Panelists predict wide-open presidential races

[Algorem]

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/news-19/1128632942323220.xml&storylist=cleveland

10/6/2005, 5:03 p.m. ET
By JOHN McCARTHY
The Associated Press

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — The 2008 presidential primaries look to be wide-open races, with no incumbent president or vice president to take on challengers and no clear front-runners, two political scientists told a meeting of their colleagues on Thursday.

And the Democratic and Republican nominees likely will take different paths to the top of the ticket, Andrew Dowdle, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Arkansas said at the meeting sponsored by Ray C. Bliss Institute for Applied Politics at the University of Akron.

The last time there was an election without a White House incumbent was 1952, when Democratic President Harry Truman decided not to run after finishing poorly when supporters put his name in the New Hampshire primary without his consent. In 2008, President Bush will be barred from seeking a third term and Vice President Dick Cheney has indicated he's not interested.

"This is going to be the most open election at least since '52," said Dowdle, who specializes in presidential politics...


http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/news-19/1128572945303821.xml&storylist=cleveland

Role of parties changing with emergence of interest groups

10/6/2005, 12:06 a.m. ET
By JOHN McCARTHY
The Associated Press

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — The millions of dollars that interest groups pumped into elections around the country last year are creating new questions about the role of political parties in future contests.

Groups such as America Coming Together and the Swift Boat Veterans performed functions traditionally associated with Democrats and Republicans — voter registration, making sure voters got to the polls and issue advertising — especially in the campaign that put President Bush in the White House for another four years.

The role of the parties was part of a review Wednesday by political scientists from around the country at the Ray C. Bliss Institute for Applied Politics at the University of Akron.
The interest groups known as 527s, after the section of the tax code that governs them, are not required to report donations or identify contributors.

"How typical an election was this in fundraising by parties? The more important question is the rise of 527s," David Ryden, a political scientist at Hope College, told the conference. "That could prove instrumental in terms of parties carrying out their functions."...

Ohio Democratic Party: http://www.ohiodems.org

Ohio Republican Party: http://www.ohiogop.org

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. PAPER BALLOTS! NOW!

[AX10]

2. I agree.

Democratic:
-Wesley Clark
-Hillary Clinton
-Evan Bayh
-Joe Biden
-Janet Napolitano
-Mark Warner
-John Kerry
-John Edwards
-Al Gore
-Howard Dean
-Ed Rendell

Rethuglican:
-Bill Frist
-John McCain
-George Allen
-Jeb Bush
-Rick Perry
-Rudy Guilliani
-Chuck Hagel
-Roy Moore :crazy:?

[saracat]

3. Kerry and Edweards have all but declared. Don't rule them out.

[StClone]

4. In a sane, paper ballot world

The Republican presidential candidates are near bottom barrel and easily defeated. Ignominiously, Guilliani's ember glowed brightly with the deathly breath of 9-11. In addition he has baggage that could bog down an elephant. If this guy is the best they can do, their problems are apparent.

John McCain is at once, a sad figure of great courage, yet wimped slavishly to the Bush cartelle . I suspect he does not have the physical stamina or health to wage a campaign. Current McCain devotees, enlightened to his boot licking and his liking for a Rove kicking, should see him in a different light. I think his time has passed. He wants the office dearly, but what would he offer?

Jeb with BushCo behind him is still potent, but its public image is such that another Bush should not win in a generation, if ever.

The rest are dogs. The Rs have a real problems, with one advantage. The image they created of wimpish clueless Dems lingers. That is what Goebbels playbook and big money can do. That's our biggest opponent not these jug head Candidates so far tossing their hats.