Thursday, February 01, 2007

The Senate to Presidency Myth Debunked

With so many members of the Senate set to run for the presidency in 2008, Robert Geilfuss challenges the conventional wisdom that says that Senators cannot win. Instead, he argues over at TNR online,
it's far too early to write off the Senate's contenders. In fact, doomsday prophecies for senator-candidates rely on a totally false reading of electoral history. The truth is that senators are no more or less likely to win a general election than anybody else.

People too often confuse causality with correlation. As Geilfuss argues, compellingly I believe:
Effective politicians do not have a standard biography. They can come from any kind of background. So please, spare McCain, Clinton, and Obama the same tired line about no senator winning the White House since John F. Kennedy. Senators don't have trouble wining the presidency because they are senators; they have trouble because they're human.

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