as if we needed any more proof that the '08 presidential campaign season is too long, we now have even more people considering jumping into the race. i'm not sure if this says more about the quality of the current candidates or about the monstrous egos of the other possible candidates. either way, it's an amusing little circus and it gives bloggers more interesting storylines than we would have otherwise. to that end, i applaud the dark horses, vampires and other assorted persons who could shake things up while the republicans are deciding whether rudy is really their guy or not.

apparently senator chuck hagel believes that there could be a hole for him for him to fill in the republican field, but he's not ready to save us from all these pro-war candidates just yet. he says that he has more important work to do in the senate before he could even consider doing us the favor of running for president. how considerate of him. how selfless of him to put the needs of his constituents first. if only all politicians were like chuck hagel! so he calls a press conference, and the media are all a-twitter...what will he say? will he run for president? not quite. he simply announced that he might have something to announce in the future.

what a disappointment for the media that was. this is a bad tradition mccain started, and it needs to stop. having press conferences or going on letterman to announce that you might have a big announcement later on is just obnoxious. if you want to have separate pressers announcing the exploratory committee and the official "i'm in" statement, that's fine, but press conferences announcing nothing in particular are just silly.

if you are still unconvinced about the field of democrats and republicans who want to be your next president, you are in luck. there are other options. our favorite vampire jonathan sharkey, in addition to running for governor of minnesota, is also running for president as a member of the vampires, witches and pagans party. as dave barry would say, i'm not making this up. i have no doubt that he would be tough on crime, but i'm not sure the country is ready to be represented by a vampire. mormons? sure. women? no doubt. african-americans? why not? i think, however, that we must draw the line somewhere.

welcome to the circus, ladies and gentlemen. grab some popcorn and enjoy the show.

tags: '08 election, jonathan sharkey, chuck hagel

poor john edwards. everybody is picking on the aggressively photogenic presidential candidate. first ann coulter. now roger ailes. his strategy is rather curious, considering that his base would applaud any condemnation from two of the left's main enemies. doesn't he understand that whining isn't a very attractive quality in a potential nominee? i can understand why he might want to take a swing at ann coulter. many on the right sometimes feel the same way about her. on the other hand, he's allowing fundraising letters to be sent out that accuse the right of having this orchestrated plan to destroy him. that's a crazy charge, and that kind of accusation didn't work for hillary either. (remember the "vast right wing conspiracy" line?) ann coulter doesn't speak for the bush administration or for vice president cheney. there's no conspiracy here. why would the right need to destroy john edwards? he can self-destruct without our help.

i don't understand why john edwards still thinks he needs to win the lefties over. he's got them already. he gave them what they wanted when he decided not to fire his controversial bloggers. he admitted that he made a mistake on the war. he is even calling for cutting off the funding for the war. (that's easy for him to propose...he doesn't have to vote on it.) he said no to the proposed nevada presidential debate because fox news was airing it. is it possible that there's not much else he can do to keep the lefties happy?

maybe this is all part of the grand plan. i don't see it working. if he considers these personal attacks to be extremely rough treatment, he doesn't want to know what will happen after hillary gets done with him. if i'm a average democrat who is seriously looking at edwards as a potential nominee, i would want him to take the high ground more often and stop whining about every single criticism he receives. what i have seen so far from edwards doesn't show me that he's a leader. it shows me that he's a follower, and that he might just follow the netroots right over the cliff.

tags: john edwards

newt gingrich cannot win the republican nomination for president. even though his supporters might wish that it were possible, it's not. my concerns about newt are not related to his personal life. they are based on what i have seen while he was in congress –his leadership style and his inability to complete the reform job he started in 1994. i just don’t see him as a guy who would be able to run this country. no matter what newt gingrich says now about bipartisanship and working together to solve the nation's problems, there are more than a few skeptics who question his new-found commitment to that ideal. that skepticism is well deserved. we didn't see that very often in the gingrich congress, which always seemed to be at odds with the clinton administration and congressional democrats.

the main problem for newt is that most of the country is already biased against him. i don’t usually put much stock in polls, but if you look at his favorable / unfavorable ratings, the deficit there is around 20 points. whether that rating is fair or unfair, it is undeniably true that he has very high negatives with the average american. not many people can claim that they are unfamiliar with the virtues and the flaws of the former leader of the republican revolution. we know him well, although that knowledge is based on what he did in congress and not so much on his personal life. those who pay attention to politics on a regular basis know enough about newt gingrich to make the judgment on whether he has the ability to be president, and even though we like newt, we should realize that he lacks that ability.

anyone can be re-invented, except newt gingrich. we know what he is, and what he was. if adultery was a disqualifier for the presidency, then our candidate pool would be much smaller in each election year. this isn't what makes newt gingrich the wrong man for the presidency. gingrich made his mea culpas to dobson and falwell, and whether he was sincere enough to change this pattern of behavior, that's not for me to decide. you can argue that the details of newt's past affairs are troubling, and that he has made some glaring mistakes in his personal life. those past mistakes were also well known to the press corps at the time of the lewinsky affair. because of this, gingrich was initially cautious about moving forward with impeachment based solely on clinton's monica indiscretion. if you still want to accuse newt of hypocrisy because clinton ended up being impeached anyway, i guess you could.

in spite of all newt's flaws, conservatives still like what he brings to the table as a potential presidential candidate. he’s got a stronger claim to conservatism than any other front-runner except for mccain. we also like big ideas and big-picture thinking. that’s another one of the strengths he has. he also has the appeal of not being giuliani, romney, or mccain… and don’t underrate that quality. even though he hasn't “officially” entered the presidential race, he still could raise the money necessary in time to get himself into the top three and become a serious contender. i just don’t see it happening.

that said, newt is kidding himself if he thinks that he can blunt the criticism or short-circuit the full examination of past sins by entering the race late in the game. as dean barnett points out, thanks to the speed of information these days, it won't take long for his entire record to be bludgeoned to death. in fact, it's already happening at altercation, where a very thorough discussion of all those affairs in newt's past is taking place right now. his record is not going to hold up under the media scrutiny. he's a rock star now, but all that changes once he officially announces his candidacy.

tags: newt gingrich, '08 election

as if there weren't enough people foolishly filling out NCAA basketball tournament brackets, talking about "cinderellas" and "glass slippers" and such, now we must add john mccain to that list. the arizona senator and letterman fan has filled out his bracket, and let's just say he didn't put much thought into it. somebody should have advised mccain that not every #1 seed in a region makes it to the final four. he doesn't have a prayer of winning his own contest, but if you want to try to win some kewl mccain swag, feel free to take his bracket challenge.

it's an interesting compulsion politicians seem to have to pander to sports fans. for example, john f. kerry: he LOVES the red sox, but someone had to inform him who the manager was and who some of the players were. hillary clinton: she used to be a cubs fan, but she had a miraculous conversion to becoming a yankee fan while running for senator of new york. amazing how that happens. my money says she never really watched either team, deciding instead to pursue an interest in a different kind of sport.

seriously, people...why does everyone feel compelled to fill out a NCAA bracket at March Madness time? you know your picks will be done after the first 10 games. you are not going to win big money. give up. i can understand the addiction with the game though. however, if you find yourself filling out NIT and NCAA women's basketball brackets...GET.HELP.FAST.

tags: john mccain, march madness