Armchair Time

It's the Sunday after Thanksgiving a year before the midterms... so of course it's a great time to speculate about the 2008 election. Chris Matthews and his gaggle of talking heads went over a whole bunch of names today. Chris has cutesy names for all of the potential candidates but there's no way I could remember them all...maybe check his web site to see if they post the transcript. But here's who they discussed:

Democrats
Hillary Clinton - the 800 pound gorilla. Everyone thinks she's the one to beat, and I do hope things sway a different way cuz I don't think she's the right candidate.
Joe Biden - He's an established Senator with major foreign relations cred, and he's coming out to the left of Hillary on the war. But as we all know, no Senator has won the Presidency since JFK/LBJ. Although he's on Meet the Press again right now - he's definitely trying to get himself out there, but I wonder if anyone outside of the Beltway and DE knows who he is. He just told Tim Russert that his vote for the Iraq war resolution was a mistake, basically saying that trusting the President was a mistake. The new litmus test for potential nominees?
Evan Bayh - I don't know much about Bayh, other than that he's been the head of the DLC (which I think is too moderate) and my parents in Indiana think he's too slick. He has the unknown problem and the Senator problem.
John Kerry - He's been acting like the head of the Party lately with his criticism of the war (too late) but I don't think anyone has asked him to be. The CM guests were laughing about how Kerry seems to be the only one who didn't get the memo about not running again.
John Edwards - Y'all know I've been falling in love with Edwards this year. I'd much rather see him be the candidate than Hillary.
Mark Warner - He's one to watch. I actually don't know much about him, but he's obviously had success in Virginia and people are ascribing much of Tim Kaine's victory to Warner. He's a new face on the national scene and comes from a governorship, which is usually a better launching ground. We'll see.
Bill Richardson - I really liked Richardson when I started seeing him out during the 2004 election season, but I don't know much about him anymore He's been working on negotiations with Korea, I believe, but I don't know how New Mexico feels about him. The pundits actually had nothing to say about him, whether that's good or bad.
Russ Feingold - Feingold's probably best known for campaign finance reform, and I think he's been coming out against the war recently. (Is that right? I didn't look it up, but I think I've seen him talking lately.) But he's a twice-divorced (they said) Senator from a small state.
Tom Vilsak - The Gov. of Iowa was used as an example of the kind of lesser-known, dark hourse candidates who will likely emerge in the next year or so. They will likely be to the left of Hillary. Should be very interesting.

Republicans
John McCain - The first 400-pound-gorilla on the GOP side. He is definitely the one to watch, cuz I think his decision on whether or not he runs will affect the decisions of everyone else in the field.
Rudy Giuliani - The other 400-pound-gorilla. He's probably seen as too moderate for most of the Republican party, but the pundits are giving him a lot of consideration based on the thought that the GOP will really bring out big guns to try to beat Hillary.
George Allen - The VA Senator and former Governor was mentioned as not really having the network needed for major fundraising for a national campaign. I don't know much about his politics, even though I lived in VA during his Gov. years. I was too busy trying those new-fangled ice beers to pay attention to politics. But I have heard that his office has the biggest turnover on the Hill.
Sam Brownback - Scary. Super-religious, super-conservative, and he likes to threaten the District's budget over social issues. I hope this one goes nowhere.
Mitt Romney - I guess the Mormon is doing okay in Massachusetts. But I don't think he has much national potential, even though the pundits did cite his "saving the Olympics" as a major credential. I just can't take him seriously after he took his shirt off in his campaign ads.
Condi Rice - Apparently, while the rest of the administration is sinking like a stone, Condi's approval ratings are way up. She's fairly popular, but has no history of being elected to anything. I have no idea how she'd connect to people. I don't like her cuz I see her as being just as much a part of this war as anyone else. But I don't really know how the rest of the country feels about her.

Overall, the gaggle predicted we'd be looking at some combination of Hillary-Edwards-Bayh against a possibly powerhouse ticket of McCain-Rice. Of course, everyone winkingly acknowledged that it's WAY too early to speculate. But it's fun!

And speaking of armchairs, I'm noticing that my beloved old blue recliner is starting to look a little threadbare. Perhaps I need to do some furniture shopping after Christmas?!?