DBWI: Election 2008

Now that the race between Hilary Clinton and Mitt Romney for the presidency domes into the final weeks, let's consider this question:

What if two longshots for the party nominations had been running this race? What if it was Barack Obama running against John McCain? Where would the race be right now? Would Obama be doing as well as Clinton is? Would McCain have the same credibility on the financial crisis as Romney?
 
Obama's inexperience would be shining bright right now; he'd be doing far worse then the Clinton-Richardson team is, though he'd probably be running neck-in-neck with McCain since I'm sure Obama would have pounced on the crisis by painting McCain in a bad light and showing himself as ready and able to lead by proposing change and offer hope. I definitly do not think that McCain would be doing as well as the Romney-Rice team is. They exhude competence on economic and foreign policy issues, which is why hold a slight lead in several key states right now inspite of the economic crisis. The next 5 weeks is going to be exciting!
 
There is just no way McCain was going to win the nomination. I can't believe his fanatics still support the idea it was even remotely possible. I think Huckabee and Obama would be much more likely if there were a few changes.

Huckabee wouldn't have the same sense of respectability about the economy as Romney. With the economy doing so badly right now anyone other than Romney wouldn't be able to hold a lead, even the Clinton-McCain Wall Street bailout bill went through just as easily as it did OTL.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
I think had McCain been the nominee, the race would not be nearly as nasty as it has been. Say what you want about his policy positions, but McCain is an honorable man who would never has sunk to personal attacks. He certainly would not have run ads that are demonstrably false, as Romney has been doing nonstop.
 
It's inconceivable that Obama could win the nomination. I remember the huge drop he suffered in the polls, right before the Iowa caucuses, when details of his racist minister surfaced. I know his supporters alternately argued it wasn't relevant and it's racist to question his faith, but really, the venom spewed by that ministry really belied Obama's self-portrayal as the candidate of hope, and a new type of post-racial politician. It certainly didn't go over well with the people of Iowa. Senator Clinton has never admitted it, but it's pretty obvious her organization spread these videos. To say the vaunted Clinton political machine wouldn't find these sermons, when they were available for purchase by the public, is practically ASB.

As for McCain, it would make too much sense for Republicans to nominate the candidate who would appeal most to the center, and the party faithful in charge of the nominating process are thinking about the candidate they want, not the candidate that would do best in the general election.
 
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