Democrats seek another Clinton

MSNBC ^ | Tom Curry

[McGruff]

The activists who gathered at California's Democratic Party convention this weekend would like to see the 2004 election as Bush vs. Clinton. Not Sen. Hillary Clinton, but Bill Clinton. California Democrats are searching for the winning candidate and many say he should resemble the last Democratic president.

"I'VE REALLY GOT to tell you, I miss Bill Clinton," said Red Blum, a veteran Democratic operative from Fullerton, Calif. "He was a charming rascal, but he was intellectually curious -- he could talk all night about anything. He left us a big budget surplus. He had people in the Middle East talking to each other, they were making progress. It's all been abandoned since then." Asked what he is most looking for in the party's standard-bearer, Glenn Goldstein, a landscape architect from Brea, Calif., had a succinct answer: "Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton was great for the country. I think Bill Clinton had the qualities that it took to ride above all the nonsense the press might have given him."

'THE CLINTON CHARISMA' Barbara Schraeger, a Sausalito Democrat who helped put together a fund-raiser Thursday night for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, gave Kerry the ultimate compliment: "I think he's got the Clinton charisma. Bill Clinton had the ability to look you in the eye and you'd be the only one in the room that mattered. Kerry has that."

What some non-Democrats may forget about Clinton is that in the early stages of his presidential bid in 1991 he met personally with many of these Democratic fund-raisers and precinct organizers -- and they're still in awe of his personal magnetism and encyclopedic knowledge.

The Democrats have a field of nine to pick from, with others such as ex-senator Gary Hart and retired Gen. Wesley Clark poised to enter the fray.

At this stage, most California activists are undecided -- waiting for one of the hopefuls to show a charismatic spark. But among the rank and file, the great unifying emotion is pure contempt for President Bush.

Attending a gathering of Democratic activists in 2003 and listening to them assail George W. Bush is very much like attending a GOP activists' meeting in 1997 or 1998 and hearing their descriptions of Bill Clinton. In each case, the intensity of their disdain for the president is overpowering.

Along with that contempt goes a belief among attendees that Bush will be highly unpopular by the time voters go to the polls in November of 2004.

"He is obsessed" with Iraq, scoffed Blum. "The economy is in the tank, it's going deeper and he doesn't have a clue!"

Despite some anger at those Democratic contenders, such as Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, who voted for last October's resolution giving Bush authorization to use force against Iraq, "the party can unite on a candidate just because of who is the White House right now," said Tim Steed, chairman of the Orange County Young Democrats.

"I think George Bush is a uniter of all Democrats who just want to get him out. In his words, he is the 'unificator' of the Democratic Party because his ideology is so contrary to much what pretty much every Democrat believes in."

Steed is backing former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean but would be willing to settle for some other candidate in order to beat Bush. "It is a kind of a shame that you are going to choose the lesser of two evils, but the way George Bush is running the country, I would choose the lesser of two evils," he said.

SADDAM AS DISTRACTION If the weekend meeting here was any indication, Democrats harbor a deep suspicion of Bush's motives for leading the nation into a war with Iraq.

The convention crowd cheered Rev. Al Sharpton when he declared that Bush was "trying to take young people who you won't give public education at home and send them to Iraq."

Sharpton also charged that Bush was using Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden as the "bogyman" to scare Americans and distract attention from the economy.

John Burton, president pro tempore of the California state Senate, told convention delegates that although North Korea has nuclear weapons and Iraq may not, Bush is intent on attacking Iraq. Burton's explanation: "The only difference I can tell is oil. I guess it shows what you get when you have an oil man as president, an oil man as vice president and a national security advisor who sat on the board at Chevron."

Above all, California activists are searching for authenticity. They want someone who is not afraid to passionately declare Democratic ideology: gay rights, racial equality, abortion rights, closing the California coastline to oil drilling, and so on. Many say the party's leaders in 2000 and 2002 muted their true Democratic rhetoric and beliefs.

"Never again will the Democratic party go into an election without a Democratic message saying who we are, what we stand for, and what we will fight for," declared House minority leader Nancy Pelosi on Saturday to rousing cheers of the crowd.

It was an implicit criticism of former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, now a member of the pack of presidential contenders, who tried his hardest to make last year's elections a referendum on the economy but backed Bush on use of force in Iraq.

Meanwhile, Dean won a clamorous round of applause when he told the convention, "I'm here to represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party" -- implying that other Democratic leaders had drifted from the tradition of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson and the Kennedys.

Jo Anne Marquardt, a teacher from Sacramento, backed Green Party candidate Ralph Nader in 2000, but she was toting a big "Dean for President" sign at the Sacramento convention, supporting the former Vermont governor primarily because he is against the Iraq war.

"I don't follow politics that much," said Marquardt, "but I heard Howard Dean on NPR and it was like, 'Wow, he is saying what I want to hear.'"

DEAN TOO FAR LEFT? Some Democratic strategists worry that Dean, who signed a civil unions bills to legalize gay and lesbian couples in Vermont and who calls for universal federally-mandated health insurance, might not be able to win the general election.

"I do think he's going pretty far to the left, to be honest," said Garry South, the strategist who masterminded Gov. Gray Davis's re-election campaign last year.

But Dean's rousing speech to the convention on Saturday had delegates and political professionals buzzing with excitement.

Dennis Washburn, a city council member from Calabasas, Calif., said Democrats were looking for intense, foot-stomping rhetoric from their presidential candidate and Dean gave them a supersized serving of it.

[oyez]

I'd think New Orleans or St. Louis may have some prosperous pimps that would fit in the Clinton charisma. After all there are pimps with more charactor then Clinton.

[Let's Roll]

That is gonna be tough ... glib, shallow, treacherous, no core beliefs - they don't really have anyone in their party that fits that description. do I need the sarcasm tag?

[The Wizard]

I hate to say this, but Kerry, Edwards, Dean, Gebhardt, Lieberman, and crusty, are never going to be President....ever.

I don't know why, and I'm not going to speculate, but these people will never be President, and actually, because of the democrats in the senate and their obstruction to judges, (why they lost the last election) the are about to not only going to give the GOP the 60 votes they need, but they are going to doom the democrats for a generation.

Can't tell you how I know, just want to share......

[MinuteGal]

"Democrats seek another Clinton".

They will never find one. There will never be another Clinton.

There may be Clinton wanna-be's, Clinton mimics, Clinton imitators, Clinton look-alikes or Clinton ideological apers.

But no one candidate will ever have the combination of ambition, greed, power-lust, lechery and evil that Clinton possesses.

Nope, no matter how hard it tries, the DemoRAT party will never find another Bill Clinton.

(which is why it will turn to Hillary as a presidential candidate because she is a Bubba clone, albeit of the female variety).

Leni

[Libloather]

"Bill Clinton had the ability to look you in the eye and you'd be the only one in the room that mattered."

But then you would need some ice - so is it really worth it?

[fishbabe]

they want someone who can rape women,cuz feminists won't care,they want someone who is racist, cuz the blacks won;tcare.... think about the stuff he could get away with and all this guy has to do is beat george w bush..do you realize if the ku klux klan ever figure out how to work this scam it will be open season on minorities and they brought it on themselves!!!!!!!!!!

[YankeeReb]

... Bill Clinton had the ability to look you in the eye and you'd be the only one in the room that mattered.

The best con men all have that ability. In his day Hitler was pretty charismatic too.

[gop_gene]

It doesn't matter how united the dems are in their hatred and bitterness toward Clinton. They won't be able to oust Bush unless the vast mushy middle of the electorate decides they want him out.

[boris]

"They just have to go down the jail roster and find another RAPIST!"

Former Dem congressman Mel Reynolds, a child molester and now out of prison and working for Jesse Jackson (who else would have him) would seem to have the necessary qualifications.

--Boris

[CyberAnt]

"the nonsense the press might have given him"

Typical! x42 was not responsible for his actions; it was all the fault of the press. Egads!!

[faithincowboys]

the lies these people tell themseleves.

the intifadah started on clintoon's watch due ,in large part, to his manic push for a nobel peace prize. he pushed the parties too far, barak was their jimmy carter. without clinton and barak, sharon would never have gotten elected.

also, the economy began to tank in clintoon's last year.

why, oh why do these people exist in states of purposeful unreality. that's fine if you're job is playing bongos in the village, but as commander in chief it is suicide?

bubba and his cult suck!

[the Deejay]

2 posted on 03/16/2003 1:40 PM PST

LOVE that picture and great caption!

[fightu4it]

"Democrats seek another Clinton"

The could always run Teddy!

1. Can't keep his d@ck in his pants.

2. Talks in circles to the point that no one knows what the hell he has said after he has said it.

Is directly responsible for the demise of an individual.

[Ann Archy]

Their entire Party is made up of Clinton's...Immoral Liars, Cheats, Thieves...it's what the Democrat Party is all about!!

[Centurion2000]

Democrats seek another Clinton

Try Maximum security prisons ... rapists section

[jackbill]

They already have one and they don't recognize it. His name is Al Sharpton.

Actually, Al goes one better than Clinton. He's legitimately black.

[apeman81]

Another Clinton? Have they checked out the Bada Bing?

[lawdude]

OK Freepers, just who is the guy in this picture?

[Political Junkie Too]

Another Clinton? What's Gary Condit up to these days?

-PJ