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Here’s the second half of the Campaign for 2008 kickoff and presidential speculation.  I talked about the Republicans dithering about a nomination before; now it’s time to discuss the Democratic dithering. 

The Democrats, in no particular order:

–Hillary. Frankly, I think she’d be a fool to run in ‘08. I think she’s better off waiting at least until her senate term is up in ‘12. She’s a tough, tough sell to begin with but on top of that a) she’s a woman, and frankly, I really don’t think that the American people are enlightened enough to actually elect a female to high office and b) her attempts at appealing to moderates tend to make moderates unsettled (”abortion is a tragedy”), and makes the left cry foul. She can please neither the left nor the middle, which leaves her pretty much nowhere.

–Howard Dean. I think he gave up on his presidential hopes when he took the job as head of the DNC. On the other hand, I think the head of the DNC is an excellent position for both him and the party.  No wild yawp from him this time around.

–Barak Obama. Oh, I so wish. Unfortunately, I don’t think he’s bee a serious contender until at least ‘12 or maybe ‘16, assuming that his political career stays on the trajectory it’s been on.  That said, he will be a force to reckon with once he is ready.

–Bill Richardson. I think this is our best Vice Presidential contender. He is a current governor, has national exposure periodically, is sufficiently liberal to appeal to the left and sufficiently moderate to bring in some of the swing voters. He might surprise me and be the top of the ticket, but a solid running mate.

–Al Gore. My personal favorite. He managed to grow a personality after his presidential run, and has stayed in the media periodically in the meantime. Hell, even without a personality, he got the majority vote. Will An Inconvenient Truth hurt him in terms of business?  Possibly, but I don’t think fatally.  Unfortunately, I think he simply won’t run.

–Gray Davis.  Ha! I kid! His career was done with the California recall.  He was just so clearly looking to ride the California governor position the way so many had before him, to national office. 

–John Kerry.  Not one to let his tendency to trip over his own tongue (while on his way to shoving his foot into his mouth) slow him down, Kerry has already said that he is still considering a second run in ‘08.  He could get the nomination, especially given the fact that there aren’t many good alternatives currently in the party, but if the Democrats run him they will lose.  It’s really and truly that simple.

At the moment, I think that we don’t have any definite top contenders.  The Democrats are still trying to be the big tent party, and are thus trying to appeal to just about everyone.  As a result, the field of candidates is scattered and varied, and there’s not really anyone who is both ready to take the reins of the party and has a shot at appealing to enough voters to actually be successful.  Unlike the Republicans who seem to have a well-firmed up group of candidates, I can only HOPE that the Democrats develop some new candidates, and soon.