# Who will win the 2008 election? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 28, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-win-the-2008-election/215792 "2003-11-28T22:52:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![myles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@myles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myles)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-win-the-2008-election/215792/41 "2003-11-30T01:13:18Z")
Hillary Clinton could not have reasonably run in 2000. What elected office in national politics had she held? Hell, what office had she held at all? all she had been was first lady… And nobody is going to vote for a first lady without any recent experience in elected office. Besides, was she really going to run against her husbands desire to have Al Gore be the Democratic nominee? She probably won’t run in 2004, because she realizes her chances are too uncertain against wartime president Bush. And she hasn’t taken any positions? Hell, she’s one of the most respected Democratic leaders in the Senate. She is constantly quoted in her stance against Bush’s handling of the economy. But, don’t take my words for it, let’s hear from the Iron Chancellor herself: [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-11/27/content\_285278.htm](http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-11/27/content_285278.htm) “With a smile, Hillary Clinton suggested that she may run for US president in 2008 but stay out of the campaign for next year, in an interview with a German magazine.” “Well, perhaps I’ll do it next time around,” "However, she is widely thought to hold ambitions for the 2008 race. “A Newsweek survey in September showed her to be a preferred choice for more Democratic voters than any other Democrat to stand against incumbent President George W. Bush.” Why would she have married Bill Clinton anyway if it wasn’t as a stepping stool to the presidency? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-win-the-2008-election/215792/42 "2003-11-30T01:22:12Z")
I’d be willing to put money on Hillary running in '08. I hope she does. Maybe she’ll at least be able to break the barrier for women to be taken seriously at the national level like this. I don’t think she has much of a chance of winning (due to her unusually high negatives), but it’ll sure spice things up. As for the debates, I’d modify **XT’s** suggestion in that I’d like to see a debate with the candidates fielding questions from Dennis Miller and Bill Maher. And I’d like to see it run for about 4 hours. It would be relentless, and worth every minute. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-win-the-2008-election/215792/43 "2003-11-30T01:27:15Z")
Only if you toss in Franken and Coulter…just to see if they explode. I’d pay $100 for a ticket. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-win-the-2008-election/215792/44 "2003-11-30T01:39:00Z")
I was basing my own opinion on Hillary NOT running on a thread a few weeks ago (sorry, forgot which link it was) where some of the more respected democrats/liberals on the board here basically were making the case that Hillary running was more a Republican dream, and that it wasn’t really based in reality as, according to them, she has made no such position. I suppose time will tell if she runs or not in 2008. I think that such a debate with Miller and Maher (hell, and Franken too :)) would be something to see. Can you imagine how the candidates would sweat?? I’d pay serious bucks to see them all grilled for about 4 hours and to leave the stage totally drained and black and blue from the questions. But…thats just my opinion. I could be wrong… 🙂 -XT ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-win-the-2008-election/215792/45 "2003-11-30T02:02:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jonathan Chance \* > Only if you toss in Franken and Coulter…just to see if they explode. > > I’d pay $100 for a ticket. Would that be in one dollar bills to be stuffed into AC’s thong? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-win-the-2008-election/215792/46 "2003-11-30T02:49:39Z")
Five of you attempted to spell Giuliani’s name, and four of you in a row failed. (Only GoHeels got it right.) WTF? Damn, it’s hard being Italian in America. ---
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-win-the-2008-election/215792/47 "2003-11-30T03:11:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > \*\*I like the suggestions of Richardson and Chuck Hagel. They are precisely the kinds of people that will rise in prominence between now and 2008. > > It’s too bad Richardson isn’t among the Democratic contenders today, because he’d be a very serious candidate. If the Dems are looking for someone who can occupy the center, Richardson’s your man. > > But here’s how it’ll go: Bush wins in 2004. Cheney decides not to run in 2008, opening the field for the Republican nomination. Jeb Bush wins, and he’s president until 2016. > > In 2010, the Bush twins are elected to Congress. Jenna becomes president in 2016, ushering in “The Party Years”. She will lose office in a drunken scandal in 2020, but by then the public, having known no other presidents but a Bush for the past 20 years, elects Jenna’s sister, who rises to prominence on her slogan, “America needs more Bush”. > > Around the same time, the biggest worry in the nation is that “We’re running out of Bushes!”. With no other Bush family candidates ready to take office, the nation panics, a crash research program is undertaken, and in 2028 the clone of George W. Bush is sworn in. The Democrats both scream foul, saying that this is a violation of the 2-term restriction, but the Supreme court overrules this, causing some to claim that the court was rigged ever since Jenna stacked it with the entire membership of the old Backstreet Boys, who turned out to be staunch Republicans. Who knew? > > But that’s just a guess. \*\* I think George P. Bush will serve after Jenna and before Barbara. Then Noelle will take over, airing the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show instead of a State of the Union Address. The cabinet will be filled with supermodels representing diverse backgrounds; i.e., both anorexics AND bulimics. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-win-the-2008-election/215792/48 "2003-11-30T03:52:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Mace \* > \*\*Would that be in one dollar bills to be stuffed into AC’s thong? \*\* No shit, man: One of my old VPs dated her a few times. He reports that she is one woman you **don’t** want to be late picking up. I can only imagine. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-win-the-2008-election/215792/49 "2003-11-30T05:09:23Z")
**myles** , your explanations for why she didn’t run in 2000 and 2004 don’t hold water. You say she oculdn’t run in 2000 because she’d never held national office before? How many times had Carter held national office before? Reagan? Clinton? Shrub? As for 2004, you say she wouldn’t run because she’d be unsure of winning? Nobody who runs for president is sure of winning. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by myles \* > \*\* "However, she is widely thought to hold ambitions for the 2008 race. \*\* Widely thought by Republicans, but not by anybody else. But as Slate’s Timothy Noah has shown, she’s widely thought by Republicans to be running in 2004. She just isn’t widely thought to be doing so by anyone who has a connection to reality. > [@](#): > > \*\* > Why would she have married Bill Clinton anyway if it wasn’t as a stepping stool to the presidency? \*\* 1. She was in love with him. 2. She wanted to support his political career. 3. As a stepping stool to the Senate. 4. Some combination of the above. 5. Any one of many other obvious possibilities. I do find it funny that Republicans are now citing ChinaDaily as their primary source. Are you too young to remember that Mohammed Atta and his compatriots were taking flight lessons, the GOP was still telling us that those sinister Chinese and their supposed ties to the Clinton Administration were the biggest threat to American security. (Or is it just unpatriotic of me to mention that.) ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-win-the-2008-election/215792/50 "2003-11-30T05:40:18Z")
Dean wins a second term based on his good handling of the economy and managing to get out of Iran after it devolves into a Lebanon-style battleground. However, when the House of Saud collapses in 2010, Dean is forced to send U.S. troops into Saudi Arabia to secure U.S. oil interests, calling them “advisors” but in fact they’re t here to see that no one ELSE sends in their troops. (Dean tries but fails to get a UN mandate, as Bush has thoroughly poisoned the well WRT the U.S. sending troops anywhere, much less the Middle East. Americans, still smarting over Europeans’ claims that the U.S. tyroops stood idly by and allowed the Shiites to massacre the Baathists in Iraq, are not happy about a new Mideastern incursion, though they’re nto so unhappy that they’re willign to drive electric cars or anything like that. Thus, Jeb Bush wins it for the Pubbies in 2012, campaigning on “no more Mideast adventures.” In 2013, he invades Iraq, claiming the combatants there have weapons of mass destruction. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-win-the-2008-election/215792/51 "2003-11-30T13:59:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ElvisL1ves \* > **Bricker** , the declining of your wager offer is not “inexplicable”, having in fact _been_ explained to you multiple times. Any remaining lack of understanding is your own damn fault. I wasn’t talking about you. You did explain your decision to not accept the wager. And I said I was referring only to the rabid partisan folks here, anyway. Are you placing yourself in that number? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-win-the-2008-election/215792/52 "2003-11-30T16:04:07Z")
If it’s been explained, it’s not inexplicable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-win-the-2008-election/215792.md?page=2)