so, in another four years...

[DaveW]

I wouldn't be surprised if Al Gore throws his hat in the ring in 2008.

There'd be a historic parallel to Richard Nixon. VP for eight years, losing his a close election at his first attempt, winning in his second run eight years later. Hopefully the comparisons end there...

Maybe Gore will have learned from the mistakes of last time. A start would be choosing someone like Howard Dean as a running mate so he doesn't leak votes on the left.

 

[Wicked Lester]

I wouldn't be surprised if Al Gore throws his hat in the ring in 2008.

There'd be a historic parallel to Richard Nixon. VP for eight years, losing his a close election at his first attempt, winning in his second run eight years later. Hopefully the comparisons end there...

Maybe Gore will have learned from the mistakes of last time. A start would be choosing someone like Howard Dean as a running mate so he doesn't leak votes on the left.

You may well be right.

So the challenge for Gore will be to discover a personality between now and 2008. The Nixon parallel is quite fascinating.

Disagree about Dean though. He's finished as a player. If he was VP candidate the Republicans could base part of their attack on the prospect of Dean being only a heartbeat from the White house.

 

[Weaver]

Looking at the election map, whoever they choose to run will have to either be Southern or have a Southern running mate. They certainly need to win Florida.

 

[DaveW]

You may well be right.

So the challenge for Gore will be to discover a personality between now and 2008. The Nixon parallel is quite fascinating.

Well there seemed to be a bit of personality in that feiry speech he gave a few months back; calling for several heads in the Bush administration following the Abu Ghraib scandal.

(As an aside, it's interesting that the only person he called to resign who actually did resign was the Clinton-appointee George Tenet.)

Disagree about Dean though. He's finished as a player. If he was VP candidate the Republicans could base part of their attack on the prospect of Dean being only a heartbeat from the White house.

The Democrats tried the same thing with Agnew and Quayle. The election results of 1968 and 1988 would suggest that didn't really work. (Heck Labor has tried it twice with Costello.)

Bush's win will be partly attributed to his ability to bring out the Republican voting base. I see Dean as someone who can liven up the Democrat base. Rather than merely being motivated by their opposition to Bush.

 

[evo]

Looking at the election map, whoever they choose to run will have to either be Southern or have a Southern running mate. They certainly need to win Florida.

That seems to be what depressed the Demo's strategist Jim Carvill(sp?) the most yesterday on CNN Weaver.They poured so much time,money and effort into winning Florida and Ohio and still lost.

Lots of soul searching ahead for them I guess.

 

[Scorpio]

Looking at the election map, whoever they choose to run will have to either be Southern or have a Southern running mate. They certainly need to win Florida.

The real worry for the Democrats might be that even with a Southern VP candidate (or a Southern Prez) they may never take any of the South again.

The South (and the Mid-West for that matter) is very much Bible-Belt land these days. Given the Republican's self-proclaimed role of being 'God's Chosen Party' it is not suprising to see massive chunks of 'red' in that whole area of the US.

To win the Presidency in the future, these states are where it must be won for the Democrats as it is these states whose population is growing (at the expense of the Northern 'liberal' states). Florida is probaby the best chance but even that state drifted towards the Republicans this time after being Democrat (unofficially) in 2000.

 

[DaveW]

With the exception of Florida, I think the confederate south is just about gone forever for the Democrats.

Al Gore couldn't carry his home state of Tennessee.

West Virginia voted for Democrats twice in the 80s against Republican landslides. But it went so solidly for Bush yesterday that it probably won't even be considered a swing state next time.

The area of the country that's supposed to be trending Democratic - because of the influx of Hispanics - is the south-west.

The vote in Nevada and New Mexico was close. But the margins in Arizona and Colorado however, don't make for great reading.

 

[pazza]

Name out of left field...Jesse Jackson..has the Christian element and the Southern/Mid-Western line going and would be a different alternative..possible?

 

[DaveW]

Name out of left field...Jesse Jackson..has the Christian element and the Southern/Mid-Western line going and would be a different alternative..possible?

Perrenial candidate in the Democratic primaries. I don't think he's ever gotten close.

 

[Tim56]

Name out of left field...Jesse Jackson..has the Christian element and the Southern/Mid-Western line going and would be a different alternative..possible?

Did okay in 1984 and a close second in 1988. Ever since he admitted having an affair with a staffer his image has been shattered.

 

[pazza]

Reading that..did he do a Clinton before Bill did or after?

 

[funkyfreo]

Not all doom and gloom in the south, but may need to find a good White Christian for next time to get in there. Could even be an evangelical - just so long is moderate.

These things all ebb and flow.