I think there is no question that Clinton would have crushed Bush in 2000.

[Cary]

If Clinton ran today, would he crush Bush?

Why or why not? And if you think he would crush Bush, how do we use whatever it is that Clinton would bring to the table?

Or the inverse, if you think Clinton would not win.

[coloradodem2005]

1. Given the way things are now.

It would be a landslide.

[lancdem]

2. He would've easily beaten Bush in 2000

polls showed that. What he brought to the table, of course, was his economic record, primarily, and the fact that the country was clearly better off than it was when he assumed office. As for today, I don't know, because Bush is the incumbent, which gives him certain advantages (notwithstanding his current problems.)

[Cary]

3. So couldn't we hire Bill to help us out here?

Maybe they're saving him for something?

In retrospect Gore shouldn't have tried so hard to distinguish himself. I thought that at the time, too.

Damn I liked Bill, despite his wild streak.

[LuCifer]

6. yeah really

They need Clinton, AND James Carville, out at EVERY last campaign stop that the nominee does. They CAN NOT afford to distance themself from THEIR BEST ASSEST. All these trolls who pissed and moaned about "Clinton Baggage" whatever in the HELL that is, I thank them every day for helping Jeb Bushitler get reerected here, since we couldn't just bring ourselves to have Janet Reno as the gov. nominee. If there is such a thing as "Clinton Baggage", then I want these folks to explain a few things to me: Clinton winning in 1992 & 96, Hillary winning a Senate seat, and Gore winning in 2000!!! Whoever wins the nomination, hand cuff one hand to Bill and the other to Carville!!!

Lu Cifer, so where's Bill McBride now?

[togiak]

4. Clinton would win

I think Clinton would have won. Gore's biggest problem was that he didn't run on the record and he ran a terrible and inconsistant campaign. Gore should've beaten Bush by a wider margin.

Clinton had a great economic record to run on, his positions on the issues were in line with the majority of the voters (as were Al Gore's) and he was likable (which was Al Gore's biggest problem). In general, exit polls showed that the people favored all Gore's positions but they favored Bush's personality. Many voted Bush because they liked him better and figured "hey what is the worst that can happen". If Clinton were running he would have had both factors in his favor. At the same time, however, the Right would have turned out in greater numbers just to get rid of him. And I think there was a certain amount of "Clinton Fatigue" in the voters. They were getting tired of all of the scandals.

So, I think that Clinton would have won the popular vote by a pretty huge margin but the electoral votes would still be relatively close. You wouldn't see a Reagan re-election type electoral landslide.

[Cary]

5. So how do we bottle this and use it in November?

I agree about Gore. He beat himself.