you forgot Lieberman!
I voted for George Pataki, because he has the two most important qualities for a GOP nominee:
1. He's not a total right-wing nutcase. On the off chance he wins, he won't do as much damage to the country. This criterion eliminates most of the field, who are mostly raving right-wing lunatics.
2. He's eminently beatable. Most of the hard-right candidates--pretty much most of the field--have some kind of folsky charm or personal appeal that might win out over the Democratic nominee. Chuck Hagel, who's a hard-right candidate on everything but the war, would have a good chance of winning. Giuliani, who's not hard-right, could also beat the Democratic candidate. The only other easily beatable non-lunatic is Tommy Thompson. Between the two, Pataki's the weaker candidate.
In terms of talent and suitability for the job, Hagel's the guy, and I think Huckabee would also do well. But the last thing we need is another hard-right president, even if the next one was competent for a change.
i think Newt is the ideologically most pure and therefore could weather a primary both on issues and "electability". Unless he is able to seriously convince the average American, though, he won't be able to take the general.
How about none of the above?
Seattle98104, as the republican contingent of slog, who do you want to see?
I voted for Ron Paul, because I would just love to see the Religious Right and other assorted Neader-patriots get their panties in a twist over an actual wide-eyed anti-war, pro-legalization Libertarian winning it. Besides, it might actually end up with a debate over, ya know, the role of government.
Otherwise, I hope that Brownback wins so that on election day I can do the biggest, most complex and exhausting Schadenfreude dance in the history of Schadenfreude dances. And it would be nice to see that paritcular nail in the Religious Right's coffin.
Then again, if he were to win, it would only trigger the apocalypse...
i'm going brownback. dude's crazy. and, hopefully, people are tired of that shit.
I based my vote on who I could live with if the Rs took the general. That would be Rudy. He is at least reasonable on gay rights & is pro-choice (that is, until he has to sell his soul to win the primaries).
Pataki is a close second for me. The rest of them can fuck right off.
@ konstantconsumer: you have a lot more faith in people than I do.
So how come I only see the names (and results) from the Democratic Straw Poll?
@10 Because it thinks you've already voted. Might someone have already voted from your computer?
They all make me want to gag. Even Giuliani, who started a war on artists and the poor as mayor of NYC.
I'd eat glass before I voted for any one of these jackasses.
I'm predicting a Brownback/Huckabee ticket, and also the most openly hateful, racist, homophobic political campaign in the nation's modern history.
@10: most likely a caching problem. the poll uses an iframe, and they sometimes act strangely on some browsers. try clearing your cache and/or quitting and restarting your browser.
Mike in MO, I'm with you. No predicting who is "beatable" anymore in the era of FOX News. What I want is a GOP candidate who wouldn't turn my stomach as President. That would be Guiliani.
That looks like some sort of list an evil doctor in a horror movie hands to the kidnapped victim and says "I am going to kill you. Here is a list of germs which will either kill you fast or kill you slow. You pick and 'none-of-the-above' isn't an option"
Giuliani is so gonna be the GOP nominee in 2008. Great public rep, good charisma, seems down to Earth, the exact opposite of Dubya... it's the easiest pick in the world.
Hey, thanks for posting a Republican poll too. I'm a registered Democrat, but I'm always open to voting for a decent Republican (rare as such a thing may be these days).
I cast my vote for Chuck Hagel. I hardly know anything about the guy, and goodness knows, if I did go to the trouble of learning about him, I might cringe at my vote. But I gotta say, he's been making the most sense of anyone -- on either side of the aisle -- speaking about Iraq. There was one Sunday talk show where both Hagel and Lieberman were on talking about the war, and Hagel made Lieberman look like even more of a weenie than he usually does.
Actually, I wonder if anyone here knows anything more about Hagel... Oh, BTW, the simple fact that this guy makes so much sense is the surest sign that there's no way in hell he's running for president. (See: Al Gore.)
Giuliani is such a sleazy piece of crap, heroic 9/11 performance nonwithstanding.
I voted for McCain only because the mental case fundies have disavowed him, so he wouldn't feel any pressure to ever give a crap what they want or demand from him if he ever became president, which of course he won't.
It would take a truly Machiavellian feat of cheating or a Swiftboating for the ages for a GOP President to win in 2008.
I cast my vote for Romney as I think the combo Mitt/Condi would be unbeatable
I gotta go with Rudy G just because in the horrendous event that the R's take the WH again he is the only one i could stomach. All the other's would send on a collision course with re-hab of some sort. He would be a huge burr in the side of the far right, not completely unlike Lieberman winning the D nomination.
In terms of who I'd like to give the Democrats a better chance-- Sam Brownback, for sheer psycho quotient, which would hopefully drive all the semi-intelligent Republicans to our side.
In terms of who I'd like as a decent alternative, Giuliani. I don't agree with all his ideas, but he's pragmatic and does as much of a panderer to the far right as McCain and Romney are/are becoming.
Or Tommy Thompson, so everyone can go "Who?"
Don't know if anyone heard, but John McCain will be in Seattle soon for a luncheon that will be open to the public. Not a fundraiser but still kinda swanky at $75/person at the Westin. www.world-affairs.org has more.
I think John McCain will have Joe Lieberman as his VP. Two right for the country, too far right for the nation.
I voted for Brownback, because he is a nutjob and has absolutely zero chance of beating a reasonable democratic candidate. I don't really think Romney has a shot either.
Realistically, I'd probably take Giuliani if I was forced to pick for one. He already had his blowjob scandal! Pataki is a reasonable consideration as well. Everyone else I view as either racist (particularly Brownback and Tancredo) or homophobic, or willing to undermine minorities or homosexuals even if they have no true racist or homophobic feelings to win votes.
I didn't vote for any of them as I HOPE TO GOD none of 'em win.
But I'll bet it's gonna end up as a Guiliani/Romney ticket. People love Guiliani for 9/11, but he was DICTATOR of New York before that. Yes, the city is safer, but god forbid you're a black man reaching for his wallet. And then there's the censorship thing with the Brooklyn museam, which shows his true leanings. And the whole Kerik thing. People see what they want to.
Romney snowed Massachusetts. He won by insisting his opponent would raise taxes, which he'd never do, but raised fees on EVERYTHING (i.e. car registration, license renewals, etc.). He still acts like he didn't raise taxes. And he's trying to push through a ballot inititive to make gay marriage illegal because God forbid Mass should be the liberal, rights-for-everyone state.
I really, really hope people vote this time around.....
Brownback, if only to ponder the possibilities of a Brownback/Santorum ticket.
Frankly, I don't see any of them defeating either Clinton or Obama with even less of a chance if it's some combination of a Clinton and Obama ticket. None of them has the charisma or the style to pull it off.
McCain has tied himself too closely with Bush. What seemed a shrewd move 4 years ago is now proving to be a major liability. Bush is no Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton with coat tails to pull the next candidate to be a winner (Gore did win the popular vote and probably the Florida vote).
Guiliani's post 9/11 behavior will be re-examined. What we'll find is a city in disarray and scrambling. We'll find a city ill prepared. Thus far, he's been able to to use that to his benefit for sympathy. Whether or not that continues will be part of the question. He'll also be attacked from within the party for being too liberal on topics such as abortion. So, he'll have to survive that in the nomination process. Then, he'll have to contend with how he was running the city before 9/11 and he's truly vulnerable there as well.
Brownback? Nut. Religious nut. He would be the Ellen Craswell for President candidate with about the same results.
Chuck Hagel and the rest don't register on the national scene. The only reason Brownback does is his fanatical ties.
It would take a truly Machiavellian feat of cheating or a Swiftboating for the ages for a GOP President to win in 2008.
Uh, that's exactly what they have in mind. See: 2000 & 2004 elections
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