Tag: national candidates

Candidate Compatibility

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Overall Candidate Results I found the results of this candidate compatibility calculator interesting. The calculator consists of 23 issues that you rate your support as Yes/No/unsure and the importance of the issue as High/Medium/Low. I visited to find out what candidate my views supposedly corresponded with. I have been surprised by some calculators before. Aside from the top candidate I thought that the calculator did pretty well with me (My Candidate Matchup). I may agree generally with John Cox on the issues, but I don’t know that he is much more prepared than I am to be President (except that he’s over 35). I was disappointed to see that until I expanded the list of top candidates and found that Mike Huckabee has the same percentage of compatibility with my views followed by Ron Paul. Mitt Romney, John McCain and (surprisingly) Tom Tancredo were tied below that followed by Fred Thompson. I knew that the calculator was right to put Rudy Giuliani at the bottom among the Republicans on my list (below a Democrat no less).

When I saw the results I was surprised to see the aggregate results which show that 55% of respondents lined up with Republicans when the prevailing wisdom is that Democrats have the edge in the 2008 election. Complicating this surprise is the fact that the number one individual candidate with the for respondents overall was Mike Gravel – a Democrat. Perhaps one of the reasons for this interesting combination of results is that the scoring does not penalize candidates who oppose your position on issues of high importance to you – they are scored the same as candidates who take no position on the issues of high importance to you. Perhaps the high success for Mike Gravel is that he is undeclared on most issues where there is not much consensus on the issue. This would allow him to get points with every respondent who did not list the issue as being of high importance.

UPDATE: I used the calculator again and took a stance on some of the issues I had marked as unsure before. This time Ron Paul topped my list. More interestingly Rudy Giuliani was now significantly below two Democrats and tied with a third. (Is it any wonder that I won’t vote for him?)

Tags 2008, national candidates, random

National

Could Giuliani Split the GOP?

Post author By David
Post date October 1, 2007
9 Comments on Could Giuliani Split the GOP?

I found the idea interesting that Christian leaders threaten to abandon Republicans if Giuliani is the nominee. John Hinderaker at Power Line doesn’t think so. I can’t claim to have more information than John, but I would not be so quick to dismiss the possibility. I know that I can’t vote for Giuliani though I can only speak for myself. (Whether I am at all representative of GOP voters at large is highly debatable.) I am not always a fan of James Dobson and for me the Giuliani issue is not a simple matter of his position on abortion. The fact is that I could name three candidates among the Democratic hopefuls this year who I could vote for over Giuliani.

When I consider candidates I essentially rate them on a personal scale – I don’t try to press my criteria on other people, but I imagine that some other people do a similar thing in deciding who to support. This places candidates on a scale ranking who I would be more likely to support out of any given set of candidates. On that scale there is a line which I have decided to call the Write-In Line. Candidates falling below that line can’t get my vote no matter who they are running against. (I considered calling it the Orrin Hatch Line since I think I could vote for Orrin if he were running against Giuliani – but he’s pretty well lost my vote otherwise.) If I am voting in a contest with no candidates above that line I write in a candidate who I could vote for. Who knows how many people there are like me who just could not vote for Giuliani.

If the goal of this group in raising the option of a GOP split is to keep Giuliani from getting the nomination then their best chance would be to go one step further and choose a candidate now that they could support – I have a short list if they’re interested. I would say that they have to back someone no later than the day after the Iowa caucuses if they want to have any impact in the nomination. If they are really like me and could not vote for Giuliani then I would say that the possibility of a split is real and a Giuliani nomination could change the face of American politics.

Tags 2008, national candidates

National

Political Conundrum

I have been evaluating my position with regards to the presidential candidates – specifically those in the Republican party. Right now there is a front runner that I don’t think I could be compelled to vote for in the general election no matter who his opponent was. I could give up all hope except that I really do think that Mitt would make a good president and despite any of the early questions about whether he could get the nomination he has shown that he has a legitimate shot to win the primaries.

My conundrum is that I really like Mike Huckabee as well. In fact I wish that he were in the top tier on par with Mitt (unless that would split the votes and pave the way for Giuliani to get the nomination). I think that Mike would make a much better president than McCain or Thompson. So my challenge is deciding how much to support Mike Huckabee without inadvertently helping Rudy Giuliani.

I have talked to Laura about this and also sought input from some other family and friends. Does anyone have any suggestions about how they might face this conflict of hopes?

Tags 2008, choices, national candidates

National

No to Newt

Over at Oval Office there is a discussion about the implications of a potential presidential run for Newt Gingrich. I have to agree with the assessment that:

My take on the idea of Gingrich getting into the race at this point is that he would split the party’s votes further than it is already. . . But he wouldn’t draw from Giuliani’s support. It looks to me like those Republicans who have decided to support Hizzonner are sticking with him.

That is a scary scenario to me. The only serious candidate (meaning, not those like John Cox or Tom Tancredo) that I like less than Newt in the Republican field is Rudy. I was happy early this year when the conventional wisdom was that Newt would not choose to run if Fred Thompson ran. Now I am hoping that Newt will choose not to run and I think the best thing that could happen would be for Mitt Romney to win convincingly in Iowa so that most of the other candidates drop out. I really don’t think that Rudy can get support from more than half the Republican primary voters so if the field is narrowed to two early Rudy won’t get the nomination. (I pick Mitt partly because he has the financial backing to stand toe to toe with Rudy.)

Tags 2008, national candidates

General

Real Debates

Mike Huckabee has offered to debate Fred Thompson, Lincoln-Douglas style. I think that Fred should accept the offer, but I know lots of reasons why he might chose not to. Mike has nothing to lose. Few people take his candidacy as seriously as they should and the media attention of such a debate would help Mike even if he didn’t trounce Fred. Fred would probably rather pretend that there are only 4 candidates in the race (Huckabee not being one of the other 3).

I think this kind of debate would be helpful to the voters because a Lincoln-Douglas debate tends to help shape the issue in the minds of the listeners. The kind of “debates” that we get among multiple candidates on network television only serve to allow the candidates a chance to try to convince the audience that they best represent the audience, rather than framing the issue to show that they best represent the truth, or the best way forward (depending on the type of issue being debated). Ideally there would be a series of debates on a variety of issues involving different sets of candidates. Each debate should feature only two candidates but each candidate would have debates with a number of other candidates. It would turn the primary campaign into something closer to a tournament allowing us to get to know the candidates (possibly better than we do now) and also helping the voters to get to know the issues instead of just the soundbites.

I hope that Mike gets to have his debate with Fred, or one of the other higher profile candidates, because if he does I am confident that he will prove himself to be every bit the equal of any other candidate. Considering the Fred apparently expressed a desire to have this kind of debate I think he should accept. If he does not I would call it political cowardice unless he manages to arrange for this kind of debate with some better known candidate in the field within the next couple of weeks.

Tags 2008, discourse, national candidates

culture

Good Question

I saw a video clip (I believe this was from an “Ask Mitt anything” session) in which someone asked Mitt Romney how he would go about changing the culture of Washington D.C. I thought the answer was good and the question is more important than we might guessed based on the amount of coverage it gets in the media.

P.S. This is also an excuse to test the embed tag in one of my blog posts.

Tags citizenship, media, national candidates, Romney

General

Could the Stars Align?

I’m liking the news I’m seeing right now. There is lots being said of Mike Huckabee’s second place finish in Ames. It’s too early to say if it will continue, but for now he is getting more of the press coverage that he deserves. I endorsed Mitt Romney before, and I don’t back off from that endorsement at all, but at the time I was not sure that Huckabee could become a serious contender for the nomination. If things continue like they are, with him getting more coverage than he was getting before, then I am sure that his message can be heard and appreciated enough to give him a legitimate shot at the nomination.

I would love to be able to choose between multiple candidates that I would be comfortable with. In the republican primaries I now have such a choice so long as Mitt and Mike are both still there. I guarantee that I am not going to vote for any of the other candidates (no matter who jumps in) if either of them is still running come February. (I’m sure that one of them will still be running by then if not both.) In the democratic primaries I could have had two if Tom Vilsack were still running – I still think he was the best candidate they have offered. Obama comes in second to Tom for me, and I am still not sure which Bill Richardson I believe in – the capable one who I think might be better than Obama, or the one who stumbles along with a long resume but too many gaffes to be taken seriously. I’m hoping for the capable one so that come general election time in 2008 I might conceivably have candidates from both major parties that I would be willing to vote for.

Unsaid in all this is that the two candidates I have listed who are considered major candidates by the media (Mitt and Obama) both have one flaw (the same one) that I am becoming less and less comfortable with. I’m saving that concern for a separate post so I can do it justice.

Tags 2008, endorsements, national candidates

General

Ames Results

The results of the straw poll in Ames were just what I would have wanted. Mitt Romney won, as predicted, but Mike Huckabee came in second as I had hoped. His second place finish was called a surprise, but I can’t imagine a better candidate in that spot. Unlike many better known candidates I would have no reservations with seeing Huckabee in the White House. The only thing I could have hoped for in Ames that didn’t happen would have been if Huckabee had garnered all the votes from those candidates who received less than 5% so that there was more distance between him and Sam Brownback in third place.

Tags 2008, elections, national candidates

General

Approaching Ames

I’m looking forward to the results of the Ames, Iowa straw poll this weekend. Because of the candidates who are skipping it I am not sure if it will have much effect on the top tier of the Republican field, but I am hoping that it will be beneficial to my favorite second tier candidtae among the Republicans, Mike Huckabee. In an interview for the Washington Post he took my preferred position on one issue where I disagree with Mitt Romney by endorsing John McCain’s stance regarding torture (or enhanced interrogation).

I would love to see Governor Huckabee in the top tier instead of someone like Rudy Giuliani who is well known but has not convinced me that he has anything more going for him than being in the right position at the right time to gain that fame. If the Ames straw poll plays out right for Huckabee, he might have a shot at breaking into the top tier and getting the exposure that he deserves in the media.

Tags 2008, elections, national candidates

General

Endorsement Lessons

My series of endorsements for 2008 was very enlightening. I learned a lot about my political leanings and what I thought was required of a president. I hope to capture some of what I learned here.

One thing that I learned was the value of time. When I began the endorsement process I had different expectations for what I was looking for than when I finished. There were a number of candidates who I did not reach the conclusion on endorsement that I had anticipated. I noticed how my own attitudes and perceptions about the political health of our country affected my perceptions about where different candidates stood as far as how I perceived their ability to lead the country. Also, as I continued to look at the candidates I found that my perceptions of them changed over time. I was no longer making judgments based on a snapshot of their positions, but I was also able to determine the trajectory of their positions and adjust my judgments accordingly.

I learned that timing is important. There were a number of candidates I could not endorse simply because they were not a fit for the needs of the day.

My appreciation grew for the work that is required of citizens if they are to make informed choices. making informed choices requires being informed about the candidates and the issues as well as understanding your own assumptions and values.

I have come to believe through this process that the rigors of campaigning are good exercise for a potential president. They are seeking a position that is challenging and unpredictable. The job requires them to consider the present as well as the future, knowing that their decisions can affect the lives of people everywhere. It makes more and more sense to me why we frequently select men (so far) who have been governors and generals, and less frequently select men who have spent time as legislators.

Tags endorsements, learning, national candidates