Some Presidential Picks for Republicans and Democrats

Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post has a blog (The Fix) where he covers the presidential candidates. At the end of June, he had a list of the top five Democrats and top five Republicans. The Republicans are largely lackluster though I'm sure Republicans would disagree. Cillizza's list of top five Democrats include Evan Bayh, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Al Gore and Mark Warner. Here are the opening three paragraphs:

Since The Fix started listing the five Democrats and five Republicans most likely to win their party's presidential nomination in 2008, we've struggled with how to handle two potential candidates -- former vice president Al Gore and former House speaker Newt Gingrich.

There are a number of similarities between the two men. Both began their political careers at young ages and were tagged as rising stars. Both achieved substantial early success and went on to reach the verge of great triumph before being brought low and disappearing from politics. And now both are back in public life and being urged by elements from within their respective parties to run for national office.

To date, Gingrich has shown more interest in a potential run than Gore, but neither has ruled out a bid. Until now we have left both men off the Friday Line, but that changes this month.

A Gingrich presidency would be interesting. It would be like replaying Goldwater all over again except that Gingrich makes it clear we would be voting for World War Three. Actually, explicitly or not, most of the other Republican candidates seem to advocate more war for what ails America. Not a good sign.

I like Al Gore a lot but I take him seriously when he says he's not a candidate. When you're not a candidate, you're free to speak bluntly and play the elder statesman and that seems to be what Al Gore is doing. But I wouldn't automatically rule him out and I think he belongs in the next tier of Democratic presidential hopefuls until and if he shows an interest in running for president again.

I'm puzzled to see Evan Bayh in the top five list. He's a qualified and viable candidate but I see others ahead of him. Russ Feingold clearly should be on the top five list. Personally, I think Wesley Clark belongs on the top five list until Bayh proves otherwise.

In another post, Chris Cizzilla rounds out the next group of five for both parties. In his second-tier group, Chuck Hagel is the only Republican who's viable and who wouldn't give me the willies (there are some Republicans more liberal but they don't have much chance of winning the nomination). The list of Democrats is strong and most are strong on foreign policy and are unlikely to lead us into World War Three. Here's the opening of Cizzilla's post:

Every time we put together a list of the five Democrats and five Republican most likely to win the 2008 presidential nomination, a number of commenters and emailers ask why a certain candidate didn't make the cut.

So, since regular Fix readers already know our picks for the top 10 contenders in 2008, we are dedicating this month's Friday presidential Line to the candidates that rank 6-10 in each party -- those people who could in theory make a run at the nomination but have one (or many) things holding them back.

For all you supporters of Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel (R), New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson or Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold (D), this Line's for you.

Keeping in mind that this is the second tier of Democrats, I notice Tom Vilsack isn't listed. As capable as Joe Biden is, I see Vilsack making more headway in fundraising and the primaries themselves. I would also put Christopher Dodd ahead of Biden. The only presidential hopeful among Democrats that Biden could probably beat is Tom Daschle and that's too bad. Daschle finally sounds like a strong Democrat; he didn't sound like that when he was majority leader. If a Democrat wins the presidency, Biden would make a good secretary of state. I don't think Bill Richardson can win but he's worth watching and again, if a Democrat wins the presidency, we could see Richardson as a vice president.