Though the article that this quote comes from is referring to the upcoming California Gubernatorial race between Arnold and whomever the Calfornia Dems choose (either the moderate Westly or the more liberal Angelides) it brings up an interesting point. Mr. Schnur has not only pointed out how this race is being accessed, he has also stumbled upon the entire democratic platform; not "what do we stand for" but "who do we hate." When looking for a presidential candidate, the Democrats seem to only be interested in who hates Bush the most. According to various polls (that as I have said before I never trust), Hilary seems to be the front runner everywhere. But look at the names that they used to test her against; John Kerry, John Edwards, Al Gore, Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, Barack Obama, these are all recycled names, save Obama, every single one of these men has thrown thier hats in the ring. What the Democrats need is a unifying figure that they can all rally behind. Someone new and impressive who can inspire all the Democrats to forget their difference and fight for a cause.
According to USA Today;
Other Democratic possibilities include Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa and Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana.
Let us look at these possibilities, first, Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Now, while he has been doing well with Health, Women's and Education issues, he has been apparently dissapointing the Democratic Party in Ill to the extent that his name has been left off the Get Out the Vote (GOtV) mailer. And let us not forget the Daily Show deboggle.
Gov. Janet Napolitano has done well with budget cuts that are not sweeping, and seems to be tough on immigration but has been a little confusing on both. She has stayed fairly under the radar but seems to have enough spitfire to impress some of the more crotchity members of the party.
(This was taken from Wikkipedia)
William Blaine "Bill" Richardson (born November 15, 1947) is an American politician and a member of the Democratic Party. He has served as a Congressman, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, and U.S. Secretary of Energy; he is presently the Governor of New Mexico. He was also chairman of the 2004 Democratic National Convention that nominated John Kerry for the presidency.
His being a Congressman and a Governor, he has experience both in the legislative and executive branch. This means that he is not really an insider or an outsider but is still impressive. Mixed with this is the fact that he ought be very knowledgable on foreign issue (UN Ambassador). One thing that he has done that I am concerned with with is that he is the first governor to veto eminent domain reform legislation. Which is legislation surrounding the ability for the government to sieze people lands. An article is here.
Gov. Tom Vilsack was the founder of Heartland PAC which is a PAC trying to elect Dem. Governors and was named chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council in 2005. This possition was also held by Bill Clinton just prior to his election, but this seems more like insider rung climbing to me; nothing to really rally behind.
Sen. Evan Bayh is very impressive based solely on the fact that in a Red state, he recieved more votes than Bush, as in, more people voted for him than for the President, something almost unheard of esp. in a Red state. He was considered a running mate for Gore in 2000 and has been a big oppose of Bush and his appointments for a while. But, he is a Senator, and rarely have Senators become President.
No comments:
Post a Comment