Reply #23: Hi, Like It Is. It's not unheard of for people to want bipartisan focus

[saltpoint]

but it happens so rarely at the top levels as to be almost a vanished notion.

We have to get through this autumn to get a clear picture of who's left for the Pukes. Tommy Thompson is out of there by next weekend. He doesn't know it yet, but he's over with.

Maybe Tancredo is gone also, and Duncan Hunter. I'd like to see Huckabee out also, if for no other reason than to have a halfway electable Puke out of major contention. My dark suspicion is that he'll be on their shortlist for veeps. Yuck.

If Joe Biden comes on strong in Iowa and New Hampshire, and it won't be easy given current attitudes and fundraising realities, I think he'd stand a fair chance at the nomination in Denver. But Iowa and New Hampshire would have to come first. He doesn't have to win either one, but he has to place prominently in the top 3 or so to continue raising money and rallying his troops.

If he were to win the nomination -- again, not an easy chore -- the pressure on him to choose a Democrat to run with would be enormous. A tidal wave, in fact. A candidate doesn't want to piss off the very people he has to rely on to win the general election by going outside their ranks to complete his ticket. It leaves a sour taste in a lot of mouths at the local level and our candidate needs those very people's full contribution and support to beat the Pukes in battleground states. It would be reckless and insensitive at one level for him to choose Hagel.

I'll take Hagel's Iraq stance. It took clarity and courage for him to make that stand against Bush. But the rest of his voting record really leaves me drained.

If it's Biden at the top of the ticket, what about Brian Schweitzer for veep? Or Bill Richardson? Or Kathleen Sebelius?