Tuesday, May 30, 2006

"If Not Hillary, Then Who?"

"At the moment there are four candidates who appear to be able to raise the funds needed to compete with Hillary Clinton: Evan Bayh, the former governor and current Senator from Indiana, John Edwards, the former North Carolina Senator and 2004 Vice-Presidential candidate, John Kerry, the junior Senator from Massachusetts and 2004 Presidential candidate, and Mark Warner: The former Virginia Governor.

There are at least six additional candidates who have indicated they may run for the Democratic nomination but probably can't raise the necessary millions. These include Joe Biden, the senior Senator from Delaware, Wes Clark, the retired four-star general and NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Tom Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader, Russ Feingold, the Wisconsin Senator, Bill Richardson, the voluble New Mexico governor, and Tom Vilsack, the popular Governor of Iowa. (This list does not include Howard Dean, Al Gore, or Barack Obama, who have indicated that they will not run in 2008.)

In Democratic politics, as in much of American life, it's money that matters. So it looks like Dems will choose between Bayh, Clinton, Edwards, Kerry, and Warner. There are several ways to compare them. One would be their electability. Many Democrats believe that neither Clinton nor Kerry is electable in 2008; that neither could beat John McCain, for example. Hiding behind this is the belief that to win the presidency, Democrats have to reach beyond blue states and capture traditionally red states like Montana. Many rank-and-file Dems don't think that Clinton or Kerry can do this. Many believe that Bayh, Edwards, and Warner can.

Which of these five candidates can provide the leadership that the US needs to deal with our common problems? It's too soon to tell. One thing for sure, money can buy a lot of things, but not love or leadership."-Bob Geiger on The Huffington Post.

No comments: