The more, the merrier

The field for Pres got thick over the weekend with Bill Richardson, Sam Brownback, and, of course, Hillary Clinton. Here is my take on the current crop. First the Democrats:

Hillary Clinton

Easily the highest profile candidate and current frontrunner, she has the wherewithal to raise enormous amounts of cash. She is going to need every penny. She, more so than any other person in the race, has some serious obstacles to overcome. People have already made up their minds about Hillary. It will take a ton of TV time to change opinions about her. Plus, the Left is going to have really hard time backing her because she voted for the war. To be honest, I really don’t want Hillary to win. I think she is too polarizing to be an effective leader (right now anyway). It is just damn hard for me to see how she can bring people together when 40% of the country cannot even stand the sight of her. Am I being too harsh? I don’t think so.

Barak Obama

Obama is probably the number two guy right now. The media have a love for him in much the same fashion as John McCain. He gives terrific speeches, has good politics and is second only to Hillary in the fund raising aspect. Being the first serious black candidate (Alan Keyes and Jesse Jackson, IMHO, had no chance to win) will also carry him far. But the question remains, will his relative lack of experience hurt him? I tend to think yes but the guy can communicate. If he can sell his vision, people will overlook that shortcoming.

Bill Richardson

IMHO, Richardson carries perhaps the biggest potential upside of any of the declared folks but there maybe a couple of absolute deal breakers. On the plus side, Richardson appeals to the center (though he is a bit too friendly to Big Bidness for me) has enormous appeal to the growing Hispanic vote, and possesses the best foreign policy resume of just about anyone around. The man has had at least a sit down with nearly every player out there. On the downside, Richardson carries a cart full of Clinton luggage and rumor has it that may those bags may contain a mistress or two. Ugh. Add to that the potential for the immigration debate to get ugly, and Richardson may have some lethal problems. So maybe Richardson could be the best person for the job while being dreadful candidate. Hopefully, a thorough vetting will clear this up but for now, Richardson is probably in third place.

Chris Dodd

Dodd is a tough one to call. I like his politics. He speaks fluent Spanish. He seems like a decent enough fellow. Dodd supported Ned Lamont as the Dem nominee against Joe Lieberman. He has, however, two major problems. He voted for Iraq and is your prototypical northern liberal. The Republicans will tar and feather him for that a la John Kerry in 2004. He is a long shot.

Dennis Kucinich

Kucinich does not stand a chance in hell. Period. If all of the other candidates openly professed a love for bestiality, Satanism, and poll taxes, Kucinich would still lose – in a landslide.

Joe Biden

Joe Biden is a two bit whore for the insurance and credit card industries. So fuck him. Again, am I being too harsh? Not really. Biden is good on most issues, but really, unforgivably bad on anything having to do with consumer protection, bank regulation, bankruptcy law, etc. In addition, his hair will prevent him from winning, I promise.

Tom Vilsack

Vilsack is about as inspiring as oatmeal. If he were a color, he would be khaki. I mean seriously, this guy makes Jimmy Carter seem like a firebrand revolutionary. Vilsack is the ultimate vanilla centrist. Bland but serviceable, Vilsack hopes to win in Iowa, where he served as Governor, and ride that momentum as far as it takes him. That is to say, not very far. John Edwards is banking on a similar strategy and has cut deeply into Vilsack’s Iowa base. Which leads me to…

John Edwards

Edwards is a bit of a wildcard here. He has a great message (the Two Americas), a great story and a great smile. He has a winning personality and a fierce populist streak that may (though I think still unlikely) catch a fire on the stump. The experience factor is also a problem for Edwards, albeit somewhat less severe than Obama. He has good name recognition stemming from his run as Kerry’s number two in 2004. That campaign, however, is both a plus and a minus. While folks know Edwards, being part of the Dems’ disastrous effort last time around can’t really light up the activists that go out and knock on doors. And God help him if Kerry jumps into the ring. FWIW, John Kerry should never be allowed to even talk about running for President again. I mean it, never. It was that bad.

So that is the Democrats field right now. A couple of people clearly in the lead and one or two others that could give it a real run. If I had to pick a ticket now, I would go with Richardson/Obama. Richardson is the most qualified and Obama is too good to be denied. One not insignificant point -just imagine what our government would look like; a Hispanic President, an African-American Vice, a female Speaker third in succession. Pretty cool.