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| Friday, January 26, 2007 |
| Independent Candidates in 2008? |
For awhile now I've had a fairly strong and growing belief that a 3rd party candidate will make a big difference in the Presidential Race of 2008. Not Ralph Nader scale... something closer to Ross Perot scale (10-20% of the popular vote).
And I think it's mostly because the core of the Republican Party seems to be substantially farther to the right than the mainstream public. Much farther right of center than the Democratic Party is left of center.
So I think it's likely that the 3rd party candidate will be a Republican in name who's frustrated with how far right his party is.
I'm thinking of starting a new category in my odds on the right. In advance of doing that, here's who I view as most likely at the moment:
Rudy Giuliani
Chuck Hagel
Michael Bloomberg
John McCain
Joe Lieberman
One main reason I think this is possible: http://www.unity08.com/. One of the biggest challenges for 3rd party candidates is ballot access. This group aims to get ballot access in all 50 states before they have a nominee, and then choose who they will give their ballot line to after the Dems and GOP have chosen their nominees. |
posted by CB @ 11:30 AM   |
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| Thursday, January 25, 2007 |
| A word about ads |
| I don't choose the ads that run on my site. I don't have any influence whatsoever. Google administers them. So a McCain (or Hillary or anyone for that matter) ad that runs on The Jaker should not be seen as an indication of any kind of support. |
| posted by CB @ 12:45 PM |
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| Whites like Obama more than Blacks do |
Check this out from the Washington Post.
Black Democrats prefer Clinton 3 to 1 over Obama, and four out of five of black Democrats view her favorably, much higher than the 54 percent who have a favorable view of Obama, according to combined findings from two Washington Post-ABC polls taken in December and January.
Is this just a familiarity thing, or will this stand up? |
| posted by CB @ 12:43 PM |
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| Wednesday, January 17, 2007 |
| What should I have said? |
I'm in DC for business, and earlier this evening I walked past Ken Mehlman, who was waiting outside my hotel (there's some kind of RNC conference going on here, and I guess KM is passing the torch to Mel Martinez). He was all alone, so I could have struck up a convo, but I couldn't immediately think of a sensible topic for us that would result in me being honest without resorting to insulting... because I think Mehlman specifically epitomizes the Republican "I'm right and you're wrong and you're just not enlightened enough to know it" attitude that I loathe. Any time I saw him talking on TV I wound up yelling at the screen.
I should have asked who he likes for '08 on the GOP side.Labels: Misc |
| posted by CB @ 10:50 PM |
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| How's the view from the top, Barack? |
I've said it a number of times before, and today I make do. Barack Obama is in the race, so I'm making him co-favorite with Hillary Clinton. A bunch of people might think this is too much buying into the early-race hype. That's a legitimate argument. But I actually think Obama is the real deal. An editor of the Harvard Law Review, with a demonstrated ability to frame issues in new ways and drive public consensus - one of the largest challenges of slow-moving democracies - is a very plausible Presidential candidate.
So today Obama jumps up to 3:1, and I drop Hillary down to 3:1 to match. Next up - an announcement by Bill Richardson will move him up my odds, probably ahead of Al Gore. To me, those are the three contenders (I'm not an Edwards fan this time around) - Clinton, Obama, Richardson.Labels: Presidential Odds |
| posted by CB @ 10:37 PM |
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| Thursday, January 11, 2007 |
| Does a governor have the most 2008 foreign policy experience? |
The answer is yes. The (potential) candidate with the most foreign policy experience, on either side, in my opinion, is Bill Richardson.
The latest: Richardson has brokered a temporary truce in Darfur. Read the NYTimes article.
Richardson also has govt contacts in North Korea. This guy is good. |
| posted by CB @ 9:59 AM |
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| Atteahks in Baghdeahd? |
Did anyone else watching Bush's address tonight think that he had changed accents all of a sudden? I kept hearing a serious Minnesota / North Dakota thing going on.
ps. My confidence is low, but for all our sakes, US and Iraqi, let's hope the surge works. |
| posted by CB @ 12:13 AM |
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| Monday, January 08, 2007 |
| Don't dis Democracy Bonds |
SmartMoney.com has an article criticizing Democracy Bonds, a recurring-donation program of the DNC (to which I am a subscriber, or "bondholder"). Jonathan Hoenig calls this program decieving, because the "bond" doesn't actually return your principal at the end of some period like a normal bond investment.
To that I say: has anyone actually be decieved into thinking that this is an investment, not a donation? I would argue no, and challenge Hoenig to produce such a person. His article doesn't mention anyone. I would imagine (or hope) he tried to find one but couldn't.
I think Democracy Bonds is a great program. It's hard to stomach making a $100 donation all at once, but I'm absolutely willing to give them $10 out of my salary every month to help them build the infrastructure to keep Democrats in government. And I encourage everyone else to do so too.
Personal Note: posting will remain intermittent. I'm quite busy. |
| posted by CB @ 8:02 PM |
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| Wednesday, January 03, 2007 |
| Line item veto |
I'll kick off 2006 by linking to the op/ed in today's WSJ (free link) credited to George W. Bush (we can't think he really wrote it, can we?).
My favorite line is when Bush helpfully informs us of the "fact" that tax cuts have fueled robust economic growth. Thanks George. Without you, I'd never be able to know what is and isn't fact. |
| posted by CB @ 6:48 PM |
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