There’s been a flurry of interesting items lately about the next presidential race, with several players positioning themselves carefully.
Wisconsin’s Russ Feingold (D), for example, was in Florida over the weekend to talk to locals about his interest in the job.
U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., told the Tiger Bay Club of Volusia County on Friday that he’ll decide whether to run after “going around the country” working to return a Democrat to the White House.
In Bush’s first term, Feingold opposed the president’s policies on the Iraq war, USA Patriot Act, Medicare reform, education policy, environmental regulation and abortion rights. He made clear he was leaving his own presidential options open after a club member asked if he plans to run.
For now, Feingold said, he wants to be “part of the process” of identifying a candidate likely to succeed George W. Bush in 2008. That involves helping to create “national organizations of people to make that happen,” he said.
Not exactly subtle. Nevertheless, Feingold deserves enormous credit for weighing a presidential run while also publicly railing against the federal death penalty. Good for him; that’s a gutsy move.
And speaking of would-be presidential candidates with guts, a certain four-star general is thinking of trying his hand again.
Among the earliest to start dialing for donors: Wesley Clark, who entered the ’04 race just a few months before the first primary but quickly stumbled with a flip-flop on how he would have voted on Congress’s Iraq-war resolution. Now he is telling potential supporters, according to one he called, that he “learned from his mistakes, he knows it takes more time and preparation than he put in — and that his wife is fully on board,” which wasn’t true the first go-round.
But wait, there’s more.
Indiana’s Evan Bayh, fresh off his bold stance against Condoleezza Rice’s nomination, is generating all manner of speculation about a White House run. It’s worth keeping an eye on him — the desperately moderate senator may start taking steps to reinforce his progressive bona fides if he’s serious about the campaign. Considering that he out-polled Bush in the region’s most Republican state on Election Day, Bayh has to be considered a serious player.
As for our friends on the other side of the aisle, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback is starting to make a few waves of his own.
Among the signs bobbing above the assembled throng at last week’s March for Life rally in Washington, D.C., were two worth noting for anyone with an eye on the next presidential race. One read, “Ohioans for Brownback”; the other, “Values Voters for Brownback ’08.”
That’s Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, hardly a politician with a high profile nationally, but a hero in social conservative circles.
Brownback is also one of a handful of Republican Senators privately mulling a potential presidential bid in three years time.
Like Feingold, Brownback has started traveling quite a bit lately, including several trips to Iowa and South Carolina, which coincidentally, are two of the earliest states on the primary calendar.
Brownback may not have the notoriety of some of the other likely candidates (McCain, Giuliani, Frist), but his chances are better than some might realize, particularly in Iowa. He’s from a nearby Midwestern state and his very close ties to the religious right are not only more intense than most of would-be candidates, it’s also the kind of relationship that would help among Iowa Republicans.
[Conservative Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa)] recently described sitting behind Brownback on a flight and watching the Senator take out a “dog-eared, brown leather Bible” and read from it for 30 minutes before turning to briefing papers “to work on his Senatorial duties.”
Brownback leads a meeting every Tuesday of the Values Action Team, a collection of leaders within the cultural conservative movement.
Brownback is also a regular speaker at national conventions for these groups, as was the case in late September 2004 when he addressed the Christian Coalition’s gala dinner in Washington.
Looking back at previous Iowa results, Brownback’s narrative should do quite well. In 2000, Alan Keyes and Gary Bauer found their religious right-style message worked better in Iowa than any other state; in 1996, Pat Buchanan almost won the caucuses; and in 1988, TV preacher Pat Robertson actually beat George H.W. Bush. Brownback, therefore, has reason to believe he can do very well in Iowa.
It’s only going to keep getting more interesting as time goes on. It’s not unreasonable to think as many as 20 serious contenders from both sides will be angling for position over the next couple of years. Stay tuned.