Possible 2008 Republican Presidential Candidates - View All
	Condelezza Rice (74)
	Sam Brownback (9)
	Mike Pence (18)
	J.C. Watts (30)
	Ron Paul (7)
	Rudy Giuliani (66)
	Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. (23)
	Colin Powell (61)
	Mike Huckabee (15)
	John McCain (79)
	Newt Gingrich (41)
	Milt Romney (20)
	George Allen (22)
	Joel Osteen (22)
	Elizabeth Dole (20)
	Tommy Franks (24)
	Mark Sanford (7)
	George Pataki (30)
	Bill Owen (15)
	Kay Bailey Hutchenson (17)
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Jed Bartlett, New Hampshire.

urrent Occupation: Former U.S. President.

Pros: Brilliant, personable, caring, tough, inspirational. A polished raconteur and an able statesman. Attracts smart, capable liberals to the highest levels of government. Possibly one of the best American Presidents ever.

Cons: [sobbing] Doesn't actually exist.

Harold Bloom, New York.

Current Occupation: English professor and ornery literary critic.

Pros: His relentless devotion to the Western Canon gives edgy white male swing voters one less thing to worry about. Calls shenanigans whenever Joe Biden tries to slip a Shakespeare quote into a Senate speech.

Cons: Twee egghead who won't play in Peoria.

Samuel Beam, Florida.

Current Occupation: Singer-songwriter under the moniker Iron & Wine.

Pros: Gifted wordsmith and poignant public performer. Can rock, or at least soothingly touch, the vote.

Cons: Hasn't been a fully-bearded President since Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893). Collaboration with Calexico stirs fears of anti-immigrant lobby.

Dave Letterman, Indiana.

Current Occupation: Host of popular late-night TV talk show.

Pros: Sharp wit. Blends Indiana folksiness with urbane New York sophistication. His "Top Ten Reasons Why Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Would Make a Crappy Neighbor" is considered a landmark foreign policy document.

Cons: A little too acerbic for some. Vice-President Paul Shaffer?!?

Dennis Kucinich, Ohio.

Current Occupation: U.S. Congressman.

Pros: Idealistic, populist, energetic and a powerful speaker. Successful at inspiring and mobilizing the Democratic party's hard left. Gets ringing, heartfelt endorsements from C-list celebrities like Ed Begley, Jr., and Professor Irwin Corey.

Cons: There aren't a lot of electoral votes coming out of Magical Elf-Land.

John Edwards, North Carolina.

Current Occupation: Star of hit TV show Winston-Salem Legal.

Pros: Personable, passionate populist. Already won one electoral vote in 2004, so only needs to shore up 269 more.

Cons: Mentions poor people in his speeches, which alienates most American voters. Trial lawyer who, according to an unverified Republican press release, is trying to sue Jesus.

John Kerry, Massachusetts.

Current Occupation: U.S. Senator, Massachusetts.

Pros: A...um...veteran of the campaigning process. Gave the world the money quote, "Who among us does not love NASCAR?", even if he didn't say it. Has a solid 70% chance of winning Massachusetts in the general election. Hair that doesn't move.

Cons: Just don't, John. Seriously.

Al Gore, Tennessee.

Current Occupation: Treasurer, Nashville chapter of Greenpeace.

Pros: One of the few men alive who's won a Presidential election. Has oiled away some of the stiffness from the 2000 campaign.

Cons: Intends to conduct his campaign from a rapidly-shrinking ice floe in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, so time is of the essence. Gone all Hollywood since the success of An Inconvenient Truth.

Wesley Clark, Arkansas.

Current Occupation: Retired four-star general and NATO Commander.

Pros: Gravitas. Speaks with authority about what the military can and can't do. Can break a man in half with one hand and mix a Tom Collins with the other.

Cons: Decorated military man, since America has proven that the last thing they want in a President is someone who's served this country honorably.

Tom Vilsack, Iowa.

Current Occupation: Governor of Iowa.

Pros: Exudes a folksy Midwestern charm that makes people want to buy a used car or a life-insurance policy from him. Has home-state advantage in the critical Iowa caucus. Ringing endorsement from John Stewart.

Cons: Stirs as much passion in the base as a Reds-Orioles spring training game.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Arkansas.

Current Occupation: U.S. Senator from New York.

Pros: Name recognition. Her presence on the ticket may induce the Religious Right to self-immolate rather than go to the polls.

Cons: Might give her husband the keys to the Oval Office, where he'll undoubtedly have sex with interns. Not really actually liked by anybody.

Barack Obama, Illinois.

Current Occupation: U.S. Senator.

Pros: Handsome, charismatic and inspiring, without getting stuck in needless details like an actual platform.

Cons: As a noted Bears fan, will certainly lose Indiana. Full name (Barack Hussein Ayatollah Hitler von Bismarck tse-Tung Obama Bin Laden) might turn off some voters.

Angus Reid Global Monitor) - More Democratic Party supporters in the United States believe Hillary Rodham Clinton should be their presidential candidate in 2008, according to a poll by TNS released by the Washington Post and ABC News. 41 per cent of respondents would support the New York senator in a primary, up two points since November.

Illinois senator Barack Obama is second with 17 per cent, followed by former North Carolina senator John Edwards with 11 per cent, former U.S. vice-president Al Gore with 10 per cent, and Massachusetts senator and 2004 presidential nominee John Kerry with eight per cent.

Support is lower for Delaware senator Joe Biden, retired general Wesley Clark, Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich, and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson.

angus-reid

Two years before our next president takes the oath of office, not one but three presidential hopefuls joined the candidate field this past weekend: Sen. Hillary Clinton D-N.Y., Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., and Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.

Barack Obama, the freshman Democratic senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy the previous week.

All of them joined a growing pack of presidential wannabes that includes, on the Democratic side, Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden, Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, former John Kerry running mate John Edwards, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel.

On the Republican side, Brownback joined former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who announced his candidacy for his party's nomination way back on Jan. 3. Arizona Sen. John McCain has not yet announced -- but by all accounts is running as well.

We long ago stopped counting on our fingers the number of folks jockeying for position in the wide-open 2008 presidential race. According to a Duke University political scientist, the reason for all the action is that neither our sitting president nor his vice president are vying for the job and that creates a vacuum that few high-level politicians are able to resist. We probably couldn't fit on this page the list of senators who, in the last year, have looked in the mirror and seen a president staring back at them.


morning sentinel

In a perfect world, social concerns would trump political manipulations every time. But in the imperfect world of politics in America, issues such as race and gender are routinely dwarfed by issues such as crime, taxes, war, erosions of freedoms at home, unemployment, education, and the economy. These are the issues that motivate most voters; politicians ignore them at their peril.

For many, race and gender are mere distractions and not taken too seriously. For millions of others, however, such concerns are fundamental. It should not go unnoticed, for example, that more than half of this country's 300 million citizens are women, most of whom believe women are entitled to the authority their numbers seem to merit. Still, many lack the confidence to cast their votes for one of their own.

The first credible African American presidential candidate in our history - the first, that is, with a serious chance of winning, Sen. Barack Obama (D., Ill.) - is widely perceived as transcending color the same way Gen. Colin Powell had a decade earlier.

But Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who are seeking the Democratic nomination for president, face issues of race and gender they will not easily overcome. True, a lot has changed in America since 1984, when Geraldine Ferraro and the Rev. Jesse Jackson sought their party's support, but the question remains - just how much have our attitudes really changed?


Philly.com

George W. Bush's position on Iran is "disturbing" and "dangerous," reads a position paper written in late 2005 by American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). One year ago the Bush administration accepted a Russian proposal to allow Iran to continue to develop nuclear energy under Russian supervision. Needless to say, AIPAC wasn't the least bit happy about the compromise.

In a letter to congressional allies, mostly Democrats, the pro-Israel organization admitted it was "concerned that the decision not to go to the Security Council, combined with the U.S. decision to support the 'Russian proposal,' indicates a disturbing shift in the Administration's policy on Iran and poses a danger to the U.S. and our allies."

Israel, however, continues to develop a substantial nuclear arsenal. In 2000, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported that Israel has likely produced enough plutonium to make up to 200 nuclear weapons. So it is safe to say that Israel's bomb-building technologies are light years ahead of Iran's budding nuclear program. Yet Israel still won't admit they have capacity to produce such deadly weapons.

Meanwhile, as AIPAC and Israel pressure the U.S. government to force the Iran issue to the UN Security Council, Israel itself stands in violation of numerous UN resolutions dealing with the occupied territories of Palestine, including UN Resolution 1402, which in part calls on Israel to withdraw its military from all Palestinian cities at once.


oped news

As most everyone knows by now, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) has recently thrown her hat into the ring of contenders for the 2008 Democrat presidential nomination. [1] [2] Because I happen to think that Ms. Clinton is among the most disingenuous individuals in American politics, I have decided to relate what I believe she would have said in her public announcement to run for president if she were capable of being honest with the people of this country.

The following quotes are from Hillary’s brief “I’m In” statement of January 20th, 2007. After each one I have included my own version of her message, written in a way that I feel more accurately reflects her true attitudes and desires.

HRC - “I announced today that I am forming a presidential exploratory committee.”

I announced today that I am forming a presidential exploratory committee, and before I say anything else, let me just point out that it was never my intention to complete my second term as the junior Senator from New York. I’ll be damned if I’m going to continue taking a back seat to Chucky Schumer, [3] while losers like John Kerry [4] get all the attention. Screw my constituents, I want to be president!

HRC - “I’m not just starting a campaign, though, I’m beginning a conversation - with you, with America.

I’m not just starting a campaign though, I’m creating a fearsome political hit squad to eliminate all of my competitors, and while I’m at it, I’ll be having conversations with wealthy Hollywood film actors, labor union leaders, sycophantic journalists, a slew of activist lawyers, and anyone else with the money and influence to help me get elected.

HRC - “Because we all need to be part of the discussion if we’re all going to be part of the solution. And all of us have to be part of the solution.”

Because limousine liberals are the solution to my fiscal problems, and sitting down to softball interviews with schmucks like Larry King [5] will be of tremendous help to me as I attempt to convince large numbers of Americans that I’m not really a communist.

news by us

WASHINGTON, DC (NAMC) – Since U.S. President Bush was reelected the rumors began to fly as to who would run in 2008. Although there has been speculation there was no official word on the true contenders that would be throwing their hats in the arena. Of course there have been several Independent Candidates that made attempts to gain some early ground but as of this weekend some clarity has come to the race and Independent candidates more than likely will be overshadowed and overlooked.

So lets move away from the Indie scene as that is not where the meat of the 2008 race is, just this weekend New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton made it official, she will be running for office. This is not a shock as her agenda has been scripted going back to when her husband President Bill Clinton was in office. On the heels of Clinton’s announcement Kansas Senator Sam Brownback made it known that he is in the hunt.

We are in Mid January and you can expect more announcements of some prestigious names to join the party, New Mexico’s Governor Bill Richardson just recently jumped in, John Edwards is seeking the Democratic nod, and it is even possible that Former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney may be in the running for the Republican nod.

NAMC Newswire

The competition is heating up for next year's U.S. presidential race, with several Democratic and Republican hopefuls on board.

Five Democratic candidates have declared candidacy and filed papers with the Federal Election Commission: Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel, Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack.

On the other end, Republicans have two official candidates: Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and Chicago accountant and investor John Cox.

Both parties have many more potential candidates who have announced intent to run or have formed presidential exploratory committees and the start of a campaign.

The Daily Aztec

The central character of the autumn 2008 U.S. presidential election has taken the stage. Hillary Clinton, the New York senator, has announced her bid for the presidency.

In the U.S. midterm elections last November, the Democratic Party scored a huge victory over the Republicans to gain control of Congress. Presidential hopefuls from the Democratic Party are hoping to ride that wave of success straight to the White House.

So far, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, former North Carolina Senator John Edwards who was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004 and others have announced their intentions to run.

Obviously, Senator Clinton's decision to announce now was influenced by the other nominees within the party. But we cannot ignore the fact that as the situation in Iraq plunges deeper into dire straits, more Americans are hoping for a leader that is different from President George W. Bush.


Watching America

WASHINGTON: The public financing system for presidential campaigns, a post-Watergate reform hailed for decades as the best way to rid politics of the corrupting influence of money, may have quietly died.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York became the first candidate since the public financing was introduced in the 1970s to forgo public financing for both the primaries and the general election because of the spending limits that come with the government money.

By declaring her confidence that she can raise far more than the roughly $150 million the system would provide for her in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries and general election, Clinton makes it difficult for other serious candidates to participate in the system without putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage.

Officials of the Federal Election Commission and advisers to several campaigns say they expect that the two candidates who reach Election Day 2008 will raise more than $500 million apiece, pushing the total spent on the presidential election well over $1 billion.

International Herald Tribune

NEW YORK - Who says politics is show business for ugly people?


"An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore's film on the perils of global warming, scored two Oscar nominations Tuesday — for best documentary feature and best original song.

While he is not technically a nominee — the film's director, Davis Guggenheim, won the nod, as did singer Melissa Etheridge for the song "I Need to Wake Up" — Gore said he was "thrilled" that his movie was honored.

"The film ... has brought awareness of the climate crisis to people in the United States and all over the world," Gore said in an e-mail statement. "I am so grateful to the entire team and pleased that the Academy has recognized their work. This film proves that movies really can make a difference."

Aides say the former vice president plans to walk the red carpet with Hollywood's beautiful people at the Academy Awards ceremony next month.


Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON - If elected president, Hillary Rodham Clinton says her spouse and former Oval Office occupant will be a "tremendous asset," but she's the decider. "I'm running to be the president, to make the decisions," Clinton told ABC's "Good Morning America" Tuesday. Since formally entering the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination over the weekend, Mrs. Clinton has been repeatedly pressed to elaborate on what role her husband, former President Clinton, would play in her presidency.

When he sought the presidency 15 years ago, Bill Clinton described his wife as a political partner, saying his campaign slogan should be: "Buy one, get one free."

Asked if that slogan would apply to her as well, the former first lady responded: "I wouldn't say it quite like that."

But Mrs. Clinton also said she would "count on his advice and his experience, not only here at home with the great progress that was made on so many important issues when he was president, but also what he knows about the world in which we find ourselves today."

In separate interview on NBC's "Today Show," Mrs. Clinton called her husband "a tremendous asset."

"He knows what the job is like. He had great success on a number of difficult fronts when he was president. ... So I'm going to be looking to him for a lot of advice and guidance."

Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The first shots of the 2008 White House race are echoing across the Internet, as candidates take to the campaign trail online targeting tech-savvy young voters while bypassing traditional media.

From blogs, to social networking and video sites to the online virtual world that is Second Life, politicians are rolling out Web strategies in a campaign set to be dominated by cyberspace as never before.

Former first lady Hillary Clinton at the weekend became the latest presidential candidate to announce her campaign in a Web video and on Monday launched a series of online chats.

Last week, rising Democratic star Senator Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) posted a video saying he had taken the first step on the road he hopes will lead to the White House.

Defeated 2004 Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards used the backdrop of hurricane-wrecked New Orleans for a Web video launching his own 2008 run.

On Second Life, a fantasy world peopled by some two million computer-generated "residents," politicians are meanwhile creating a buzz holding press conferences and interviews with virtual reporters.

"The Web will be playing a bigger role than ever in the 2008 campaign, so much so that for the first time, it will actually change the outcome of the election," predicted Joe Trippi, who ran Democrat Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign and pioneered use of the Internet to raise funds and rally voters.

Yahoo! News

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone poll shows that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) continues to hold an eight-point lead over Senator John McCain (news, bio, voting record) (R) in the race for the Republican nomination. Giuliani now earns 30% of the vote, up from 28% a week ago. John McCain (R) has support from 22% while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich remains in third at 12%.

Former Massachusetts Mitt Romney is back in double digits at 10%. Another former Governor Mike Huckabee registers just 2% as does Senator Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record). Senator Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record) registers support from 1% of GOP voters.

While McCain continues to hold a solid second place in this polling, a separate survey shows he has lost ground in general election match-ups. In fact, for the first time in any Rasmussen Reports polling, McCain has fallen behind a Democratic competitor, trailing both Illinois Senator Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards. McCain may be hampered by the situation in Iraq (considered the most important issue by voters). Most Americans believe we should be reducing the number of U.S. troops fighting in that country while McCain supports the President's call for more troops.

Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON - Presidential candidates are about to get just what they don't need and don't want — a crush of primaries and caucuses leading off the 2008 campaign calendar.

Some of the biggest states are racing to place their primaries near the front of the 2008 primary lineup, including California, Florida, New Jersey and possibly Illinois. That's likely to create a crowded first Tuesday in February.

"It looks like we will have a very fast primary season," said Elaine Kamarck, a veteran Democratic activist. "States that are moving up early will just form one big national primary."

It also means that only a month after the Iowa caucuses kick off the presidential nominating season on Jan. 14, the contests for the Democratic and Republican nominations will be effectively decided.

No one thinks that's a good idea — not the candidates, not the parties and not the voters. It ratchets up the pressure on candidates to get in the race early and raise unprecedented amounts of money. Political strategists frequently cite $100 million as roughly the amount each presidential candidate will need to raise in 2007 to compete effectively in a compressed 2008 primary season.

Yahoo! News

ALBANY, N.Y. - White House hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will not accept public campaign financing for either the Democratic primaries or, if she wins the nomination, the general election campaign.

Clinton's decision had been widely expected given her and her husband's proven ability to raise vast sums of money quickly. Her advisers have not disputed estimates that she will raise $100 million or more before the year is out.

The New York senator already has more than $14 million in the bank, money left from her successful re-election campaign last year. The funds can be spent on her presidential bid.

While both President Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry rejected public funding for their primary campaigns in 2004, they did accept $74.5 million each for the general election campaign. The funding for the general election was expected to reach $85 million for the major party candidates in 2008.

Yahoo! News

The last time the political stars lined up like this was in 1920. In that year's presidential contest, the nation was licking its wounds from a bruising war, and many Americans were angered by outgoing President Woodrow Wilson's attempt to turn that fight into a crusade to spread democracy around the globe.

Neither Wilson - who was ailing and had served two terms - nor his vice president, Thomas Marshall, sought the presidency in 1920. That lack of an incumbent candidate and the nation's obsession with foreign policy issues propelled Ohio Sen. Warren Harding into the White House.

"America's present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy … not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality," Harding said before winning a landslide victory.

Not surprisingly, with neither President Bush nor Vice President Cheney seeking the presidency next year, and foreign policy again the cause of great discontent, a growing number of senators are lining up for the job. And journalists are treating them as though they have the inside track.

Yahoo! News

Washington (The Weekly Standard) Vol. 012, Issue 18 - 1/22/2007 - "You know, I find myself, as I often do, in the somewhat lonely middle."

--Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the January 27, 2007, New YorkerNew York senator Hillary Rodham Clinton remains the most hawkish prospective candidate in the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Among the major Democrats who have announced or are about to announce their candidacies, only Sen. Clinton has not clearly repudiated her October 10, 2002, vote authorizing the use of force against Saddam Hussein. And although Clinton opposes Bush's proposed increase of American combat troops deployed in Iraq, and has called for the "phased redeployment" of some troops from Iraq in order to foster a political settlement that might end sectarian killing there, such positions still leave her to the right of the antiwar left and most other Democrats.

Unlike Illinois senator Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) and former vice president Al Gore, Sen. Clinton supported regime change in 2002. Unlike Delaware senator Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), Clinton has not voiced support for partitioning Iraq along sectarian lines. Unlike former North Carolina senator and 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards, she has neither called for the "immediate" withdrawal of 40,000 troops from Iraq nor said that her initial vote to authorize the conflict was a "mistake." And unlike Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, Clinton rejects setting a date certain for U.S. withdrawal.

Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The rapidly expanding field of 2008 presidential contenders has set off a frenzied battle for all-important campaign donations, as the money-driven US election contest gathers steam.

The 2004 presidential election broke spending records, but the current campaign is expected to eclipse that one, according to federal election officials.

"The 2008 race will be the longest and most expensive election in American history," former Federal Election Commission chairman Michael Toner told reporters recently.

Toner said campaign spending would likely approach the one billion dollar mark in 2008, despite various attempts to clamp down on expenditures.

US election authorities say that top-tier presidential candidates like Democrats Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record), Hillary Clinton, and Bill Richardson and Republican Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record) -- all of whom entered the race just this past week -- likely will need to raise a daunting 100 million dollars by year's end to launch credible campaigns.

Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON - The extraordinary life and adventures of Hillary Rodham Clinton began with an utterly ordinary childhood in the middle of the country, in the middle of the century, in the house at the corner of Wisner and Elm.

Hers was an Ozzie and Harriet youth of dodge ball, baby-sitting and bologna sandwiches in suburban Chicago. The girl scout grew into a Goldwater girl, the Goldwater girl became a Democrat, the Democrat became a lawyer, and the lawyer fell in love with a lawyer.

That is where the story line begins its improbable, serpentine path, wending from Watergate to Whitewater to the White House. Now, after a side trip to the Capitol, Clinton hopes it will take her back to the White House once again, this time as the first female president rather than the dutiful spouse.

Her future, says Clinton, has always been unpredictable.

"It's a constant surprise what I do and what happens to me," she said when she turned 50, in 1997.

Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON - First, Newt Gingrich said he would run for president in 2008 only if no other Republican emerged as a clear front-runner. Now, the former House speaker says he will run only as a "last resort."

His assessment came in response to a question by Chris Wallace, host of "Fox News Sunday."

"You sound as if you think about running for president as a last resort, not as a first resort?" Wallace asked.

"Exactly," Gingrich answered. "I mean, nobody's ever said it quite that way, but you're right."

Gingrich said he first hoped to influence the presidential race by providing candidates in both parties with his "solutions" to problems such as health care, energy, education, national security and immigration.

Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON - A self-described underdog in the crowded 2008 presidential race, Democrat Bill Richardson begins the difficult task of proving he can raise enough money to be a serious contender for the party's nomination.

The 59-year-old New Mexico governor announced in a video posted Sunday on his Web site that he would set up an exploratory committee that will let him raise money and assemble his campaign organization.

"I believe these serious times demand serious people, who have real-world experience in solving the challenges we face," Richardson said in the video. "I humbly believe I'm the best-equipped candidate to meet these challenges."

A former U.N. ambassador, Energy Department secretary and congressman, Richardson's resume looks presidential.

Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON - A self-described underdog in the crowded 2008 presidential race, Democrat Bill Richardson begins the difficult task of proving he can raise enough money to be a serious contender for the party's nomination.

The 59-year-old New Mexico governor announced in a video posted Sunday on his Web site that he would set up an exploratory committee that will let him raise money and assemble his campaign organization.

"I believe these serious times demand serious people, who have real-world experience in solving the challenges we face," Richardson said in the video. "I humbly believe I'm the best-equipped candidate to meet these challenges."

A former U.N. ambassador, Energy Department secretary and congressman, Richardson's resume looks presidential.

Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, in her first public appearance since joining the 2008 White House race, said on Sunday she wanted to become U.S. president because she was "worried about the future of our country."

The former first lady, appearing at a health clinic in Manhattan to promote expanded health insurance for children, faced a mob of journalists eager to quiz her on her historic campaign to be the first female U.S. president.

Clinton, 59, announced her widely anticipated bid to seek the Democratic Party's presidential nomination on Saturday with a statement on her Web site declaring: "I'm in. And I'm in to win."

"I'm worried about the future of our country, and I want to help put it back on the right course so that we can work together to meet the challenges that confront us at home and abroad," she said.

"I am best-positioned to be able to do that, and that's why I'm running," Clinton added.

Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (AFP) - One day after Senator Hillary Clinton tossed her hat into the 2008 presidential race, the crowded field of US presidential contenders expanded, setting up a pitched battle for donors and support.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson joined the growing list of Democratic contenders Sunday, announcing on ABC television's "This Week" program that he would form a presidential exploratory committee.

Richardson, a former US ambassador to the United Nations and energy secretary, is seeking to become the first Hispanic to occupy the White House.

His announcement however, was overshadowed this weekend by Clinton's long-anticipated entry into the race, setting up what promises to be one of the most exciting and groundbreaking political contests in US history.

Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico announced on Sunday he was taking the first step toward a 2008 presidential bid that would make him the first Hispanic to sit in the White House.

"I am seeking the nomination because I believe I can do the job," Richardson, 59, told ABC's "This Week."

Richardson, who was elected to a second term last year after a long career in Washington jobs, said he planned a campaign focused on a broad array of issues, not just those affecting the Latino community.

"I wouldn't run as a Hispanic candidate. I would run as an American proud to be Hispanic," Richardson said.

Richardson entered a growing field of people running for the Democratic nomination. To underscore his status as an underdog in the race, his announcement competed on the Sunday news shows by talk of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton announcing her own exploratory committee on Saturday.

Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sen. Hillary Clinton holds a large early lead over other top candidates in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, said a national poll reported on Sunday in The Washington Post.

New York's Clinton was the favorite of 41 percent of Democrats polled, more than double the 17-percent, second-place rating scored by Illinois Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record), the Post said.

Former Sen. John Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee, placed third at 11 percent, with former Vice President Al Gore at 10 percent. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 presidential nominee, came in at 8 percent.

The poll was taken before Clinton announced her candidacy on Saturday. Obama entered the race on Tuesday and Edwards jumped in last month.


Yahoo! News

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record) formally kicked off his bid for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination Saturday at a rally in Topeka by advocating what he calls a compassionate brand of conservatism.

This is hardly a new notion, as George W. Bush labeled himself a “compassionate conservative” during his 2000 campaign for a first term in the White House. But Brownback, a social conservative who opposes abortion, embryonic stem cell research and assisted suicide, made it clear that his view of compassion extends to these issues.

“Something most people feel deeply in their hearts is the need for a culture of life — a culture that doesn’t allow the strong to exploit the weak — a culture of compassion instead of a culture of convenience,” Brownback said. “Life is beautiful. We all know this. Let’s start following our hearts and work to protect all innocent human life.”

Yahoo! News

TOPEKA, Kan. - Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record) jumped into the 2008 presidential race Saturday, a favorite of the religious right now in an uphill battle against better known rivals for the GOP nomination.
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"I am a conservative and I'm proud of being a conservative," he proclaimed.

"My family and I are taking the first steps on the yellow brick road to the White House. It's a great journey," the two-term senator told hundreds of supporters. He pledged to fight on behalf of the nation's cultural values and to focus on rebuilding families.

The 50-year-old Brownback offers himself as a "full-scale Ronald Reagan conservative."

After Saturday's speech, he told reporters: "My positions are at the heart of where the Republican Party is. I'm willing to take those positions with all comers."

Brownback's announcement, planned weeks ago, came hours after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., entered her party's 2008 race with a posting on her Web site with little prior notice.

"I don't know why she did that. I guess she's scared of me," Brownback said.


Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton enters the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination with unrivaled political strengths and challenges to match, a former first lady turned senator, soon to be tested in a campaign unlike any other in American history.
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While Clinton seeks to become the first woman commander in chief, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) is in the early stages of what promises to be the most credible White House campaign ever by a black politician.

One year before the first caucus and primary votes are cast, sheer star power sets them apart from the pack of contenders who will now begin to debate the war in Iraq, health care, federal deficits and more.

"All things considered, she is a little bit more a front-runner than Senator Obama," said Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster not aligned with any candidate. He put the odds at "better than 50-50 that the nominee will come from that pair."

Yahoo! News

HOOKSETT, N.H. - Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut made it through two questions at a Saturday morning coffee in New Hampshire before he was asked the inevitable.

Sitting in a living room, state Rep. Eileen Ehlers asked if Dodd has the qualities — meaning, profile — to win his party's nomination in a Democratic field crowded with bigger names.

"At one point, if I'd stood here with 25 years experience in the U.S. Senate, that would have been the end of it," said Dodd, making his first trip to the first primary state since announcing his candidacy last week. "This is not a warm up for me. I'm 62. For me, I'm not asking for your support so I can run again in four or eight years."

But with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton announcing her creation of an exploratory committee earlier in the day, Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record)'s rock star-style visit to New Hampshire in December and Dodd's limp poll numbers, the white-haired veteran acknowledged his challenges.

Yahoo! News

Mitt Romney's candidacy for president has occasioned reams of speculation on how his Mormon faith would influence his conduct in the White House--some of it reminiscent of anxieties about John F. Kennedy's Catholicism that were prevalent in 1960. In a recent cover story for The New Republic, Damon Linker, who once taught at Brigham Young University and presumably knows Mormonism well, argued that these fears are well-founded ("The Big Test," January 15). "[W]ould it not be accurate," Linker asked, "to say that, under a President Romney, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints would truly be in charge of the country--with its leadership having final say on matters of right and wrong?" According to Linker, Mormons believe their church presidents receive revelation from God; faithful Mormons have to comply with every directive from their prophet's mouth; and, therefore, to remain true to his religious beliefs, a President Romney would have to knuckle under to church leaders.

'Linker's logic may sound straightforward, but, in fact, it has no grounding in reality. His concerns echo the controversy that greeted Mormon Church apostle Reed Smoot (he of the notorious Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act) when he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1903. Before eventually seating Smoot, a Senate committee debated his qualifications for nearly four years. To allay their fears, the senators repeatedly questioned church President Joseph F. Smith (nephew of the church's founder) about his control of Mormon politics. Over and over, he assured the committee that he had no intention of dictating Smoot's votes in the Senate--until, eventually, Theodore Roosevelt stepped in and swung the balance in Smoot's favor.'

New Republic article

'Senator Barack Obama, the rising young star of the Democratic party, took his first step into the 2008 presidential contest yesterday, raising the temperature in an already heated race.
'Mr Obama's video address on his campaign website was merely a dress rehearsal: the announcement of an exploratory committee to raise funds and build a campaign team. He is to make an official announcement of his candidacy in his home town of Chicago on February 10.

'But the sheer possibility of an African-American president, and Mr Obama's electrifying effect on Democratic voters, assured yesterday's announcement widespread attention.'



Guardian article

'The First Hundred Hours have begun. (Lest anyone wonder why they aren't already over, new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi meant congressional working hours, not real hours.) We've seen Pelosi show exactly how much her own wonderfulness needs to be celebrated—and her grandiose tendency to think of herself as Mangog-like living embodiment of all the glories and splendors of her entire gender.
'But what of the Democrat's 100 Hours agenda, past celebrating Pelosi-hood? It's not worth the cannoli with which it was launched.

'The ethics reform stuff deserves at least a half-hearted cheer, if only because it’s nice to see bipartisanship work at its best: not in allowing government to act more swiftly, but in generating internal tensions that drive congressmen to act against their general interest as politicians in favor of their particular interests as party members.'


Reason article

'Evan Bayh was uncharacteristically dispirited when I met him in the Russell Senate Office Building on a quiet Wednesday before Christmas. For Bayh, who is fifty-one and was first elected to the Senate from Indiana in 1998, December will be recalled as a low moment in an otherwise high-achieving life. Less than two weeks earlier, he had the bad luck to visit New Hampshire on the same weekend that his junior colleague in the Senate Barack Obama, from Illinois, was also visiting. Bayh spoke to a hundred and fifty supporters in a Manchester restaurant; Obama swept through the state trailed by a hundred and fifty reporters. "We originally scheduled the Rolling Stones for this party," the governor, John Lynch, told fifteen hundred people who paid twenty-five dollars apiece to see Obama in a Manchester ballroom. "But we cancelled them when we realized Senator Obama would sell more tickets."
'It was not merely this experience, though, which led Bayh to announce, shortly afterward, that he would not seek the 2008 Democratic nomination for President. He did not lack for money—his finance chief, Nancy Jacobson, had already raised more than ten million dollars—or desire. His father, Birch Bayh, was also an Indiana senator, as well as a failed Presidential candidate, and Bayh had harbored White House ambitions for years. So his decision, made just two weeks after he formed a Presidential exploratory committee, surprised many Democrats.'


Slate Magazine article

'Long ago, A.J. Liebling wrote a wonderful book on Earl Long called The Earl of Louisiana. The first sentences of the book are pricelessly memorable: "Southern political personalities, like sweet corn, travel badly. They lose flavor with every hundred yards away from the patch. By the time they reach New York, they are like Golden Bantam that has been trucked up from Texas -- stale and unprofitable. The consumer forgets that corn tastes different where it grows."
'Liebling wrote those graceful sentences around 1959, and who would have argued, then, with their truth? Two Texans, Lyndon Johnson and Sam Rayburn, may have risen to head both branches of Congress; but their success was owed to the peculiar power structure of that institution, not the preferences of the American people. Americans did not want southerners running things then. (Yes, Eisenhower was born in Texas, but he's really Pennsylvania Dutch -- he retired to Gettysburg -- and, as the great Allied commander, transcended such regionalisms anyway).

'Now, of course, the opposite is the case. Today, New York political personalities, like H & H Bagels, travel badly. They lose texture with every mile from the Upper West Side. By the time they reach South Carolina, they're like zeppole that have been trucked down from Mulberry Street -- alien and unpalatable. The Carolinian forgets that zeppole taste different where they're baked. But that doesn't do the zeppole much good.'




American Prospect article

'She's not sure whether she is running for president. But she is certain that the time is right for a woman to try. Maybe Hillary Clinton thinks that Nancy Pelosi should be the Democratic candidate. OK, Hillary is not a candid person. This time--actually, the day that I write--she was not candid on NPR's "Morning Edition." Yesterday, it was on another platform. Tomorrow, she won't be candid on still another one. So, what else is new? We've accommodated to her trying to figure all the angles. Hillary has been scheming for the presidency since the day her husband entered the White House, which is why she didn't much take to Al Gore. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if she conspired with James Baker--or is that just me?

'One of the problems about figuring all the angles is that you can't. And, believe me, Hillary tried. She has had an apparatus in place for just that chore for years. Not long enough ago to include Harold Ickes's father, the other Harold Ickes, who schemed for FDR. But this Harold Ickes (who ran Eugene McCarthy's campaign in New York), and Mandy Grunwald and John Podesta and Mark Penn and Tony Podesta and Susan Thomases, unless any of these have been unceremoniously pushed off the ship, much like Marian Wright Edelman--Hillary's closest sister and ideological soulmate--was pushed, never to be let on board again. In its youth, the team was a band of idealists, self-styled. Now it's made up of hardened cynics, no pretense otherwise. But the same folk.'



New Republic article

'Newt Gingrich still denies that he has made up his mind about whether or not to seek the presidency -- and if he does, it will only be because America demands it. "I am not 'running' for president," he told Fortune magazine in November. "I am seeking to create a movement to win the future by offering a series of solutions so compelling that if the American people say I have to be president, it will happen."

'Gingrich is, however, running away from his former friends. As the former speaker of the House unsubtly positions himself for a shot at the nomination, his latest tactic seems to be distancing himself from the political polonium that is the Bush administration. A recent article in Insight magazine, a publication affiliated with the conservative Washington Times newspaper, describes unnamed sources "close to Gingrich" as saying the former speaker was breaking with the administration: "Newt bit his tongue for months and now feels he has to tell his base the truth: the White House does not have the will or the power to promote any agenda."


Salon Magazine article

'WASHINGTON -- On March 4, 1976, Indiana Sen. Birch Bayh ended his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination after finishing a weak third in the New Hampshire primary and then following that up with a paltry 5 percent of the vote in the Massachusetts primary.
'Thirty years later, his son, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, abandoned his own quest for the White House on Saturday -- 13 months before the New Hampshire primary -- unexpectedly telling supporters in a statement, "I concluded that due to circumstances beyond our control, the odds were longer than I felt I could responsibly pursue."


Salon Magazine article

'Last Monday, people began lining up outside of the All Saints Church in Pasadena, California at 1:30 PM to see John Edwards -- who wasn't scheduled to appear until the evening. When the church couldn't fit all 700 audience members into the same room as Edwards, guests willingly watched telecasts that were set up in two other rooms. "It had the feeling of a campaign event," Parish Administrator Christina Honchell told me. "There was a feeling of celebration in the air because of the change in Congress."

'That evening, Edwards appeared at ease wearing jeans and an open-collared shirt. After speaking briefly about his new book, Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives, Edwards opened the floor for questions, which ranged from the economy to health care to, inevitably, the war in Iraq. The crowd reached a fever pitch when Susan Russell, an All Saints priest, asked what hope there could be for parents who preach peace in wartime but whose children are fighting in Iraq. (Russell's own son is currently serving in Tikrit.) Edwards' response was notable. As he has for a while now, he blamed himself explicitly for having voted to authorize the war, and emphasized his proposal to decrease the number of troops significantly and immediately through redeployment, to be followed eventually by a complete withdrawal from the country.'


American Prospect article

'There is at least one nice thing one can say about former New York mayor and current Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani -- besides, of course, his penchant for dressing in drag, his love for opera, and the fact that he used to share an apartment with a gay man.

'On 9/11, all Americans were frightened children, and in a moment of mythic personal heroism, Mayor Giuliani filled the gaping leadership void. The president looked like a petrified chimp; Cheney was spirited to an underground bunker. Only Giuliani could pull himself together sufficiently to get on TV in the midst of the wreckage and show America that a grown-up was still breathing. On that terrible day our reptile brains looked at Rudy Giuliani and said, "We're OK now. Daddy's home."

'And we forgot, some for a moment, some permanently, that Daddy was psycho.'

Salon Magazine article

The New York senator and former first lady leads early polls for the Democratic presidential nomination, but the competition stiffens almost daily.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton enters the 2008 presidential race uniquely positioned to make a top-flight run at be-coming America's first woman president.

The Democrat from New York brings to the table 14 years of experience at Washington's highest political levels, as both a two-term first lady and now six years as a US senator. She appears set to raise all the funds she needs, enjoys near-universal name recognition, and has at her side one of the nation's most astute political operatives, her husband, former President Clinton.

But Senator Clinton, who launched her exploratory committee on Saturday with the declaration of "I'm in," faces serious hurdles to reaching her goal. Last week's entry of Sen. Barack Obama (D) of Illinois into the contest adds a charismatic, fresh persona to the mix, and makes Clinton's nomination far from a foregone conclusion. While Clinton has already withstood intense public scrutiny of her life and record, she will face questions again, in addition to charges that she is humorless and calculating. And as a Democratic woman seeking to become commander in chief at a time of war, she must prove her bona fides on defense as she seeks to distance herself from an unpopular war that she initially supported.

Christian Science Monitor article

To boost diversity in presidential nominating votes, they put Nevada's and South Carolina's sooner.

WASHINGTON – Move over Iowa and New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina are now members of the Democratic Party's "early nominators" club.

By adding new states to its early roster of presidential nominating contests, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) aims to add racial and geographic diversity to the selection process.

Under the plan, adopted over the weekend in Chicago, Iowa will still hold the very first event - party caucuses - and New Hampshire will keep its traditional first primary in the nation. But Nevada will squeeze its caucuses into the eight-day gap between Iowa and New Hampshire, and South Carolina will hold primaries as soon as a week after New Hampshire. If all the state parties cooperate, these contests could end up taking place in a time frame as tight as 15 days in January 2008.

Christian Science Monitor article

Presidential candidates are already lining up and the field is starting to take shape.

'WASHINGTON – The 2006 midterms are finally over (almost). Let the 2008 games begin.

'A handful of congressional races aren't quite over yet, but the jockeying for the 2008 presidential contest - going on for months, if not years - has burst fully into the open. For the Republicans, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York, have registered committees and signaled they're probably in. By all indications, outgoing Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is in.

'For the Democrats, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has money and organization - and just bowed out of a party leadership position, another sign she may be in. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois says he's pondering a run, possibly positioning himself as the un-Hillary. Outgoing Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack is definitely in. Former vice presidential nominee John Edwards has shown all the signs.'

Christian Science Monitor article

Today I am announcing that I will form an exploratory committee to run for president.

And I want you to join me not just for the campaign but for a conversation about the future of our country -- about the bold but practical changes we need to overcome six years of Bush administration failures.

I am going to take this conversation directly to the people of America, and I'm starting by inviting all of you to join me in a series of web chats over the next few days.

The stakes will be high when America chooses a new president in 2008.

As a senator, I will spend two years doing everything in my power to limit the damage George W. Bush can do. But only a new president will be able to undo Bush's mistakes and restore our hope and optimism.

Only a new president can renew the promise of America -- the idea that if you work hard you can count on the health care, education, and retirement security that you need to raise your family. These are the basic values of America that are under attack from this administration every day.

And only a new president can regain America's position as a respected leader in the world.

I believe that change is coming November 4, 2008. And I am forming my exploratory committee because I believe that together we can bring the leadership that this country needs. I'm going to start this campaign with a national conversation about how we can work to get our country back on track.

This is a big election with some very big questions. How do we bring the war in Iraq to the right end? How can we make sure every American has access to adequate health care? How will we ensure our children inherit a clean environment and energy independence? How can we reduce the deficits that threaten Social Security and Medicare?

No matter where you live, no matter what your political views, I want you to be a part of this important conversation right at the start. So to begin, I'm going to spend the next several days answering your questions in a series of live video web discussions. Starting Monday, January 22, at 7 p.m. EST for three nights in a row, I'll sit down to answer your questions about how we can work together for a better future. And you can participate live at my website. Sign up to join the conversation here.

I grew up in a middle-class family in the middle of America, where I learned that we could overcome every obstacle we face if we work together and stay true to our values.

I have worked on issues critical to our country almost all my life. I've fought for children for more than 30 years. In Arkansas, I pushed for education reform. As First Lady, I helped to expand health care coverage to millions of children and to pass legislation that dramatically increased adoptions. I also traveled to China to affirm that women's rights are human rights.

And in the Senate, I have worked across party lines to get billions more for children's health care, to stop the president's plan to privatize Social Security, and to make sure the victims and heroes of 9/11 and our men and women in uniform receive the fair treatment they deserve. In 2006, I led the successful fight to make Plan B contraception available to women without a prescription.

I have spent a lifetime opening opportunities for tens of millions who are working hard to raise a family: new immigrants, families living in poverty, people who have no health care or face an uncertain retirement.

The promise of America is that all of us will have access to opportunity, and I want to run a 2008 campaign that renews that promise, a campaign built on a lifetime record of results.

I have never been afraid to stand up for what I believe in or to face down the Republican machine. After nearly $70 million spent against my campaigns in New York and two landslide wins, I can say I know how Washington Republicans think, how they operate, and how to beat them.

I need you to be a part of this campaign, and I hope you'll start by joining me in this national conversation.

As we campaign to win the White House, we will make history and remake our future. We can only break barriers if we dare to confront them, and if we have the determined and committed support of others.

This campaign is our moment, our chance to stand up for the principles and values that we cherish; to bring new ideas, energy, and leadership to a uniquely challenging time. It's our chance to say "we can" and "we will."

Let's go to work. America's future is calling us.

The United States Presidential election of 2008 will be held on November 4, 2008. The election will determine electors for the United States Electoral College, and whichever presidential candidate receives a majority of votes in the Electoral College (at least 270) will be the 44th President of the United States. If no candidate receives a majority in the Electoral College then the president-elect is selected by a vote of the House of Representatives.

As in the 2004 Presidential election, the allocation of electoral votes to each state will be partially based on the 2000 Census. The president-elect will be inaugurated on Tuesday, January 20, 2009.

United States presidential election, 2008 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia