america needs to repair its foreign image more than anything, being british myself, i feel obama has the qualities of a true statesmen it's written all over his face..can americans not find it in themselves to look past a persons colour. As for hilary she is a liar she siad she was not interested in running for the presidency but lo and behold!!! i think she is in it to prove she can do it better than poor bill she wears the pants (why do you think bill cheated under her nose?..she knew he was cheating most definately) that woman is on some power trip, she is absolutely the wrong candidate with the way US foreign image/policy stands. she has the pressure of proving herself tougher than male rivals/counterparts yet she can't play the iron hand as American foreign relations and image has been damaged by bush's gung ho tactics. OBAMA 4 PRESIDENT

Latinos are a very powerful voting bloc in the country right now. Lots of people care about Richardson.

Anyway, Edwards/Obama could win it I think.

Darn my predictive powers are finely honed; Richardson announced a few hours after my post!

But why do they have to make such a big deal out of him being Hispanic? who cares?

"It's not that the dems would be against voting for a woman or a person of color it's that most of the middle of America is SO not ready for such a concept."

Sorry, but this New Yorker isn't ready for a woman who kissed Arafat's wife and was the first person in the WH to publicly propose the formation of Paleoterrorstan.

I am also not ready for a woman who was either too stupid to realize her husband was a liar and a cheat, or who feels Americans are too stupid to know that SHE was lying.

And this New Yorker is not ready for a President Barack Hussein Obama, who studied in a madrassa.

Hillary has a much better chance at winning.

In the south, when certain people invite you into their house, they will say, "Before you step into my home, I want you to know that I hate niggers."

Dixie has no such hatred for women.

hillary/richardson '08

BOO YA KA SHA!

I would agree that the whole "flyover/podunk" attitude has to go, but at the same time that doesn't change the fact that the middle of the country is just simply less progressive on most issues *in general.*

While true that NY hasn't elected a huge amount of women or minorities, there is a reason that the creative elements, the gay community, big business, and the media flocks to the coasts. You won't see any school board in the northeast arguing that intelligent design ought to be part of the curriculum, for example.

"When was the last time a candidate from NY was nationally relevant?"

True, but why? Why is someone from Arkansas or Tennessee more relevant?

I think Edwards is the one (or at least I like him) because he explicitly talks about poverty and how hard it is not to get ahead, but to *get by* nowadays-that's refreshing and something that I think needs to come up. An Edwards/Obama ticket would be just the thing for me, but I would vote for Clinton or any of them should they be nominated.

I think Clinton will go far, but I actually think the fact that she is from NY will be a liability for her, same way it would be for Giuliani if he chooses to run. When was the last time a candidate from NY was nationally relevant? FDR? NY is for raising money for campaigns, not for actually producing candidates and I think since the Northeast's share of population and electoral votes is declining, this will become more apparent in coming years. Even the Democratic Party is realizing that and is putting Dems from Missouri, Arizona, etc. in the spotlight and having their convention in Denver.

And the whole attitude that any state between NY and CA is 'podunk'-well, good luck getting any respect or attention with that attitude. NYC is in the *United States*. It's an American city-just accept that and move on.

Bumpersticker for '08:

Vote for Hillary- it takes a woman to clean up a man's mess!

Funny on how most of you who want? to vote Dem are keying on why she can't win, as opposed to HOW she could win. Change your attitudes people. That to me has been the BIGGEST problem with the Democratic party, attitude. If she picks the right running mate, like Bill Richardson, she can easily beat McCain, who is low energy and will take a harder beating over Iraq than she will.

Attitude is EVERYTHING.

Aside from the fact that Hillary's appeal is limited to New York, Boston and California, Barck and/or Clinton won't win. And it's not because they belong to minority groups - it's because they are sitting senators. Except for Harding and Kennedy, no other president has been elected directly from the Senate.

A Senator has legislative experience, while a governer has executive experience, albeit on a smaller scale and with almost no foreign policy exposure.

Historically the odds aren't good.

The Dems will probably find a governor whose hands are clean from some podunk state. I'm predicting it will the governor from New Mexico, Bill Richardson. The guy was just in Darfur where he brokered a cease-fire agreement between rebel groups and the Sudanese government.

It's amazing how people feels about a war that can't be won, for you all that still don't understand,,I'm talking about the war in IRAQ> I

t's amaziong that a war like this could mean freedom for us,,,,this is so not knowing the world as is it is..the war in Iraq was a mistake from day one.........and for respect to the the USA, please let us understand this ass all the Intelectuals do...

Our bigist problem, lies right around us. and that is the HEALTH CARE PROBLEM..I just sent my son to get operated on (and I have insurence in this country) and I sent him overseas to get his operation,,because even with insurance, I could still not offord to get him operated on here...but don't threat,,,I'm not the only one that's going through this,,,this is happening every day in my country, and people (since we are so closed in, that we are the best) we think that our system is the best...NO,,,,we need to expand ourselvles,and quit believing the media and propaganda that we created, to believe, we need to get back to the basics....

To hell with IRAQ, WE GOT PROBLEMS HERE THAT WE NEED TAKEN CARE OFF,,,,AND FIX....IT'S HARD TO BELEIVE THAT THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES HAVE TO TAKE CARE OFF OUR ILL, BECAUSE OF GREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDD. LET'S VOTE FOR HILLARY, BECAUSE ONLY WOMEN COULD SEE WHAT I MEAN,,,AND I'M A MAN THAT LOVES HIS FAMILYL.

defuse, not diffuse

I was impressed with your first paragraph, Charles. Then you had to ruin it all with the Edwards thing.

I just don't get why anyone would vote for him. I don't dislike him, but is he really presidential material?

I don't dislike Kerry either, but never felt that he had the stuff that presidents are made of (not that our current dickhead in power does). Of everyone currently stumping, the most "presidential" candidate - which is a gut thing admittedly, is Obama.

He seems the most able to diffuse a tense situation, the most pragmatic, the most charismatic.

And yet, for the reasons stated in previous posts, I'd have a hard time voting for him in a primary because I recognize the reality of the situation: he would get slaughtered in the general election.

God, I get so sick of the whole "middle America isnt ready for a black or woman president" Like NYC is. Hillary's the first female senator NY State has ever elected, there has never been a female governor here, only one black mayor here and he didnt last more than a term before he was run out on the rails, no non white governor, etc. Hell, at least Texas has had Ann Richards and all of the cities there have had female (Democratic) mayors. And California and (gasp) Massachussetts have better records of electing minorities and women to office. So we need to get off our high horse.

Oh yeah, the topic. I would vote for Clinton before I would Obama but I would most likely vote for Edwards before those two.

hell, i dont think Hillary's inability to win has much to do with the fact that she's a woman. i think it has more to do with the fact that a lot of people dont trust her and even more negatively associate her with her husband. being a woman is the least of her troubles.

I am a democrat and although I do agree that Hillary probably won't win because of this whole 'america wont vote for a woman' opinion, I think her motives and plans are in the right place and I support her. I also admire that she is helping out the Borja family, good friends of mine, it makes me think she has her priorities in the right place. Perhaps everyone can look past the fact that she's a woman and just focus on her ideas, like the way it should be done.

I'm a democrat and I believe in Obama.

See why I went to anarchy?

(although I still am against "street-art", the "War against Terror", motorists AND radical cyclists. et al).

What's with all of this "if WE" crap.

It's not the World Series.

The purpose of the "party" system is to make people US and THEM. And screw the welfare of the nation.

If you think the office of the chief exec is an US and THEM issue, I strongly suggest you limit your voting to Survivor or American Idol.

We're screwed by being polled/focused/media'd into an adverserial posture, but the pol money machine grinds on.

How about people talk about what's better for the nation, not just your stupid parties.

Still hate W & Clinton.

Except Bubba.

Now that he's outta the running, he could be a pisser to hang with.

Bofug

squidfly, I have no clue what you're talking about. But if you're going to call me out, and be nasty while doing so, at the very least spell check your post first.

"People aren't going to vote against Hillary because she's a woman: they'll vote against her because they don't like her stance on the issues or they didn't like her husband. It's that simple."

I agree. She has too much of a history. She's not a safe candidate IF we want to win in 2008. That's all I am (was) saying. I would be happy to vote for Obama, but I feel confident in saying that he won't gather enough swing voters because of the racism that is still so powerful in much of America. If that makes me prejudiced, I'm only pre-judging racist swing voters.

Ease up on the hostility, Squidfly. With all due respect, man, you're the one who sounds negative.

#19

LOL!!! can you elaborate on how i'm a raceist, sexist and an idiot...