If McCain were the GOP nominee in '08, who would be best dem?

to run against him.

My feeling, at this point, is it might be best to run someone like Clark against McCain. Clark, like McCain has solid military credentials, but, unlike McCain, Clark opposed the war in Iraq.

But that is just my thought--there may be others out there, what do you think?

p.s.
If Gore were to run, which seems unlikely, then I would say he would be the strongest.

It's my feeling if McCain made it to the general election, we'd be all but fucked.

Of course, it'd probably take an act of god for McCain to actually be nominated by the extremist GOP, which is good news for us.

He is leading most polls among GOP voters. I can't see people like Frist or Gingrich being nominated.

They cater to the fringe, which is why polls don't usually go for all that much. Look at what happened in our last primary - Kerry all but fell off the face of the earth until actual elections started happening. And the hardcore GOPers HATE McCain with a passion. Not to mention the traditional Republican smearing of McCain has not yet started yet. I think Kerry would win a GOP primary before McCain would, but I've been wrong before.

efforts, McCain has been painted as a loose cannon by his own side too often for it not to stick - I don't see him holding the Repub base.

But he's got more than enough independent support to overcome that.

An interesting thought: What if McCain runs as an independent? He'd be the most viable 3rd party candidate since Teddy Roosevelt ran as a Bull Mooser and he'd most definitely snag more than a few electoral votes. I think he'd probably come away with enough to prevent anyone from getting the 270 EVs required to win, sending it to the House for what would be an excruciating decision for Republican House members. Do they stay loyal to the party or do they stay loyal to their district?

Boxer/Conyers '08

IMO he's the only Dem who could beat McCain, who is popular with Independents and crossover Dems as well as moderate Repubs so he'll be a helluva contender.

of the Unites States of America. Perhaps the will of the people will finally be heard. No more Supreme Court appointed presidents for this country.
I think McCain's slobbering all over bush last year would doom him with Independents. Just as America supposedly wanted to rid the country of the "Clinton taint" in 2000 by "electing" bush, anyone remotely tied to bush will have a tough time convincing Americans to vote for him. McCain's campaign trail whoring for bush last year would be brought up again and again. I'd make sure of it! ;)

he may be getting into bed with the RW fundies, but I'm sure they would much rather have a candidate they can control for sure

McCain is too much of a loose cannon for them

Allen or Brownback.

There is no way the fundamentalist fanatics who own the Republic Party will allow McCain to get the nomination.

Even if Gore ran, I think Clark would be stronger against McCain, but that's just my opinion.

TC

but I'd say that about almost anyone. McCain neutralizes otherwise strong moderate candidates like Biden, Warner and Bayh (not to say Edwards and Clark are flaming liberals, they don't really fit into any mold). I think McCain wins a general election regardless. McCain is by far their strongest candidate but I don't think he can win in the primary. They need a wacky fundie puppet to advance their agenda.

for two reasons:
First of all, McCain has the potential to demoralize and divide the social conservatives in the Repug Party... the only thing that could unite the Republican Party behind McCain is if he were running against someone with the last name Clinton. Edwards would exacerbate the fundy/RW/freeper demobilization... being the southerner type.

Second of all, the key to beating McCain is to completely destroy his "maverick" image. McCain's record is HORRIBLE on working family issues.... he is as anti-union and anti-minimum wage, anti-public shcools, etc. as any other Right Wing Republican. Edwards, being an elegant gentrified class warrior could highlight this of McCain.

am not sure if Edwards could overcome that. McCain is just like Cheney, they sit there and are so damn calm and convincing no matter what bullshit they throw out.

to make hundreds of thousands of copies of this;




and make damned sure every Independent voter saw on before they entered a voting booth!

ttt

and preferrably a combination of 2 or the 3 of them.

Dickhead Morris says so.

open in the normal way - not planning on it but not ruling it out.

It is certainly too early to be saying you probably will run.

Didn't Bill Clinton say he would NOT run for Prez while running for reelection as Governor and then say never-mind? Gore certainly hasn't gone that far in downplaying the possibility of a 2008 run.

But who the hell knows :shrug:

beat.

He was the best candidate last time around, and is the best next time. He has it all - integrity, intelligence, courage, experience, vision, charisma.

...mccain will be very tough to beat in a general. for whatever reason, he doesn't get associated with this administration. and like everyone else has pointed out, he'd have a hard time winning in the primaries.

however, if the repugs start to worry that nominating a neocon or hardline fundie would mean a loss in the general election (because of anti-shrub backlash), then i have no doubt they'd throw their support behind mccain.

maybe clark/edwards? that might be a competitive race. we'd just have to hammer on the fact that mccain is 104 years old and, you know, a whore.