Don't mean a thing, if you ain't got that swing...
By Libby
Mark my words dear readers, 2008 will be an eye-opening election for the conventionally wise. All the previous preconceptions about the voters are going to be thrown out the window by the "swing voters", a/k/a independents, a segment of the electorate "that has swollen in size and influence and stands to have a critical role in both contests.
Look to New Hampshire this winter to see what's in store for November.
Meanwhile, Fred Thompson is ready to take the gloves off. The much ballyhooed "savior" of the GOP is struggling to gain ground and he's promising to toughen up his stance. That may help with the red meat crowd, although it looks more doubtful as the fundies are threatening to run their own candidate out of dissatisfaction with the field.
And if he thinks publicly admitting that he believes in the long-debunked notion that Saddam ever had WMDs or nuclear capacity is going to help him with the swing voters -- well -- he might want to rethink that strategy. It seems unlikely the majority of reality-based Americans are going to want to buy into another president who in lives in LaLa land.
Mark my words dear readers, 2008 will be an eye-opening election for the conventionally wise. All the previous preconceptions about the voters are going to be thrown out the window by the "swing voters", a/k/a independents, a segment of the electorate "that has swollen in size and influence and stands to have a critical role in both contests.
The fight for independent voters could be important not just in determining the nominees, but also as a preview of the general election battle. The percent of Americans who call themselves independents has increased, to 32 percent from 28 percent in 2000, according to polls by The New York Times and CBS News.
Nowhere is the potential influence of this group more on display than in New Hampshire.
Independent voters, or undeclared voters as they are called here, make up 45 percent of the electorate, up from 28 percent in 1996, when the legislature changed the law to simplify same-day registration.
Look to New Hampshire this winter to see what's in store for November.
Meanwhile, Fred Thompson is ready to take the gloves off. The much ballyhooed "savior" of the GOP is struggling to gain ground and he's promising to toughen up his stance. That may help with the red meat crowd, although it looks more doubtful as the fundies are threatening to run their own candidate out of dissatisfaction with the field.
And if he thinks publicly admitting that he believes in the long-debunked notion that Saddam ever had WMDs or nuclear capacity is going to help him with the swing voters -- well -- he might want to rethink that strategy. It seems unlikely the majority of reality-based Americans are going to want to buy into another president who in lives in LaLa land.
Labels: Democrats, Election 08, Republicans, third parties
posted by Libby Spencer at 10:15 AM
8 Comments:
I've suggested that his campaign slogan, if he becomes a real candidate, should be "you can beat a dead horse for ever."
I was struck the other day, when I saw the pictures of the Iranian nuclear processing plant, how huge it is. Something over a thousand acres.
Can you imagine hiding something like that with all it's supply routes and support structures under the cloudless desert sky and then making it disappear overnight?
Sure Fred - damn the facts, you just know.
I've been an independant since the day I first registered to vote. In the beginning, this kept me from voting in primaries but that has since changed. Now the advantage is I can choose to vote in one party's primary. I'd choose the candidate I vote for by what stand for, not what party they are attached to.
You know who probably would have had an excellent shot at the nomination? george allen.
LOL. You wonder why I love you Fogg when you come up with a brilliant slogan like that? I can't wait to see how he does in the debate.
I just switched to independent myself Rocky because I can still vote in the primaries. But my local registrar tells me that in NC they do have the right to prevent me from voting if they so choose. I'll be interested to see what happens if I decide to vote in the GOP primary after having been registered as a Dem most of my life.
Lester, I don't know quite how to take that.
that's what the republican base is looking for. a southern republican guy who can sort of hang with the city folk. who is authentic but not quite as homespun as brownback or huckabee
the fact that the "independents" has grown s fast as it has suggests to me that the two main parties has gotten too polarized in political philosophy. and that usually suggests the seeking of a change of government. the question become what form of government does eveyone want if not the form of government we have now?
Lester, I think you're right that's exactly what they're looking for.
Griper - there's nothing wrong with our form of government. It's worked okay for 200 plus years. What we need is a new bunch of people running it.
libby,
it is people that creates new forms of government, governments do not change themselves. and it is people who adhere to extremist viewpoints that seek change. and with wholesale change of people, change of government is inevitable.
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