# Who would you want running in POTUS USA 2020 that isn't in the race? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 9, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181 "2020-01-09T18:19:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2020, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/41 "2020-01-13T23:19:38Z")
With today’s news, I can add Cory Booker to this thread. ☹ ---
**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:** [January 14, 2020, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/42 "2020-01-14T05:32:40Z")
> [@Translucent\_Daydream](#): > > I’ll bite. Why is that? Because I… really like them both a whole lot? > [@](#): > > I was impressed with how Stacey Abrams handled herself. After hearing her talk I am not sure why there weren’t fires going on in Georgia after she lost that election. I don’t know a lot about her loss, but it seemed pretty janky. We wuz robbed. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2020, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/43 "2020-01-14T06:08:43Z")
RE: Jon Stewart: > [@Translucent\_Daydream](#): > > That is very interesting. I figure that he would have a decent crossover following, after fighting for the 9/11 first responders. He would probably be the only celebrity I’d consider. And I was quite impressed with his passion for the first responders. But he looked under slept, frail and basically OCD about the first responder testimony. I’m not sure he’s up to much multi-tasking these days. Just my impression. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/44 "2020-01-15T22:23:47Z")
Which non-current candidate would I WANT to run? Cthulhu, definitely a swamp-drainer. Joe Arapaio, tried and true. Mitt Romney, if he had any guts. Sarah Palin, flashing pale flesh. A deep-fake animation or clone of Tricky Dicky Nixon. Allah. Which would I EXPECT to run? Any of the usual gang of [del]gypsies, tramps, and thieves[/del] exhibitionists. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/45 "2020-01-15T23:19:48Z")
Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan. Who unfortunately doesn’t exist. – I suspect some person(s) do(es) exist who would do a massively better job of it than anybody currently running. (Maybe it’s even Abrams or Duckworth.) That person(s), however, has more sense than to want the job. I don’t know how to pry out the people who know better than to want it, and to make them run. I don’t even know how to properly write a qualification for POTUS that amounts to ‘wanting this job is a disqualification for holding it.’ If I could figure out how to write that, I’d be agitating to get it into the Constitution. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/46 "2020-01-18T15:44:41Z")
Massachusetts representative Seth Moulton. A breath of centrism in a polarizing arena. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/47 "2020-01-18T21:14:11Z")
> [@Crane](#): > > Rep - Jon Huntsman I’ll go with this. > [@Uniqueorn](#): > > Hillary. Yeah. Giving the win to Huntsman. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/48 "2020-01-18T23:45:17Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > His views on gun control and a few other things are batshit cray cray. > > As for Michelle Obama, not for President- no expereince. But I admit that if Joe wins the Nom, she would be my dream pick for his Veep. Joe would win, hands down then, I think. I don’t dislike this idea, but if it were a bait and switch, it would be a shameful misplacement of trust. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/49 "2020-01-19T02:03:15Z")
> [@Personal](#): > > I don’t dislike this idea, but if it were a bait and switch, it would be a shameful misplacement of trust. I concur. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2020, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/50 "2020-01-20T01:42:21Z")
I came in to say Tammy Duckworth and see I’m not alone. She was born in Thailand though, so while we can dream anything we want, it won’t happening. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2020, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/51 "2020-01-20T03:09:27Z")
I believe experience doing something comparable is a plus, so I like a governor. I very much want Trump limited to one term, which also points to nominating a governor. And, like many governors, I am a centrist. So I’ll suggest Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, if it were possible for the GOP to dump Trump. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island should be drafted in the unlikely event of a deadlocked Democratic convention. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2020, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/52 "2020-01-20T07:23:21Z")
Greg Graffin … a UCLA and Cornell professor college professor who has an interesting view on things … he wouldn’t win but hed raise some hell and ask all the uncomfortable questions he’ also wrote trhese books :Evolution, Monism, Atheism and the Naturalist World-View Polypterus Press(2004) Is Belief in God Good, Bad, or Irrelevant? with Preston Jones (2006) Evolution, Religion and Free Will with William Provine, American Scientist, vol. 95, issue 4, p. 294 (2007) “Evolution and Religion: Questioning the Beliefs of the World’s Eminent Evolutionists”, Polypterus Press, Ithaca, N.Y. (2010) Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science, and Bad Religion in a World Without God with Steve Olson (2010) The Population Wars (2015) He also has another side project or two … ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2020, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/53 "2020-01-20T14:34:56Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > I came in to say Tammy Duckworth and see I’m not alone. She was born in Thailand though, so while we can dream anything we want, it won’t happening. Are you saying that she’s not eligible or that it will be used against her? Daddy was American. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/54 "2020-01-20T14:57:41Z")
> [@Dark\_Sponge](#): > > Ben Carson. He’ll probably never get a chance now as he’s starting to get long in the tooth. Still trying to figure out how he was a brain surgeon. And a top notch one too. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/55 "2020-01-21T04:43:33Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > Are you saying that she’s not eligible or that it will be used against her? Daddy was American. The former. You have to be born in the US to be president. That’s why the kerfuffle over Obama supposedly being born in Kenya was such a big deal. There has been talk of changing that rule, especially when Arnold Schwarzenegger’s political career looked more promising. He was born in Austria so not eligible to be president. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/56 "2020-01-21T05:15:57Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > The former. You have to be born in the US to be president. That’s why the kerfuffle over Obama supposedly being born in Kenya was such a big deal. No, although the US President is required to be a “natural-born citizen” of the US, that doesn’t have to mean they were born on US territory, as long as they’re an American citizen by birth (i.e., born of at least one US citizen parent). Of course, it’s not entirely clear exactly what “natural-born citizen” **does** mean, and some sources agree with you that it implies a condition on birthplace. But we’ve had Presidential candidates who were birthright US citizens born outside the US, and I very much doubt they’d have been ruled ineligible to serve if they’d been elected. E.g., John McCain born in the Panama Canal Zone, Ted Cruz born in Canada (about whom the Illinois Board of Elections ruled _“The candidate is a natural born citizen by virtue of being born in Canada to his mother who was a U.S. citizen at the time of his birth”_), and Tulsi Gabbard born in American Samoa (which doesn’t automatically make her a US citizen by birthplace, but the fact that her parents were US citizens did). ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/57 "2020-01-21T19:56:02Z")
Thanks for that far superior and more accurate explanation, **Kimstu**. Ignorance fought. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/58 "2020-01-21T23:36:21Z")
A pleasure and a privilege. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/59 "2020-01-22T01:06:43Z")
No one has mentioned Tim Kaine? He’d be way up at the top of my list had he ran. Not sure if he could have overtaken Pete in my preference list but he’d be up there. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181/60 "2020-01-22T04:15:12Z")
Probably Nikki Haley. I have assumed that if President Trump were to grasp his chest and fall over dead, she would be the one to try to save the party. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-want-running-in-potus-usa-2020-that-isnt-in-the-race/846181.md?page=4)