{"id":8,"date":"2003-09-29T23:46:20","date_gmt":"2003-09-30T03:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wordpress\/2003\/09\/assessing_the_democratic_field\/"},"modified":"2003-09-29T23:46:20","modified_gmt":"2003-09-30T03:46:20","slug":"assessing_the_democratic_field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/2003\/09\/assessing_the_democratic_field\/","title":{"rendered":"Assessing The Democratic Field"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ten candidates&#8211;which one to pull for?<\/p>\n<p>One of the notable aspects of the campaign cycle thus far is the inability of any of the Democratic contenders to break out of the pack. In a way, I&#8217;ve been a microcosm of this national trend, as I&#8217;ve had a hard time picking a &#8220;favorite&#8221; out myself. I like a lot of what many of the candidates say, but so far none of them has singled him or herself out above the others.<\/p>\n<p> Nonetheless, I&#8217;ve got to make up my mind sooner or later. And since the process of writing helps one focus more clearly on an issue, I&#8217;m going to assemble my first ranking of the candidates.<\/p>\n<p>The criteria used to compile this subjective list include the following: (1) compatibility of the candidate&#8217;s policy positions with my own; (2) how well I think he (or she) will manage the Executive Branch and work with Congress; and (3) the candidate&#8217;s electability factor&#8211;can he (or she) win?<\/p>\n<p>The list is as follows.&nbsp; It&#8217;s still quite fluid, but here&#8217;s how things are shaping up:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>(1-tie)&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.johnkerry.com\/\">John Kerry<\/a>: A leading contender for some time.<\/li>\n<ul>\n<li>Pros: Record of outstanding military service; moderate positions on foreign policy and trade; seems thoughtful and even-tempered.<\/li>\n<li>Cons:&nbsp; Campaign seems to be continually spinning its wheels; on T.V. he often appears to lack the optimistic disposition which attracts many voters.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>(1-tie) <a href=\"http:\/\/www.johnedwards2004.com\/\">John Edwards<\/a>: I&#8217;ve had a harder time getting a handle on him, in part because he&#8217;s hasn&#8217;t generated as much media buzz.<\/li>\n<ul>\n<li>Pros:&nbsp; Intelligent; articulate; moderate positions; a Southerner; a lawyer (a positive in my book, though not by many people).<\/li>\n<li>Cons:&nbsp; Lack of foreign policy experience.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>(3)&nbsp; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.deanforamerica.com\/\">Dr. Howard Dean<\/a>:&nbsp; A month ago Dean might have ranked higher, but I&#8217;ve wondered about some of his recent policy statements on trade and repealing the Bush tax cuts.<\/li>\n<ul>\n<li>Pros:&nbsp; Deserves a great deal of credit for setting up a tremendous grass-roots campaign apparatus and appealing to &#8220;new&#8221; voters; appears to have thought through a number of issues, such as health care; his emphasis on balancing budgets.<\/li>\n<li>Cons:&nbsp; His recent comments on trade have sounded a bit too protectionistic for me; probably comes across as a little too angry for many voters.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>(4)&nbsp; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.joe2004.com\/site\/PageServer\">Joseph Lieberman<\/a>:&nbsp; Worked well at the bottom half of the ticket, I&#8217;m not sure sure about the top half.<\/li>\n<ul>\n<li>Pros:&nbsp; Solid, centrist credentials; established name recognition; his economic policies have a sound footing.<\/li>\n<li>Cons:&nbsp; Sounds too hawkish regarding the Middle East; hasn&#8217;t found a core message to generate voter enthusiasm.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>(5)&nbsp; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dickgephardt2004.com\/plugin\/template\/gephardt\/Welcome\/*\">Dick Gephardt<\/a>:&nbsp; Can an old establishment Democrat win in 2004? <\/li>\n<ul>\n<li>Pros:&nbsp; A seasoned statesman; connects with blue collar America.<\/li>\n<li>Cons:&nbsp; Time has probably passed him by;&nbsp; doesn&#8217;t favor free trade; missed opportunities to lead Democrats to victory in the House.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>(6)&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.grahamforpresident.com\/\">Bob Graham<\/a>:&nbsp; Probably meant to be a capable Senator.<\/li>\n<ul>\n<li>Pros:&nbsp; Solid service as an executive and in the Senate Intelligence Committee.<\/li>\n<li>Cons:&nbsp; Hasn&#8217;t shown much energy on the campaign trail; hasn&#8217;t offered a message which will drive voters to the polls.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>(7)&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.carolforpresident.com\/content.php?page=home\">Carol Moseley Braun<\/a>:&nbsp; An interesting thought, but a long-shot from the start.<\/li>\n<ul>\n<li>Pros:&nbsp; Is articulate; serves as a good role model.<\/li>\n<li>Cons:&nbsp; Hasn&#8217;t mounted a serious campaign; one has to wonder about someone who loses their Senate seat; though it&#8217;s wrong to say, America just isn&#8217;t ready for a female black president.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>(8)&nbsp; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kucinich.us\/\">Dennis Kucinich<\/a>:&nbsp; A maverick who won&#8217;t work well in the White House.<\/li>\n<ul>\n<li>Pros:&nbsp; Apparently not driven by pollsters; willing to go against the grain.<\/li>\n<li>Cons:&nbsp; His plan to immediately pull U.S. troops out of Iraq and pull the U.S. out of NAFTA would not be a good move.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>(9)&nbsp; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.al2004.org\/\">Al Sharpton<\/a>: Due to his past baggage, Reverend Sharpton doesn&#8217;t deserve serious attention or to be included in the Democratic debates.<\/li>\n<ul>\n<li>Pros:&nbsp; One liners; raises an important issue on equality in America.<\/li>\n<li>Cons:&nbsp; History of racial divisiveness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>(Wild card) &nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.americansforclark.com\/\">General Wesley Clark<\/a>: I don&#8217;t yet know enough about the general&#8217;s policies and priorities to rank him.<\/li>\n<ul>\n<li>Pros:&nbsp; Military background; intelligence; articulate.<\/li>\n<li>Cons:&nbsp; Political inexperience; Clark&#8217;s voting record and some of the statements he&#8217;s made make me wonder about the depth of his commitment to the Democratic party&#8217;s agenda.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That&#8217;s the way things stand today.  Hopefully the candidates will continue to distinguish themselves to make this ranking easier next time.  It would also help if a few of them drop out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<a href=\"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/2003\/09\/assessing_the_democratic_field\/\" rel=\"bookmark\" title=\"Permalink to Assessing The Democratic Field\"><p>Ten candidates&#8211;which one to pull for? One of the notable aspects of the campaign cycle thus far is the inability of any of the Democratic contenders to break out of the pack. In a way, I&#8217;ve been a microcosm of this national trend, as I&#8217;ve had a hard time picking a &#8220;favorite&#8221; out myself. I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"h-entry","8":"hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}