WP blogger handicaps '08 candidates (Clark's a popular Dem "wildcard") [View All]

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: The Fix
Chris Cillizza
washingtonpost.com's Politics Blog
Posted at 08:33 AM ET, 12/ 2/2005


The Friday Line: Handicapping the White House Hopefuls


It's been a month since The Fix last ranked the five Democrats and five Republicans most likely to wind up as the presidential nominees in 2008. The original post generated a slew of comments and suggestions that have been factored into this version of the presidential line.

As with the last presidential post, the candidates are ranked alphabetically, not by their chances of becoming their party's standard bearer. And again, please post in the comments section or e-mail me with your own lists....

(Republicans discussed are Allen, Frist, Giuliani, McCain, Romney, and "Wildcard" Newt Gingrich. Dems discussed are Bayh, Clinton, Edwards, Kerry, Warner, and "Wildcard" Wesley Clark.)

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* Evan Bayh -- The Indiana senator has (quietly) done more fundraising in 2005 than any other Democrat with the exception of Hillary Rodham Clinton. He is hosting a birthday party fundraiser for himself tonight in Indiana that will bring in $600,000, and he is spending much of the latest congressional recess traveling the country to meet with donors. He will surprise people with the depth and breadth of his fundraising operation when the campaign fully engages after the 2006 midterms. Bayh has proven Red State appeal, which could mean a lot in a close election....

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* Mark Warner -- The next 11 months are crucial for Warner's national hopes. Once he formally leaves the Virginia governor's mansion next month, Warner will be free to focus all his time on courting activists in key states and raising dollars -- luxuries that most of his Democratic competitors will not enjoy until November 2006. Warner formally kicks off that national effort next Tuesday with a fundraiser to benefit his Forward Together PAC in northern Virginia. His decision this week to grant clemency to a death row inmate (and the subsequent chatter about its 2008 implications) is just the start of a heightened level of media attention and scrutiny on Warner that we'll see over the next year. How he holds up to that maelstrom could make or break his candidacy.

* Wildcard -- Wesley Clark: Clark replaces Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold as the wildcard in the field, thanks to the fervor and energy for him among some in the party's liberal base, particularly Internet activists. While unscientific, the online presidential poll conducted by DailyKos (a must-read blog for the party's ideological left) regularly shows the retired Army general far out in front of every other possible Democratic nominee, including Clinton. While Clark stumbled out of the gate in 2004 (especially when it came to his opposition to the Iraq war), the ardor for him among some in the party has not lessened. On paper, Clark's resume is unmatched if defense and foreign policy issues are still dominating the national landscape in three years time.


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