Maybe on of dese folks can be the "new Clinton"!
Posted on 11/03/2004 12:28:36 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Scarred from their second defeat at the hands of George W. Bush, the Democratic party will be searching for names who can take on the Republicans in four years. And an obvious one is Clinton.
Many Democrats and experts believe that if Senator John Kerry (news - web sites) had the same charisma as ex-president Bill Clinton (news - web sites) he would have easily taken revenge this week for Bush's controversial defeat of Al Gore (news - web sites) in 2000.
But Hillary Clinton (news - web sites) is the most quoted name for the next contender.
University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato believes there are several reasons why Kerry lost Tuesday's vote.
"One, he is too liberal, well to the left of the American mainstream on the critical social and cultural issues such as abortion, gay rights and gun control."
More important for Sabato was personality.
"John Kerry is no Bill Clinton. There is very little warmth there, and people didn't warm to him. A moderate Democratic candidate with personal warmth would have defeated George W. Bush easily."
The new defeat is certain to lead to some painful soul-searching within the Democratic party.
After Bill Clinton's victory in 1992 and re-election in 1996, his vice-president Al Gore was narrowly defeated by Bush in 2000 even though he won the popular vote.
The Democrats were hit hard in 2002 mid-term elections, losing control of the Senate and seeing the Republicans extend their advantage in House of Representatives.
Bush's new victory left a bitter taste for many Democrats who look back to the Clinton years with affection even though the ex-president divided the country with many of his actions.
Bill Clinton electrified a crowd of tens of thousands when he returned from a quadruple heart by-pass to appear at a rally with Kerry eight days before the vote.
Though thinner, Clinton was given rapturous applause after castigating the Bush administration and telling adoring fans "my fellow Americans, we can do better."
Clinton remains wildly popular with core Democratic voters, especially black Americans, a voting bloc Kerry was never able to touch in the same way.
Kerry has been criticized as a one-dimensional campaigner compared to Clinton.
Now Hillary Clinton, the senator for New York state, is likely to dominate the Democratic party debate while she makes up her mind whether to stand.
"Hillary Clinton is the natural heir apparent" of Bill, according to Allan Lichtman, a political science professor at the American University in Washington.
Wildly popular among Democratic loyalists and able to raise vast amounts of campaign funds, Hillary Clinton has "worked very, very hard not to play into a caricature of herself," according to a Democratic party strategist who asked not to be named.
She is however the Democrat that hard-core Republicans most love to hate.
"The Republicans will very happily reverse to a caricature, and she becomes a lot less appealing when she puts herself forward" as a candidate, the strategist said.
So there is an outside chance that the Democratic party's 2008 presidential candidate is a long shot bet.
Barack Obama, a 43-year-old rising star in the party who became the lone black American senator in Tuesday's election, is talked about as a possible future candidate.
The Democrats "need only nominate a moderate candidate with warmth," said Sabato, pointing to figures like telegenic Indiana Senator Evan Bayh.
bump
Yup, you got it. It is absolutely true! The more metropolitan, the more liberal!! Also there is something with cool breeze from oceans that just does something to people!
Don't bet on it. Your assuming Obama actually has some kind of ideological integrity. He doesn't, he's a political oppurtunist who loves the camera and is super ambitious.
More likely, he won't care, not bother understanding any issue (though this won't stop him from finding a camera, and speaking before it, i.e. see Shumer) and just voting in different and inconsistant ways so as to build some kind of centerist record.
My guess, He'll try and be the new John Breax or Frost or Ford. Sort of a consencus builder so as to gain popularity and keep the liberal label off of him. He doesn't care about results, or beliefs, he cares about his image and being a rising star. Not being a knee jerk liberal and acting more like a Biden or Lieberman or Breax sets him up great for a future run for the white house.
Well put, and I intiutively agree with you, but do you have some examples?
And that insurmountable urban-rural divide implies that a better system of government for the United States would be a decentralized federal system partitioned into urban-rural districts, rather than the existing division of states.
Maybe on of dese folks can be the "new Clinton"!
Why are liberals calling this nation divided?
Your map and a similar one from the 2000 party demonstrates the main problem for the Democrats. Simply put the are no longer a national party. They start of each election cycle conceding about 20 states to the Republicans.
Plug in Hillary Clinton for John Kerry
They have Clintons, I am shure Bubba will be thrilled to run against Hildebeast.
We shall see.
One thing is sure. Much like the old media was complicit in the JFKennedy "Camelot" fable, they have set their collective sights on him as one they will fawn over and publicize.
With the change in media consumption by many Americans to the internet, perhaps the Brinkley's of the world will have a harder time selling that pap.
I wonder if Zogby is eating crow, yet.
He will paint a happy face on his work.
There's no doubt about that in my mind. He's got his eye on the ball, and is going to handle everything as though he was running a campaign for middle america. He's polished, knows how to talk (notice his constant referances to religion and god), and shows optimism. But, and I'm noticing it now, I think a lot of other dems are going to try and bring him down a peg, including Hillary, this guy is competition, he's ambition without principle and ideology without committment, making him the kind of guy who can work for 4 years playing games.
It'll be hard to sling him on his senate record, it'll take the GOP (and the dems who will compete with him) to have to go back to his early days to really ravage him.
The media will try and sell him like he was a product and they owned stock in the company, it'll fail though. He'll get the wringer from both sides with both barrels.
She needs to cover those up better! Isn't early for Turkey Day...Turkeys Done!....
The Democrats "need only nominate a moderate candidate with warmth,"
Yes, but these days we call those folks "Republicans."
At this point in history, the phrase "moderate Democrat" is becoming an oxymoron.
Beware of Evan Bayh.
Indiana, our new South Dakota.
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