I know its several years out and I also know that if people like me stopped thinking about it, perhaps the elections would not be drawn out so long, but I just can't help myself so here is an update:
According to the Washington Post, Senator Christopher J. Dodd from Connecticut may be adding his name to the long list of Senators running for the White House in 2008. According to the article, the 61 year old Democratic Senator who has served since 1980, put off running in 2004 in deference to his Senate colleague Joe Lieberman. Here is his Senate Website.
Just to be clear on the updated, the following people are likely to run:
Senate Democrats:
- Hillary Clinton (NY)
- Evan Bayh (IN)
- John Kerry (MA)
- Joe Biden (DE)
- Russell Feingold (WI)
Non-Senate Democrats:
- Wesley Clark (AR)
- John Edwards (NC)
- Tom Vilsack (IA)
- Mark Warner (VA)
Senate Republicans:
- John McCain (AZ)
- George Allen (VA)
- Chuck Hagel (NE)
- Sam Brownback (KS)
- Bill Frist (TN)
Non-Senate Republicans:
- Rudy Giuliani (NY)
- Newt Gingrich (GA)
- Mike Huckabee (AR)
- George Pataki (NY)
- Mitt Romney (MA)
Thats 19 candidates America gets to pick from and we're still a long way out. Am I forgetting anyone or is someone here who should not be on this list?
8 comments:
Rumors are that Bill Richardson has sexual peccadilloes that make Bill Clinton look like a Mousekateer. otherwise, I'd say he could be a serious powerhouse.
dcat
Hear, hear! I hereby nominate Bill Richardson's genitals for the candidacy for the office of President of the United States.
Oh wait, we can't vote on that.
Not yet, anyway. But in a Futurama World, it might be possible.
Perhaps there is hope yet for mainstreaming the natural if MSNBC can get away with being crude.
And one has to wonder if we will not have a Nader/Buchanan siting. On top if that, I wonder ho farfetched it would be fr someone like McCain to pull a TR and run as a third party candidate if he feels that he got screwed from the nimination if something like 2000 happens to him again.
dcat
I have to say, I have never quite gotten the Giiuliani bandwagon. He had some good moments post-9/11, although I'm not certain what all of that means, and who would not have looked good under the circumstances. he gets credit for "cleaning up" new York City, but two issues stand out for me there: Almost every American city had comparable rates of success with lowering crime rates during the 1990s, and few had as many visible incidents of police brutality during the same time period. Meanwhile, Giuliani's highest elected office has been Mayor of New York. Let's not presume that he is ready for the presidency quite yet.
dcat
Marc --
The question of a bipartisan ticket is, I agree, something of a halcyon dream. But what I wonder about is if the two people would not effectively be starting a centrist third party. It seems obvious that the two parties are quite different, but that there is no reason why we only need two parties -- one need look no further than any parliamentary democracy to see a multiplicity of parties. Now our system is set up as a winner take all, to be sure, but imagine if the GOP split between the religious right and the, say, traditional conservatives, the business right, or the moderate right, or whatever term you want to use. In other words, what if our friends at Big Tent were to cohere their own vision of a party independent of the Christian conservatives?
I agree that right now McCain is unlikely to break away, but what if his party screwed him again? Is it impossible to imagine that he might believe that the party had not only betrayed him, but had betrayed its roots, and that therefore the only viable option was to break away in hopes that enough would follow him either to create that third party or to purify the republicans?
dcat
Marc --
I actually have often defenbded the two-party system as well. And I decry fatuous ninnies who claim that there is no difference between or within the two parties. That is just plain nonsense. But i do think that the parties have structures that could use some overhaul and maybe even challenging. And I believe that a third party is not necessarily, but if it emerges organiocally, rather than in some forceed way, it would be good for American politics. But i do not see a viable and natural third party emerging any time soon.
dcat
Post a Comment