[elisheva]

So, it looks like a lot of people are beginning to throw their hat into the ring (recently and famously, Hillary Clinton) or start testing the waters. I know there's been a lot of discussion of Hillary and Barack Obama over on the Liberal thread, but I thought I'd open up a thread to see if we could get a wider debate started.

Here's a quick straw poll from PajamasMedia that has Obama and Giuliani leading for their respective parties: Link!
And here is the Wikipedia page for the 2008 election, with lists of official candidates and those who have expressed interest, along with lots of details about the primaries and so on.

Personally, I'm not a fan of Hillary. I also think she's far too polarizing to win (lucky for me..). It would be great to see a female president, but I'd rather wait a little longer for one I can feel good about. I haven't heard enough about Obama to have a solid opinion, but he seems interesting. On the Republican side, I'd be interested in seeing Rudy Giuliani run. I'd generally like to see a candidate (from either party, I don't identify along party lines) who's got a good plan for Iraq and Afghanistan (i.e. not pulling out but figuring out how to reconstruct things) and socially more liberal.

Thoughts? Favourite candidates? Candidate you cannot stand? Candidates you think have a good chance/no chance at all?

I think this could shape up to be a fascinating election.

[flagpolesitta43]

I'm not really a Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama fan. I don't think Obama is decisive enough to be a good leader, he's too young and unexperienced. Personally, I say give him a few more years and then let him run. My favorites are John Edwards and Giuliani.

[Jacob1983]

The cover of USA Today bashed Hilary Clinton their cover page today. I don't think Hilary will even win the nomination because people don't want to see a sequel and she has flip flopped a lot. Clinton was for the war in Iraq but then went against it. Obama has always been against the war in Iraq.

I know I'm going to be bashed for saying this but I don't think Obama and Hilary should win because they are minorities and people want to see history be made. If one of them does win it should because of good logical reasons such as voters supporting them and what they stand for.
It's disrespectful and a disservice to Obama and Hilary for people to just vote for them because one is black and the other is a woman.

[migamoo]

Jacob, no one is going to bash you, but I think some will disagree with your opinion on Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton. I believe that Obama, and Hilary for that fact, have every chance of winning because of what they stand for. It shouldn't matter if they are black and a woman, but rather what they stand for.

Personally, I think I'm going to be an Obama fangirl, but who knows. I am waiting to see if Wesley Clark joins the race again.

[Jacob1983]

I stated that people shouldn't vote for Obama and Hilary because of their race.
Obama's links to Islam might hurt his campaign. I would say Obama has a better chance of winning than Hilary because I would say that more people hate and can't stand Hilary than Obama. There isn't really any dirt on Obama yet. I'm sure that a lot of women love Hilary but that won't be enough to help her out.

I just hope that the candidates don't run on an anti-Bush and anti-war campaign. We need to move on from the Bush bashing era. Actually, if you think about it's going to end in a few years. Liberals and Democrats will definately take a hit when Bush is done being president. Who will they make fun of and belittle?

[ceilirose]

CNN of all news media organizations debunks the "ties" to Islam that the Right Wing have been peddling over the last few weeks:

CNN debunks false report about Obama - CNN.com

Also as a country we may be on the verge of electing a woman and/or a minority because they happen to be the most well qualified person for the job. I don't have a problem with Hillary other than she'll be a lightning rod for Conservatives and we'd have to deal with it. Ultimately a huge distraction. Obama, Richardson, and Cinton all have qualities that transcend their skin color, ethnicity or gender.

[Lexis]

I'm an Edwards girl - I saw him speak when he was in London a while back and he blew me away. He also got a great reaction from the crowd, especially when he stayed on stage after to answer unscreened questions from the crowd. He's a wonderful speaker with some great substance I think.

I also really like Clinton. She has some great policies and is no doubt a highly skilled person for the job. I think she's a tough cookie and could handle the brutal race.

I'm also a fan of Obama - again, he's an inspirational speaker and seems solid on his principles. If he had a good press team to rebutt all the stupid right-wing craziness about Islam and the pathetic "labelling" arguments, he could do well.

I heard good things about Richardson from Daily Kos but I don't know enough about him to make a solid choice. And I liked Wesley Clark last go round too.

The field's wide open and packed with some great candidates!

[TheAngel]

So far I'm not a huge fan of any of the candidates:
Hillary Clinton: I feel like she's really going to use the Clinton name to run on and that a lot of people that vote for her will be voting for Bill as well. She also really has flipped around a lot.
Obama: Good guy, young, but he's had some involvment with a Black power leader in Tennessee and recently spoke at a racially motivated Afircan-American rally there, so I'm not sure how I feel about that.
Edwards: I feel like he's a lot of show. He's out there with a shovel, or he's kissing babies and shaking hands, or walking around a poor neighborhood, but could he actually get anything done? Does he actually have a stand on anything?

But it's early yet.

[nopal]

It's still early for me to really decide who I'm pulling for, since my #1 guy decided not to run. (I was really pulling for Russ Feingold to run, but he won't) I'm really glad though, that we have so many great Democratic candidates running, and I think any of them could do the job well.

I do know that there isn't a Republican candidate that I would vote for in the running yet. I do not like McCain at all, and Guiliani isn't as bad as McCain, but he doesn't pass muster when compared to all the good Democratic candidates that we already have running.

'08 is definitely going to be a very interesting election year!

[Nayden-fan868]

I don't think people would vote for Hilary just because she's a woman. She just said Bill would be a tremendous asset to her, I'm all for that. We have 8 years of good times and now were in hell.

I'm ready for those good times again and will Bill at her side I see that happening.

I don't think race will be a problem so much for Obama as it will for Richardson. With the way the country is about immigration, is it really ready for a president of direct Mexican decent. His mother immigrated from Mexico I don't know

[ceilirose]

For some though immigration isn't a top issue although it's important. It's going to be a combination of different factors.

As far as Republicans go - I can't see the extreme right conservative wing of the party backing Giuliani. Two messy public divorces and him having a public affair with his now third wife while married to his second. Plus before 9/11 he was extremely unpopular in NYC.

McCain is backing a surge in troops which is in the minority in the country. Plus all his competitors have to do is bring up the picture of him being serenaded by Bush while New Orleans was drowning - bad, bad photo op for him.

If Huckabee from Arkansas decided to run he might a dark horse.

[Jacob1983]

We are in hell because of stupid terrorists that flew planes into our buildings. People should be blaming those piece of crap terrorists.

It will be hard for Obama to win because of his ties to Islam. Americans aren't exactly all super friendly and comfortable around Muslims.
Hilary is a big flip flopper on the war in Iraq. That will hurt her and it should. I heard her say on CNN that she does not advocate an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. That will definately hurt her cause.

John Edwards looks like a male fight attendant.

[Lexis]

Obama's religion has nothing to do with his ability to be President. He's a Christian but I'm pretty sure he's not gonna declare an American theocracy.

And seeing John Edwards in the flesh, I can say he is extremely handsome. But again, that's got nothing to do with his candidacy. Or do you think people should take that into account when they go to the polls?

[ceilirose]

The ties with Obama and Islam are just an orchestrated slam on him - similiar to what the Swift Boat people did. Not sure who's behind but it will eventually come out. I think (hope) that the MSM doesn't fall for it like they did with Kerry.

Edwards does have substance - a heck of a lot more than the people who are governing us now.

[Jacob1983]

People's looks shouldn't matter when voting for president. I was just making a joke about the fact that Edwards comes off as a male flight attendant. It's the same as liberals and Democrats thinking that Bush is an idiot and horrible president. Liberals and Democrats also tend to exaggerate on how bad things are.
Edwards might be more well liked but he's a loser. Bush has actually won a presidentail election. Edwards has not.

Obama is a Christian?

I never really believed or denied the Swift Boat deal. It may have been a ploy by the Republicans to screw over Kerry but then it could have been John Kerry's former Vietnam War buddies telling the truth.