Besides Senator Obama, who is your favorite past Democratic Nominee?

[PresidentObama]

As we gear up for victory in 2008, let's go back and talk about the past:

Who is your favorite past Democratic nominee?

My first is Senator John Kerry. I will admit he made mistakes and his campaign staff wasn't the best, but I really believed in him and thought he would have made one of the best Presidents in our nations history. I really will always be stunned at the opportunity our country missed in 2004, and I really hope in this election we make up for it by putting President Obama in the Oval Office in Janaury of 2009. Despite the mistakes of 2004, I will always be proud of the first campaign I got involved with involving my favorite Democrat--Senator John Kerry.

My second favorite was Bill Clinton.

And lord do I wish Robert F. Kennedy would have lived to be the Democratic nominee, and hopefully the President. Truly another missed opportunity, and tragedy.

So who is everyones favorite nominee from yester year?

[IndianaJones]

1. Clinton, Gore, Mondale, Dukakis. nt.

[suston96]

2. Al Smith..........nt

[Lucky 13]

3. Gore

[tilsammans]

4. George McGovern

With all due respect to the rest, no one else even comes close.
(I don't count RFK, as he wasn't the actual nominee yet at the time of his death.)

:dem:

[ruggerson]

47. Yep, agreed

I still have my copy somewhere of the "this chamber reeks of blood" speech.

What an incredible President he would have made.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

54. Another for George!

I admired him so much in '72 even though I wasn't old enough to vote yet. Had three McG buttons on my denim jacket. A great American patriot. :patriot:

[fNord]

58. absolutely. McGovern all the way ....n/t

[trueblue2007]

5. Vice President ~~~ AND~~~ PRESIDENT Albert Gore

[Alexander]

6. Gore.

[tedoll78]

7. Al Gore.

I'll forever be bitter about 2000. Such a good man. It's incredibly depressing to think about what could have been.

[book_worm]

8. I guess FDR who won four times

[progressiveforever]

9. Kerry---then Jimmy Carter in 76

[blm]

10. Kerry, Gore, McGovern, Carter, Dukakis......I used to adore Bill Clinton, then I read his book and

realized to what degree he sided with and protected the Bushes on so many crucial matters.

[BootinUp]

14. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz..... nt

[terrya]

11. The first election I voted, Jimmy Carter was the nominee.

And I was proud to vote for him.

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. Jimmy Carter v Ronnie Raygun was the first election I was aware of. I

rooted for Jimmy because his wife reminded me of my best friend's mommy. LOL

[BootinUp]

12. Lets see

I was actually favoring Tsongas in '92. And I thought Dukakis was great. Gore did not thrill me except I knew he was eons better than W. I warmed to Clinton pretty quick in the GE. I was mystified why Carter and Mondale could not get more traction against an actor.

[progressiveforever]

13. Hell, I loved them all.

[blue_onyx]

15. Gore...I wish I could have voted for him

It's sad to think about what the world would be like if he had been allowed to take the office he was voted into.

[Hansel]

16. Bill Clinton. I like how he spun them around. n/t

[globalvillage]

17. John Kerry

As Hunter Thompson said, John Kerry is 'a good man with a brave heart'.
This country was screwed out of a really great President in '04. We can't let that happen again.

[LiberadorHugo]

18. FDR

Unfortunately. Jimmy "Mujahideen" Carter is tarnished beyond rehabilitation to any progressive willing to be honest about Afghanistan. St. Ronnie didn't start the mess there; he simply made it worse.

[mvd]

20. I was only voting from Clinton's second term on

In that time frame, I vote Gore because his terms should be ending right now - not Bush's terms.

[blue neen]

21. Bobby Kennedy wasn't the nominee yet in '68, but oh my, oh my.

I just loved him.

[Blaukraut]

22. John Kerry

His was the first campaign I was actively involved in, so there was a high level of emotional investment. Of course the fact that he is my senator and I agree with his stance on issues 95% of the time makes it a no-brainer that he would be my favorite prez candidate up until now.

[Jennicut]

23. Gore. Something about his shyness made me feel for him as a shy person myself.

He was never really comfortable in the political public eye but he was an extremely intelligent and good guy. Love seeing him so confident and happy now fighting for our planet.

[TayTay]

24. John Kerry

But that is not a surprise.

[rockymountaindem]

25. Kerry

This is my first time voting, so I can't recall that many more campaigns. The only real comparison I can make is with Gore, but a two-person list isn't much of a list at all.

[sniffa]

26. The guy who did the things about that stuff

He was awesome.

[LibraLiz1973]

27. Clinton followed closely by Gore.

[Geronimo12]

28. Bill Clinton

He proved he had what it took.

[Irishonly]

29. My first election was in 1972

I have always thought the democratic candidates were at least one million per cent better than their puke counter parts. It didn't matter if the candidate I supported at first wasn't the nominee or not. We have ALWAYS been better than the pukes.

This time we struck gold. Look at the rallies. Democrats are happy and smiling while the pukes all look like they just drank sour milk.

[Born_A_Truman]

30. Bill Clinton

[wisteria]

31. Senator Kerry- first and best.

And, I think it is important to mention that he did in fact fight back against the Swift Boaters in 2004- money and Democratic support were limited and that made it difficult to be heard. But, it wasn't the Swift Boaters that cut into his lead, it was the fear and scare tactic employed by the Repubs. Just like Dems seem to own the issue of the economy the repubs own the security issue. I wish we could have broken through this preconceived notion, but none the less, Kerry came very close in an extremely tough race. Personally, I think he won and was robbed of that win.

[PresidentObama]

36. Amen. I wish the media would report how the race was stolen.

It's clear it was.

[jberryhill]

32. Franklin Delano Roosevelt /nt

[liberalpragmatist]

33. Honestly, I think virtually all our nominees were class acts

Honestly, the last creep we nominated was LBJ -- and even he had an acute sense of social justice and was one of the greatest presidents in the country's history in terms of domestic legislation.

But let's look at the record since then...

(1) Hubert Humphrey: One of the great postwar liberals and a giant when it came to Civil Rights. The tragedy of HHH is how he was strait-jacketed on the Vietnam War, unable to break with Johnson because he was the incumbent Vice President. But he was one of the giants of the Senate and a pivotal figure in postwar liberalism. A shame he lost.

(2) George McGovern: What, in hindsight, was so dishonorable about McGovern's campaign? Peace, love and understanding? Yes, he may have been politically naive and his campaign was a disaster, but the truth about McGovern was that he was a genuinely moderate (voted for Gerald Ford in '76!), enormously decent and common sense man.

(3) Jimmy Carter: His presidency is regarded as a failure, but he's underrated. He had a decent legislative record and put in place some very far-sighted energy and environmental policies, along with negotiating the pivotal Camp David Accords. His setbacks were of three makings: (a) the times -- I doubt ANY president faced with Jimmy Carter's set of challenges (most of which came in an election year) -- would have won reelection, (b) His unfamiliarity with Congress -- this was a genuine issue, and it was not for nothing his White House was called incompetent. He could be self-righteous, he micromanaged, he kept horrible relations with Congress and he tried to govern without them... but, that takes us to factor (c) which was Congress itself. It takes two to keep a productive relationship between the executive and the legislature, and Congress never liked Jimmy Carter and helped destroy his presidency. Carter was a moderate, who saw that spending needed to be reigned in, that inflation needed to be cut and that ethics reforms had to be made and Congress pushed back on every issue.

For all his flaws, he was visionary and his post-presidential leadership has been extraordinary.

(4) Walter Mondale: Much-maligned and hardly inspirational. But really, what was wrong with anything Mondale said during the campaign? His policies were dead-on and he was exactly right about taxes.

(5) Michael Dukakis: Though he ran probably the worst Democratic campaign of the lot (i.e. he actually could have won but instead lost in a blowout unlike McGovern or Mondale who were in unwinnable races), I have a soft spot for the Duke. He was an earnest, good-government type who, again, was truly a decent, humble, and intelligent public servant.

(6) Bill Clinton: There's nothing I can say that won't have already been said. Let's just say this -- the most talented politician of his generation -- smart, personable, who despite seeing several setbacks managed to lead a surprisingly progressive administration in the face of rampant conservative opposition (if you think Clinton could have been a Great Society liberal when faced with the '93-'94 blue-dog dominated Dem Congress or the Republican Congress of '95-'01, you're delusional).

(7) Al Gore: Again, a visionary. A far-sighted environmentalist and good-government crusader who charted a moderate, prudent, but progressive course and was always one step ahead of the ball. On technology, on the environment, on fiscal sanity, he was (and is) a class act.

(8) John Kerry: A true American hero. One of the nation's most progressive senators without an ounce of corruption in his background. A zealous prosecutor type with a deep commitment to carrying out non-flashy-but-important work like investigating aid to the Contras, BCCI, Vietnam POWs, who came within 60,000 votes in Ohio of unseating an incumbent wartime president with a 50% approval rating. He may get the last laugh: for all of maligning Kerry takes, Obama's policy proposals in this campaign are a virtual carbon-copy of Kerry's '04 policies -- on health care, on education, on taxes, on foreign policy, on terrorism.

Oh, and not only has he been a fantastic supporter for Barack, we can, frankly, thank him for having Barack this year. It was Kerry's initiative -- impressed as he was by the young Illinois Senate candidate -- to name Obama his keynote speaker. Without that convention address, Obama in 2008 would be giving the keynote address for Hillary Clinton, instead of standing on the cusp of being elected himself.

Seriously. I know I'm biased, but I really do think we've nominated some really great guys for the top. If only more of them had won. :(

[saltpoint]

34. I like most of our and can't stand any of theirs.

John and Bobby certainly at the top of my list.

I had a lot of respect for George McGovern.

Dukakis deserved better than he got.

Gary Hart, Birch Bayh, Shirley Chisholm, and Mo Udall all won my heart as well.

Kerry and Gore -- two great men and two lost opportunities for our country.

This year I liked the entire 8 candidates by degree, finding much to like in them all.

I think Democratic voters coast to coast made a tremendous choice with Barack Obama.

And I bet McCain's pollsters would agree.

[Erin Elizabeth]

35. He's on TV right now.

John Kerry. Until he won the nom in 2004, I didn't know what a good man he is. And I still really like and respect him and probably always will.

I had no feelings about Clinton either way, those were the early days of my political awareness.

I did always really love Al Gore, too!

[proud patriot]

37. Gore

[codjh9]

38. I still like Carter a lot, and what he's done SINCE prez is more than anyone - put together.

[Tribetime]

39. Kerry

[Occam Bandage]

40. Gore.

[always_saturday]

41. Hubert Humphrey

[Dinger]

42. Wesley Clark

God, it's good just to post his name here again. I miss my general.

:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:

[PresidentObama]

49. He wasn't a nominee n/t

[A-Schwarzenegger]

43. Howard Dean, easily.

[PresidentObama]

50. He wasn't a nominee n/t

[A-Schwarzenegger]

55. HE WASNT???!@#

[RBInMaine]

44. Clinton ! Damn well knew how to run a campaign !!

[davidpdx]

45. Gore hands down

In terms of recent history he would have made a great president. I wasn't as fond of Kerry, though I supported him. The fact that Gore lost still hurts. That's when things turned ugly for America.

[Minimus]

46. All of them - and I'm not pulling a Palin - I really mean all of them.

[Left Is Write]

48. In my first election - 1984 - I was very proud to cast my vote for Minnesotan Walter Mondale.

Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and John Kerry are certainly on my list.

[MadrasT]

51. I was pretty fond of Bill Clinton. n/t

[Arugula Latte]

52. To tell you the truth, none of them excited me much except for Obama.

I dutifully pulled the lever or mailed in the ballot for every Dem. nominee since I was 18 in '84 (except in '96 when I went for Nader as a protest vote against Mr. Triangulation Bill Clinton ... I was in a "safe" state that Clinton took by a big margin.)

Looking back, of course Gore is incredible, but not the Gore of 2000 -- the Gore of, oh, I don't know, 2001, 2002 ... or whenever it was that Gore became Mr. Awesome. :)

[Blondiegrrl]

53. Honestly? None. I loved Howard Dean, but of course he didn't get the nom. n/t

[choie]

56. Not even a contest, for me: Al Gore.

With his decision not to run again, I think America lost someone who could have been one of its greatest leaders. I prefer him to all Democratic candidates and nominees I've ever known. Obama is a terrific, inspiring man and I appreciate him more every day, but Al Gore was and is the closest a nominee has come to being my ideal choice for president.

[Stuart G]

57. Adlai Stevenson...ran against Eisenhower...1952, and 1956

Most don't even know who he was.......


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adlai_Stevenson


Note....
His call for a Partial Test Ban Treaty to aboveground nuclear weapons tests proved premature and lost him support.

He was against testing these things above ground...long before anyone else...Too bad, those tests above ground killed many people..

[mitchum]

59. John Kerry

[Undercurrent]

60. John Kennedy

[MasonJar]

61. Al Gore is my all time favorite candidate for any office. Our country

and the world and the planet would be on such a different course if the Bushistas had not stolen 2000.

[AnnieBW]

62. Al Gore

Hands down. Was for him in '88, and loved that he got it in 2000.

[MoJoWorkin]

63. John F. Kennedy--Bobby would have been my all time favorite

I was 15 years old, and canvassed for Jack. I would have crawled over shards of glass, if necessary, to get Bobby elected.

I put Barack in the same category as the Kennedys. I have canvassed for him as well--and I am happy to say that I have no cuts from glass yet. LOL

[ZeitGuy]

64. John F. Kennedy. Al Gore. Adlai Stevenson. Hubert Humphrey.

[Beacool]

65. Bill Clinton

The only one in my lifetime who I voted FOR as opposed to just voting for him because he was the lesser of two evils. And I loved spunky Hillary from the moment she appeared on the national scene.