The Spectator is right: the Dems are playing for 2008...so who do WE want to run in 2008

Vanity | 1/15/04 | self

[Salgak]

OK, gang.

Barring a catastrophe or another 9/11 attack, it's pretty much a given that President Bush will be re-elected in just under 10 months from today. That's been already listed here on FR today. And Jay Currie has a VERY good point. The Dems KNOW they've already lost this election, and are using it to position for 2008 and, God Help Us, Hillary.

Who do we have / want who is in position to run for the Republican nomination in 2008 ???

Given that President Bush would want to have his successor continue his policies, who you all of you think is a worthy successor to George W. Bush, and our best defense against the Hildebeast ???

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Within 12 months of the reelection of Bush, Cheney will step down. Bush will name Guiliani as VP. He will win in a landslide in 2008 ampu

[hosepipe]

[ HILLARY WILL NOT BE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT, IN '04, GET OVER IT, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD ! ]

O.k. O.k. have it you're way...

Well all know how legally minded democrats are.. could a write in win the presidency.?. given enough write ins... not probable true.. how bout someone being drafted at the democrat conclave... Hillary.. Hillary.. Hillary!... and with faux modesty she demures to the podium... my head explodes... as she accepts the nomination.. and I miss the future coronation of Queen Hellary.. after her win over Bush after he enacts a massive new tax bill to support the MOON / MARS INITIATIVE.. and additional support for health and Social Security concerns of illegal immigRUNTSs..

[TASMANIANRED]

Recent history bears out that the US electorate prefers governors over senators. They want someone with executive experience. Sorry being senator and brown nosing and making deals with the enemy doesn't cut it.
gwb -gov texas
wjc gov arkansas 2 terms
ghb- vp
rr-gov ca 2 terms
jc-gov ga
gf-senate not elected
rn-vp
lbj-senate
jfk -senate
We haven't had a senator since Ford took over for Nixon.
Since Regan, we have had 3 southern governors.


Santorum might do for vp but no executive experience yet.

I would like to submit Ernie Fletcher Ky for consideration.
Ky senate, tossed the Democrats out of the Governership for the first time in about 40 years. He was a fighter pilot , a MD and a minister. Sews up the military vote, the Southern vote and the religious right vote.

He has a few years to prove himself capable especially since he has a Herculean job of cleaning out the Stygian stables that years of 1 party rule has left in the state.

I would have no problem pairing Fletcher with JC Watt, Tom Delay, Rick Santorum, Miguel Estrada.

The Republicans are in the cat bird seat. They have a rich pool of talent on deck. They just need a little development.

The democrats are suck city. Their brightest hope is Hillary and she is going to be 4 years uglier in 2004.
They have no one on deck other than John Edwards. All their standard socialists are heading the way of Fidel. Elderly, dried up and uncarismatic. They might be electable in a regional election but they don't have the right stuff. Look at plaster face Pelosi, pumpkin head Kennedy, sad Daschle, the fossil that was recruited from NJ. There just isn't the energy to light a flashlight in any of them.

The Breck boy has managed not to say anything stunningly stupid, unlike Dean, Kerry, and Clark. They have discredited themselves and are political toast. Edwards has the face but he has all the carisma of warm spit.

I thought after Nixon that the Republican party would be washed up for another 50 years but it hasn't been the case.
4 out of the last 6 presidential elections. The house of representatives, the Senate, the majority of governerships in the state.

The future belongs on the conservative side of the isle.

[Pubbie]

"HILLARY WILL NOT BE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT, IN '04, GET OVER IT, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD !" The Conspiracy Theorists are going to tar and feather you for Heresy!

[CPT Clay]

Lynn Cheney.

[freedumb2003]

Too many threads to wade through -- but can we/have we run a FReep Poll? Let's get a metric from which we can work.

[GraniteStateConservative]

They are no longer together.

[sweetliberty]

Meant to ping you to this thread too.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

My order of preference:

1) Santorum - Anyone who saw him take on the Hildabeast on the Senate floor knows that a 2008 battle between the two of them would be the clearest choice imaginable. IMHO, it would either be the death knell of Roe v. Wade with a win or cement it for the next 100 years with a loss. A two-time winner in a trending Rat state, who wins despite being based in union-loving Western PA. The most solid conservative in the Senate, period. The one candidate who would bring out the base in droves to crush the Beast.

2) Allen - Lots of positives. Has been a governor and senator. Pro-life. Southern. Famous name. Tough to beat

3) Owens - Don't know much about him, other than what I've read here. Sounds promising though...

4) Jeb - Wait until 2012 or 2106

Non-starters: Any pro-abortion pubbie (Rice, Rudy, Ridge, etc.)

I see my old pal RW, the Arlen Specter groupie, is trolling along saying Santorum is not Presidential. I shudder to think who is, in his opinion.

[republicanwizard]

Well, my own personal choice is Jon Kyl.

Kyl looks, acts, thinks, and behaves like a President.

[Republic]

There is an amazing number of good men and women available to run on the Republican ticket.

Rudi and Condi would make an outstanding ticket. Rudi's balance of liberal and conservative values would play well and Condi's steadfastness and intelligence, making an ideal team. A dream team. Either way-sure would love to see Condi in a few one on one debates with hitlery.

Wish Rummy were younger-what a wonderful President he would make.

Asa Hutchinson is a good man. A very good man.

And we will need good people running if that horror of a human being tries to pollute our WH once again.

We have four years to expose every living breathing American to the baggage (garbage) she totes.

[nopardons]

No, it's not a matter of having it my way at all; no, it's a question of reality!

You and the rest of those who seem to delight in delusional flights of fantasy, scaring yourselves silly, with Hillary, need to look at reality! No matter how much the Clintons twist the rules, mangle the laws of the land, there is something that you are over looking here, that neither Clinton has nor shall. The primary's front-loaded outcome, will have this year's Dem presidential candidate set up, long before the actual convention. The delegates will be locked in. If there were still a backroom system, Bill Clinton would NEVER have been allowed to be the presidential candidate in '92! They will NEVER anoint Hillary ... NOT EVER ...in Boston!

Should Dean capture the nomination, he'll get rid of Terry McAwful long before the convention. The Clintons' power base will have been bombed to smithereens.

If, in some alternate universe, Hillary is anointed at the convention, the Deaniacs will bolt, as will a lot of the other Dem candidates' supporters. AND HILLARY KNOWS THIS !

Hillary can NOT beat President Bush. She knows that and does NOT want to run in '04, for that and other reasons.

President Bush is NOT going to raise taxes, now,to give to NASA, for his new Moon/Mars programs.

You don't understand a thing about politics, the candidates you rant about, and your posts prove that.

[nopardons]

The political naifs and screwballs are going to drive me insane and have already made FR look worse than DU . :-(

[JohnnyZ]

I was not trying to be condescending

Actually I was more than a little embarassed. I love history but have some blank spots. Every important person I assume in retrospect to have been a senator. Ten years from now I'll be swearing Dick Cheney was a senator . . .

[airborne]

Dr. Rice replaces Cheney soon after Bush's reelection due to the VP's ailing health. This gives her the edge of an incumbent. And she'd hammer Hillary in a debate.

[fightin kentuckian]

Ernie Fletcher, the new Gov of Ky, would be a great choice. Physician, Former Figher Pilot, Minister, Congressman and now Gubner of an newly emerging democratic. Hes got the perfect resume and looks also.

He's the first Rep Gov in about 30 years.

[JohnnyZ]

JohnnyZ do you want to add anything?

Hm? Oh yeah, Owens, president. I was off watching The Fugitive with my ex-chick.

I'd certainly say Owens is running already. Doing various things like getting his name out there, getting involved in this that and the other thing, the Republican Governors Association, and whatnot. There have been a couple "Bill Owens is a great guy and should run for president" newspaper/magazine articles out there, most spectacularly National Review's cover story, and those things don't write themselves.

Chuck Hagel's another one definitely running. You can tell b/c he always shows up on political Sunday morning shows talking about the way things ought to be. You don't see Sam Brownback on TV -- he's back home with the fam. Hell, Hagel's been running since before 2000, and was pissed he didn't get picked as VP. He looks at every issue to see where he can strike a populist tone, get an image independent of Bush, be seen as an Important Policymaker with National Security Credentials, a la Bob Kerrey or Sam Nunn.

And Bill Frist is running. Term ends in 2006, retiring from the Senate, lotta free time to campaign full time -- Howard Dean picked up a lot of ground b/c he was out of office as of Jan. 2003 while the other folks were stuck in the Senate, and it worked well for him. Of course, the way Frist builds himself up as a candidate is doing his job as majority leader well, so personal goals and party goals are in line.

One good way of telling if someone has national ambitions is if they run for leadership office, or serve on a committee that has few perks but gives prestige, like Judiciary, one place Edwards made a name for himself. If someone heads a Finance committee, or the NRSC, or NRCC, they have ambitions. Frist was NRSC chair. George Allen is now NRSC chair. You build up a national network of contacts for fundraising and support when you end up running.

[ozzysmom]

I Love RUMMY! And Tom Delay for VP! If this happened, Moveon would change their website to moverightoutofthecountry.com! Of course, I also like Rick Perry and with Tom Delay for VP then the idiot who wrote that "lovely" article posted today about Texas would have to kill himself!

[JohnnyZ]

I would like to submit Ernie Fletcher Ky for consideration.

The timing is bad for him. He's up for re-election in 2007, and he'd have to start running for president 3 years into his first term, in 2006. Now if there were an opening in 2012 (God forbid), he could resign in 2010, Steve Pence would take over the governorship and run for re-election, and we could all be very happy. Or he could be VP.

[JohnnyZ]

Kyl looks, acts, thinks, and behaves like a President.

Like a President? Which one? :)