skull / bones 2008 I
My favourite presidential prospective candidate, and the only one I could really firmly stand behind unequivocately, is not running. Senator Russ Feingold’s stated reason for opting out of a presidential run amounts to “It’s good to be in the Majority”. I never would have expected Feingold to get terribly close to the White House, but I suppose it would have been good to actually have a candidate out there I would have liked voting for.
The prospecive presidential candidate who I actually thought was going to win the Democratic nomination, and more than likely the presidency, also declined to run. When trying to figure out Mark Warner’s motives, I can’t help but think his stated reasons are his reasons: a presidential run is a draining experience he didn’t want to do. At any rate, the Democratic Party is now free to push him and push him and push him to run for the Senate in 2008, and if he declines that he’ll return to run to reclaim Virginia’s governorship in 2009… I… guess.
We’re at a point in the silly season where all the presidential prospective lists include candidates that all indications are are not running — Al Gore — or probably aren’t running — Barack Obama (running for the vice president?). And we have Chris Dodd and Joe Biden — but that’s a redundancy.
I have this uneasy feeling hurtling toward 2008 that Grover Norquist may indeed be, regretfully, correct, in his assessment:
The Democratic race is already scripted.  New York Senator Hillary Clinton will be followed around the nation by six or seven emasculated senators. They’ll pretend to run for president while actually auditioning for vice president.
That does leave John Edwards in a curious spot. I don’t think he can run for the vice presidency again, so getting the presidential spot is his best shot. I thought he was something of an empty suit in 2004, and I don’t quite know if he’s managed to fill it a bit in the past couple of years. Until I can get a fuller handle on Bill Richardson (Greg Palast calls Ricahardson not so much a Hispanic American as a Kissinger American — but that’s Greg Palast), he’s the best of a meager bunch. And he has that advantage over everyone else as not being Hillary Clinton’s obvious running mate since he already served that role. (You can’t just perpetually be a vice presidential candidate, can you?)
Oh wait. I forgot Mike Gravel. Or I guess I did.
I am the Director of Communications for the Gravel for President campaign. I can only tell you not to underestimate the US Senator who singlehandedly ended the draft with a lone five month filibuster, risked his career and going to jail for reading the Pentagon Papers into the Senate record and arranging for their publication. With the Internet and all of its tools, Senator Gravel will become a major contender. Stay tuned.
Or so says Elliott Jacobson.
Any omission of John Kerry’s name is entirely intentional. IMHO, One of the more forgettable >Public Servants< of this generation. (My response: Any more or any less forgetable than the Republican Presidential candidate for … say… 1916? (No. Wait. Charles Hughes was the last bearded major party presidential candidate. I think.)