2004 Elections: Democratic Party Contenders

"And Bush's DUI was when? "


And Bush's DUI has hurt him how?

I will be brutally honest. No matter what Leiberman could not win. I don't believe a Jew can be elected president. Especialy one who professes to be orthodox.

No democrat can beat President Bush in 2004. Their religion isn't relevant to the 2004 election.

At this point, New Haven, The Democrats aren't very relevant to the 2004 Election.



timber

New Haven
Have you noticed that Bush's approval rating is beginning to slip. And IMO it has no where to go but down. By 04 the democrats if they come up with a strong candidate could be very relevant. However, relevant or not my opinion still stands. At this point in our history a Jew could not be elected president. Leiberman IMO should know that and probably does. I think his ego has gotten the best of him.

AU - What do you think will happen to Bush's approval rating when Hussein is gone from Iraq?

tres, what do you think will happen to Bush's approval rating if Hussein is able to remain in hiding somewhere in Iraq?

trespassers will
I think that in that event he will no longer have the war fever and the call for patriotism to fall back on. He will have to contend with domestic issues and the economy. IMO his rating will plummet. If memory serves before the "Trifecta" of 9/11 it was pretty dismal.

Since there are several threads on Iraq and polls elsewhere in the forum let's get this one back on the Democratic field:

As his plane descended over Iowa's frozen cornfields on Wednesday, Gary Hart analyzed his presidential prospects as cheerily as he did during the 1980's. At 66, he looks the part better than ever now that the boyish good looks have weathered. Gray hair is an asset for a politician whose most famous pictures involved a yacht named Monkey Business.

Hart knew, of course, that reporters were waiting on the ground to ask him more embarrassing questions about the extramarital fling in 1987 that destroyed his last campaign. He knew that he has no money or political organization except for a few university students promoting him on a Web site.

But Hart also knew he had a couple of advantages. As a prophet who kept warning of terrorist attacks well before Sept. 11, he might emerge as the only Democrat with a clear defining issue: the Cassandra candidate. And while the others have a head start, no one knows presidential campaigning the way he does.

"I can make a plausible case for having invented the Iowa caucuses," Hart said, recalling his decision to focus on the then-obscure caucuses when he managed the 1972 campaign of the then-obscure George McGovern. The results in Iowa helped propel McGovern to the nomination and made Iowa the first contest to watch ever since. In 1984, after an unexpectedly strong second place finish in Iowa, Hart went on to win New Hampshire and nearly defeat former Vice President Walter Mondale for the nomination.

"When we came into Iowa, Mondale was the prohibitive front-runner with poll numbers above 50 percent, and I was about 2 or 3 percent," Mr. Hart recalled. "This year looks a lot more open. Nobody else is even up to 20 percent."

Hart Weighs Strengths Against Embarrassment

The latest news on Iraq is that the six nations surrounding Iraq has told Saddam to comply with UNR1441. Their request will be ignored. c.i.

Valid point PD...I appreciated the link.

PDiddie - If Saddam pulls an "Energizer Bunny" on us, I would expect Bush's approval rate to fall.

AU - I suspect you are wrong about the future, and I don't recall his numbers being so terrible before 9/11. And for the record, I find it a bit callous to refer to that disaster as any kind of "win" for any American. Politics and partisan rhetoric should have limits.

Interesting twists in a story on CNN today:

Rep. Patrick Kennedy backs Gephardt
Father Ted is supporting Kerry
Friday, January 24, 2003 Posted: 12:14 PM EST (1714 GMT)

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) -- Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-Rhode Island, said he is supporting fellow congressman Richard Gephardt in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Kennedy's father, Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, is backing fellow Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/24/kennedy.gephardt.ap/index.html

Dad pulls for one candidate, the son goes for another??? Should make for interesting family get-togethers at the Kennedy Compound...

Questions for the peanut gallery:
Why does the media continue to report on Hillary, as if she were a candidate?
Will she come in late?

MO--
Because they want her to be a candidate, and yes, she will come in late, after the sturm and drang of the first year of campaigning.

What say ye?

Wonder if goings-on at the Kennedy compound could get more interesting... :wink:

But Hillary said unequivocally that she would not run for President, just like she said she was not going to run for Senator...

Um, never mind. :wink:

Right now it's a fun game, playing "who's on first." And I do remember the pundits saying an unknown from a failed state couldn't possible beat an incumbent president. And that a person like Dole could whip the pants off Clinton.

I don't give odds to Lieberman for many reasons. He seems too rigid, too close to the conservative right (in his own way), out of touch with what's going on now. I'm probably wrong, but Edwards seems a weak candidate to me, hard to distinguish from the others. Gary Hart's past peccadillos may bring back some memories, but they're faded and meaningless, although I'm sure the republicans would really try to tar and feather him with that. Who cares? Kerry is gaining strength quietly. Howard Dean? Don't know. I can't, at this stage, get all enthusiaastic, even though I've been following him for a year.

It seems to me that the public may be wanting to look at what they consider some strengths. No matter how the Bush people deride it, it is very important to most Americans that they be regarded with respect in the world...a little fear, but definitely a respect. And when they see that the American word is not being treated with such, they look to their leaders. And more and more references are being made to Bush personally, his cavalier cowboy attitude, his actual pointing and jabbing of his finger. This does not lead to a gathering around our president - rather it leads to questioning. Once you lose respect, it's very difficult to get it back.

That's one reason I think people are looking for a leader who has this indefineable quality. Somebody who acts in a mature, adult fashion. Another subtle feature - someone who doesn't seem to need other people speaking for him all the time.

There's a good field coming out with the democrats, and it will narrow itself down. All the republicans have is Bush, and he will be the standard against which many are held. And what the polls are showing, above all, is a rapidly decreasing loss of confidence in Bush and his ability to set things right.

I predict Kerry will carry the party penant into the race.

Hillary won't announce for 2004, as she would have nothing to gain and a lot to lose...

If she ran, she'd likely have enough popular appeal to carry the party and run against Bush, but that's a match I think she knows she would lose. She won't jump in just to get a chip in the game, as Edwards has done, because her popularity in the polls and fundraising prowess already give her chips galore. (Why incur risk to gain something you already have?)

Watch for her to sit this one out while keeping the possibility open for as long as possible (to keep her "chips" fresh, so to speak). She'll wait and run in 2008 where her odds against an unknown Republican will be better than against a popular, sitting GWB.

All of this is--of course--just my opinion.

Hillary will not run in 2004. Betcha.

The Dems will, a year from now, winnow out to ...oh...say...Kerry, Dean, and perhaps Bob Graham (should he declare after his heart surgery).

I said earlier that Gephardt (labor) and Sharpton (African-American) will play kingmaker with their constituencies, so I'm sticking with that.

Lieberman? An excellent vice-presidential pick.

And that's all he will ever be.

I'm wheeling Gary Hart in my exotics, but only because he's got such long odds.

tw

Where did I refer to a disaster as a win? The only win I wrote about is Leibermans ability to win the presidency.Which in my opinion is nil.