Gephardt endorsement

I can't imagine that any of the members of the Democratic legislative troika of Gebhardt, Lieberman, or Kerry have any chance in hell of ever being elected president, though I think there's a pretty good chance that Lieberman might get nominanted.

If you look at the recent Democrats to win, Clinton and Carter were "Washington Outsiders", Kennedy, though a senator, was viewed as a bit of an outsider because of his youth, Truman and Johnson were both "unify the ticket" VP's who fell into the job when their respective presidents died, and Rosevelt was both extremely more charasmatic than the three mentioned above, and was elected durring a time of desperation. It is also intresting to note the heavy influence of southerners.

Given this track record, the most likely candidates would seem to be Dean the outsider and Graham or Edwards as the southerner.

 

Congrats to Gephardt for the Teamsters endorsement.

Something tells me Jimmy Hoffa is laughing his ass off in the endzone at Giants Stadium.

I've said it before and I will say it again:

George W. Bush sucks donkey dong, but Dick Gephardt is not the answer!!

/rant

 

Well I'd like to see him as the VP candidate just so the debates can be The Battle Of Two Dicks (With Lesbian Daughters)

 

I like it!

 

though I think there's a pretty good chance that Lieberman might get nominanted.

Ottoman, you've got to be kidding. Are you sure you're not just hoping.

I'm not just saying that because he is a conservative on all but a few middle of the road economic and civil rights issues.

He is too conservative for Democratic primary voters. He is fading very fast and won't win one state. He will be an early drop out.

One of the main reason is that the guy is a dork. Sad to say but dorks don't win nominations, even if talented in other areas. You need at least average charisma and looks to succeed.

 

glynch -- how do you think this endorsement will affect Gephardt? i'm thinking the teamsters are a huge part of the democratic party...am i wrong? in the past, have the teamsters endorsed candidates who didn't get nominated??

 

I believe UNIONS have been a strong part of the Democratic party for a long time, but the Teamsters union has quite often supported Republican candidates, to the chagrin of other unions. This is a good feather in the hat for Gephardt, but not nearly enough to push him to the top of the heap of Democrat presidential candidates.

And...anyone who thinks Lieberman has a snowball's chance in hell of getting the Democratic nomination is deluded.

 

glynch -- how do you think this endorsement will affect Gephardt? i'm thinking the teamsters are a huge part of the democratic party...am i wrong? in the past, have the teamsters endorsed candidates who didn't get nominated??

The teamsters are the only major renegade union in the AFL-CIO. They have been corrupt and run by gangsters. They have in recent years backed Republicans at times.

They themselves are not that important and I'm sure they have backed losing candidates.

Gephardt has for a number of years been the Unions guy; not just the Teamsters. In recent years the unions have gotten away from the old style unionism of George Meaney who dominated the AFL-CIO fro many years. Younger membes tend to support a more liberal unionism that is concerned about foreign policy issues.. It isn't just like the Vietnam War days when unforutunately some unions seemed to back the war just because it put more money in their pockets.

The more conservative unions will keep Gephardt in it for a long time, but his support for the war, which most Democrats were against has cooked his goose imho.

 

I agree with your analysis, but I will note that Paul Tsongas (another dork) was able to win New Hampshire, at least. Couldn't do much after that, but he did get one state primary (and he may have won a few more, I don't recall).