Yup, it's going to be about 2106, same as the question for conservatives. Interested in which 2016 possible candidates you find unacceptable, out of those who either are actively running now or at least getting frequent mentions. The list seems to be: Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Martin O'Malley, Andrew Cuomo, Kirsten Gillibrand, John Hickenlooper, Amy Klobuchar, Brian Schweitzer, Mark Warner, Elizabeth Warren, but feel free to add anyone else you don't like! So: which, if any, do you think are totally unacceptable?
I find very few of them unacceptable. What few problems I have with them (say, Cuomo on budget priorities, or Warner on corporate regulation) would probably be ground out of them in the primary progress.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do think it'll be interesting to see how the grassroots/netroots left reacts to Schweitzer as he becomes more of a national/federal politician (which could begin soon, if he runs for Baucus' seat). They really like him right now, but that might change if they feel like he's undermining the "liberal" position on guns, environment, etc.- which he's apt to do. OR- he might be able to sell them that that's he has to do to win MT, or play some kind of "at least I'm honest" routine with them. It'll be interesting either way.
Schweitzer reminds me a lot of Jon Tester: Hero of the netroots, until he started voting like a red state Democrat in the Senate, which resulted in "Dead to me" posts from Markos, et al.
DeleteNot a huge Cuomo fan, but I'd certainly support him were he the nominee. Some I like more than other, but I'd proudly support any of the folks you listed in the general.
ReplyDeletePart of it depends on how you define "unacceptable." If you merely define unacceptable as a candidate you don't want to win the nomination, I'd put Cuomo and perhaps Warren in that category to start.
If "unacceptable" is more sternly defined as a candidate I'd decline to vote for in the general, nobody makes my list. Given the gulf between the two parties philosophically right now, I can't foresee a scenario in my lifetime where I don't pull the "D" lever for President.
That's similar to how I feel with regards to 'acceptability'. The least acceptable Democrat is always going to preferable to even the least noxious Republicans due to the enormous partisan gulf.
DeleteAny preferences I have among that list of candidates is really just that, a preference.
It's too early to speculate about 2106. Besides, 2106 isn't even a presidential election year. (Assuming we're still using the same constitution by then.)
ReplyDeleteOh come off it, surely you're not expecting the Obama Dictatorship (coming soon!) to be over by 2106? I expect that 66% of the GDP will be dedicated to obtaining the necessary glandular secretions to keep The One alive from day to day.
DeleteIts kind of amazing how few of these folks I know much of anything about.
ReplyDeleteOh, but you will pretty quickly.
DeleteNone of them are unacceptable in the sense that I wouldn't vote for them over a republican, although I would really have to hold my nose in the case of Andrew Cuomo.
ReplyDeleteOkay you people way back there on the East Coast, what's so bad about Cuomo? From out here he doesn't seem so bad, but I can't say I know that much.
DeleteNone are unacceptable, though apart from voting I wouldn't lift a finger to assist Clinton & Cuomo. I think the opposite question is more interesting - is anyone so exciting you'd work extra-hard for them? If Clinton runs it would take someone with a very active and committed following to defeat her, and if she doesn't run there are so many possible candidates that an active, fired-up, and committed base will be key to winning too.
ReplyDeleteNone of them are outright unacceptable to me based on what I know now (admittedly not much about a few of the Governors listed). I like Biden and Warren more than the others and Clinton least (because of Iraq, Mark Penn, and because I am not a fan of political dynasties), but I could unhesitatingly support her in the general if she won the nomination. I didn't really pick a candidate (Obama) until December 2007, so it's still incredibly early in the cycle for this kind of discussion for me.
ReplyDeleteI really, really hope I don't have to vote for Andrew Cuomo... but I would if he got the nomination.
ReplyDeleteI think Elizabeth Warren will be a great Senator and kinda hope she stays one, though my mom is really hoping she runs for POTUS.
I'd like to see someone out west run. I was a big fan of Schweitzer during the 2008 VP speculation, and still think highly of him. Hickenlooper seems too goofy to make a credible run.
All told I think the country would be best off with Hillary as our candidate. But having gone through an interesting primary season with O'Malley and a few others pulling her to the left.
I would vote for Warren in a minute. She established her bone fides with me in advocating for the creation of the Consumer Protection Agency, and her opposition to #SS cuts.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of Cuomo: he has the stench of Albany about him, and I am tired of neo-liberals.
Clinton has played it far too safe for far too long, and I don't like the idea being flouted that she is somehow owed this. Yet, if she comes out soon by opposing #SS cuts, I would think better of her. O'Malley seems promising.
A very angry liberal.
None of them are "unacceptable" to me - I would support any of them over any conceivable Republican candidate. Of the group, Mark Warner is my least favorite since I assume he would run on a platform of watered-down Third Way-ism.
ReplyDeleteI would probably end up voting for any one of them over any Republican ... but that is a product of the toxicity of Republican-ism these days.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, in my everyday thought these days, I am growing closer and closer to feeling dis-satisfied in any actual elected Democrat (in the Congress or state governorships).
They have no courage, and no vision, and no apparent prospect of acquiring either (or knowing what to do with it if they could imagine acquiring them. There are such obvious problems staring us in the face: like really getting serious about Constitutional civil liberties and rights, or really getting serious about climate change and a transition away from the fossil fuel economy. Or the one where I'm one of the few who seems to even care about it, really getting serious about a turn away from eternal unlimited Empire in foreign affairs.
And that's not even to mention the somewhat smaller problems, gun rationality, budget rationality, marijuana rationality, trade rationality.
After suffering through BOTH the Clinton administration and the Obama administration siding with Monsanto in trampling sense and law for Monsanto's benefit, and stocking their ag agencies with Monsanto execs, and sabotaging the organic and alternative agriculture and food communities at every opportunity, I may have to make that issue a deal-breaker between me and Hilary, I just can't stand watching it go on and on.
"Unacceptable" is a strong word, but Mark Warner is Evan Bayh redux - constantly brought up as a strong potential presidential/VP candidate by the national media who brings nothing to the table except for handsome, generic centrism. I don't see him appealing to Democratic primary voters or voters in general. My guess is he won't run, and if he does, he'll make it about as far as Bayh did.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine any universe in which Cuomo or Warner would be more attractive candidates than their primary opponents. I guess that's what "unacceptable" means here.
ReplyDeleteI would redefine unacceptable to mean a candidate so bad that you would shift your support from your favorite candidate all the way to your least-favorite-but-still-better candidate if that candidate had the best chance of beating the unacceptable one.
DeleteI think that makes the question more interesting. Of course, I don't have an opinion yet.
I would ultimately vote for any of them in a general election, but I would be very unhappy with Cuomo or Warner. I would be somewhere between fine with and enthusiastic for Clinton, Biden, O'Malley, Gillibrand, Klobuchar, and Warren. Hickenlooper I don't know enough about, and I don't think anyone knows what sort of national politician Brian Schweitzer would be yet. I'll be happy if he wins Baucus' seat, but it remains to be seen what happens after that. I'd prefer if both Clinton and Biden sat this one out, but I don't think it will happen, and at the end of the day I wouldn't hate either one of them as the nominee.
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