[BRussell]

I'm just curious. Who do you like among the Democratic candidates, if you've been following it at all? The voting is going to start soon, and the nominee will probably be determined in the next month or two.

Who would you like to see go up against Bush? Dean, Clark, Kerry, Gephardt, Lieberman, Edwards, etc.

[davesimondotcom]

P.S. "etc." = Kucinich, Moseley-Braun, Sharpton

[Developer]

BRussell, if I would ask you "which conservative would you like to go against Schröder in the next elections in Germany?", what would you answer?

[BRussell]

I wouldn't know, but I'm just a dumb American who doesn't follow world affairs, and I know all you Europeans do.

If there aren't any opinions about the US primary, that's fine. But many Europeans often have, uh, opinions on American presidents, and many here have been active in criticizing Bush. So I'm curious if they have an opinion about who would best stand up against him in an election.

One of the reasons I posted this is because I read an editorial today in which a European essentially endorsed Clark for the Democratic nomination, and I thought it was interesting.

But more than any specific policy proposals, Clark's decision to make restoring America's image and alliances a major theme of his campaign shows that he is acutely aware of one of the most important foreign policy problems facing the country, and that he has the right approach to fixing it.

[Wiskedjak]

Just because 'non-Americans' are critical of your current Presidents doesn't mean that we pay much attention to your election candidates.

Is Bush actually locked in at this point as the Republican candidate? Has the incumbent party ever NOT selected the incumbent President as their candidate?

[Developer]

Originally posted by BRussell:
I wouldn't know.

See, I don't know either. I never heard those names before. So maybe I'd pick the one who's name is "nice guy".

This isn't reported here, and I think most really don't care. We can't change it anyway. When they have a candidate we will hear about it.

I also think most really don't care who the US president is. And Europeans are not criticizing the president (past/present/future) usually. Raise/lower taxes or whatever, and nobody cares. Only when things directly affect us like bombing some country and asking us to participate or wasting common resources there is criticism.

[BlackGriffen]

Originally posted by Wiskedjak:
Is Bush actually locked in at this point as the Republican candidate?

Yes.

Has the incumbent party ever NOT selected the incumbent President as their candidate?

I'm not sure. I don't know of any cases where an incumbent Pres was challenged effectively, or even challenged. It happens from time to time in lower positions, though.

BlackGriffen

[davesimondotcom]

Teddy Roosevelt ran against a sitting President, as an ex-President. I think taht's about as close as it's been to an incumbant being challenged by someone within his party. Roosevelt ran as a third party candidate (Bull Moose.)

[christ]

I don't care who runs. I'd be perfectly happy for Dubya to win again. I just wish that he would change those of his policies that effect me.

If I had to choose a candidate, I would go for the one that said (before the event) that invading Iraq was a bad idea, and said (at the time) that demonising people that disagreed with the invasion (e.g. France) was stupid. Are there any candidates (from either party) that fit that profile?

But I think that voting is a bad idea anyway, as it only encourages politicians, so even if I was American I wouldn't vote for any of them, of any party.

[BlackGriffen]

Originally posted by christ:
If I had to choose a candidate, I would go for the one that said (before the event) that invading Iraq was a bad idea, and said (at the time) that demonising people that disagreed with the invasion (e.g. France) was stupid. Are there any candidates (from either party) that fit that profile?

Dean, and probably Clark.

Kucinich, Braun, and Sharpton probably count, too, but they don't have a snowball's chance in hell.

BlackGriffen

[effgee]

Jesse Ventura joining the Democrats because the Supreme Court has ruled that the outcome of the 2004 election will be decided by means of a bareknuckle boxing match between the two candidates.



And on a more serious note - a Dean/Clark ticket might be a good choice.

[Lerkfish]

Originally posted by effgee:
And on a more serious note - a Dean/Clark ticket might be a good choice.

actually, I've thought that was the best solution myself.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by effgee:
And on a more serious note - a Dean/Clark ticket might be a good choice.

Clark has said repeatedly that he does not want to be Vice President, and would not accept a nomination for that office if it were offered to him.

In fact, he seems to have a canned sentence which he utters every single time the question is put forth, which leads me to wonder how sincere he really is about that.

[Lerkfish]

Originally posted by Millennium:
Clark has said repeatedly that he does not want to be Vice President, and would not accept a nomination for that office if it were offered to him.

In fact, he seems to have a canned sentence which he utters every single time the question is put forth, which leads me to wonder how sincere he really is about that.

I honestly don't see what would be wrong with two strong candidates as prez and veep, both with differing strengths.

I think sometimes ego gets in the way of sense in these matters.

[BlackGriffen]

Originally posted by Millennium:
Clark has said repeatedly that he does not want to be Vice President, and would not accept a nomination for that office if it were offered to him.

In fact, he seems to have a canned sentence which he utters every single time the question is put forth, which leads me to wonder how sincere he really is about that.

Whether or not he is, he has to appear not to want to be, lest his support flow more readily to Dean.

I vaguely recall an article that went over a possible split between the PR Clark, and what he was actually doing/thinking. I don't recall much beyond that, and don't know how credible it was.

BlackGriffen

[effgee]

Originally posted by Millenium:
Clark has said repeatedly that he does not want to be Vice President, and would not accept a nomination for that office if it were offered to him

He probably doesn't have much of a choice - if he admitted to being fine with the VP job he'd undermine his own campaign and (most likely) upset quite a few folks.

Sort of like Lerkfish applying for a job as a Crative Director and then, during the interview, stating that he'd be fine sharpening everybody's pencils.



My guess is that after Dean has secured the nomination, Clark will probably change his mind about the job ... would I bet my mother on it? Nope, it's more of a gut feeling

[WinsOBoogi]

Originally posted by effgee:
He probably doesn't have much of a choice - if he admitted to being fine with the VP job he'd undermine his own campaign and (most likely) upset quite a few folks.

EXACTLY. "I don't wanna be VP" means, "I'm running for president."

[BRussell]

Originally posted by Developer:
See, I don't know either. I never heard those names before. So maybe I'd pick the one who's name is "nice guy".

This isn't reported here, and I think most really don't care. We can't change it anyway. When they have a candidate we will hear about it.

I also think most really don't care who the US president is. And Europeans are not criticizing the president (past/present/future) usually. Raise/lower taxes or whatever, and nobody cares. Only when things directly affect us like bombing some country and asking us to participate or wasting common resources there is criticism.

Eh, maybe it was a dumb question. Dumbness never stopped me before though. I honestly don't know what Europeans know about Americans. Sometimes I'm quite surprised.

[Nonsuch]

Originally posted by BRussell:
Eh, maybe it was a dumb question. Dumbness never stopped me before though. I honestly don't know what Europeans know about Americans. Sometimes I'm quite surprised.

We just naturally assume you Europeans are more informed about world affairs than we are.

[Developer]

Originally posted by Nonsuch:
We just naturally assume you Europeans are more informed about world affairs than we are.

I think the mistake was just to assume that the democratic presidential candidate is a "world affair".

[perryp]

Ariel Sharon

[dtriska]

Originally posted by Developer:
I think the mistake was just to assume that the democratic presidential candidate is a "world affair".

Exactly.

On the other hand, the US presidential election has a huge impact on Canada, as anyone can see since Bush was elected. (Pierre Elliot Trudeau remarked that Canada’s relationship with the United States is like that of “a mouse in bed with an elephant…no matter how friendly…one is affected by every twitch and grunt.”)

With that said, there hasn't been much reporting on the primaries. We get some more concrete news once the parties have their candidates, but that's about it.

As far as who I would like to be president, I'd have to say someone who follows international law, doesn't violate treaties, realizes the limits of military power, and doesn't act unilaterally in the selfish interests of one state at the expense of the world at large.

I can dream, can't I?

[ThinkInsane]

I have dual citizenship, so I technically I can answer this as a non-american, that happens to be able to vote. I'll be voting for Clark if he wins the democratic primary.

[Face Ache]

Dean scares the republicans most, so Dean.

[Lerkfish]

Originally posted by Face Ache:
Dean scares the republicans most, so Dean.

right. they certainly do appear worried about him, but that might be just as much because they've identified him as the front runner than that they are specifically worried about him.

[Wiskedjak]

Originally posted by BlackGriffen:
I'm not sure. I don't know of any cases where an incumbent Pres was challenged effectively, or even challenged. It happens from time to time in lower positions, though.

But it is possible for an incumbent party to select someone other than the incumbent President as their candidate, yes?

[BRussell]

Originally posted by Wiskedjak:
But it is possible for an incumbent party to select someone other than the incumbent President as their candidate, yes?

Definitely. I don't know if it's ever happened, but the closest I can think is during Vietnam, Lyndon Johnson was challenged by Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy, and ended up withdrawing from the race. Technically he didn't lose since he withdrew first, but practically speaking, he didn't get the nomination of the party.

[jbartone]

Clark, Gephardt or Dean.

[theolein]

Mao Tse Tung!

[BlackGriffen]

Originally posted by ThinkInsane:
I have dual citizenship, so I technically I can answer this as a non-american, that happens to be able to vote. I'll be voting for Clark if he wins the democratic primary.

Would you vote that way if Clark was in the veep slot? That or, maybe, Secretary of State?

BlackGriffen

[Developer]

Originally posted by Developer:
This isn't reported here.

I have to correct myself since I have just seen this overview over the democratic candidates. I still have no real opinion though. Moseley-Braun appears to be good maybe.

ps:
The articles claims that two third of the voters didn't know a single of the democratic candidates, so I was in good company.

[BlackGriffen]

Originally posted by Developer:
I have to correct myself since I have just seen this overview over the democratic candidates. I still have no real opinion though. Moseley-Braun appears to be good maybe.

D'oh! You just missed her. She dropped yesterday and endorsed Howard Dean.

ps:
The articles claims that two third of the voters didn't know a single of the democratic candidates, so I was in good company.

So now you like the company of the ignorant part of the American public?

BlackGriffen

[sniffer]

That Clark fellow, if that was the general, sounded like a good candidate for me. I saw him on the David Letterman show. No idea about the others though.