Officials: Edwards to Enter 2008 Race
Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards intends to enter the 2008 race for the White House, two Democratic officials said Saturday.
Edwards, who represented North Carolina in the Senate for six years, plans to make the campaign announcement late this month from the New Orleans neighborhood hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina last year and slow to recover from the storm.
Edwards is in a strong position as the leading candidate in Iowa. He was a top fundraiser in the race for the nomination in 2004 before he became Democratic Sen. John Kerry's running mate.
Since the Democrats' loss to President Bush, Edwards has worked to build support for a repeat presidential bid. He has a retooled agenda that is more openly progressive and has spent time building relationships with labor leaders and traveling overseas to build his foreign policy credentials beyond his one term in the Senate.
A poll of Iowa Democrats that was published Thursday in the Des Moines Register showed Edwards with 36 percent support, more than Clinton's 16 percent and Obama's 13 percent combined.
Edwards' campaign plans include an aggressive fundraising effort to prove that he belongs in the top tier of contenders. Because he currently does not hold federal office, Edwards does not have a war chest like some of his rivals. In fact, he has several hundred thousands of dollars of debt from his 2004 presidential campaign.
Here’s my prediction. It will be an Edwards/Obama ticket in ’08. Even though Obama might be more popular, he’s seen as having too little experience.
Also, you have to ask yourself, is America ready to vote for a black president? The Husband doesn’t think so, he thinks the redneck vote will go elsewhere, thus splitting the Democratic vote and opening the door for the Republican candidate. I don’t know, I guess it depends on how many rednecks are registered voters. And when I say redneck, I’m not just talking about the south (sorry, Sister!). I’m talking about bigots and racists, and they are everywhere. But enter Edwards, oozing enough southern charm that even David Duke would fall in love with him.
This is the beauty of an Edwards/Obama ticket. Edwards has the experience to get elected. And as VP, Obama can gain the experience he needs and then run for president in 2016. Wow, 2016 sounds like something out of The Jetsons, doesn’t it?
I’m sorry, but Ms. Hillary will have to sit this one out. If America isn’t ready for a black president, they’re sure not ready for a woman. A black man, a white woman, or a Republican. This really is a redneck’s nightmare, isn’t it?
Read on...
11 comments:
Nope.
Assuming you're right on who, the Democrats have a history (notable exception in 1992) of getting the ticket backward.
Should have been:
Ferraro/Mondale
Bentsen/Dukakis
Liberman/Gore
Edwards/Kerry
And of course there are people who ran, that would have stood a chance in the general election that never made the ticket. I predict that Vilsack and Richardson won't even come close just becasue they'd be the best possible choices (of those I know of).
The first step is selecting the best candidates and my party traditionally shoots itself in the foot. Perhaps I'll be surprised.
You know I’m afraid whomever the Republicans choose, it will be a repeat of the Nixon/Kennedy race. Whether it’s right or not, charisma goes a long way, and I don’t think the Republicans can come up with anyone who can touch Edwards and/or Obama in the charisma dept.
In this Hollywood-obsessed society, good looks and charm are going to go a long way. They just are. Issues be damn! How hot does Paris Hilton think you are?
The Reps have a very thin farm system now.
St. McCain will be laughed off the stage for wanting more troops.
"Moral values" Newt will get laughed off the stage because, well hypocrites like him will get scrutinized to no end Ralph Reed.
The Mitter will be frowned upon because, well, who the hell ever nicknames their kid "Mitt" except dilitantes.
It's good to know that GWB has destroyed the Republican party in the process and it will now force them to get back to basics and kick out some of the looney toons from the wingnut branch like the Dobson crowd and the Robertson & Foulwell crowd and the racists and bigot, white hood and sheets bunch like Wildmon.
And maybe actually get some people who have actually served in the military (NOT the Reserves or the National Guard). Y'know. Someone with at least a little credibility unlike the neo-con chickenhawk crowd.
And who knows, maybe they'll actually go back to being Republicans that believe in something. Maybe not.
And it's a fling with Obama for the Dems now.
And like the Reps, it's really time for new faces and new ideas. Not the same old drivel that's been the both the Reps and the Dems have been saying for the last 25 years.
Reaganomics is dead along with the Grecian Formula old-timer. Bushonomics (41 & 43) is dead. Both proved they can take something good and fuck it up beyond all recognition. Being good at stupid doesn't count.
“Being good at stupid doesn't count.”
Gee, Alex, thanks for making me snort coffee. And I hope the whole Obama thing isn’t just a fling. We say we don’t want the status quo, we say we don’t want “professional” politicians, and then when a candidate comes along who is neither, we say he doesn’t have the experience.
And I agree about McCain. You know I actually would have voted for him in 2004, first time I would have ever crossed party lines. I figured any man who would choose to stay in a prison camp to remain with his men, when he could’ve been released, had more moral integrity than anyone else running. I really thought he must be a decent man. My what a difference a couple years makes. Now he’s just a professional politician like all the rest.
And Newt? Oh tell me the Newt-meister hasn’t thrown his hat into the ring and I missed it? I’m sorry, but if you have your wife, who’s fighting cancer, served with divorce papers WHILE SHE’S IN THE HOSPITAL, you don’t get to play. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200. Newt could never live down his past and all the crazy things he’s said. He’s a loon. They’re not actually taking him seriously, are they?
I agree, fresh faces, fresh ideas, new attitudes. They better bring it, or the Reps may as well sit this dance out.
Hehehe! Hope your napkin was handy.
As far as St. McCain, if I was running a campaign against, I'd remind people he was one of the Keating Five from the S&L scandals back in the 80s. He's tried to convince people he's really a moderate, but he's not.
The same S&L scandal that Neal Bush, of hooker-showed-up-my-door-one-night-in-Asia fame (yes, another Bush) ran Silverado S&L out of business and cost the taxpayers $200-$300 billion and which is now just being paid off.
As far Reagan, I wish him and Jeanne Kirkpatrick good riddance. Hope they burn in hell with this new bunch of "Republicons" on the scene since 1980. They are but a myth.
Makes me nostalgic for the days of Gerry Ford and Nelson Rockefeller. At least they were reality-based.
Makes me wonder why people think they're Republicans. None of them are rich enough.
Ok, I was just schooled in what a chickenhawk is. Just in case there is some other uneducated soul out there who doesn’t know, a chickenhawk is a term for someone who is all for the war but not willing to fight it. I’ll give you an example:
“George Bush is a chickenhawk.”
Or:
“Dick Cheney is a chickenhawk.”
Chicken George and Chicken Dick. Excuse me while I wipe the coffee off my screen….
Ok I’m better now. Anyway, this term should only refer to politicians who want to start wars and were unwilling to serve when their country called on them. And there are plenty of them in the administration.
But as I understand it, the term chickenhawk is now being used by some of us snarky lefties to shut down any argument by a rightie who may not have sand up his arse at the moment. I know you weren’t doing this, Alex, but I’ve seen the term slung around places like Huffington Post, referring to anyone who is not in the service but is in support of the war. This is about as fair as expecting those of us who are against the war to have served in the military before we have the right to an opinion.
Ok, I know it’s not exactly the same thing, I mean if you’re going to support the war you should be willing to serve in it. But just because you’re not, it doesn’t negate your right to an opinion. I’m only saying this because I’m tired of people from both sides trying to shut down the dialog by using some ludicris requirement of service.
Chicken Dick...I am thoroughly entertaining myself with that one. But its Sunday, the day to be easily entertained... :>
So, Alex. We reservists don't really serve?
I agree with you about the Republicans jetisoning some ideological deadwood, but the Democrats have an infestation of Socialists and Greens--people with perfectly good parties of their own--to get rid of.
Ah. Potentially good news: my guy, the one I called for the '08 nomination in '04, might be gonna roun.
Gov. Mark Warner (D-VA).
Here's a thing to consider: A Sentator has not been elected President in over 40 years. There's a reason for that.
The Democrats best choice is a governor, and preferably from a Southern state.
So why don’t we elect Senators? I haven’t done my homework on Warner. Wasn’t he married to Elizabeth Taylor at one time? And hasn’t he run before?
Hmmm, a southern Governor. I’ll have to think about that one. No one is jumping out at me at the moment.
Republicans do best when they can get someone with the stature of Eisenhower high up in the ranks with credibility and moderation, and experience, something the Bush neo-cons lack. LIkewise, jihadists like Gen Jerry Boykin should be marched in front of the firing squad for promoting extremism.
Powell discredited himself with the WMD speech at the UN and being a shoeshine boy for the Bushies.
So in that respect, if the Reps want credibility on defense, then I can't see a reservist being considered.
Mark Warner...I thought he dropped out already when Barack Oalabama was being mentioned. Montana governor Brian Schweitzer might be a good prospect if he runs.
Elizabeth Taylor married VA Sen John Warner...who was known as Mr. Taylor during their marriage. hehehe
08...I'm interested to what Mayor Michael Bloomberg positions as a candidate would be, hopefully as an independent (he was a Dem before). Successful business experience...check. Successful government experience in a major market...check. Not sure how his policies would affect the middle class...big question mark (but since Reagan onward, only during Clinton did the middle class do better).
And as far labels (Rep, Dem, Ind, Green, etc), I am socially progressive, fiscally conservative. I think Huey Long had the right idea. The current Rep party is a bunch of nuts; moderates like Lincoln Chaffee are almost gone...Olympia Snowe and a couple of others are still around.
The current Dem party is where the previous Reps went. Clinton's New Democrat party is the liberal / moderate Republicans who left after the takeover. It didn't take some of us years to see the con game going on there with Reagan. And in my opinion, Clinton was more influenced by former Arkansas governor Win Rockefeller than by JFK, although that played nicely in the campaign buildup in 92.
Maybe finally, the public's love affair with the Rep party is over. Like an oft-jilted lover that's had to endure Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Bush, and all the reprobates in the Congress, maybe they'll learn a lesson this time.
Both patys have a lesson to learn: dump the "energize the base" garbage.
What they call their "base,"isn't. oR it shouldn't be.
The "base" are those party extremists that will never cross lines to vote for the other party but might not go vote.
The base should be the people of the middle. People who identify themselves as Americans first, then, maybe, Democrat or Repulican. Reagan and Clinton came closest, since the mistake of dumping the caucus system, of running this way, and note that both were successful at it.
Imagine...a campaign of persuasion and not of political divsion. And people call me a cynic. Still, the modern primary system is going to be the ruin of us.
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