Friday’s political round-up

December 15, 2006

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* Barack Obama got his chance to make a good first impression in New Hampshire this past weekend, and Hillary Clinton will get her chance very soon. The state Dem Party confirmed yesterday that it has invited Clinton to be the featured speaker at its major annual fundraiser — known as the “100 Club” fundraiser — early in 2007. If she accepts, it will be the senator’s first visit to New Hampshire since October 1996.

* Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) apparently flirted with the idea of retirement, prompting the Senate GOP to give him some plum committee assignments. It had the desired effect — Alexander will reportedly seek re-election in 2008.

* John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) favorability ratings among independents, once assumed to be his most reliable base of support, have fallen 15 percentage points since March.

* Al Gore may still be a little coy about 2008, but according to his son, the former VP isn’t going to run for president again. “I don’t know all of his reasons – but I know that he has no plans to run in 2008,” Al Gore III said this week. Asked if he’s sure his father definitely isn’t running, the son added, “Well, I guess I have to add his addendum. I think the way he always says it is, ‘I don’t see any circumstances under which I would run for president.'”

* Burns Strider has been helping lead the House Democratic Caucus’ “Faith Working Group,” but will now transition to presidential politics. Strider, a reported expert on winning over evangelicals, has joined Hillary Clinton’s team.

* And the decision about where best to hold the Democratic National Convention is still up in the air, though insiders believe that Howard Dean prefers New York to Denver. Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) spoke to Dean yesterday about the decision and came away “concerned” that Dean has soured on Denver’s chances, fearful that the city couldn’t pull off such a massive event without a hitch.

Gore is still a young man, and it looks like there are going to be quite a number of Democratic heavy hitters joining the 2008 fray already. He might be wise to let Clinton and Obama fight it out in ’08, while continuing his environmental work. In another 4-8 years, when the public’s opinion of the Bush administration will no doubt have soured even further than it currently has, and, if the scientific consensus is accurate, global climate change will be an even more significant international issue, Gore will be positioned even more strongly to remind the public that he was right all along in another bid for the presidency, should he choose to do so.

  • I hope Howard Dean gives Denver its due in consideration for the ’08 Democratic Convention. Having it in New York I think would further cement the image that the party is controlled by folks from the northeast. Having the convention out west would make the region believe that the current wave of Dem victories there is the way of the future for the west. Drive a stake into the heart of what was once solid red country Howard!

  • Any Independent who still likes McCain after the Bush hugs and the call for more troop fodder in Iraq just isn’t paying attention.

    Meanwhile, petorado–good points about why the convention should be in Denver. I’ll add one more–I live in New York City and just don’t want the traffic nightmare.

  • Democratic National Convention is still up in the air, though insiders believe that Howard Dean prefers New York to Denver.

    C’mon Dean! The future of the Dem party is not in New York, its in the Mountain West! Tester, Salazer, Schwietzer, Reid…must I go on? Having the national convention in Denver will only help our image in this crucial electoral region. New York? forgeddaboudit.

  • Dean wants New York because Hillary’s from New York at the moment. It’s time the Democratic Party honored Horace Greeley’s (actually John B. L. Soule’s, source) admonition to “Go west, young man.”

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