Should a southern Dem governor be considered for President in '08?

[kick-ass-bob]

Everyone seems to say that it is easier to run for Pres from a Gov'ship than the Senate - is this something that should seriously be considered?

Personally, I think so...

Who are the sitting southern Dem Governors:
NC: Mike Easley


on edit: added Dem Gov's

[Jose Diablo]

1. You can count Georgia governor out.

Sonny Purdue, the chicken farmer, is a republican.

[RubyDuby in GA]

17. Only a recent convert though

Nobody seems to want to remind him these days that a few short years ago, he was a dyed in the wool, yellow dawg Dem.

Bastard traitor! And he's a fucking idiot to boot.
Good to know that his own party is actively recruiting people to run against him in '06. bwahahahahahaa

[Robeson]

2. I think Tennesse Gov. Phil Bredesen...

...would make a great VP candidate. He's very progressive, and Repugs even cross over for him in large numbers. Believe or not, I know a lot Repugs who actually like him. Could definetly screw up the GOP Southern strategy.

[kick-ass-bob]

8. Same goes for Easley I think (crossover)

I just wonder if he is really Pres type of material (or if he would want to do it). He doesn't like being in the limelight too much - and doesn't have many press conferences.

He is a down-home good ol' boy though - and he got 55% of the vote while * got about the same - so a 10% crossover in overall vote - that is huge.

[wildeyed]

19. He is quiet.

I didn't even know what Easley looked like until this campaign. Still not sure if I would recognize him if I bumped into him on the street. But he won big in a red state, so that says something about his political prowess.

[leyton]

22. Nah, I don't think Easley could pull it off, except against a northern.

I think he won big in NC because we have a tendency to elect Democrats to the state house. Though Easley may have the temperament and the image to win states like NC for the Dems if the GOP nominates a non-Southerner like Romney or Guiliani.

[kcr]

25. I disagree

He is killing TennCare on specious grounds instead of using his political capital to try and reform it, and he did squat all to help any federal Dem candidates -- including Kerry

[Robeson]

26. He is having to play politics with TennCare, because...

...he just lost the state Senate. It is now Republican. By threatening to end TennCare, he will force the new Senate to propose new funding, lest they be accussed of not funding it. If you've kept up with it, he is not ending it immediately, and the state politicians are already countering with proposals to fund it, and Bredesen has said he's open to futher options and funding. He's playing a political game, and he's hoping to straddle the new state Senate with having to come up with options to keep it funded, and if they can't, he'll lay the blame on them. He proposed cutting it, the day after he lost the state Senate. This is politics. There is a game being played here....stay tuned.

As for Kerry, I'd be more upset with Kerry for writing this state and region off, more than I would Bredesen. He's a progressive govenor, who's having to fight a rearguard action against a sea of red. Whats he supposed to do? Come out as the next reincarnation of Dennis Kucinnich? If he did that, we would have people back in here like Don Sundquist so quick, it would make your head spin.

[kcr]

27. Except that he is doing it entriely on Republican terms

He blames non-existant "lawsuits" and says nothing about the fact that the state overpays HMOs for their paperwork and that the State has passed up an oppurtunity to join five other sates in a plan to negotiate for lower drug prices. There is a game being played here. But Bredesen is setitng up 430,000 chiildren and wprking poor as the losers no matter how it turns out. By not attacking the structural problems with TennCare, Bredesan is setting up a situation in which the bloat and special interests are protected at the exspense of the citizens of Tenn.

He could have went after the structural problems as a Democrat. Instead, he went after the people who are suffering from a Republicans standpoint. he is not a progressive govenor -- he has made no move to try and reform the states' horribly regressive tax system, and now he uses Republican talking points to gut TennCare. And the worse thing about all this? he ahs a very how approval rating, so he has much more room for manuever than almost any other politician in the state.

The choices aren't flaming liberal and right wing nut job. bredesen could have chosen to fight this on ground that makes the Republicans look bad -- instead he choose to do so on Republican grounds in a fashion that weakens the very rpemise of TennCare. Each time Bredesen had an oppurtunity to use that approval rating of his to do something progressive, he chickened out. He is the worst kind of politician. Either he is scared or he is unimaginative. Neither would make a very good president.

[JohnKleeb]

3. VA: Mark Warner is great

[Robeson]

5. I had suggested a Warner/Bredesen ticket...

...on a thread sometime ago. Virginia and Tennessee. It would drive a wedge right in the Repugs. southern strategy.

[kick-ass-bob]

9. Exactly.

Does anyone think that the northeast would vote repub. no matter who the candidate (as long as they weren't total crap?)

[JohnKleeb]

10. but bob all southerners are moderates who are just like Bush

:eyes: God I hate it when people who know nothin of my governor say that, lousy jerks.

[kick-ass-bob]

11. What is good about your gov?

I must plead ignorance about him - I've heard his name, but have no idea what he's like.

[JohnKleeb]

14. he's got us to a surplus which is good

has made education more accessible for everyone.

[JohnLocke]

4. Mark Warner

[Longhorn]

6. Clinton addresses this in his autobiography.

I'm listening to it on CD and just got to the part where he says that some White House Republican told him before he decided to run that they can attack any Senator for his or her voting record. Governors are harder to beat because they have administrative experience, though they are often considered weak on international affairs. They attacked Clinton for so-called lack of foreign policy experience but it didn't seem to hurt the Idiot Boy, even though he had only left the country as a tourist.

[NashVegas]

7. Bredesen - With a Proviso

He needs to get a few good accomplishments under his belt.

Positives: he radiates confidence. Is a native Yankee.

Negative: capable of doing good things, but ya never find out the price tag til much later.

[ronzo]

12. Forget about Louisiana.

Kathleen Blanco is not an option. :)

[finecraft]

21. I couldn't agree with you more

I am so disappointed with her. I just about lost it last weekend when she was voicing her opinion that Kerry was just too liberal...even for the most liberal Louisiana residents. She also said because his liberal ideas were so far out of the mainstream she felt she just couldn't bring him to places that should be a natural constituency for him (translation: South Louisiana where just about everyone is Catholic)
She is one giant hyprocrite...she goes to the Democratic Convention where she is pegged as one of the parties "new and upcoming leaders", then comes back after the convention and does virtually zero for Kerry and Edwards, then after Kerry loses she has nothing but bad things to say about him.

[Maddy McCall]

13. Well, insiders in the Ms. Dem machine say that John Grisham...

is considering running against Haley Barbour in the next MS gubernatorial election.

If he were to win...and I am sure he would...could his next step be President?

Can't you see it? Grisham facing off with the Gropenator in 2008 or 2012? LOL!

[kayell]

18. Well, at least he knows to look out for conspiracys and

coincidence theorists.

[leyton]

23. I thought Grisham lived in Virginia these days?

Maybe I'm just totally out it. A Grisham / Schwarzenegger race would rock, though. To bad Clooney didn't win in Kentucky, that'd be quite a ticket.

[Endangered Specie]

15. New Mexico Governor.

[patricia92243]

16. Resoundingly YES! Any Governor is more likely to win than a senator and a

Southern governor is even better -notice the last occupants of the WH.

[groundpilot]

20. Are there any other places to find a winnable candidate???

[leyton]

24. None as good.

Senators have three weaknesses: an exploitable Senate record, a tendency to speak Senatese ("I voted for it before I voted against it..."), and a lack of executive experience in most cases. Even those that have been governors as well, like Bob Graham or Evan Bayh, aren't identified with that title and so there's nothing to imply leadership skills or anything like that.

Congressmen are like miniature Senators with smaller bases of support.

There's a certain former Vice-President from the South that I think would make an excellent Presidential candidate, however.