I love Joe, but 4 years from now will be too long. Joe Biden will be the best VP of my lifetime (Sorry Al G.), but his Top of the Ticket moment has passed.

Bill has already had his terms. and yah, it will be Bill calling the shots, not Hillary.

She lets her men walk all over her. And that's a damn shame.

Plus, some of us haven't forgiven his MBNA baggage. My guess is that's quickly forgotten here.

Bake

it's unlikely that his health will hold up for eight. Sadly, the job is such a difficult one that it requires a younger man.

I would have loved to see a President Biden in 2008 but that was not to be. I am delighted to have him as Vice President and hope he's one of the people Mr. Obama listens to most.

And she already has campaign experience from the first run. I'm not convinced she'd run though.

Think about it, Clinton, Biden, Schweitzer...

GOP? Not so much. Christie? Ryan? Jeb Bush? ROFL!

And Gillibrand and Stabenow?

The Democratic Party has a lot of potential viable candidates. Republicans have more nut jobs in the wings.

Mayor's with no Statewide or Federal Office experience don't tend to do well.

He could easily win a House race but it's much harder to see him win a senate or gubernatorial race which would be the platform for a national campaign.

years and step up to Secretary of State or Defense for 1 1/2 years. Resign in time to join the top of the ticket as VP. He is really kind of young for the top of the ticket, and he needs foreign policy experience. In 2024 he would only be 50 (Obama was 47 when elected and Clinton was 46).

Top of the ticket. I will vote for Hillary Clinton in the primaries if she runs.

Of course we should be having this discussion on Nov. 7th.

Warren, only if she gets elected in MA, and serves the full six years first. O'Malley, I think needs to replace Barbara McCulsky in the Senate for a full term, Castro perhaps.....I would like to see the following for 2016.... Clinton / Alan Grayson or Clinton / Sanders. with Joe Biden as state,

He was making the rounds in Charlotte.

She had a nervous breakdown when he was first elected governor and I sincerely doubt that he will run for president. I would love him too, though.

I suspect he is campaigning for Obama because he wants to see him win (and may be get a position in a second Obama organization), and because, as he does not want to run again, he feels free to do it even if the stupid MA media complain.

Not another Bubba or Obama.

Enough with the DLC/Third Way corporatists already! We need an unapologetic progressive candidate who will actually stay that way (kind of like how 2008-candidate-Obama acted...). To those that say progressives don't win, again look at the 2008 campaign with the biggest wins in years because of the progressive message. They then went on to fritter away those wins (no I'm not getting into any debates about 60 votes right now) acting all centrist, leading to the results of the 2010 election. If that isn't clear evidence that progressive policy wins campaigns and centrism doesn't, I don't know what is...

My dream is to one day get a Democratic front-runner for President that doesn't support any war for any reason, or...

one that will suggest we strengthen Social Security instead of talking about compromise, or...

one that will never vote for another free trade agreement, or...

one that will fight for single-payer healthcare, or...

one that will actually mention global warming during a debate,...

Do I really need to continue?

I want you to know that in 2008, I did NOT support Hillary- because I thought she was not yet ready.

I supported Obama. (Prior to 2000 I generally supported republicans. I did not vote for Bill Clinton.)

But in 2016- I will tell you this- I can think of no other candidate from either party who would make a better President than her. I will work very, very hard for her.

I think her time is ahead, IF she wants to. All she has to do is say that is what she wants, and there are a LOT of folks like me who will step up and help her get there.

more ready than Clinton? Obviously now, with the possible exception of Biden, she has the most impressive resume of the potential candidates to run. She had served as Senator for four more years than Obama in 2008. Obama ran the better primary campaign and got the nomination. I think Hillary Clinton would have been a better president (but either were much better than the alternative).

nt

She'll be close to 70 years old. When I'm 70, I'm sleeping in, walking on the beach with my dogs & gardening.

And personally, I think we need a younger generation of leaders to start steeping forward ... Us old farts need to move off the stage.

Whatever happens, we have tons of good people, younger and older.

I don't think Hillary will run. She turns 65 on Oct. 26 which will make her 67-68 when she starts running for Prez. Also, I don't think she's paid off Mark Penn for her last run. In my opinion she shouldn't because Penn didn't read the rules of the Dem primary process and should be charged with campaign malpractice. But if she decides to run in 2016 and doesn't pay off Penn, would that become an issue?

As far as Joe Biden. He's 69 now and turns 70 on Nov. 20. He would be 72-73 when he would need to start prepping for a Prez run.

If either Hillary or Joe do decide to run, who will be their VP choice will be critical, sense the odds of them dying in office would be greater than a 40-60 year old President.

Brian Schweitzer is 57 now and would be 59 when he would start running for Prez. He's at a prime age to run for Prez.
It will be interesting to see what he does after he is term limited out of Montana's governorship. Hopefully, he gets a decent job in the Obama Admin. He may run for Senate in 2014 if Max Baucus's popularity stays below 50, which would be good too.

But Schweitzer is smart to say what he did about Hillary. He'll need the Clinton era big donors to help him get started.
If Chris Christie ends up as the Rethug nominee in 2016, Schweitzer is the best person to rhetorically fight him. Schweitzer knows how to turn the Reich wing rhetoric against them. That's why he won the governorship in deep red Montana.

How about Corey book as VP?

That would also give you a West-East ticket.

If the women aren't ready for VP, i would also consider former NM Gov. Richardson to put a Hispanic on the ticket who also has strong foreign policy creds.

It is the century of women. Personally I think Clinton fatigue would set in very, very quickly. We need to move on, forward not back. I say Gillibrand. If she runs and survives the primaries, she wins.

I just don't see it, and I'm betting she doesn't either.

Although speculation at this point is sort of silly, my money at this point would be on O'Malley.

If Biden and Clinton both decide against running, then the likely front-runner will be Andrew Cuomo. He has a veneer of progressivism (based on part on memories of his father). He has big-state governing experience. To the Democrats who think that Obama's problem is that he's been too liberal (yes, there are such people), Cuomo will point to his slashing of social programs in New York, and his attacks on public employe unions (attacks that he'll spin as "standing up to the special interests&quot . To the progressives who don't want a candidate who's to the right of Obama, Cuomo will point to his support of marriage equality and try to make us forget about all his neocon actions on other issues.

My prediction: If Biden and Clinton both opt out, then Cuomo will run, will be the best-funded candidate, and will be perceived as the early front-runner. Barring any major stumbles, by March 2016 the race will have come down to a two-person contest between Cuomo and the progressive standard-bearer, who might be any of several people mentioned upthread (but with Sherrod Brown and Sheldon Whitehouse added to the list of possibles).

A further prediction: In the summer of 2016, a common topic on DU will be posts complaining about how we're stuck with a neocon as the nominee. A further further prediction: I will be one of those complaining.

If Clinton runs, Cuomo won't. I don't know what he'll do if Biden runs. There's no one else whose entry into the race would keep Cuomo out.

Works for me.

I would like to see Schweitzer, or Liz Warren.