I was watching Fox News today, and they were discussing the possibility of a Hillary v. Condi deathmatch in the 2008 election.
I’m sure as the North Star that Hillary will run, but what about Condi? How likely is it that she will run? And do you think she could hold her own in a Republican primary (although its looking less and less like Bill Frist will run)?
The kook that was on Fox News was claiming that Rice could pull 30-50% of the black vote away from the Democrats. I think that is more in the neighborhood of 5-20%, tops.
Even supposing Rice could get through the primaries, which is one HELL of a big ‘if’, there…
Hillary takes the prize is a momentus bitch slap the likes of which we haven’t seen in a while.
GWB polls about 12% of the black vote. Rice is inextricably tied to GWB. I don’t see Rice pulling those away in droves.
Rice loses a decent chunk of the Republican base by being soft on abortion. Those folks won’t vote for Hillary (HAH!) but they would be willing to stay home on election day.
Both women so that cancels out (if we’re playing the demographics game).
Energized Democratic base with another Clinton running against a Bush-aligned Republican.
Hillary makes efforts to lure some of the fiscal conservatives by tying herself to ‘surpluses’ and ‘balanced budget’ of Bill’s terms against GWB’s (and therefore Rice) profligate spending.
Hillary knows how to campaign (both her own and her husbands). Rice has yet to be proven in that context.
Bitch-SMACK.
Look, I don’t think Rice is some Demon in disguise or anything. She seems to be hellaciously smart and tough. But she’s a LONG way from playing at that level. Far better she positions herself with a Senate or Gubernatorial run before swinging for the fences.
I’ve never seen a reason to think Rice will run. As far as the primaries goes, “I was heavily involved with Bush foreign policy” may not win her a lot of votes in 2008.
What JChance said. She stands a good chance of getting elected to the Senate, but not the Big Enchilada. At least this cycle. But with some experience I could see her running against Hillary in 2016. If there is any country left after Hill has her way with it, that is.
And those numbers shrink to zero as soon as you point out that Condi was buying $3,000 shoes in NYC when Hurricane Katrina hit.
Colin Powell could pull a fair number of black votes in 2008, but only because he’s not associated (too much) with the stink of the current Administration. Condi’s in it up to her eyeballs.
And no one is going to remember Powell’s “Good Soldier” routine in which he presented both dubious and wholly inaccurate information about Iraq as Holy Writ?
He lost almost all of his credibility for the forseeable future for the sake of misguided loyalty.
However, boy is not likable. She is not the sort of person “That you can have a beer with” that the Republicans seem to like run these days. Would Condi appeal to NASCAR dads? Nope.
I rather doubt Hillary will run and if she did, would not win the nomination. Too many see her as unelectable.
The fascination with Rice is puzzling. She has never run for an office, is closely tied to both an unpopular president and a foreign policy fiasco. She is not in the least bit likeable and to be honest I think her face would frighten small children. Being black is not going to fly well in the Grand Old White Party, and being anything but a foaming at the mouth anti abortion zealot would spell death in the primaries. She isn’t about to pull blacks away from the Democrats. What her appeal to anyone would be is beyond me.
I agree with Mr. Chance completely. My question is, assuming she wants to so position herself to run in the future, in what state could she get elected as Governor or as Senator? She was a professor and a university provost at Stanford, but could she win in California? Could she get elected in Alabama, where she was born and raised? I don’t claim to know the answer to those questions but if Sec. Rice has political ambitions of her own she’s got to be able to answer them.
<hangs head in shame for shallowness of this post>
I can’t get past Condi’s teeth.
I don’t see her as an appealing candidate for many reasons, some of them even thought out and intelligent–but it comes down to the need–the desperate need–for orthodontia.
Holy Crap. I just was in Barns & Nobles a little while ago. They had a book there by this very title. Just another pararnoid fantasy for the rightwing to slober over.
