Daschle Re-Enters Political Arena (running for...pres?)

[meganmonkey]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle's interest in public office isn't necessarily latent: he has set up a new political action committee and plans a Jefferson-Jackson Day speech in the politically pivotal state of Iowa.

Daschle, who was considered a possible candidate for president in 2004, has quietly eschewed most publicity since his defeat to Republican John Thune last November. But Steve Hildebrand, director of the new committee and Daschle's former campaign manager, said the well-known Democrat from South Dakota ``is not going to rule out opportunities to play important roles in public service.''

``It could be president, it could be vice president, it could be something else,'' Hildebrand said. ``It could be nothing.''

He said Daschle's Iowa speech, scheduled for the state party's annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner Nov. 5, will probably be his most political since last year's election.

But Hildebrand insisted that Daschle's appearance is not about running for the presidency. It is about supporting his Democratic friends in Iowa, he said.

more...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5293402,00.html

[genius]

1. Wtaht's his platform? To kiss at Bush?

[okieinpain]

25. given his position, reid has been way more effective then daschle

[CatholicEdHead]

2. No thanks, I will pass with Daschle in 2008

While a good guy on the issues, he is too wimpy and there is so much easy mud from the Thune campaign that can easily be reapplied.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

11. Club for Growth is being sued by the FEC...

... and Club for Growth is the group that paid for hate and lying ads about Daschle in South Dakota.

<snip>
FEC Sues Pro-Republican Political Group The Federal Election Commission filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Washington against the Club for Growth. The pro-Republican group spent at least $21 million in the 2003-04 election cycle. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/19/AR2005091901020.html
<snip>

Since then, Thune has become a statewide joke, if he wasn't one already.

[Atman]

3. Oh great! We need a spineless wuss in times of great turmoil

Hang it up, Thom. Check your file. I wrote you a letter of high praise in the early days of BushCo, for standing up to his bullshit. But I retract every single nice word I've ever said about you. You let your party down when we needed you most. You had your 15 minutes. Send up fresh blood. New ideas. STRONG leaders, not scaredy-cats who don't know what they stand for.

Uh uh, Tom. No way in hell.

[doubleplusgood]

4. is there a Daschle version of "Joe-mentum" ?

:sarcasm:

[sendero]

Yeah...

... the Daschle dash. You run 100 yards and bend over.

[Orsino]

18. "Tomnertia" n/t

[Robeson]

26. LOL....

...that's one to remember!

[antonialee839]

5. Maybe he can get Donna Brazile to run his campaign.

[meganmonkey]

6. Right, she'd be great for him

:P

[still_one]

7. president of what?

[TomClash]

8. Never nt

[RandomKoolzip]

9. He's got "momenTOM!"

It's the Daschle variety of "Joe-mentum."

[meganmonkey]

10. Well done, maestro!

:applause:

I've been racking my brain for minutes trying to come up with one!

[Minstrel Boy]

12. thanks, I needed that

:rofl:

[Mend]

13. He'd make a great high school principal....

terrible politician.

[emulatorloo]

14. If Daschle was so "lackluster" why did the REPUGS have to DESTROY HIM???

I'm no big Daschle fan, but it is interesting to review this blast from the past:

<snip>

MAY 7, 2003

JOSH MARSHALL
Daschle-bashing reaches a new low in South Dakota

If you’ve ever needed a textbook example of the psychological theory of projection, it’s those GOP operatives and their dingbat jihad against Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle.

It all got under way in 2001 when GOP pollster Frank Luntz sent around a memo urging Republicans to “Gingrich” the then-majority leader. Since then, they have spent their off-hours scouring the pages of Dante’s Inferno for epithets florid enough for the wild-eyed South Dakota Democrat.

Last year, most Daschle-bashers focused on ousting his protégé, Sen. Tim Johnson. Then-Rep. John Thune’s campaign tried to do it with cooked-up charges of “massive voter fraud” on the state’s Indian reservations, a “scandal” that eventually collapsed under the weight of its own insubstantiality.

The real shenanigans came after Election Day, when a group of Thune lawyers mounted its own voter-fraud “investigation” by assembling some 50 affidavits detailing all manner of alleged irregularities and illegalities. The state’s Republican attorney general decided that only three of the 50 affidavits alleged anything illegal. And the Argus Leader’s David Kranz, the dean of South Dakota political reporters, found that even those three had some rather fishy origins.

<snip>

http://www.hillnews.com/marshall/050703.aspx

See Also from 2001:

<snip>

Bill Press: Republicans aim to smear Tom Daschle

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Even in American politics, it's a new low. A full-page ad in South Dakota newspapers shows the face of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein with the caption: "Why is America buying 725,000 barrels of oil a day from this man?"

Alongside that photo appears the face of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and the message: "Because this man won't let America drill for oil at home."

The politics of personal destruction are back. If you believe the ad, Tom Daschle is in bed with Saddam Hussein. But it's only one of many Scud missiles launched against Daschle by Republican party officials in the last few weeks.

Befuddled by Daschle, Republicans have come to the same conclusion they once reached about Bill Clinton. Unable to attack his policies because they're so popular, they've decided to attack him personally.

<snip>

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/12/23/column.press/?related

[existentialist]

15. the effort to destroy Daschle

First a note--the Republican Attorney General's investigation of the alleged improprieties of Johnson's election found that the affidavits alleged fraud were themselves perjury. that is that the Republicans alleging voter fraud were themselves knowingly making false statements under oath--but he did not choose to prosecute.

Second, Daschle was a mainstream Democratic. To the taste of most here on DU that is less than wonderful, and I could (and have) strongly criticize him myself.

But, if a mainstream Democratic Senate majority leader is mildly distasteful to the sentiments of many here, you can imagine how awful it must have been to Republicans to have a mainstream Democratic from a state with solid majority Republican voter registration as Senate Majority leader. This was especially so given that South Dakota is a small population state where a relatively little political money can go a long way toward influencing the vote for a Senate seat. . . .

[stickdog]

16. "It could be nothing."

Was that a prediction or a career summary?

[xchrom]

17. that made my spine shiver.

god what a lackluster term in the oval office that would be.

no, no, no, no, no, no.

[zara]

19. What's the punchline? THis must be a joke.

[madmark]

20. He wasn't the worst appeaser, but he tolerated a lot his colleagues

appeasments. I do not know how he voted on the Iraq resolution but he sure didn't try to filibuster it. Nor did he try to filibuster tolerate that terrible tax cut that is at the heart of our current economic instability.

[ISUGRADIA]

21. Poor Tom. I saw him speak at the U of MN a few months ago

Someone asked him if he would admit that the presidency was stolen from Al Gore and that Gore should have been president. Tom, still in DC beltway speak, would only mention improprieties in 2000 and how they had passed the Help America Vote Act, blah, blah, blah but would not say Gore was robbed.

Kindda sad him trying for a second act.

[SoCalDem]

22. Oh please...

It would be kind of nice to actually have a candidate who migth have a chance.. Tom ..get a job at the post office or teach a class..

[ISUGRADIA]

23. KICK

[VegasWolf]

24. OMFG!!! nt

[BiggJawn]

27. Tom! Get one of THESE first!