A Michael Scott Moment
As I sit and wait for tonight’s season finale of the best show on TV right now, thoughts turn to recent rumors about a possible 2008 Bloomberg and Hagel ticket. Here are some random thoughts if Bloomberg decides to spend half his fortune on a campaign and Hagel stops grandstanding for the media/blogosphere for a minute:
Scenario 1: Bloomberg/Hagel run as Republicans. This would be the smart thing for them. Bloomberg tunes down his lefty-social side a bit, and he and Chuck embrace a mixed platform of Reagan-era, small-government domestic policies and an international pragmatist approach to Iraq based on Baker-Hamilton. They have a valid shot of taking the Republican nomination and possibly beating Hilary because A) enough Republicans pretty much hate Bush and are getting sick of the war, B) also dislike the current slate of candidates, and C) are horrified of the thought of Hilary (or a Mormon) as president.
Scenario 2: Bloomberg/Hagel run as right-leaning independents. Although I think “decimate” is a little too strong a word, I think this ticket would have much more of a negative effect on the Republican party than Perot did for them in 1992 (and Nader did for the Democrats in 2000). It probably guarantees that the Republicans don’t win because enough moderate Republicans sick of Iraq/Bush vote for Bloomberg/Hagel. It then becomes a question of whether moderate, Reagan-type Democrats will choose between a known moderate male (Bloomberg), or the once liberal then a hawk now a who knows what female Machiavellian Hilary. My prediction is that most would probably turn to Hilary and she would win, but it would be very close.
Regardless, it would set a strong precedent for a third party ticket in coming elections which would probably be a healthy thing in the end.
And those are my thoughts as I wait for tonight’s finale of The Office.
The Comments
MBA May 17, 2007 at 5:48pm
I’ve heard speculation that a Bloomberg/Hagel ticket would help the Republican slate because they’d capture the votes of Reagan Democrats (and other forgotten moderates) that would have otherwise gone Democratic this time.
beerorkid May 21, 2007 at 8:17am
finally got through all episodes last night.
Nice way to end it. eeeeeeeeeee
Harry Johnson June 13, 2007 at 4:38pm
Hi,
I write to you with respect to the Washington and Lee University 2008 Mock Convention. My name is Harry Johnson, and I am the Nebraska state chairman. Basically, we hold a mock democratic primary, here is the link for further information.
http://mockcon.wlu.edu/
or a quick movie about Mock Convention
http://mockcon.wlu.edu/movie.html
I am searching for any possibly contacts I could have to gather information about the upcoming primary. My e-mail is . Any help at all would be greatly appreciatied.
Best,
Harry Johnson W&L;’09