Re: Re: Dean is the man, the new poll finds The Dean-Sharpton seems to be a winning ticket. I think they are a prefect match. All others are not a good fit - Kerry is too old, Clark is too independent-minded, Edwards is too unknown, Gephardt is too tired, Lieberman is too Bush... So, it comes down to: Dean and Sharpton for the White House!
IF Dean wins the Dem nomination, his running mate will likely be a moderate from the South or Midwest...Edwards is too greasy (I think Dean is a whacko but he's a very straight-forward, shoot-from-the-hip guy and I like that about him--Edwards doesn't fit in with this at all), so of the current Pres candidates Gephardt seems to me to be the best fit. Of course, it could be someone completely different (neither Cheney nor Lieberman ran for their party's Pres nomination last time around, after all).
Re: Re: Re: Dean is the man, the new poll finds To quote Alec Baldwin... If they win I'm moving to Canada.
Dean / Clark '04, baby. Let Clark do the heavy lifting on defense issues and courting southern moderates while Dean switches his focus to the economy and health care and rallies the traditional Dem base.
Clark's been bad on the campaign trail, seriously injuring his chances for Veep. I'm thinking Dean/Gephardt. Labor's in love with him, and Gephardt voted for the Iraq War and the $87 billion. The Republicans can't charge it's a completely anti-war/security ticket. And Gephardt is viewed as a moderate, but not like Lieberman (thought of as Bush Lite), so they would have a balanced ticket. The Dems can't have a two-man hard-left ticket. Bush would win in a walk.
obie, that may well be the strongest political ticket. But I still would prefer the better ticket for governing, namely, a governor paired with a Washington insider. Say what you will about Bush and Cheney, they get their agenda passed. Clinton and Gore made a great team. Reagan-Bush I also. It would be smart to pick someone who has run before, because the media will have already taken their shots. You don't want a Quayle-esque liability. So it's obvious. Dean-Gore. riverplate, you're not exactly the go-to guy for analysis of the Democratic party.
Ian...I don't think they vote directly for the VP, but the choice is a reflection of the nominee's judgment. I think 1988 was a good example of that. Dukakis would have lost worse except that the VP candidates were so obviously a plus for him. Clinton's selection of Gore was a gamble, because it didn't do anything to balance the ticket...two moderate Southern young Democrats. But it signalled that he was a moderate through and through, not a liberal.
Why doesn't anyone ever mention a Dean/Graham ticket? The benefits of Graham being on the ticket would seem to be: - Florida is a toss-up state with a lot of electoral votes. - Graham also voted against the war. - Graham is strong on foreign policy issues. - Graham has experience working with Congress. As a Dean supporter, I don't have a strong feeling yet for who should be his VP candidate but I wonder if I'm missing something when I never hear Graham's name mentioned. Is there something about Graham that I don't know? Murf
Re: Re: Dean is the man, the new poll finds You joke, but Gore would not be a political liability. It won't happen but it's not as crazy as Sharpton. Regarding the home state issue: A VP can make the opponent work harder to keep "lock" states. Just as Arnold's election in California will make the Dems spend money in a state that they thought was a lock, Dems would be best-off pulling someone like Evan Bayh (Indiana) or Mark Warner (Virginia) that makes the GOP work harder. (I have no idea if either of those two are feasible candidates; just examples.) Clark's an Arkansan with a broad southern Dem appeal - he wouldn't hurt the Dems at all.
Clark's team has been in disarray, but the biggest problem with his campaigning is that he's been sick for a couple of weeks. He hasn't been able to hone his stump speech.
Re: Re: Re: Dean is the man, the new poll finds True, but the Dems are crazy if they try to get the GOP into a spending war. They should pick a VP from a state they think they actually have a chance to win. Actually, Hillary would be ideal, if she wasn't probably the most hated woman in America.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Dean is the man, the new poll finds For the GOP, they want the Dem nominee to spend money in California. For the Dems, they want Bush & Cheney to spend time in Arkansas.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Dean is the man, the new poll finds So you think New York is a tossup state? Is that what you mean? The Dems defending New York is about like the Reeps defending Nebraska.