Its ok Chris, it's o...k. Even though the nation will be ruled by some monky feces doing a tap-dance, I think it will be okay.

Just some of my current thoughts:

I think that this election has shown us that the most important thing in a candidate is “this guy is like me”-ness. Clinton had that. Despite his vast intelligence and education, he was a cheeseburger-eating guy. Despite Bush’s lack of intelligence, he’s also a cheeseburger-eating guy. Normal. You can imagine them both cracking jokes at a barbecue.

So we need a candidate who is very average-Joe. Watching “Going Upriver” about John Kerry’s post-Vietnam activism, I winced every time he pronounced “answer” as “on-sir.” The majority of Americans don’t want someone who seems snooty at all. They want a good old boy.

So what we need is a good old boy who’s a Democrat. Who’s religious, but tolerant of other religions (see Clinton). Who’s intelligent, but doesn’t come across as that way in conversation. Think of Huckleberry Finn or Will Rogers. The intelligence is there, securely, but it’s camouflaged by folksiness. Also, the only two Democrats to be president since Kennedy were southerners. You can be a genius, but if you speak with a southern accent, the accent says you’re a good old boy even if you did go to Oxford, like Clinton.

We need to start early. Start looking ahead. We have to play the game. Bush didn’t win because 51% of the population are evangelical Christians. Seriously. They’re not. Some of them are, but not 51%, and we Democrats are kind of panicking now, thinking that more than half the country is like that. No. Some of the voters who voted for Bush always vote Republican, no matter what. If Brittney Spears were the Republican candidate, they would have voted for her. Some voted for Bush because we’re in a war. There’s a strong “The president is in a stressful situation already, we need to support him, no matter what, while we’re in crisis” mentality. These people voted for Bush even if they were atheists or feminists or life-long Democrats. And I think Bush counted on that.

In 2008, Bush can’t run for office. And it’s VERY unlikely that Cheney would make a go for the presidency, considering his age and health. This means we have, say, 3 years, to start coming up with potential candidates. Grooming them. Let’s get several and start paying attention to them now.

I think we should start looking at politics in southern states. I think our ideal man (and sorry, running a woman or even a minority at this point will NOT help – we can do that when the party is strong, but not when it’s injured. Injury requires us to be very conservative. So Hillary in 2008 would be suicide, as far as I’m concerned, and I'm a woman and a feminist!) needs to be from a southern state, and hopefully have a strong reputation as a religious man (a Christian, do you need to ask?).  He needs to be charismatic, but in a relaxed and comfortable way. Not someone you would feel awe toward, but someone you can imagine running into at the grocery store buying Budweiser. He needs to have some kind of southern accent going on. He would ideally be a Gulf War veteran who hasn’t opposed any of our wars, but wants to be cautious.

I think at this point Edwards is a possibility. I think he needs seasoning, and he may have that in 3 years. But we need to be on the look-out. Who is doing what in southern politics (by the way, someone from Montana, Idaho, etc, might also work – weirdly enough, I’ve met Idahoans with southern-sounding accents.)? Who is charismatic? We need a Democrat you can imagine wearing a cowboy hat, stirring chili, charming the ladies and making the men feel that someone in their image is leading the country.

What it comes down to, I think, is that more people could identify with Bush than with Kerry. So start paying attention. We need to plan this thing. I can imagine someone like Dean as vice-president, but he’s still a New England doctor. That won’t work. Scan the south, see who in the next few years manages, as a Democrat, to gain the confidence of southerners, Texans, maybe even New Mexicans… Find me a Democratic good old boy or two or three and we can start to plan our reclamation of the country.

Possible candidates (from pool of southern governors) –

Michael Easley, governor of North Carolina. Democrat. Just re-elected. Strong focus on education, also raised taxes in NC. Kind of a bad reputation from that, but just won, so… http://www.nga.org/governors/1,1169,C_GOVERNOR_INFO%5ED_177,00.html

Brad Henry, governor of Oklahoma. Democrat. Baptist. Good approval rating. Seen as able to work in a bipartisan way. He’s 41 now. Hm. Might be too young to run in the next election. He will turn 45 in 2008, the year of the election. Suppose he could turn 45 AFTER announcing his candidacy as long as he was 45 by the election? He'll turn 45 in June of 2008.
http://www.nga.org/governors/1,1169,C_GOVERNOR_INFO%5ED_409,00.html

Phil Bredesen, governor of Tennessee. Democrat. Presbyterian. Hunts and fishes. Was mayor of Nashville for eight years. Would be fun to say President Bredesen. It kind of flows. VERY high approval rating in his state. Brought Tennessee Titans football team into the state. That's some good old boy cachet right there.
http://www.nga.org/governors/1,1169,C_GOVERNOR_INFO%5ED_399,00.html


And please be on the watch for Rick Perry, current Texas governor and a Republican. He’s ex-military, Texan, good-looking. Ack! Make him go away.

Actually, the Democrats would do well to start with a backbone and a platform. I really miss Paul Wellstone! They cannot win if they keep chasing the Right to the right. This tactic only worked for Clinton as a result of his freakish charisma.

As a blogger, what are your thoughts on Podcasting?Mark