Clinton, Edwards and Obama are going to make mistakes early. Better early than late

[rhombus]

Part of assembling a credible campaign team and message is gettting kinks ironed out. Yes, our candidates are going to make early campaign "blunders" and "gaffes". The good thing is its way way better to get that stuff out NOW than late in a presidential campaign. I'm actually happy that the campaign season has already begun. By 2008, Democrats and the country as a whole are going to be so hungry for a change. That change won't come from the Republican side. Absolutely not.


Our Democratic nominee is going to be well-prepared to take on the GOP candidate hands down. With Guiliani, expect a third party candidate to emerge on the Republican side. No way the GOP'ers I know will vote for a non social conservative. Won't happen. And Rudy is their strongest bet against Democrats. McCain is weak on both sides. No one trusts him.

[lancdem]

1. I agree

And a lot of voters really aren't paying close attention now, so the mistakes should do little if any damage.

[SharonRB]

2. The sooner the current leaders screw up,

the sooner Gore can step in.

[rhombus]

3. Gore is not going to run

You might as well spend a whole year fantasizing. We have imperfect but good candidates who have already declared.

[karynnj]

5. You never know

what the future may bring. I agree it is likely that one of the current top three, or at least one of the secondary candidates will get the nomination, but we are about a year from the first bill being cast. Things can happen.

[SharonRB]

7. When I hear a definitive statement from his own lips that he

absoutely, positively will not run, then I'll move on and try to find another candidate to support. Until then, I'm working on the Draft Gore movement.

He knows there is a lot going on in the grass/net roots trying to get him to run. If he already knew for sure he wasn't going to run, he would issue a statement and tell everyone to stop because he isn't going to do it. He can afford to bide his time and wait for the field to shake out. He's the only one who has that luxury.

[beachmom]

4. That's right. Nobody is perfect and nobody is going to be

gaffe proof. Get used to it. So now we can get to the place where issues matter, not the elusive "Messiah" that will save our party, since there is no such thing. What is our message, what is important, what kind of person do we want as president? These are what should be asked; not who is the best circus performer. And that goes for ALL candidates.

[madfloridian]

6. Depends on one thing to me.

I don't want any of them catering to the religious groups who think our country just MUST be a religious one.

I don't think any of our candidates know what they are facing. I really don't think they understand the passion of these people and how well they are organized together...Catholics and Baptists are working together in my area to stop rights of gays and limit the freedoms of women to have choice in their medical care. One group is as bad as the other. Baptists never used to be against women's rights, but they are now.

Amanda's blog, Pandagon, has been effectively shut down with attacks.

Our candidates need to speak out, not against religion, but against this type of dominionism.

[question everything]

8. Right. This was the mistake of 2004

The "leadership" wanted to have a front runner early. One reason, I think, was to save funds for the general elections.

But this prevented Kerry from being subjected to the mistakes that he made later in the campaign. Not just the swifters, but also the "I voted for it before I voted against it," making his message easier for sixth grade level of comprehension and even making a better transition from the war in Vietnam to Iraq.