MSNBC's Todd and Montanaro have this report on the long short list that has been discussed on Capitol Hill. They report 16 names have been discussed - Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John Edwards, Evan Bayh, Kathleen Sebelius, Ted Strickland, Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, Jim Webb, Bill Nelson, Jack Reed, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Tom Daschle, Sam Nunn, and retired General James Jones. Anyone here surprise you? Any omissions surprise you (I note that Brian Schweitzer, Bill Richardson and Janet Napolitano aren't on the list)? I'm quite happy to see Jack Reed here. Of course not being on this list doesn't mean someone's not being considered. But this list might feature the favorites - though maybe not.
Posted by armand at June 10, 2008 04:45 PM | TrackBack | Posted to PoliticsSeriously? John Kerry? That is a surprise. A lot of people (as in the general public, not our pundits) have been tossing around John Edwards, but aren't Dems concerned about his "tainted" aspect? I don't care... I still like him.
Posted by: kikimonster at June 11, 2008 08:43 AM | PERMALINKWell, according to several political reporters Edwards is quite serious when he says he doesn't want the job. As to Kerry - maybe they are just being polite? Though I can see the argument - he's vetted, he won a huge 59 million votes in '04 (compared to 51 for Gore, and 47 for Clinton in 1996), he's "ready on day 1", he crushed Bush in their foreign policy debate. But that said, the fact that nobody seems to be publicly discussing his name would seem to suggest he's not at the top of the list.
Posted by: Armand at June 11, 2008 09:54 AM | PERMALINKAmbinder or somebody pointed out that the real serious candidates are often not in the first round, historically, which is generally a courtesy round.
Posted by: jacflash at June 11, 2008 11:27 AM | PERMALINK