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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: michael97123 who wrote (183694)	3/17/2006 5:14:37 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Little-known candidates off to good start for 2008 suntimes.com BY TOM BEVAN* THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES March 17, 2006 Quick: who is the current governor of Massachusetts? What about the former governor of Virginia? Don't feel bad if the names Mitt Romney and Mark Warner didn't pop into your head, millions of Americans don't know who these men are either. But eventually most everyone in the country will have heard of Romney and Warner, because they're both running for president in 2008. It might seem strange to be talking about the next presidential election this early -- more than 2-1/2 years before Election Day and even nine months before the midterm elections this November -- but for the folks seriously interested in winning their party's nomination and potentially the White House in 2008, the future is now. These days, the amount of money that must be raised -- now typically reaching upward of $100 million -- and the massive organization that must be built to support a credible run for president is staggering. Every election cycle candidates are forced to start earlier and work even harder. Adding to the chaos in 2008 is the fact that it will be the first presidential race in more than two generations not featuring either an incumbent president seeking re-election or a sitting vice president seeking a promotion. And so the jockeying has already begun. Last weekend nearly 2,000 Republican activists from all across the South and parts of the Midwest gathered in Memphis to prepare for the elections in November but also to get an early peek at the stable of GOP presidential hopefuls. Sen. Bill Frist won the straw poll taken on Saturday, as expected -- he's from Tennessee -- but the real shock was Romney's second place showing. The governor of Massachusetts finished ahead of two strong Southern candidates (Sen. George Allen of Virginia and Gov. Mike Huckabee from neighboring Arkansas) as well as Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, a favorite of the pro-life wing of the Republican Party. Romney also outpaced the person some consider to be the current frontrunner, Arizona Sen. John McCain, though not without controversy. In what many saw as a ploy to discredit the results of the straw poll, thereby avoiding a potentially embarrassing showing with the conservative, pro-Frist crowd, McCain instructed delegates who were thinking of voting for him to write President Bush's name on the ballot instead. McCain finished in fifth place. On the Democratic side, a host of candidates continue to lumber along in the shadow of Hillary Clinton, whose near-universal name recognition and prolific fund-raising network give her significant, though not insurmountable, advantages. One of those quietly toiling away is former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, who was in the Chicago area earlier this week trying to build the case for his candidacy among the party faithful. Warner has an impressive resume: He's a graduate of Harvard Law School and one of the original founders of the cellular phone company Nextel. But Warner's most impressive credential, as far as some Democrats are concerned, is that he managed a convincing five-point win in 2001 in a red state that voted twice for President Bush. Warner also left office at the beginning of this year with the highest approval rating in Virginia's history. Warner is full of ideas on a range of issues, but the essence of his candidacy boils down to five words: "Hillary can't win. I can." Warner doesn't say it like that, of course, but he doesn't have to. Democrats are desperate to take back the White House and Warner's message resonates with those who loathe the idea of losing again in 2008 by putting another Northeastern liberal at the top of the ticket. Of course, Warner has history on his side as well: The only two Democrats to have won the presidency since the early 1960s have both been governors from the South, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. If you think about the 2008 presidential campaign like a marathon, then we haven't even reached the end of the first mile. Anything can happen in such a long, grueling race, but as of right now, both Romney and Warner are off to good starts. *Tom Bevan is the co-founder and executive editor of RealClearPolitics.com.

To: michael97123 who wrote (183694)	3/17/2006 9:13:18 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

but ed says our style democracy is not applicable to iraq given three groups. I don't care if they have "our style" of democracy. What's important is that they have a government that is elected by, and anwerable to, the people of that country. And I want that for a very important reason. Accountable governments have got to please the people that elected it. Just as Bush's poll ratings have fallen and he's had to adjust his policies, or do major damage control, I want the Iraqis and every other individual on God's green earth, to have the very same right.. Ed may think that Arabs don't want "our style" of democracy and he may be right.. But they DEFINITELY want a say in their government, and the right to change that government when it does not provide the security or services that it was elected to provide. In sum, FEW, IF ANY, people want to be dominated and intimidated by an unelected government. Why the pursuit of fostering such a government in Iraq should be so controversial is beyond my comprehension. It's like people are harboring these racist beliefs of Arabs being sub-human and unworthy of enjoying the benefits of a democratic society. Is it so wrong to undermine totalitarian and authoritarian rulers when they defy the will of their population?? Even with the election of Hamas in the PA, the people there are seeing the repercussions of their choice. Were the election to be held again, I'm not sure that Hamas would win as many seats as they did. But even if they did, then it's the people's will and they will suffer the consequences of electing to have their freedoms stipped away from them by a totalitarian regime. Hawk