Just for Fun!... mix n' match yer own 2004 Democratic national ticket!!!
revised Tuesday, January 28, 2002
(Wednesday, January 31, 2001)
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by RICHARD E. BERG-ANDERSSON It's often been said that the next election begins as soon as the newly-elected person is sworn into office, so I guess that means it's high time we all think about Election 2004! (less than 1400 days away now!!) [;-)]... Of the 9 Presidents we have had since Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower was the last President without public office-holding experience, 7 have served as either a Governor or a Senator (only Ford and Bush the First had never served in the Senate or in a Governor's Mansion)... what this means is that it is more than likely that current Preident Bush the Second will be facing a ticket made up of two of the people on the following list of current Democratic Governors and U.S. Senators if and when he runs for re-election in 2004... For those of you thinking that former Vice President Al Gore might try again in 2004- please keep in mind that not since 1968 has any candidate who lost the Presidential Election been subsequently renominated by his party or elected to the Presidency (also note that Nixon waited EIGHT years before trying again- he did NOT go for his party's nomination during the very next election cycle). For those of you who are thinking that some as yet unknown Democratic Party office-holder elected in the meantime (e.g. a new Democrat Governor or a new Democrat Class 2 Senator elected in the 2002 midterm elections) might be on the ticket, that- too- is most unlikely (a candidate elected to office so soon before the Presidential Nomination Process begins would have a tough time of it). Also keep in mind that any person on the list below who faces an election before 2004 MUST win RE-election to be a viable candidate (though a Governor on the list below who must step down before 2004 because of a term limit or who otherwise voluntarily chooses not to run for re-election [assuming they did not then run for, say, the Senate and lose] would still be considered viable). Keep in mind things like geographical and ideological balance, cross off people who are too old to be President- as well as those with too little experience and, have fun, folks, picking your own Democratic presidential/vice-presidential ticket for 2004!!!
No one first elected in 2001 through 2003 to either the Senate or a Governor's chair would be able to become a serious Presidential possibility in 2004. For a Senator who is in a "Class 2" seat up for election this Fall or for a Governor eligible for re-election this Fall, a re-election, by a significant margin of victory, would be needed to keep his/her Presidential Nomination hopes for 2004 alive-- however, a Governor who will not be able to run for another term this Fall due to term limits will not have this problem and could (a-la Jimmy Carter) run for President in 2004 as an ex-Governor. APPENDIX: GOVERNORS ELECTED IN 2001 (more likely to be Vice-Presidential Nomination possibilities)
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