*official* 2008 us election thread

[Daaaaave]

400 posts in 3 weeks = not too bad.

new zogby phone poll has bush's approval rating at 30%. his disapproval is rating at 69%, which I believe is a new all-time low for him.

usa today/gallup has it at 33/63.

[K-uglen]

When will polls split into ethnic groups for the Democratic candidates appear that include the Selma-march thing, dhoyt?

[Daaaaave]

that include the speeches at selma?

probably early next week. whether or not the different polling groups reveal methodology and the extent of that methodology is up to them. the msm ones will probably be pretty vague, but I'll try to get details on the ones like rasmussen and charlie cook's report.

[Daaaaave]

libby verdict: guilty

:************************************************************)

[Daaaaave]

Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has been found guilty on four of five counts in his perjury and obstruction of justice trial.

Libby, 56, faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and a fine of $1 million.

[K-uglen]

Have Bush and Cheney done enough to distance themselves from him, or will this have any impact?

[Daaaaave]

I don't know. whether they distance themselves personally, this has to be viewed as a significant setback for the white house and probably set chills down the backs of each and every one of their toadies who've been doing dirty work like this since 2001.

add the investigations into the conditions at walter reed hospital and the investigations today into coercion by the gop against us attorneys and bush's approvals may dip to 25% soon.

[finneys13]

What are the lowest figures ever for a sitting President?

[K-uglen]

Originally posted by finneys13:

What are the lowest figures ever for a sitting President?

Hoover must be in that ranking somewhere close to taking the spoils?

[Daaaaave]

iirc, nixon was under 25% after watergate, but the lowest belonged actually to harry truman at the nadir of the korean war. I believe it was either 22 or 23%.

[gunnerfan]

Yes, I think that's correct. Low 20s.

[gunnerfan]

I also seem to recall some time last year that Bush's approval rating slipped to 29%, although I don't think his disapproval ratings were as high.

[finneys13]

Even Bush would struggle to beat old Harry S there.

[gunnerfan]

Originally posted by finneys13:

Even Bush would struggle to beat old Harry S there.

Well, he still has a year and a half to go.

[bflaff]

Originally posted by Daaaaave:

Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has been found guilty on four of five counts in his perjury and obstruction of justice trial.

Libby, 56, faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and a fine of $1 million.

Lots of props are in order for Patrick Fitzgerald. He had a lot of smoke to work with, but only pursued something he thought he could prove. The case he put up there was pretty airtight considering the charge was so difficult to prove.

I think I heard CNN's legal dude say that Libby was likely to get 2 months.

[Kizzak]

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2007/03/mccain-st...-his-crazy-train.php

\o/ Walnuts may not have any staffers left by the primary.

[Daaaaave]

libby won't get 2 months. he'll be pardoned

[Jason the Yank]

Christmas may come for Western Democrats on February 5, 2008. Idaho Democrats have moved their caucus to February 5.

Moving the date to Feb. 5 puts Idaho in line with other western states to create a new “Super Tuesday†for the Rockies, along with Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado. Montana and a

few other states are considering the move.

“This is an assertive political move by us and many of our neighbors that will raise the importance of western states in the presidential process,†Stallings said.

Democrats are on the move in the West, picking up governorships, Senate and Congressional seats, and turning state legislatures Democratic.

The California State Senate also voted overwhelmingly in February to move its presidential primary up to February 5. SB 113 (sponsored by Senator Calderon) is currently on third reading in the Assembly, awaiting a vote.

With Nevada already at the front of the primary season calendar, and other Western states poised to move up the date of their primaries, Western Democrats will have a larger voice in determining the party's nominee.

http://www.westerndemocrat.com/2007/03/western_super_t.html

Also, New York Times article about Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman hints that he may consider a favorite-son candidacy for president.

[Daaaaave]

idiots. like frontloading is really going to add so much more prestige and attention.

[Jason the Yank]

Especially since Michigan, New York, Illinois among others are considering moving to Feb. 5.

We could effectively have a national primary.

[Daaaaave]

it'll last only once. there's no way either party will allow this to be the norm going forward.

[Zaitsev]

Any of you chaps got a recommendation for biographies of Nixon, Reagan and FDR? Amazon is proving elusive. (and Jenkin's bio of FDR seems awful short at 250 pages)

3/4 of the way through McCullough's Truman at the mo.

[Jason the Yank]

NEW YORK (AP) - Call it the second-tier lament. At a recent house party in the early voting state of New Hampshire, Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd became exasperated as he talked about being overshadowed by front-runners Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

"At one point, if I'd stood here with 25 years experience in the U.S. Senate, that would have been the end of it," Dodd said. The presidency, he added, was no place for "on-the-job training."

Another Democratic hopeful, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, was similarly frustrated campaigning in Iowa last week. Iowans, he said, "resent that the media has created a myth that two candidates are the only serious ones."

Dodd, Richardson and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden have stellar resumes, decades of experience and an inviting style on the campaign trail. So far, though, this presidential race has been dominated by the celebrity treatment of Clinton and Obama — and to a lesser extent

John Edwards — leaving the second-tier hopefuls struggling to be more than blips on the national political radar.

"A guy like Chris Dodd has more experience than the three front-runners combined, as do Biden and Richardson," said Andrew E. Smith, director of the Survey Center at the University of New Hampshire. "It goes to show you that charisma and money beat experience in most elections. In my view, it's rather unfortunate."

In the New Hampshire center's poll last month of likely Democratic primary voters, Clinton had 35 percent support, Obama 21 and Edwards 16, with the rest of the field in low single digits.

With more than 10 months before the first votes, the top-heavy Democratic contest has already claimed several casualties. Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh (news, bio, voting record) all bowed out early, opting not to compete with the Clinton-Obama drama and their fundraising prowess.

But Dodd, Richardson and Biden have soldiered on, talking about the threat from

Iran during stops in South Carolina or the raging violence in Iraq while campaigning in New Hampshire. They have hired staff and are slowly building campaign networks, both nationally and in early voting states. Most importantly, they are trying to pull in enough money to be considered viable when the first campaign fundraising reports are released in mid-April.

Biden, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, ignited a controversy on his first official day in the race when he described Obama as "clean" and "articulate." Since then, he's tried to recover, traveling extensively to the early voting states and picking up key endorsements, especially in South Carolina.

"I've been around so long that if I win or lose this election, I'm going to do it on my own terms," Biden told a New Hampshire college crowd of about 100. He later spoke to about 350 at Dartmouth College.

Clinton and Obama typically draw thousands when they travel to the early voting states.

Biden also has endured a few defections, including state Rep. David Mack, an influential South Carolina lawmaker who recently left for Clinton. Biden's fundraising has lagged, largely due to his controversial comments about Obama.

"There are just so many seats on celebrity game shows," said Biden adviser Larry Rasky.

Rasky, who has advised Biden since he first ran for president in 1988, said the campaign was following a road map that relies on raising $20 million before the first voting and a relatively strong showing in Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses.

"Money is the story of the season, and we are being crushed by people who are going to win that game," Rasky said. "So you do what needs to be done to establish long-term credibility with activists on the ground, knowing you harvest that support much later in the process."

Dodd, whose political skills were partly honed as chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1996, has been touting small but measurable achievements in early states, such as adding two well-regarded local activists to his campaign staff in Iowa. With his roots in nearby Connecticut, many strategists say Dodd has the potential to catch on in New Hampshire, where he counts Joe Keefe, the influential former state Democratic Party chairman, as a leading backer.

"What New Hampshire allows candidates to do is to defy conventional wisdom, the party establishment and the national media and really connect with voters on a one-to-one basis," Keefe said. "It allows Chris Dodd to say, 'The celebrity candidates may have the floor at this time, but I have 10 months to break through.'"

Richardson has been slowed in his campaign; he's been busy in New Mexico, where the state legislature is set to adjourn late next week. He's made several fundraising trips to California and has campaigned in neighboring Nevada, which will host caucuses next January. But his first trip to Iowa came just last week.

A former congressman, U.N. ambassador and energy secretary, Richardson has arguably the best credentials of any contender. He's also Hispanic and a leader of the Democratic Party's resurgence in the mountain West.

In campaigning, he focuses on his sccomplishments as governor, drawing a subtle distinction between himself and the four senators in the Democratic field. Governors, he argues, "actually get things done."

Recently, Richardson scored a significant hire in South Carolina. Lachlan McIntosh, who heads the state Democratic Party there, has signed on as Richardson's state director.

"I think Bill Richardson has the life experience and work experience to be a truly great president," McIntosh said. "America could use a great president about now."

[the_cote_kid]

"A guy like Chris Dodd has more experience than the three front-runners combined, as do Biden and Richardson," said Andrew E. Smith, director of the Survey Center at the University of New Hampshire. "It goes to show you that charisma and money beat experience in most elections. In my view, it's rather unfortunate."

Style over substance is nothing new these days unfortunately.

[Daaaaave]

yeah...we've seen your record joe, **** off anyway.

the problem with chris dodd isn't his "experience", it's the fact that he's boring as hell.

[omni_paul]

Love that Libby was found guilty. I'm sure there were many others involved as well, but at least one person isn't going to get away with using the mantra/panacea of the modern conservative politician: "I don't recall".

[Jason the Yank]

Yesterday, the California Assembly passed a bill that will move the date of the state's presidential primary to February 5, 2008 (registration required). The bill previously cleared the Senate and is expected to be signed by Governor Schwarzenegger.

Californians will choose presidential candidates in February, not June, under a proposal that cleared the Legislature on Tuesday and that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to sign.

Legislative leaders say an earlier primary will give California some influence in selecting the next president and force candidates to address issues such as immigration that don't resonate in Iowa and New Hampshire, where voting will take place in January.

In addition to Idaho which also moved to February 5, a number of other states are considering changing the dates of their primaries or caucuses.

Bills to shift the presidential primary election to Feb. 5 are also pending in Illinois, Texas, Florida, Montana, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Kansas and New Jersey, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. At least eight states have already tentatively scheduled their presidential primary elections for the same day.

[/quote[

So while the West may have been hoping to gain influence, as Emmett pointed out in the comment thread yesterday, Western Super Tuesday is rapidly becoming National Super Tuesday.

http://www.westerndemocrat.com/2007/03/california_move.html

[bflaff]

I think I hate that Cali's going so early. That's too many delegates to award so soon.

PA, on the other hand, seems content to have its primary in August or some other worthless date. But maybe the say of a state that is a battleground each November ought to have more influence than one where a Dem victory is all but assured...?

Unfortunately, what counts for forward thinking in PA politics is giving 'street money' to the union vice-president as well as the president, so my expectations aren't high.

[Jason the Yank]

Hotline is now posting videos to YouTube

[Jason the Yank]

WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal appeals court upheld a ruling Friday ordering the Reform Party USA to pay the federal government $333,558 that regulators say was not spent properly during the party's 2000 presidential convention.

The opinion by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, however, is not expected to end the dispute between the Reform Party and the

Federal Election Commission. Reform Party officials said they plan to pursue counter claims in court against the FEC.

While the case is being litigated, the Reform Party is not permitted to field and support a presidential candidate.

At issue are expenditures by the Reform Party during its raucous and contentious 2000 convention, which nominated

Pat Buchanan for president. The party grew out of

Ross Perot's 1996 presidential campaign.

The Reform Party was entitled to receive public money to help pay for its convention. A subsequent audit by the FEC concluded that the party "impermissibly" spent some of the public money on non-convention activities.

"We're confident that we can demonstrate that the funds were not misspent and that they were in effect reported, but not in the detail maybe that (the FEC) expected," party Chairman Charles Foster said Monday.

The great what-might-have-been of contemporary American politics.

[Jason the Yank]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three newspapers said this week they will drop Ann Coulter's column after the conservative author referred to U.S. Democratic presidential candidate

John Edwards as a "******."

The Mountain Press in Sevierville, Tennessee, The Oakland Press in Michigan and the Lancaster New Era in Pennsylvania said they would stop running Coulter's syndicated column because of the comment she made last week.

Republicans and Democrats have lambasted Coulter for using the gay slur in reference to Edwards, a former U.S. senator, during a speech March 2 at the American Conservative Union's Political Action Conference.

"We will not continue to publish the columns of someone who uses people as a punch line to get a cheap laugh and who so freely uses an offensive term to describe another human being," Mountain Press Editor Stan Voit wrote.

The New Era's editorial board said it would halt the column following her "crude characterization of presidential candidate John Edwards as a homosexual."

It also criticized Coulter's column on its Web site. "The quality of public discussion falls below that which Lancaster County residents expect in the opinion pages of their daily newspaper."

Coulter's column, which has been distributed by Universal Press Syndicate since 1999, runs in about 100 papers, syndicate spokeswoman Kathie Kerr said, adding that the syndicate has no plans to drop the column.

Universal Press Syndicate President Lee Salem said the company has no legal interest in what its writers and cartoonists do or say outside their relationship.

"Whether the words she chose in referring to John Edwards were misplaced humor or outright bigotry, we would not have distributed them in her column," Salem wrote in an e-mail.

Coulter is the author of the books "Godless: The Church of Liberalism" and "How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must): The World According to Ann Coulter."

Her publisher, Random House imprint Crown Forum, did not return a telephone call seeking comment. Coulter was unavailable for comment. Her Web site was inaccessible most of Wednesday.

[Jason the Yank]

By The Associated Press

Wed Mar 7, 10:38 AM ET

THE POLL: Quinnipiac University Florida telephone survey Feb. 25-March 4

DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE — 442 Democratic voters, sampling error plus or minus 5 percentage points

Hillary Clinton 38 percent

Al Gore 13 percent

Barack Obama 13 percent

John Edwards 6 percent

(all others below 5 percent)

REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE — 429 Republican voters, sampling error plus or minus 5 points

Rudy Giuliani 38 percent

John McCain 18 percent

Newt Gingrich 14 percent

Mitt Romney 6 percent

(all others below 5 percent)

GENERAL ELECTION TRIAL HEATS — 1,125 registered voters, sampling error plus or minus 3 points

Clinton 42 percent Giuliani 47 percent

Obama 36 percent Giuliani 48 percent

Edwards 40 percent Giuliani 48 percent

Clinton 44 percent McCain 44 percent

Obama 39 percent McCain 43 percent

Edwards 41 percent McCain 43 percent

Clinton 48 percent Romney 36 percent

Obama 43 percent Romney 34 percent

Edwards 48 percent Romney 32 percent

By The Associated Press

Wed Mar 7, 10:38 AM ET

THE POLL: Quinnipiac University Ohio telephone survey Feb. 25-March 4

DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE — 503 Democratic voters, sampling error plus or minus 4.5 percentage points

Hillary Clinton 32 percent

Barack Obama 19 percent

John Edwards 13 percent

Al Gore 11 percent

(all others below 5 percent)

REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE — 438 Republican voters, sampling error plus or minus 5 points

Rudy Giuliani 35 percent

John McCain 18 percent

Newt Gingrich 13 percent

(all others below 5 percent)

GENERAL ELECTION TRIAL HEATS — 1,281 registered voters, sampling error plus or minus 3 points

Clinton 44 percent Giuliani 43 percent

Obama 40 percent Giuliani 44 percent

Edwards 45 percent Giuliani 42 percent

Clinton 45 percent McCain 42 percent

Obama 42 percent McCain 39 percent

Edwards 45 percent McCain 38 percent

Clinton 51 percent Romney 31 percent

Obama 47 percent Romney 26 percent

Edwards 52 percent Romney 26 percent

By The Associated Press

Wed Mar 7, 10:37 AM ET

THE POLL: Quinnipiac University Pennsylvania telephone survey Feb. 25-March 4

DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE — 488 Democratic voters, sampling error plus or minus 4.5 percentage points

Hillary Clinton 29 percent

Barack Obama 18 percent

Al Gore 16 percent

John Edwards 11 percent

(all others below 5 percent)

REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE — 495 Republican voters, sampling error plus or minus 4.5 points

Rudy Giuliani 43 percent

John McCain 17 percent

Newt Gingrich 8 percent

Mitt Romney 6 percent

(all others below 5 percent)

GENERAL ELECTION TRIAL HEATS — 1,134 registered voters, sampling error plus or minus 3 points

Clinton 40 percent Giuliani 51 percent

Obama 36 percent Giuliani 48 percent

Edwards 35 percent Giuliani 52 percent

Clinton 41 percent McCain 47 percent

Obama 38 percent McCain 43 percent

Edwards 38 percent McCain 44 percent

Clinton 46 percent Romney 37 percent

Obama 45 percent Romney 31 percent

Edwards 47 percent Romney 31 percent

[Gordon Comstock]

Obama will win.

[Jason the Yank]

AJ such a fanboy for Barack Hussein Obama.

[Kizzak]

First bit of dirt thrown at Obama out:

http://somervillenews.typepad.com/the_somerville_news/2...obama_finally_p.html

17 traffic violations over a period of 15 months is pretty impressive, especially when he didn't pay them until he decided he was going to run for president 17 years later. Thirteen of the violations occurred in one month

The fines on all this stuff is unbelievably low, 17 violations resulted in $140 in fines.

Whereas here, each violation is $50 minimum. :[

[Jason the Yank]

tbf, Obama can put his 17 parking tickets up against Dubya's 1 DUI.

[super_imps]

How "clean" is Obama thought to be? I mean, Bush had his Vietnam record, the drunk driving, the whole drink and (possibly) drugs thing...

Obama appears to have some unpaid parking tickets.

What will Obama's opponent have to smear him with once the campaign gets serious?

[Puedlfor]

What will Obama's opponent have to smear him with once the campaign gets serious?

Inexperience, and being black.

[Daaaaave]

Originally posted by Jason the Yank:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three newspapers said this week they will drop Ann Coulter's column after the conservative author referred to U.S. Democratic presidential candidate

John Edwards as a "******."

The Mountain Press in Sevierville, Tennessee, The Oakland Press in Michigan and the Lancaster New Era in Pennsylvania said they would stop running Coulter's syndicated column because of the comment she made last week.

Republicans and Democrats have lambasted Coulter for using the gay slur in reference to Edwards, a former U.S. senator, during a speech March 2 at the American Conservative Union's Political Action Conference.

"We will not continue to publish the columns of someone who uses people as a punch line to get a cheap laugh and who so freely uses an offensive term to describe another human being," Mountain Press Editor Stan Voit wrote.

The New Era's editorial board said it would halt the column following her "crude characterization of presidential candidate John Edwards as a homosexual."

It also criticized Coulter's column on its Web site. "The quality of public discussion falls below that which Lancaster County residents expect in the opinion pages of their daily newspaper."

Coulter's column, which has been distributed by Universal Press Syndicate since 1999, runs in about 100 papers, syndicate spokeswoman Kathie Kerr said, adding that the syndicate has no plans to drop the column.

Universal Press Syndicate President Lee Salem said the company has no legal interest in what its writers and cartoonists do or say outside their relationship.

"Whether the words she chose in referring to John Edwards were misplaced humor or outright bigotry, we would not have distributed them in her column," Salem wrote in an e-mail.

Coulter is the author of the books "Godless: The Church of Liberalism" and "How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must): The World According to Ann Coulter."

Her publisher, Random House imprint Crown Forum, did not return a telephone call seeking comment. Coulter was unavailable for comment. Her Web site was inaccessible most of Wednesday.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

posters on d-kos have successfully managed to get almost half of the advertisers on her website to pull their ads.

[bflaff]

Originally posted by super_imps:

How "clean" is Obama thought to be? I mean, Bush had his Vietnam record, the drunk driving, the whole drink and (possibly) drugs thing...

Obama appears to have some unpaid parking tickets.

What will Obama's opponent have to smear him with once the campaign gets serious?

It's already in Obama's books that he did drugs (pot, and some coke) when he was a teenager.

[Jason the Yank]

Originally posted by Puedlfor:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">What will Obama's opponent have to smear him with once the campaign gets serious?

Inexperience, and being black. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

And AJ's support.

Possibly.

[Gordon Comstock]

Originally posted by Jason the Yank:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Puedlfor:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">What will Obama's opponent have to smear him with once the campaign gets serious?

Inexperience, and being black. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

And AJ's support.

Possibly. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>naw, being in Tennessee will make my opinion matter naught.

[Jason the Yank]

Originally posted by Andy Jordan:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jason the Yank:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Puedlfor:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">What will Obama's opponent have to smear him with once the campaign gets serious?

Inexperience, and being black. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

And AJ's support.

Possibly. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>naw, being in Tennessee will make my opinion matter naught. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Until they start running an advertisement with someone portraying you saying "Barack! Call me."

[Gordon Comstock]

if only :*)

[bflaff]

Chuck Hagel is going to announce Monday whether or not he's running for President. There are some signs (including the announcement in the first place) that this will be a yes. If so, he'll be the only Republican candidate (AFAIK) to be firmly against the Iraq war.

I have to assume that the other Republicans will be crapping bricks at the thought. They are probably anticipating that they'll be dealing with Iraq in the general election, against an anti-(this)war Democrat, but probably won't appreciate having it injected into the primaries as well. (And by a guy who is otherwise very strongly conservative, IIRC, to boot.)

The silver lining may be that countering Hagel in the primaries gives them a chance to hone their message to anti-war voters early on, before they get to the general election.

[omni_paul]

Originally posted by bflaff:

Chuck Hagel is going to announce Monday whether or not he's running for President. There are some signs (including the announcement in the first place) that this will be a yes. If so, he'll be the only Republican candidate (AFAIK) to be firmly against the Iraq war.

I have to assume that the other Republicans will be crapping bricks at the thought. They are probably anticipating that they'll be dealing with Iraq in the general election, against an anti-(this)war Democrat, but probably won't appreciate having it injected into the primaries as well. (And by a guy who is otherwise very strongly conservative, IIRC, to boot.)

The silver lining may be that countering Hagel in the primaries gives them a chance to hone their message to anti-war voters early on, before they get to the general election.

What kind of anti-war is he though?

a) shouldn't have gone in the first place

b) should have gone but it's being handled badly

c) should have gone, and job's done so let's go home and let them sort it out for themselves

....or some other kind?

[bflaff]

Originally posted by omni_paul:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by bflaff:

Chuck Hagel is going to announce Monday whether or not he's running for President. There are some signs (including the announcement in the first place) that this will be a yes. If so, he'll be the only Republican candidate (AFAIK) to be firmly against the Iraq war.

I have to assume that the other Republicans will be crapping bricks at the thought. They are probably anticipating that they'll be dealing with Iraq in the general election, against an anti-(this)war Democrat, but probably won't appreciate having it injected into the primaries as well. (And by a guy who is otherwise very strongly conservative, IIRC, to boot.)

The silver lining may be that countering Hagel in the primaries gives them a chance to hone their message to anti-war voters early on, before they get to the general election.

What kind of anti-war is he though?

a) shouldn't have gone in the first place

b) should have gone but it's being handled badly

c) should have gone, and job's done so let's go home and let them sort it out for themselves

....or some other kind? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

He's more like 'In retrospect, we shouldn't have done this.' but I'm sure he'll clarify things if he runs for President. See his comments from this GQ interview in January, where he takes Bush to the woodshed.

GQ interview

[Jongi]

Is Newt really a serious candidate or is it speculation he will run? I'm surprised he's still around.

[omni_paul]

Interesting.

He sounds intelligent and reasoned... and genuinely angry that the administration has fouled up the war so badly.

[Gordon Comstock]

Originally posted by Jongi:

Is Newt really a serious candidate or is it speculation he will run? I'm surprised he's still around.

he says he'll announce one way or another in the fall.