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To: Xenalyte
As a rule, Governors make the best Presidential candidates and Senators the worst. . . .

The Republicans do have a popular governor of a large state, but his name's Jeb Bush, and even loyal Baathists might have drawn the line at Saddam being succeeded by both Uday and Qusay. On the other hand, if Jeb wants to avoid being penalised by American distaste for dynastic succession, the 43rd President's brother running against the 42nd President's wife may be the most favourable conditions he'll ever get.

In the founding era, Secretary of State was a strong credential for a presidential candidate. That's only logical, since the fundamental reason for the existence of the presidency was to conduct foreign affairs and wars. But Condi Rice just isn't going to be the first Secretary of State to win the presidency in over a century. The reality is that Guliani is to soft on the cultural issues to keep the South secure, and that no Republican senator is gonna be able to win a debate joint news conference with Hillary.

As a former governor, George Allen is a possible exception. But other than that, it looks like the pickings are pretty slim unless Jeb steps up. It's not like Jeb would be running from Texas like his father/brother, anyway - what is wrong with nominating the successful two-term governor of a swing state? FL is the fourth most populous state, yet it has never had a president. And as matters now stand, it'll be all we can do to keep McCain from winning the nomination in the Blue States.

And as Steyn notes, it's not like Hillary would be able to make a big deal out of the fact that Jeb is related to previous presidents.

Actually the Republican nominee for VP could be pivotal. The VP nominee has to be the hatchet man for the ticket, allowing the head of the ticket to take the high road. Running against Hillary we probably need a strong woman for VP who can hammer all the sleaze in Hillary's past. Cattlegate, Castle Grande/Billing Records Filegate are all low-hanging fruit if the right person tackles them head on. Plus FBI filegate, with its famous unresolved question of "Who hired Craig Livingstone?" (Hillary?). Then there's Travelgate, and the issue of Hillary's involvement in that. And of course that would imply a "media anal exam" of the Republican candidates and spouses. And Jeb's wife was a little careless with declaring some stuff on a customs form once.

But better, IMHO, to damage Hillary's campaign before she even gets the Democratic nomination. Paint the Democrats' nominating Hillary as a replay of the NJ Democratic Party's renomination of Sen Robert Torricelli with the gathering ethical cloud which doomed a candidacy. It's not like there would be any way for the Democrats to change candidates at the last minute for the presidency as they did for a Senate seat.


20 posted on 06/06/2005 1:49:11 PM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (The idea around which liberalism coheres is that NOTHING actually matters but PR.)
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To: conservatism_IS_compassion

If hillary runs on the Dem ticket, I think the GOP could really win with a Jeb/Condi ticket.
The dynasty issue would be neutralized, as would be Jeb's wife's and daughter's problems. Condi as VP candidate would neutralize the women's issue.
The only thing left would be the real issues (foreign policy, taxes, the economy, family values, etc.) and the GOP wins on all of those.
Jeb is a successful governor, and Condi (so far) is a successful SoS. What better credentials could we ask for?


24 posted on 06/06/2005 6:24:07 PM PDT by speekinout
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