Generic Democrat

[Mike L]

I'm still trying to figure out who would have been the best candidate to run in '04. I think that probably an Edwards/Clark ticket would have given us the best shot.

However, the mythical "generic Democrat" always beat Chimp. Dick Gephardt is about as generic as I can imagine. He has military experience and is pro-labor. He was pro-war, but was the first to call Chimp a MISERABLE FAILURE for botching the occupation. He even sounds like John Wayne.

Of course, no one took him seriously because he didn't stand out among the candidates. In hindsight, could this have been the quality that would have given us the election? It seems that Kerry turned into a negative for us.

[JohnKleeb]

1. Gephardt's stances on economics I think were great

Always surprised he didn't get props for that, I remember Gephardt from when I first started watching CSPAN, he's IMO a man fit for different times because labor isn't what it once was sadly, but a good man and he really is a great guy, I really admire how he handles his daughter Chrissy.

[Mike L]

2. True, great economic stances.

I don't see anything big that Rove could have gone negative on him with. He has a gay daughter, so Chimp would have looked like an asshole bringing up the gay marriage ban. If necessary, Gep could have talked about his daughter and Cheney's daughter w/o any backlash.

Seems to me he would have been the perfect generic Dem candidate. I guess we were trying too hard.

[JohnKleeb]

3. only problem Gep had was that long record

He was actually quite liberal on many social issues too. I really am gonna miss him in the congress for sure.

[no name no slogan]

4. Geph was good, but had lots of baggage

There's still a number of us older folk who remember his '88 campaign: mean-spirited, demagogic and outright nasty (incidentally, his '88 campaign was run by none other than Joe Trippi).

One of his big publicity stunts was getting a bunch of American laborers to take sledgehammers to a Honda, to illustrate his "protectioninst" trade policies. Although he had good points about this issue, so much of it was clouded by hateful and near-racist rhetoric.

Also, many people this year remembered his Rose Garden appearance with the Chimp at the start of the Iraq invasion. He could have NEVER gotten any anti-war support from that.

Geph was also a big pro-lifer before 1988, just like Al Gore was. Both men changed their position on the issue before they ran for president for the first time. That's one thing I hated about certain Dems trying to jump on Kucinich's back about this issue during the primaries-- especially since even the much-admired Al Gore had done the same thing too.

[Mike L]

5. Well, it seems like that stuff would have helped him in the general

election. He was proven right on trade policies-- just so long as he didn't get too mean this time.

I don't think Kerry's long Senate record hurt him that much. It was more the stupid things he said-- starting with, "I voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it." That's what made the "flip-flopper" label stick.

[rniel]

6. My thoughts

Personally I don't know why it should matter to voters at all, but there is the likeability factor. Look at Gore and Kerry as far as personality.

Gore - stiff as a board
Kerry - almost as stiff as a board

The most personality I think
Howard Dean - a little hotheaded and funny as hell

[HFishbine]

7. Edwards?

It should be clear by now that Edwards didn't add a damn thing to the ticket. Kerry/Clark might have done better on security issues and geography.