Presidential Candidates

    I had heard rumblings of this earlier this weekend, that Clinton would start making overtures about Obama being the VP nominee with her the top name on the ticket.  I say "Dear God, No..." for a few reasons:  first, the one thing that might make me vote Democrat this year is Obama at the top of the ticket.  The one thing that will make me run, not walk, and pull that lever for McCain will be having Clinton at the top of the ticket.  I brought this same point up in another thread; I can't conceive of any possible universe in which I would vote for Hillary Clinton, and having Obama as the VP will not sway my decision.

    The second reason:  I see this as a play made from a position of weakness on the part of Clinton.  She's been consistently losing the delegate count post-New Hampshire; she knows it, Obama knows it, and I know it.  She's now got to win something like 60% of the remaining delegates to win the nomination.  Does anyone think that's possible?  I don't.  She's in a weak position, and will likely get weaker. 

    I haven't drunk the Kool-Aid on Obama; I don't think he's the greates thing since sliced bread, but for him to even entertain this overture is a monumental waste of time and energy, and I believe he should get the word out, that this is a non-starter.  It could be like that scene in "A Bridge Too Far", when the British airborne commander, at Arnhem, is asked by a white-flag carrying German soldier if he would like to discuss surrender terms, replies "We'd like to, but we can't accept your surrender! Was there anything else?" -- "I'd like to talk with you about your offer of being the Vice President, but I can't right now."

    The final reason I think this is a bad idea for Obama to even consider is that, if he were to be the VP nominee, I think he'd risk being tainted by the nearly inevitable anti-Clinton attacks during the general election.  I just think he'd be "guilty by association" if he tried to run for the Presidency again, in the future (meaning, running as an incumbent VP succeeding Clinton, or as the John Edwards of 2012).

    That being said, there's still a long time to the election.  Who knows what will happen...maybe Clinton will be decisively beaten; maybe there will be a brokered convention for the Democrats; maybe Obama does accept this move; and maybe the horse will learn to sing.

    We'll see...

HG

In a bit of good news for County Clerks and military folks hoping to get their ballots in a timely fashion, just one Republican presidential candidate's nominating papers were challenged in the December filing period.  And the objection against Alan Keyes is not likely to be upheld.

The source of the objection is Richard Mayers, of Berwyn Illinois, who is affiliated with Matthew Hale's World Church of the Creator.  The basis of the objection is that the Constitution was never intended to allow a black man to be president and is similar to an objection filed against Barack Obama by the same Mayers.  The view pretty much aligns with his views that I found at this website.

Creator Richard Mayers announces plans to run for the 3rd Congressional Seat. If elected, he promises to “outlaw interracial marriage, deport black prisoners to Africa, and abolish the metric system."

The irony here is that if Mayers really wanted Keyes off the ballot it would have been simple.  Keyes didn't even file. Rather, a volunteer mailed in 5 petition sheets to the State Board of Elections, without a statement of candidacy, and the State Board of Elections accepted it as a filing.  There aren't many people who couldn't have successfully challenged the filing.  But apparently the master race folks just aren't that smart.

Alan Keyes reportedly filed a Statement of Candidacy (Form 2) with the Federal Election Commission on Friday. Sounds like he’s officially announcing as a Republican candidate for President. One article (I have NO idea how credible it is) says Keyes is planning to be at the Values Voter debate September 17.

I know there has been speculation Keyes was going run, but if he’s filed paperwork with the FEC that seems like maybe it has gone beyond the point of discussion for him.

What say you all? I know Keyes is kind of a touchy subject for the Illinois GOP, but is he radioactive in other states as well? Will he distract from the other candidates? Who will he siphon votes from? Will he even be a tiny blip on the election radar?

Let’s hear it!

Laura

I found this site while crusing the internets today...i seriously don't know if it's a joke, or if this is someone's idea of an appropriate website for a (supposed) US Presidential candidate.  Some choice highlights from his website and "Current Issues":

"JURISDICTION:  There is some concern about Jurisdiction."

"THE DISCIPLINE OF REGULATING THE U.S. GOVERNMENT:  There is some concern about the U.S. Government regulating the U.S. Government. I will enforce regulating issues pertaining to the U.S. Government regulations and according to the U.S. Government enforcements."

"THE DISCIPLINE OF THE US GOVERNMENT ECONOMY AND THE U.S. PUBLIC’S ECONOMY:  There is concern about the U.S. Government Economy and the US Public’s Economy enforcements. I will enforce the U.S. Government’s Economy and the US Public’s Economy regulating its enforcements itself  with its regulations pretaining to itself and according to it’s enforcements to maintain 100% effectiveness with my tools."

 

and the greatest announcement (ever) that someone is running for President:  "I am running in the Democratic Primary to be chosen to represent the Democratic Party for President of the United States in 2008 because of my concerns for the following issues facing the future of the United States of America and my commitment to the American people."  The rest of it is a 70 (!) point explanation of why he is running.  His biography is quite possibly the single craziest thing i've read on the internet...

Despite how crazy and whacked out his overall website is, the "Donate" section seems quite professional.

I've not been able to find anything else out about this Mercer guy, beyond a page at Project Vote Smart; a Google search turns up his campaign website, a couple of geneological sites for the family name "Mercer", and then a number of blog postings from different sites talking about his webpage...

I know this coming election is wide open, but i didn't think it'd be this wide open...

HG

Many people seem to be impressed with the Romney showing in the Iowa Pay-To-Vote straw poll yesterday, but don't count me among them.  When you look at the last ABC/WaPo poll for Iowa, you'll see that Romney led with 26% followed by Giuliani, Thompson, and the rest.  But if you took that same poll and exclude the candidates who didn't participate (Fred Thompson, Gingrich, Giuliani, and McCain) you'll see that Romney gets 51% of the votes.  That was a pretty realistic bar for him. 

Now, add on top of that the fact that Romney has spent what some estimate to be 4-6 million dollars in Iowa, it seems pretty reasonable to expect him to do as well in a grass roots straw poll as he would in a poll by ABC news.  But he didn't.  In fact, the ABC poll had Huckabee with 8% and Brownback with 5%.  Romney getting three times what Huckabee received would have been meeting expectations.  To not even double Huckabee and barely double Brownback is embarassing.  And to be fair, if you take the straw poll results and exclude the non-participants, Romney's number rises to 33%, still falling far short of the 51% he gets in polling.

One blogger has also suggested that Fred Thompson's number shows that his wave of support really isn't that. That's balderdash.

What I think is that this whole spectacle will thankfully never be played out again as candidates have decided to not give in to the blackmail of the Iowa Republican party.  Yes, Fred Thompson, McCain and Giuliani supporters stayed home.  What was the point of giving $25 to the Iowa Republican Party instead of giving it directly to your candidate?   To me it shows common sense and wisdom, which used to be bedrock values of our party.

This election cycle is seeing a host of challenges to the conventional wisdom.  That's what makes this primary the most exciting in my lifetime.  In round one of those challenges, I think Romney's conventional wisdom fell flat and FDT, Rudy, and McCain are none the worse for running the alternate course, and much richer for it.

I don't know whether this is REALLY creepy or REALLY funny. Maybe its a little of both, but this is what presidential politics are all about now, I suppose.

And hey, at least she's cute.