Hillary Clinton May Not Run in '08

[liberalpragmatist]

Hey guys, I thought you might be interested in this. By all means, take this with a grain of salt given that I'm not going to be able to name the source, nor am I willing to drop MY anonymity or personal information. But you can check my posts to know that I don't post baseless rumors.

A progressive student group on my campus in which I'm involved recently met with a Vice Chair of the DNC (one of several) who is friendly with Hillary Clinton and close to Howard Dean and others in the DNC. According to s/he, Hillary Clinton is NOT a definite for the '08 campaign; she would clearly like to run, but she's well aware of the her negatives and is not interested in running unless she is convinced she can win. For all the talk of an inevitable Hillary candidacy, it is NOT a sure-thing, although she is leaning towards a run. Ultimately, however, she is genuinely undecided and is hedging her bets. Clinton IS positioning herself for a run but will not make a decision until later, and in this she is more genuinely undecided than several others, such as Mark Warner, John Edwards, and according to some John Kerry.*

Just food for thought.

* About John Kerry: I should add we also met at the same time with someone who worked in the Kerry campaign who said that Kerry "definitely isn't running"; personally, I'm more skeptical of that one and it's contradicted by other Washington "chatter" that he definitely IS running.

[still_one]

1. wow, that says a lot, "Hillary Clinton is NOT a dfinite for '08"

it means absolutely nothing

you can say that about almost any prospective candidate

[skipos]

2. The best thing she could do is

decide not to run at the last minute. The media and GOPers have spent so much time talking about her inevitable nomination, they wouldn't know what to do with themselves if she didn't run.

[StellaBlue]

10. Ch-ching!

That's a winning strategy.

[Clark2008]

11. That's my opinion, too.

I would LOVE that. In fact, I rather suspect that more people would respect that completely, offering her a chance to run later.

[eleny]

3. Do you think she would then go for Senate Majority Leader?

If the Dems took the Senate.

[onehandle]

4. Who cares. It's 2006. We'll talk after November. nt

[politicasista]

7. I agree. What happened to 06? n/t

[Clark2008]

13. It's here.

If you can't walk and chew gum, why are you posting here?

I never fail to understand why you Oh-sixers think some of us can't work on 2006, while thinking about 2008.

[politicasista]

16. I never said anyone couldn't think about 08

First of all. I have a right to post here. I am not stirring up trouble or hijacking threads. I am just saying that a lot of what happens in 08 will depend on what happens this fall. We don't know who is or isn't running. Most of the top dems are focused on the 06 elections, we should be too. If you want to think about 08, that's your prerogative.


I am choosing one day/step at a time.

[Kahuna]

17. I know. Right? If they don't like these threads they should pass them

up. But please don't tell the rest of us what we should or should not be doing.

[politicasista]

18. I am not telling anyone what to do n/t

[politicasista]

15. wrong spot n/t

[Old and In the Way]

8. Seems that's the big story in the MSM......who's running for POTUS.

When the only important story is what happens in November. If I didn't know better, I'd think that Ken Mehlman writes the talking points for the broadcast media.

[Tom Joad]

5. yay, Clinton. If she decides not to run, it would be of great benefit to

the Democratic Party! And to the USA. And the World.

[Jigarotta]

9. agreed.

Hillary is a total dissapointment to you the people, but I'm sure she's just ducky with corporate america.

same shit, slightly smaller different pile.

[pinto]

6. "Inevitable candidacy" has always been a figment of media speculation,

regardless of political affiliation, nothing more and nothing less.

[KharmaTrain]

12. Did Anyone Really Know Of Bill Clinton in 1990??

The only thing most of us knew about Clinton at that point was he was a governor who couldn't shut up at the '88 Convention. In many ways a mystery like Mark Warner is to Democrats outside of Virginia. In '90 every pundit had Mario Cuomo's name written for that nomination (the New York media ya think??). Now, like then, the Democratic Party was divided among various groups (the rise of the DLC) tha allowed Clinton to work under the radar and then emerge in the early primaries.

Actually a better example might be 1974...surely few of us had heard of Jimmy Carter...we were all set for Teddy Kennedy to ride us to the promised land or Jerry Brown. In the primaries it was Carter and Mo Udall who emerged.

Kennedy like Hillary and to a certain degree Cuomo were polarizing figures...the kind of candidate Repugnicans love Democrats to nominate as it will drive their base to vote where a lesser known candidate like a Carter or Clinton got the benefit of the doubt from the moderates that enabled them to prevail in the general elections.

The Repugnicans have been astroturfing Hillary since the day Bill ended the last real Presidency this country had and she surely knows that her negatives would mean she'd have to have overwhelming support from the party rank and file...more than Kerry had to overcome all the Hillary haters who would come out. I think their obsession with Hillary is a good thing as I see many Democrats who have soured on Hillary and are open to other candidates. She's still "young" in Presidential age and even waiting to 2016 would put her in the same age range as McCain.

All this speculation will change "big time" depending on the outcome of the November elections. The issues we're dealing with now will be nostalgia by the first primaries as the boooosh regime will continue it's meltdown and the true depth of its corruption and ineptitude really come to light (despite the corporate media's best efforts to try to quash it...too many people are mad and hurting).

Hillary is a no-go in my book for her support of the Iraq invasion...and anyone who was a "for it before they're against it" type will also get a cold shoulder here. Seems like there is a groundswell developing for a strong Democratic candidate...the man who should have been the 43rd President...and I don't think that's such a bad thing.

[Triana]

14. The ONLY people saying she's running are REPUBLICANS

That ought to tell you a few things right there. Unless SHE says she's running, I put ZERO stock in anyone saying anything else.

[deaniac21]

19. Well we all know the student groups are the first to get the real scoop!

[deaniac21]

20. From wikipedia

The Frontrunners
Many other names are already beginning to appear as potential candidates. While this information will most likely undergo changes as new public opinion data becomes available, the anticipated frontrunners for the major political parties in America are as follows:


Recent Polls
Polls %
John McCain (R) 46%
Hillary Clinton (D) 37%
Depends (vol.) 3%
Neither/Other (vol.) 8%
Unsure 6%

Source: http://www.pollingreport.com/2008.htm Poll conducted:4/7-16/06



Democrats
Based on all of the major public opinion polls as provided by the Opinion polling for the 2008 U.S. presidential election section, on average, the top ten Democratic frontrunners currently appear to be:

Average of All Major Polls

Democrat %
Hillary Clinton 38.46%
John Kerry 15.68%
John Edwards 14.14%
Al Gore 11.83%
Joe Biden 5.71%
Wesley Clark 4.00%
Bill Richardson 3.00%
Russ Feingold 2.60%
Evan Bayh 2.38%
Mark Warner 2.23%

The Latest Poll

American Polling Research Institute - conducted Mar 26-28, 2006

Democrat %
Hillary Clinton 38%
John Edwards 15%
John Kerry 15%
Joe Biden 5%
Bill Richardson 3%
Mark Warner 3%
Evan Bayh 2%
Russ Feingold 2%

Republicans
Based on all of the major public opinion polls as provided by the Opinion polling for the 2008 U.S. presidential election section, on average, the top ten Republican frontrunners currently appear to be:

Average of All Major Polls

Republican %
Condoleezza Rice 26.23%
Rudolph Giuliani 22.09%
John McCain 19.51%
Jeb Bush 8.07%
George Allen 7.87%
Newt Gingrich 7.79%
Fred Thompson 4.33%
Bill Frist 4.11%
Mitt Romney 3.11%
Rick Santorum 1.83%
Tom Tancredo 1.83%

The Latest Poll

American Polling Research Institute - conducted Mar 26-28, 2006

Republican %
Condoleezza Rice 29%
John McCain 20%
Rudolph Giuliani 20%
Newt Gingrich 8%
George Allen 6%
Mitt Romney 4%
Bill Frist 3%
Mike Huckabee 1%

For the latest polling reports visit http://www.pollingreport.com/2008.htm