# Dems: Clinton, Obama, Edwards Or Vilsack? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 24, 2006, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431 "2006-12-24T11:31:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/21 "2006-12-25T07:41:39Z")
Obama Clinton Edwards Vilsack Obama has the potential to inspire people and to lead, as opposed to reacting. He’s green, and I’m starting to worry about the “blank slate” issue - people are seeing him as whatever they want him to be, and he’ll have to fix that soon if he wants to run. Is Hillary unpopular with many people? Yes, but she’s also a very skilled politician. Edwards completely underwhelmed me in 2004 and I think he’s really got nothing to offer. People were hoping he was the second coming of Bill Clinton, but he’s not - and it’s pointless, and backward-looking, to wish for one. I’d prefer Vilsack if I knew much about him. ---
**Author:** ![Phantom\_Dennis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/51bf81/32.png) [@Phantom\_Dennis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phantom_Dennis)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/22 "2006-12-25T08:38:06Z")
Obama! He’s the only potential candidate that inspires anything resembling hope in my jaded mind. He’s honest, good-natured, thoughtful, and well educated. He may be green in the field of politics, but in my mind he’s a hell of a lot more qualified to be president than some of the men who’ve made it into office in recent years. He faces an uphill battle, but then so did Kennedy. I refuse to give up hope because a few consider him “unelectable”. We’ll see what happens when the people cast their ballots. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/23 "2006-12-25T08:42:13Z")
If you really think either Obama or Hillary have an actual chance of winning you are living in fantasy land. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/24 "2006-12-25T13:16:12Z")
Can I just vote for Roosevelt? (Or Truman. Truman’d do.) ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/25 "2006-12-25T14:26:04Z")
[QUOTE=Mangosteen] Here we go again. The dems have a great opportunity to take the presidency because the GOP is not running an incumbent AND the present VP is not going to run. [/QUOTE] God, I wish Cheney somehow did have the Republican nomination. Who _couldn’t_ win against that guy? Never been enthusiastic about Hillary Clinton. She seems wishy-washy on a lot of positions, and shamelessly panders. I wish Howard Dean would run again. Well, I don’t know if that could work, but I’d vote for him. What a ridiculous smear campaign they had against him, mostly based on a totally spurious account of him screaming for no reason. (Which, even though it’s untrue, is still dragged out for the brilliant political satire of “Prickly City”.) Actually, I wish Al Gore would get in gear and run again. John Kerry’s a lost cause for this arena, I’m afraid – although if he had half of Bill Clinton’s charisma, he’d be running for his second term. (And if I had half of Bill Clinton’s charisma, I wouldn’t be typing this, because I’d be busy having a three-way.) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/26 "2006-12-25T20:34:06Z")
Gore. Bring in Gore with Hillary as his Veep, and you have a winner. ---
**Author:** ![Burrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Burrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burrido)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/27 "2006-12-26T02:27:19Z")
Ugh, I hate that lineup. I’ll vote Green if it’s Hillary/Obama. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/28 "2006-12-26T02:55:43Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] Forget Edwards. The ticket will be Clinton/Obama or Obama/Clinton. [/QUOTE] A woman and a black man on the same ticket is too radical right now. Personally I’d like to see Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas take a shot at the nomination. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/29 "2006-12-26T02:58:43Z")
I don’t want to hijack this thread if it would be against the OP’s wishes, but I would love to hear about the people like **alphaboi867** ’s Kathleen Sebelius, that Dopers think would be better than the ones in the OP. Is that a hijack? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/30 "2006-12-26T03:22:00Z")
It’s honestly way too early to think about serious contestants. It’s fun, mind you, but there’s WAY too many surprises out there waiting to happen. Could be someone out of nowhere that catches lightning in a bottle. [QUOTE=Mangosteen] Remember folks, the dems HAVE TO collect most of the swing voters AND even some Republicans to win the White House. [/QUOTE] And this is, quite simply, wrong wrong wrongity wrong. Sorry. In the last two presidential elections the moving of a state or two would have swung it either way easily. And given the democratic trends seen recently in Virginia (13 electoral votes), Ohio (20 electoral votes), and Colorado (9 electoral votes) it’s silly to say that Democrats must capture all the swings and some republicans to win the White House. Essentially the electoral calculus starts here: Dems have in the bag: California - 55 Oregon - 7 Washington - 11 Illinois - 21 New York - 31 Maryland - 10 for a running start at 135 EV. There’s 269 needed to win and they start with 50% straight off the bat. With the last two elections going: 2004 286/252 2000 271/266 (1 elector didn’t vote) Saying EITHER side MUST do something or other is foolish. At the Presidential level things are split horrendously evenly and anything can happen. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/31 "2006-12-26T05:19:50Z")
[QUOTE=Burrido] Ugh, I hate that lineup. I’ll vote Green if it’s Hillary/Obama. [/QUOTE] You mean, vote for the new savior of the Religious Right, which is what happened when dudes voted for Nader rather than Gore. Thanks to the Naderites, we have had six years of GWB, and two more on the way. Ten’s of thousands dead. A record deficit. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/32 "2006-12-26T07:19:20Z")
I’d really like to see Gore as president in 2008 though I don’t know that he could win. ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/33 "2006-12-26T07:41:29Z")
I’m not an American and though my politics are center-left, I still dont want the Dems to win in 08. You already have both houses. Give the POTUS job to the 'pubs. Let someone from that party sort out the headache that is Iraq. ---
**Author:** ![exastris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b38774/32.png) [@exastris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/exastris)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/34 "2006-12-26T14:36:37Z")
I’d like to see Janet Napolitano, governor of AZ, in the spotlight for a while. She’s moderate, she has experience with border issues, and she comes across as likeable and intelligent. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/35 "2006-12-26T16:03:44Z")
Don’t lose hope. The Dem nominee in '08 might be someone you never even heard of. Other than politics junkies, who outside their home states had ever heard of Clinton in 1990 or Carter in 1974? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/36 "2006-12-26T17:22:22Z")
[QUOTE=DataZak] I’m not an American and though my politics are center-left, I still dont want the Dems to win in 08. You already have both houses. Give the POTUS job to the 'pubs. Let someone from that party sort out the headache that is Iraq. [/QUOTE] A. Yes, Democrats have both houses of Congress: by a razor-thin margin in the Senate, and you know we reelect the House every two years, right? The House could go Republican in 2008; besides, why would Democrats want to yield the presidency to the party that has proven that they _can’t_ fix Iraq? Interesting factoid: This year the Democrats seized the majority in the House and Senate, which usually happens to the opposition party in the incumbent’s second midterm election. However, _no_ Democratic incumbents lost – not one, which has never happened before. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/37 "2006-12-26T18:16:15Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Carrot] A. Yes, Democrats have both houses of Congress: by a razor-thin margin in the Senate, and you know we reelect the House every two years, right? The House could go Republican in 2008; besides, why would Democrats want to yield the presidency to the party that has proven that they _can’t_ fix Iraq? [/QUOTE] The Democrats are in a very good position to gain in the Senate in 2008; 21 Republicans are up for re-election and only 12 Democrats. And forget the _Democrats_ yielding power - why would anybody want to give the Presidency to that has proven they can’t fix Iraq? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/38 "2006-12-26T18:58:16Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] The Democrats are in a very good position to gain in the Senate in 2008; 21 Republicans are up for re-election and only 12 Democrats. [/QUOTE] Yes, I know, which is why I was talking about the Senate in 2008; incidentally, there’s a very interesting cycle going on here, in that the three classes of Senators are pretty unbalanced party-wise: 2006 had 17 Dems and 15 Reps, but 2008 will have 21 Reps and 12 Dems, and 2010 will have 19 Reps and 15 Dems – none of these is all that close. Then again, in some ways that makes sense: Senate seats can’t be gerrymandered, so they mostly start out at least somewhat competitive; each class reacts in turn to any shift in the voters. Furthermore, any lopsided class will either remain lopsided as incumbents are mostly reelected, or turn the other way as voters are dissatisfied and whoever had more seats up (and presumably has fewer seats up in other years) will need to struggle more to keep those seats. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/39 "2006-12-26T18:59:54Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Carrot] Yes, I know, which is why I was talking about the Senate in 2008 [/QUOTE] Dangit. I meant _House_, not Senate. ---
**Author:** ![Burrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Burrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burrido)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431/40 "2006-12-26T20:10:41Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] You mean, vote for the new savior of the Religious Right, which is what happened when dudes voted for Nader rather than Gore. Thanks to the Naderites, we have had six years of GWB, and two more on the way. Ten’s of thousands dead. A record deficit. [/QUOTE] I will feel better that I voted for people/ideals that I believe in and that most repsent me. I’ve gotten tired of voting merely to keep Bush Co. out of office these last several years. Not that anyone here cares or should, but as of today I’ve switched over to the Green Party. Concerning the deficit, it’s already out of control. No one is going to stop the trainwreck that is coming. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431.md?page=3)