Why Dianne Feinstein Is the Democrats' best hope to win the 2004 presidential election

SF Chronicle ^ | 11-10-02 | Richard Rapaport

[Oldeconomybuyer]

As the Democrats begin to recover from the bloodletting of Tuesday's elections, it's time for the party to get serious about recapturing the White House two years hence.

For the Democrats to avenge the loss of the Senate, as well as the presidential debacle of 2000, they must overcome the timidity and disconnection that has characterized party leadership. They should forget about any Al Gore comeback with a fairy tale ending. They should also dispense with the seven political dwarfs who want to be president -- Sens. John Kerry, Joseph Lieberman, John Edwards, Tom Daschle and Joseph Biden; Congressman Richard Gephardt and possibly Gov. Gray Davis, on the heels of his unresounding reelection victory Tuesday.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

The RATS are a completely dysfunctional political party. Am I the only person to notice that our "selected", "low IQ" President not only delivered a GOP majority but also put the entire DNC establishment on suicide watch?

[twntaipan]

I don't even have to read this one: Please run Diane!

This would make the Bush victory all the more lop-sided!

[mewzilla]

Gee, can I have some of whatever this guy, the author, is smoking? Wow.

[patriciaruth]

Sure, terrific idea, run Feinstein. A Senator, when governors are the toughest competition. A Californian when that state is already a given. And someone on film abjectly apologizing to the Chinese after the EP-3 plane was downed by them.

As I recall, George W. Bush ran against a sitting woman Governor of Texas, Ann Richards, to win his first elective office. He didn't have any trouble figuring out how to beat her. He killed her with politeness.

[HitmanLV]

Yea, she will deliver all those precious electoral votes on the left coast, some scattered few in the Northeast, leaving "W" comfortably with 350-380 EVs.

Good strategy!

[Schmedlap]

"She's America's political Snow White."

More like Medusa.

[patriciaruth]

Well, the Dems could always let Dubya run unopposed in 2004, and then they'd probably do better in the other races.

[RightOnline]

"Am I the only person to notice that our "selected", "low IQ" President not only delivered a GOP majority but also put the entire DNC establishment on suicide watch?"

No, you aren't. :)

Let.........ahem............."Snow White" run. Please.

[RJCogburn]

While there is a bunch of baloney in this article, there ia also some truth. DiFi probably would be a tough candidate, tougher than any of the others mentioned.

[xm177e2]

More than that, a Feinstein nomination -- two long decades after the false dawn of Geraldine Ferraro -- would signal the first true "Year of the Woman" since universal suffrage was achieved (for whites at least) in 1920.

The first woman to capture the presidential nomination of a major party will be a figure who transcends party labels. She will, inevitably, come to embody the unfulfilled hopes of generations of American women.

A Feinstein candidacy would be a nightmare for Republican strategists. Be too harsh in attacking the first woman with a chance to be elected president and risk alienating American women. Give Feinstein a free ride and she will kill you.

Yes, a female candidate would be an unstoppable juggernaut. Which is why there have been so many female candidates before now. </sarcasm>

[xm177e2]

They really, really wouldn't. They would be so demoralized Bush would sweep almost every race.

[stocksthatgoup]

Feinstein - Pelosi......an all female, all liberal, all San Francisco ticket..........The San Francisco treat/or trick.

[DugwayDuke]

Ah, yes, Dianne Feinstein, the ultimate gun control candidate will do well in fly-over country. This is the woman who said if she had the votes, she'd tell all American's to turn in their guns. Yep, she's a great candidate.

[goldstategop]

About all that DiFi has going for her is she's to the right of fellow California Democrat and soul sister Babs Boxer who is ultra-left --- and unelectable on a national ticket. She'd face fierce competition from the party's governors and to my knowledge, no legislator from Capitol Hill has won the presidential nomination of either major party in the last century. The reason is executive experience. The Dems have plenty of women govs they can field for President but DiFi's a long shot.

[The Wizard]

that means they have NO hope

[xm177e2]

People likely to dismiss her because of her religion would probably also be put off by her gender

Not necessarily. This assumes the bigots are white redneck types. But there is an undercurrent of anti-semitism in some parts of the black community (especially the Muslims). This wouldn't be so important, except that blacks are an important part of the Democratic base. The assumption that anti-Semites are all white is racist in and of itself. I'm not suggesting that most blacks are anti-semites, but that it exists in people of all colors.

Some progressive black leaders have used anti-Semitism to further their agenda, like Jesse "Hymietown" Jackson and Al Sharpton.

[RWG]

She's America's political Snow White.

From the party of diversity, an eastern elitist for minority leader who told a black guy to forget it, and now Snow White.

The first thing to do for 2004 is to start with pamphlets among minorities showing them the true colors of the democRATS-white priveleged women.

[A CA Guy]

If she runs and her closet is opened, an avalanche of trouble will fall out for her and her husband.
We can only PRAY she runs.

[breakem]

"One other woman also has the stature to bear the Democratic standard in 2004: Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. But only Feinstein can win. The former first lady bears the stigma of eight years' of smears by the demonic right. Hillary Clinton versus Bush II would be a bloodbath, and the Clinton campaign would be the target of the same venomous character assassins who nearly brought down her husband."

Can someone believe anyone would be able to attack St. Hillary on the basis of character.

[xm177e2]

I forgot all about the gun issue, that is a big loser for her.

Not the finger on the trigger. Very sloppy... and yet so very erotic, at the same time. </kidding>