Democratic amendment to cap the abusive interest rates credit card companies could charge...Obama cast a key procedural vote in support of President Bush's right-wing judges."

I honestly don't see Hillary winning Arkansas away from a Republican male candidate. And trying to keep Buffalo's C-130's away from Little Rock Air Force Base certainly didn't help her any with Arkansas voters. (It did help with New York voters, though, and that's really all that she needs to worry about.)

maybe he meant cheney's daughter?

http://www.securityconference.de/konferenzen/2005/images/McCain.jpg

This Man Will Never Be President.

There's no way Warner would run for Prez a year into his Senate term. That would just look too shameless. And Allen is a total lightweight.

Joe Biden would run into a burning theatre if he thought he could get a campaign contribution out of it. Fuck him.

also: how many virginia voters think they're voting for the real george allen?