What - if anything - do you think of CMB’s announced candidacy?
Having lived in or near Chicago all my life, she has impressed me as pretty incompetent, and skilled at surrounding herself by incompetence. She was elected senator largley due a crowded Dem primary, assisted by Durbin’s Clarence Thomas vote and Hofeld’s millions. And she was a quick 6 and out as a senator. Meanwhile, her office was riddled with accusations of financial impropriety and harrassment, and her official actions showed an impressive lack of judgment.
Yes, it would be fantastic to have more women - and more individuals of color - playing prominent roles in the US national political scene. But is CMB’s candidacy a positive or negative step in making that happen?
Do folk outside of Illinois have any significant opinion of CMB, either positive or negative?
CMB has absolutely no shot. Its going to be very difficult for her to raise money when the only purpose for her in the race is to take votes away from Al Sharpton. It is a huge longshot for her to stay in the race until South Carolina which is the first primary state with any appreciable black voters in it.
And that’s reason enough, IMHO. Plus, it adds to the Democrats’ image of color-blindness (by comparison, that is), by showing that blacks are not only and integral part of it but that blacks are hardly monolithic in the issues that they support.
Or perhaps she’s indulging in the daydreams of the Oval Office that almost anyone who gets elected to Congress or a governorship apparently entertains.
The problem for the Dems is that it could backfire. If CMB drops out before NH then Sharpton can use it as a prime example of the Dems taking blacks for granted. The bigger problem with this strategy is that it is unlikely to work. The media knows she has no chance and is unlikely to cover her the way they do Sharpton. Sharpton has alot more to gain than CMB does so he will campaign harder and longer. Also given her ethical baggage it seems unlikely that she can portray herself as the clean black alternative.
I think her entry into the race accomplishes three things:
it dilutes the impact of Sharpton as the only black candidate;
it dilutes, along with Kucinich’s candidacy, the allure of Howard Dean as the sole anti-war candidate; and,
it highlights the already minimal national service credentials of John Edwards. After all, if someone were to criticize CMB for her lack of political experience, she could glibly reply she held office longer than Edwards has.
Naturally she doesn’t have a prayer and won’t pull over 7% in the Illinois primary and 2% anywhere else, yet she can rally plenty of black and female and weirdo-lefty voters to vote Democrat in '04 and maybe even get a bigger soapbox in the process. Everyone knows she’s a kook but she has the ability to stand up and look the camera in the eye and speak out about some fairly progressive issues. She is a much more credible candidate than Al Sharpton.
I predict that she will basically blow by the doomed Sharpton campaign by out-fundraising him and by having at least the appearance of a superior command of real issues, which comes from her years in Washington.
Actually, Braun has (I believe) served 20 years in elected positions, though this was mostly in the Illinois State House and in Cook COunty.
She’s got no chance at all of winning the nomination. There is, however, the chance that she’s running in the hope of provocing a large black turnout in Chicago, so that Bardack Omara (sorry if I mispelt it) wins the Dem nomination for U.S. Senator.
She should have been up on charges for three different major offenses, but the Justice Department let her off the hook. She’s a serial embezzler, an accessory to medicaid fraud, and an abuser of campaign funds.
She should probably be in jail today, not running for President.
It would certainly be nice, but I think Condi is more interested in baseball than the presidency. I think she would have a decent chance at the nomination if she ran, but I doubt she will. But who can say?
No. Quite simply, I place more importance on the stance on issues then the minority credentials. I just see race as a non-issue with regards to my vote (I’m a democrat).
As an Illinoisan, I am the first to admit that CMB was a lousy Senator (and I volunteered on her 1992 campaign). However, I am glad that she is in the race, if just to be able to speak about important issues with a candor that some of the more likely hopefuls might not have. As far as I am concerned, the more candidates, the better. Not everyone enters a political race to win; some just want to have a say in what issues are discussed.