Hagel Making Trip to NH in May

[Dave Sund]

Hagel plans N.H. swing to test 2008 waters

BY JAKE THOMPSON

WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

WASHINGTON - Chuck Hagel's potential 2008 presidential bid is headed for a little spring training.
Click To Enlarge
Chuck Hagel will visit New Hampshire in May.

Nebraska's Republican senator will visit New Hampshire, home of the nation's first presidential primaries, where he'll be on the relatively friendly fields of four college campuses May 2 to 4.

There he can test ideas, rub shoulders with students and field questions, said Dante Scala, political scientist at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H.

"College campuses are on the short list of places aspiring presidential candidates visit first," Scala said Thursday. "They're safe and good places to go without a lot of political pressure."

Of Republicans and Democrats considering the 2008 White House race, Scala said Hagel will be among the first to make a swing through the Granite State.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1673&u_sid=1386397&u_rnd=5420467

[Dr Ron]

1. He'd be preferable to many others

He's still far too conservative for me, but at least I think that with Hagel as GOP nominee there would be a chance of an election based upon candidates arguing positions, rather than the smear tactics of the Bush types. (Of course it is also possible that the GOP machinery will take over regardless of who gets the nomination).

[Dave Sund]

3. I'd love it, personally

He really is a good speaker IMO. I didn't need to be sold on what he was saying about Iraq, but he made great points when he came to my high school. And if he were to win, at least we'd have someone in there who was smart enough to realize that Iraq could go badly.

However, the reason I'd love it is because of what he's done recently: outwardly and openly advocated privatization. We could destroy him in a general election with that. He'd lose Florida. Probably Arizona, too.

But I think his position on the war in Iraq, in that he questioned it a lot (even though he still voted for it), may turn off a lot of voters. In New Hampshire, though? I could see him finishing second behind McCain. And that would be huge momentum for him.

[WI_DEM]

2. If Hagel were the GOP nominee we would be in some trouble

he is conservative but not a reactionary like most of the rest in his party. He has a certain McCainesque appeal. The media would be swooning.

[Dave Sund]

5. It'd be trouble...

Any Republican that had would have had me voting for him in 2002 (if I were two weeks older) is trouble, certainly.

But a Nebraskan Senator who put out a privatization proposal that also suggested raising the retirement age? We'd be able to win every state with a high population of seniors.

I don't see him getting the nomination, because a lot of people are going to remember him undermining the President's push for war.

[lancdem]

6. I'm not sure he'd get the nomination

but he might be a formidable candidate if he did. I find him much more palatable than Bush.

[kodi]

4. he's running and i think going to be the gop candidate in 2008

he is less of an ideologue than frist, and is more pragmatic. i look to him selecting kay bailey hutcheon as a vp running mate.

[Clark Bayh 2008]

9. I could live with that

but he doesn't run if McCain does.

[AntiCoup2K4]

7. Hagel has one advantage for the 'Pukes

He brings his own voting machines with him.

[Dave Sund]

8. Yeah, but most of 'em are in Nebraska/Iowa

right?

And those states would go to Hagel anyway.

[lancdem]

10. Iowa's a swing state, actually

[Dave Sund]

11. True, but if Hagel were the nominee

Proximity would give him the state.

[mattclearing]

12. Don't his BBV ties constitute a conflict of interest?

:shrug: