Update #58: Democratic presidential primary, 2008
So I had a bit of a lighter work load this week, so I thought I'd do the write up for the Democratic Presidential Primary. If there are any outstanding errors with either the write-up or the infobox, just let me know and I'll try and fix it as quickly as possible.
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Despite having only lost the White House four years earlier, polling suggested that voters were willing to give the Democrats a second look after President Thompson had admitted to having failed to disclose his lymphoma diagnosis in the 2004 campaign. By 2006 a good number of potential candidates began testing the water over a possible White House run, including both former President Gore and former Vice President Shaheen. Those within the former’s inner circle admitted that America’s most recent Democratic President had felt cheated once news of his opponent’s cancer diagnosis emerged to the public, feeling that had the news broke during the campaign, he would have won. But after four years of what some party activists felt was a weak and ineffective administration, not to mention the strain his presidency took on his family, it appeared as though Al Gore’s career would remain restricted to the lecture circuit, writing his autobiography, and raising awareness of global warming and environmentalism. To other Democrats, Jeanne Shaheen was in many ways the logical successor to Gore due to serving as his right hand. As America’s first woman Vice President, Shaheen commanded great respect with female voters, and had helped Gore secure much of the North-Eastern states in both 2000 and 2004. For Shaheen supporters, trouble was that she wasn’t the only big-name woman interested in becoming the country’s first female head of state. After having won election to a Senate seat in New York, former first lady Hillary Clinton had rejigged a great deal of her husband’s political network into her own, and had already begun work to secure the endorsements of Democrats who felt that Shaheen lacked the fire, the poll numbers, and the steel to defeat Fred Thompson. Many party operatives believed that the former Vice President could be convinced to stand aside for Clinton, as having two high profile women in the race would undercut the other, and thus the chances of having a woman finally win the nomination. But Shaheen had spent the last eight years, four as Vice President and four as a private citizen, preparing for the 2008 campaign. She had written numerous books, worked the lecture circuit, campaigned for Democrats in the midterms, and had done countless fundraisers for both herself and for the party itself. Although Clinton had done much of the same, Shaheen lacked the controversy that surrounded Hillary Clinton, which had been accumulated during the latter’s fight for healthcare, her husband’s infidelity scandal, and the impression that she was a cold, heartless woman only out to secure her career. With numerous polls and financial backers indicating their preference for Shaheen, the race between who would emerge as the Democratic Party’s woman candidate was over. Undercut, unprepared, and forced to see potential allies back the new “best female candidate in the race”, Hillary Clinton was forced to withdraw from the race before she even had the chance to announce. The decision wasn’t easy. In her anger Clinton had informed her staff she still intended on running. Couldn’t voters handle two women candidates for the presidency? But with Democratic voters already suspicious of her, running against the candidate best positioned to become America’s first female president wouldn’t exactly help her reputation.
Making up the second tier of candidates was a collection of respected Senators, Governors, and Military men. At the front of the pack was North Carolina Senator John Edwards, the keynote speaker at the 2004 DNC. Young, charming, with a winning smile and hair to boot, Edwards seemed like a pre-packaged presidential candidate. He had recruited a strong campaign machine, and had been one of the leading figures in pushing the censor of President Thompson. Having botched his first run for the White House decades earlier, Delaware Senator Joe Biden hoped that his experience in foreign affairs and folksy persona would vault his campaign to the general. Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd hoped for much of the same. Wisconsin’s Russ Feingold launched a website, created an exploratory committee, and would even go on to appear at some party functions. General Wesley Clarke had emerged as a vocal critic of the President and his party’s strategy in the Middle East, and had impressed many with his rounds as a political commentator on MSNBC and CNN. But Clarke’s mission to become the Democratic Party’s version of Dwight Eisenhower would depend on how well his campaign played in Iowa and New Hampshire. Bill Richardson, the Clinton-era secretary who had become Governor of New Mexico, and Bob Casey, Jr., who had followed in his father steps to become chief executive of Pennsylvania, campaigned on what they felt was the need for an experienced Washington outsider to champion the Democrat’s return to the White House. Although many had expected him to enter the race, Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone opted not to launch his own campaign for the White House, conceding that someone with Multiple Sclerosis would have a difficult time to mount a full-time campaign, and convince voters who were already suspicious of sickly candidates.
Finally, Vermont Governor Howard Dean, 2004 challenger Denis Kucinich, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, former Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel, and even Businessman and former Reform presidential nominee Donald Trump, who eventually endorsed Shaheen, made up the bottom tier of potential presidential candidates, the type who either got little to no traction in raising campaign funds, or were mocked relentlessly by the likes of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
By virtue of her superior campaign organization, Shaheen emerged as the presumed frontrunner for the nomination. Her heavy handedness in essentially forcing Clinton out of the race caused considerable bad blood in certain Democratic circles, who viewed the former Vice President as arrogant, someone who viewed the nomination as hers by divine right. Her campaign team, dubbed JeanneLand by political insiders, sought to eliminate the competition quickly. Go through the debates, stay above the fray, win Iowa, sweep to victory in her native New Hampshire, and strangle her opponents while they slept in their cribs, figuratively speaking of course. Although polls showed Shaheen the overwhelming favourite with both Gore and Clinton out of the race, the former Governor and Vice President was far from a perfect candidate. A target of right-wing lobbyists and activists during her time as Number 2 in the White House, Shaheen had also cultivated a generally unfavourable persona with a large swath of the electorate within her own party, those who wished to move on from the era of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and the politics of Third Way Liberalism. At first pundits and journalists thought that General Clarke, by virtue of his southern roots and somewhat more left-wing bend, would emerge as Shaheen’s main challenger. Trouble for the General was that while he was experienced with the policy of national politics, he was unaccustomed to the viciousness of it. As quickly as other candidates rose in the polls to challenge Shaheen, they collapsed due to their own inadequacies. John Kerry was boring. Howard Dean was a has-been. Joe Biden kept opening his mouth. Bill Richardson was preoccupied with worries that the Clintons had hired assassins because of his betrayal at not backing Hillary publicly from the outset. Bob Casey was popular throughout Pennsylvania, but that was about it. The only candidate who seemed to weather the storm was John Edwards. Mentioned as a possible running-mate to then-Vice President Al Gore, Edwards was ultimately passed over for the job of helping Gore connect with human beings. But the Senator persevered, and landed a spot at the 2004 Democratic National Convention as the keynote speaker, delivering a well-received and impassioned speech on inequality and poverty. Still, all of that considered, compared to Jeanne Shaheen, Edwards was at best considered the underdog of the race.
Well, until Iowa.
Jeanne Shaheen’s supporters were loyal to a fault, and would come out even in a snow storm to vote for her. Trouble for her was that there were just as many Democrats eager not to have her as their candidate, and on January 3, 2008 just enough anti-Shaheen voters backed John Edwards, handing him an upset victory over the race’s presumed frontrunner. Although Shaheen had told reporters that the race would be over by early March, it appeared that was no longer the case. Shaheen would roar back and capture a landslide victory in New Hampshire, but the former Vice President was damaged, and the number of candidates opposing her march towards the nomination had begun to dwindle. Could she win in states like New Hampshire and New York? Of course she could. But despite the fact she had served under a southern president for four years, Democrats in states like Texas, Virginia, and even Louisiana had yet to fully warm to her. By April 2008 and numerous contests later, the race between Shaheen and Edwards raged on. It wouldn’t be until Edward’s narrow victory in Indiana that the Senator from North Carolina would finally clinch the Democratic Party’s nomination for President of the United States. Despite all of her efforts, Shaheen had failed to shatter the glass sealing for women. That uneasiness, that bitterness, that anger factored greatly into John Edward’s search for finding a vice presidential running-mate. Would an experienced Washington insider help Edwards’ image of youthful inexperience? Joe Biden brought with him his years of foreign policy credentials, but also his gaffes. What about a visible minority? Bill Richardson was an accomplished governor, but Edwards needed the Clinton’s on his side in the general, and Richardson would only put a wedge between them. A woman would continue the tradition began by Al Gore in 2000, and would help heal the divide between his supporters and Shaheen’s. Hillary Clinton would never serve as someone’s number two, and after losing the nomination to him, many within the Edwards’ campaign felt that the former Vice President wouldn’t be very interested in serving another four years helping out a southern man.
Candidate after candidate was rejected. This one had too many skeletons. That one would upset the wrong people. He would scare off independents. She would make the more left-wing voters shit their pants. Before long reports began quoting anonymous campaign insiders suggesting that Edwards wouldn’t find a running-mate until the convention. They were almost right. John Edwards found the perfect candidate; a tough-as-nails woman who would crush John Kasich, and fire up Democratic voters in ways he couldn’t. Now all that was left was to print the material with the full ticket name, and make the announcement at the convention.
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Despite having only lost the White House four years earlier, polling suggested that voters were willing to give the Democrats a second look after President Thompson had admitted to having failed to disclose his lymphoma diagnosis in the 2004 campaign. By 2006 a good number of potential candidates began testing the water over a possible White House run, including both former President Gore and former Vice President Shaheen. Those within the former’s inner circle admitted that America’s most recent Democratic President had felt cheated once news of his opponent’s cancer diagnosis emerged to the public, feeling that had the news broke during the campaign, he would have won. But after four years of what some party activists felt was a weak and ineffective administration, not to mention the strain his presidency took on his family, it appeared as though Al Gore’s career would remain restricted to the lecture circuit, writing his autobiography, and raising awareness of global warming and environmentalism. To other Democrats, Jeanne Shaheen was in many ways the logical successor to Gore due to serving as his right hand. As America’s first woman Vice President, Shaheen commanded great respect with female voters, and had helped Gore secure much of the North-Eastern states in both 2000 and 2004. For Shaheen supporters, trouble was that she wasn’t the only big-name woman interested in becoming the country’s first female head of state. After having won election to a Senate seat in New York, former first lady Hillary Clinton had rejigged a great deal of her husband’s political network into her own, and had already begun work to secure the endorsements of Democrats who felt that Shaheen lacked the fire, the poll numbers, and the steel to defeat Fred Thompson. Many party operatives believed that the former Vice President could be convinced to stand aside for Clinton, as having two high profile women in the race would undercut the other, and thus the chances of having a woman finally win the nomination. But Shaheen had spent the last eight years, four as Vice President and four as a private citizen, preparing for the 2008 campaign. She had written numerous books, worked the lecture circuit, campaigned for Democrats in the midterms, and had done countless fundraisers for both herself and for the party itself. Although Clinton had done much of the same, Shaheen lacked the controversy that surrounded Hillary Clinton, which had been accumulated during the latter’s fight for healthcare, her husband’s infidelity scandal, and the impression that she was a cold, heartless woman only out to secure her career. With numerous polls and financial backers indicating their preference for Shaheen, the race between who would emerge as the Democratic Party’s woman candidate was over. Undercut, unprepared, and forced to see potential allies back the new “best female candidate in the race”, Hillary Clinton was forced to withdraw from the race before she even had the chance to announce. The decision wasn’t easy. In her anger Clinton had informed her staff she still intended on running. Couldn’t voters handle two women candidates for the presidency? But with Democratic voters already suspicious of her, running against the candidate best positioned to become America’s first female president wouldn’t exactly help her reputation.
Making up the second tier of candidates was a collection of respected Senators, Governors, and Military men. At the front of the pack was North Carolina Senator John Edwards, the keynote speaker at the 2004 DNC. Young, charming, with a winning smile and hair to boot, Edwards seemed like a pre-packaged presidential candidate. He had recruited a strong campaign machine, and had been one of the leading figures in pushing the censor of President Thompson. Having botched his first run for the White House decades earlier, Delaware Senator Joe Biden hoped that his experience in foreign affairs and folksy persona would vault his campaign to the general. Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd hoped for much of the same. Wisconsin’s Russ Feingold launched a website, created an exploratory committee, and would even go on to appear at some party functions. General Wesley Clarke had emerged as a vocal critic of the President and his party’s strategy in the Middle East, and had impressed many with his rounds as a political commentator on MSNBC and CNN. But Clarke’s mission to become the Democratic Party’s version of Dwight Eisenhower would depend on how well his campaign played in Iowa and New Hampshire. Bill Richardson, the Clinton-era secretary who had become Governor of New Mexico, and Bob Casey, Jr., who had followed in his father steps to become chief executive of Pennsylvania, campaigned on what they felt was the need for an experienced Washington outsider to champion the Democrat’s return to the White House. Although many had expected him to enter the race, Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone opted not to launch his own campaign for the White House, conceding that someone with Multiple Sclerosis would have a difficult time to mount a full-time campaign, and convince voters who were already suspicious of sickly candidates.
Finally, Vermont Governor Howard Dean, 2004 challenger Denis Kucinich, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, former Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel, and even Businessman and former Reform presidential nominee Donald Trump, who eventually endorsed Shaheen, made up the bottom tier of potential presidential candidates, the type who either got little to no traction in raising campaign funds, or were mocked relentlessly by the likes of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
By virtue of her superior campaign organization, Shaheen emerged as the presumed frontrunner for the nomination. Her heavy handedness in essentially forcing Clinton out of the race caused considerable bad blood in certain Democratic circles, who viewed the former Vice President as arrogant, someone who viewed the nomination as hers by divine right. Her campaign team, dubbed JeanneLand by political insiders, sought to eliminate the competition quickly. Go through the debates, stay above the fray, win Iowa, sweep to victory in her native New Hampshire, and strangle her opponents while they slept in their cribs, figuratively speaking of course. Although polls showed Shaheen the overwhelming favourite with both Gore and Clinton out of the race, the former Governor and Vice President was far from a perfect candidate. A target of right-wing lobbyists and activists during her time as Number 2 in the White House, Shaheen had also cultivated a generally unfavourable persona with a large swath of the electorate within her own party, those who wished to move on from the era of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and the politics of Third Way Liberalism. At first pundits and journalists thought that General Clarke, by virtue of his southern roots and somewhat more left-wing bend, would emerge as Shaheen’s main challenger. Trouble for the General was that while he was experienced with the policy of national politics, he was unaccustomed to the viciousness of it. As quickly as other candidates rose in the polls to challenge Shaheen, they collapsed due to their own inadequacies. John Kerry was boring. Howard Dean was a has-been. Joe Biden kept opening his mouth. Bill Richardson was preoccupied with worries that the Clintons had hired assassins because of his betrayal at not backing Hillary publicly from the outset. Bob Casey was popular throughout Pennsylvania, but that was about it. The only candidate who seemed to weather the storm was John Edwards. Mentioned as a possible running-mate to then-Vice President Al Gore, Edwards was ultimately passed over for the job of helping Gore connect with human beings. But the Senator persevered, and landed a spot at the 2004 Democratic National Convention as the keynote speaker, delivering a well-received and impassioned speech on inequality and poverty. Still, all of that considered, compared to Jeanne Shaheen, Edwards was at best considered the underdog of the race.
Well, until Iowa.
Jeanne Shaheen’s supporters were loyal to a fault, and would come out even in a snow storm to vote for her. Trouble for her was that there were just as many Democrats eager not to have her as their candidate, and on January 3, 2008 just enough anti-Shaheen voters backed John Edwards, handing him an upset victory over the race’s presumed frontrunner. Although Shaheen had told reporters that the race would be over by early March, it appeared that was no longer the case. Shaheen would roar back and capture a landslide victory in New Hampshire, but the former Vice President was damaged, and the number of candidates opposing her march towards the nomination had begun to dwindle. Could she win in states like New Hampshire and New York? Of course she could. But despite the fact she had served under a southern president for four years, Democrats in states like Texas, Virginia, and even Louisiana had yet to fully warm to her. By April 2008 and numerous contests later, the race between Shaheen and Edwards raged on. It wouldn’t be until Edward’s narrow victory in Indiana that the Senator from North Carolina would finally clinch the Democratic Party’s nomination for President of the United States. Despite all of her efforts, Shaheen had failed to shatter the glass sealing for women. That uneasiness, that bitterness, that anger factored greatly into John Edward’s search for finding a vice presidential running-mate. Would an experienced Washington insider help Edwards’ image of youthful inexperience? Joe Biden brought with him his years of foreign policy credentials, but also his gaffes. What about a visible minority? Bill Richardson was an accomplished governor, but Edwards needed the Clinton’s on his side in the general, and Richardson would only put a wedge between them. A woman would continue the tradition began by Al Gore in 2000, and would help heal the divide between his supporters and Shaheen’s. Hillary Clinton would never serve as someone’s number two, and after losing the nomination to him, many within the Edwards’ campaign felt that the former Vice President wouldn’t be very interested in serving another four years helping out a southern man.
Candidate after candidate was rejected. This one had too many skeletons. That one would upset the wrong people. He would scare off independents. She would make the more left-wing voters shit their pants. Before long reports began quoting anonymous campaign insiders suggesting that Edwards wouldn’t find a running-mate until the convention. They were almost right. John Edwards found the perfect candidate; a tough-as-nails woman who would crush John Kasich, and fire up Democratic voters in ways he couldn’t. Now all that was left was to print the material with the full ticket name, and make the announcement at the convention.
