For the Political Types: A Contest

[Jac Coyne]

I think you are exactly right here, Jac, and keep your chins up my friend.

Ouch, Dan-o. That's quite a rib-kick. Yes, I have multiple chins, but I promise I'm hitting the treadmill every day in preparation for lacrosse officiating. The perils of having a crappy, online photo, I guess...

Bloomberg's in if Hillary wins. Not sure who it would help anymore.

[Dan Wishengrad]

Borowitz weighs in:

Nader Warns Bloomberg Not to Run
Only Room for One Egomaniac in Race, Activist Says

http://www.borowitzreport.com/Default.asp

Absolutely hilarious, and this line belongs in the A.B. Hall-Of-Fame:

"If both Mr. Nader and Mr. Bloomberg were to enter the race, they would be competing head to head for the vote of egomaniacs, who make up three percent of the electorate nationwide but closer to fifty percent in California and New York."

PS I've never seen your photo, Jac, nor even know your true identity. You could be as skinny as a D-pole for all I know. The "chins up" remark is just an homage to my old lax reffing buddy Bob "Biker" Smith, who by his own admission has more chins than the Hong Kong phone book.

[TexOle]

Yeah, I know my candidate is out of the race. I guess I lost this pick 'em challenge. McCain could get the nomination. I am not sure all members of the GOP would vote for him in the general election, but I think some will vote for him. If he is the nominee then McCain needs to pick a VP candidate that is more conservative and can maybe garner some votes from the Christian Right. The Republicans need a candidate that can win the general election and not a candidate that can win the primary then lose the general.

[TheBearcatHimself]

Can I just say boo-yah for my McCain-Giuliani pick?? Totally random guess but it's looking good right now, but the way this election is going the Republican ticket will be Huckabee-Paul or something crazy like that....

[laxfan25]

I don't see McCain hooking up with Rudy - just my feeling.

[StrykerFSU]

I think the GOP will go outside of those who ran for the nomination. Giuliani has far too many negatives and Huckabee has been saying too many outlandish things to be valuable in the General. I'd be interested in a McCain/Colin Powell ticket but he would never run and too many associate him, unfairly, with the Iraq WMD controversy. You will also hear Lindsey Graham's name thrown in the mix.

[Dan Wishengrad]

I think the GOP will go outside of those who ran for the nomination. Giuliani has far too many negatives and Huckabee has been saying too many outlandish things to be valuable in the General. I'd be interested in a McCain/Colin Powell ticket but he would never run and too many associate him, unfairly, with the Iraq WMD controversy. You will also hear Lindsey Graham's name thrown in the mix.

LOL Cliff... I already threw that potential GOP ticket out there earlier in this thread. I'd say odds are good that Mac will tap either Graham or Thompson, but given ol' Fred's extremely lazy campaigning in the primary that seems more unlikely. Huckabee remains a possibility, he may be despised by the establishment wing of the party but his humor, empathy
for the less fortunate and plain manner of speaking appeals to many, including Sen. McCain, and he could fire up the Christian conservatives to really come on board.

If Obama wins the Democratic nomination he will want to offset his youth and foreign policy inexperience with an older, well-respected moderate, preferably from the south. Sam Nunn comes to mind. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska also is a possibility, he is very popular in the Heartland and would help BO there. Bill Richardson is another possibility who will help with Hispanics and can offset some of McCain's strength in the Southwest.

If Hillary wins, look for her to offer the VP slot to an unexpected "wildcard" -- somebody like former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower, who would be an extremely entertaining and effective campaigner. Many are predicting Wesley Clark, but the former General did not prove to be very inspiring on the campaign trail in '04 and would not generate much excitement for the ticket. Bob Kerrey or Richardson would also be safe picks, but I'll bet if she earns the nomination Hillary will make a bold move for somebody outside the party DC establishment.

[StrykerFSU]

D'oh! I knew I read Graham's name somewhere.

The Huckabee question is intriguing. Do you alienate the moderates and independents to woo the Evangelicals? I think that given McCain's age, the question of who the running mate is far more pressing for the GOP. I would be forced to strongly evaluate whether I wanted another Christian Conservative a heartbeat away from the Oval Office. Of course, this is a little premature...much better to wait until Wednesday to speculate.

[Zeuslax]

I would love to hear an argument from a true liberal about how it is legal for the Federal Government to regulate free speech via McCain/Feingold.

I agree with you that this bill was naively put into effect. However, the intentions were in the right place. The idea of reigning in political fat cats and contributors most of the voting public can agree with. It now places too much power in a politically appointed forum (The FEC). Many of the loopholes were outlined prior to the bill being passed and exemptions were proposed by both sides of the aisle after the fact. We were promised that this was a first step of many and that hasn't happened. I'm not sure why we didn't see any additional progress. The consequences on bloggers and web sites have been unintended and this bill was suppose to prop up these forums. Even though the FEC tried to protect these individuals the Supreme Court upheld the legistlation with pressure from Congress.

No matter what bill is implemented the motivated always find a way to exploit loopholes. A sequence of legistlation is sometimes needed to continually close loopholes with our current system. Where we go from here with McCain Fiengold I'm not sure.

[Rob Graff]

Curious who had the GOP final three as Paul/Huckabee/McCain.

[Jac Coyne]

No one had Paul, but Zeus, Bearcat and TexOle all had McCain and Huckabee 1-2. Pretty impressive.

[Dan Wishengrad]

Senator McCain's chances for the GOP nomination now are slightly better than 0%

I look forward to Rush Limbugh and Ann Coulter out campaigning for Senator Clinton now, as promised. That sure will be entertaining...

PS There goes our bet, Jac. Neither of the Dems' dream opponents is going to head the GOP ticket and get landslided, and the election could wind up being another close one. McCain can definitely win, and with all the Dittoheads opposing him his chances get even better.

[Rob Graff]

Touche' Dan!

I was absolutely incorrect about McCain.

Rob

[laxfan25]

I think he might have been referring to someone else who said that there was zero chance of McCain getting the nod. I guess it's Huckabee then!
My entry sheet is pretty shot though.

[Jac Coyne]

Kind of funny that Dan never forgets about the McCain zero chance comment but seems to get a little fuzzy about his own guarantees.

http://forums.collegelax.us/viewtopic.p ... 94&start=0

He started out saying he'd bet anyone that the Democratic nominee, whoever it was, would win against the Republican nominee by 10 points. Over the course of two months he managed to whittle that down -- on his own mind you -- to either Hillary or Obama against Romney. And that's it. Now the bet doesn't exist at all (see above).

It's fine to hold other people's feet to the fire, but make sure your own are out of the flames.