Monday, December 18, 2006

Kiss of Death

So it seems as though my support can be the kiss of death, politically speaking. For the second time in two months a presidential hopeful that I've liked has dropped out of the run for the presidency. Two months ago it was Mark Warner, a centrist Democrat from Virginia, who cited family considerations as the reason for his decision. On Saturday, it was Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, another centrist Democrat, who claimed simply to be facing up to the political reality that he didn't have enough support this cycle.

While I'm sad to see Bayh go, I certainly understand his decision. Running for president these days is a pretty brutal undertaking and declaring an intent to run when he didn't think he could win would be nothing short of masochistic. The Democratic field already has its heavyweight contenders in Barack and Hillary, its second fiddles in John Edwards and Tom Vilsack, and its also-rans in Joe Biden and Dennis Kucinich (with Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson sandwiched up there somewhere in between). Perhaps it really is best for the relatively young Bayh to avoid the damaging shrapnel that tends to fly during presidential primaries and instead begin plotting for '12 or '16.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

So who are you lending your significant amount of support to now? Jk, we all know about your crush on Barack.

Anonymous said...

I just wish that President Palmer from 24 would run.

Marc said...

BA - I like Obama... I also like Vilsack, Edwards and Richardson. Moreover, though she's not my favorite candidate, I don't think Hillary is quite the boogiewoman that the right makes her out to be. She's built a pretty centrist record on a range of issues during her time in the Senate.

TFB - Finally found a Democrat you could support, eh?

Anonymous said...

Marc - the list of candidates you support doesn't make you seem to excited about any "centrists" from the right...

Marc said...

I like John McCain on a lot of issues (though not so much on Iraq) and I could see myself voting for him in two years if he's the candidate. I used to like Romney (a former centrist), but he's swung way too far to the right for my tastes (it could be said the move is only out of political necessity, so I'm holding my opinion on him in abeyance for now). Giuliani is alright... though I'm really not sure where he stands on a whole lot of issues at the moment. I'm pretty cold on Brownback and Gingrich... though they're not centrists by anyone's standards.

Anonymous said...

I am all about Romney. He is handsome, wealthy, and mormon who cares about anything else, right?

Anonymous said...

Given your power to get people to withdraw from the race, why don't you do the world a favor and endorse Hillary next? But, on second thought, that would leave Obama as the star...not sure I like him (his policies, that is, I kind of like him as a person) much better.

Anonymous said...

I hate to tell you tigerfoxbear but President Palmer died... he was actually assassinated by the current president in a crazy tangled web of deceit and shadows.

Anonymous said...

oh, I forgot to ask... Marc does this make you a politician dementor?
and we are still waiting for those grades.

Marc said...

BM - Well, when you put it that way...

Rob - Intriguing idea... but on principle I refuse to allow my support to be manipulated in such a blatant way. She's simply going to have to win me over before I can knock her out of the race.

Treidi - I stop short of sucking out people's souls... and the grades still haven't rolled in.

Joy said...

I was really sad to see Gov. Warner drop out. I was hoping to see him run-I think he'd be a good candidate.