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American candidates

  
 
8===>Q: alyn
20:22 / 26.04.03
Okay, my exquisitely sensitive equipment is starting to register memetic pathogens (pathomemes?) for next year's electoral season. But my profilactic strategy (partial and indirect media exposure) prevents me from having perfect information. Let's get our brain-condoms on and discuss the candidates as we come across them.

Howard Dean, 11 years governor of Vermont, one of the most progressive (and oddly backward) states in our Union, looks pretty good to me, though I've only seen his website and a couple of articles. But is he too much of a lefty-liberal wet dream? How will he win out against all the caca-brained Fox News watchers? Most importantly, did he ever diddle a beauty queen? (And would that be a credential at this point?)

He's got a creepy slogan, though: Dean for America; the Doctor is In.
 
 
8===>Q: alyn
12:50 / 28.04.03
It is incomprehensible to me that no one cares about this!

But check it out: The Washington Post has a running feature on the Democratic candidates.

An odd story comes in over the transom about the GOP nominating convention, which is not scheduled until Aug 30, and Bush is not scheduled to accept till Sep 2. In Alabama, California, DC, and West Virginia (Idaho and Indiana have pushed their deadline back), this is after the deadline for candidates to announce themselves, so that Bush won't be on the printed ballots. He'd be a write-in candidate. What's up with that?
 
 
Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo
15:44 / 28.04.03
I'm one of the more politically active people I know and I'm not paying attention to the Democrats yet. It's fully a year and a half before voting, and I would bet that no one is much paying attention other than people who get paid to.

Give it about 9 months, then I will be looking.
 
 
The Tower Always Falls
18:22 / 28.04.03
Oh I care. I've been looking around and already supporting Dean with donations and such.

Thing is, the paranoid in me thinks he's a bit too squeaky clean. Yeah he's not perfect, but the McGovern compariosns are already starting to fly around the political circles. He seems to be a decent guy, who doesn't edit his opinions for the mass media and acts on principle, not polls. Not to sound cynical, but that could kill him. That, plus paranoia at him being labelled "the gay candidate" may keep the Democrats from having the balls to nominate him. Since they've been pretty spineless during most of this presidancy, I wouldn't be surprised.

I also like Kerry as well (at simply www.johnkerry.com). Plus he's a retired general, so he can't be completely vilified by the hawks. And he's also the only other candidate that has really come out swinging against the Bush feyaden.

But at this point, anyone but Lieberman or Gephardt.
 
 
grant
18:25 / 28.04.03
Currently, I'm rooting for Bob Graham.

I liked him as governor.

My friend Sam says he's actually running for vice president at this point. I don't watch that close.

Also, Drudge Report just had an item that the Democratic Convention is slated to be held in a theater named after a profound and outspoken anti-abolitionist. A South Carolina minister from the Civil War era. I'm imagining some wind will be blown over it.
 
 
Ethan Hawke
18:41 / 28.04.03
Kerry isn't a retired general - he just served in Vietnam. Wesley Clark, who is apparently going to declare his presidential ambitions this weekend, is, however a retired general. That would make 10 candidates vieing for the democratic nomination.

The site to watch, if you're really into this "Invisible Primary"* thing, is ABC's the Note. The Note is most notable for breaking the Trent Lott story. The three writers of The Note (and presumably, their interns) scour the morning papers of various 'hot spots' (Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina - the key primary and caucus states) in order to determine the Conventional Wisdom surrounding the candidates. They also apparently boast good sources inside both the primary Democratic contenders and the CREEP effort.

It's interesting that you say Graham is running for vice-president, grant, because I can never figure out how that process works. Is the vice president ever someone who had a strong showing in the primaries, or is there too much ill-will for that? Because although there's no clear democratic choice for me, so far (counting, of course, that all important can-they-win? vote), some pairs of the front runners would be enticing.

I'd run down the list of the ten candidates, with my comments, but it's still to early to decide. Right now, I'm hoping that anyone but Sharpton, Kuinich, Mosely Braun or Lieberman gets the nod. Gephardt, I dislike as well, but I have to give him props for having the balls to come up with a national health care plan.

Has it been mentioned that the CREEP effort has leaked the fact that the Republican convention has been pushed back to Sept 2 for a trio of reasons -
(1) to coincide with the 3rd anniversary of Sept 11th
(2) to push the post-election 'bounce' as close to election day as possible
(3) to shorten Bush's campaign (he will only campaign from then until election day, as plans go) and maximize his huge cash advantage**.

It's all horse race stuff so far, with nothing of substance (save perhaps the gephardt plan) discussed yet. I'm wondering if Bush will agree to ANY debates this time around.

...and there's always the spectre of mr. nader.

* The Invisible Primary = Note-speak for the fundraising race between the top democrats. 1q03 results put Edwards ahead for dollar amounts, but behind Dean and Kerry for the number of individual contributors. The Note, in addition to standard pol-speak, has its own vocabulary and style.

**Which might not be so huge if Kerry gets the nomination, as he may have access to his wife's fortune.
 
 
Ethan Hawke
18:53 / 28.04.03
And then there's Gary Hart...
 
 
*
19:40 / 28.04.03
I just read an interview with Dean in The Advocate, and while most of what he said seemed reasonable, from my point of view, there were other points where it seemed like personally I would find him an ass. Politics, however, is not a business for non-asses. You can find the interview here.

I am concerned that he might not be able to get the backing of the conservative dems and the disgruntled reps that he needs in order to win. And, since I'm an independent (and not about to change), I can't vote in the primaries. If he comes out strongly ahead in the primaries he'll have my vote and probably that of a large number of independents who have voted third-party because the dem candidate hasn't seemed much different than the republican candidate in recent years. But if things are a close run in his own party he'll probably have trouble.
 
 
8===>Q: alyn
20:22 / 28.04.03
Aw, poor Gary Hart. I'd be stunned if he ran, but I'd vote for him. It'd be kind of like voting for Ken Wind, wouldn't it?

Sorry, comics. I know, goddamit, I know.

Kerry bugs me but I've forgotten why. He's just fuckin' creepy. Gephartd's health plan is a vote-dredging pipedream, from what I can tell. Governmental health plans are incomprehensible even to the expert, and candidates can only speak platitudes about them. I guess if his platitudes are convincing enough, it'd be worth looking at. But also he looks like a Cardassian, and isn't he one of the doglicking Dems who voted Bush unconditional war powers then bitched when he used them? Maybe I've got the wrong guy. But I feel like any Democratic candidate serving in the current federal government is going to have a huge credibility gap, standing up only now that they have something to gain from it.

I like Howard Dean a lot -- I would love for him to actually be squeaky clean, if only to see the agents provocatuers trying to count it against him. Howard Dean... to good to be true?

Just a hunch, but I think Edwards is going to take a pass. He's a young man who gives great television and needn't blow his wad on such an uncertain election.

Thanks for the link, Todd. Are those really the reasons being given for the late GOP convention? They're so stupid. Stupid enough to work, probably.
 
 
grant
21:17 / 28.04.03
Is the vice president ever someone who had a strong showing in the primaries, or is there too much ill-will for that?

I don't pay enough attention to primaries, but I think it's all in the packaging, and it's hard to package a team that was just slagging each other off in a public forum. Makes 'em look like liars. I think it's more usual to have a candidate who drops out before the conventions start up as a VP contender. Isn't that how Lieberman wound up with Gore? (I honestly can't remember.)
 
  
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