Who's your alternate candidate?

[jmowreader]

Let's think the unthinkable: your perfect candidate, the one who will save America from Bush's dictatorship, doesn't make the general. He might run out of money, or take a small plane. Anyway, your guy doesn't make it to November.

Who's your fallback guy? If, say, Dean needs to drop out because of urgent family concerns, who will be the candidate to save America from Bush's dictatorship?

My fallback list:

My primary candidate is John Edwards. If you've followed the adventures of jmowreader and his alter ego OldSoldier, you know that he believes North Carolina Senator John Edwards has the fundraising ability, charisma and ability to go on the offensive when necessary (IOW, right up until the movers come to get Bush's shit out of Al Gore's house) to completely stomp AWOL Bush.

If Edwards takes a small plane, my first fallback is John Kerry. He's antiwar, he's got the bandwidth necessary to repair what Bush broke without needing to pull out his copy of "How to Keep your Country Alive: A Guide for the Compleat Idiot."

I'll take Dean next. Any of these four men would make an excellent president; Dean's advantage is that his last elective office was as governor. Governor seems to be the surest pathway to being elected president. Carter was a governor, Reagan was a governor and so was Clinton. I'm certain there are others--Martin Van Buren, both of the Roosevelts and Grover Cleveland were all Governors of New York. Personally, I'd prefer he be governor of a very large state--California or New York, maybe Pennsylvania--but a small-state governorship will do in a pinch.

Kucinich I will put last because of what the Repugs can do with the Cleveland default. If we're good, we can spin that to our advantage by pointing out that the wonderful responsible private enterprise who wanted to buy the Cleveland power company went into a snit and drove the city into default all by themselves. One other thing that can work against us: like it or not, looks count for something--and Dennis Kucinich is fuckin' ugly. He's Ron Fellows ugly. His mama had to tie a pork chop around his neck to get the dog to play with him. Kucinich is a very bright man with some excellent ideas--especially repealing the Enabling Acts--but his ugly mug is going to kill us.

[leftofthedial]

1. primary is Kucinich

alternate is Edwards
other alternate is Dean

[UrbScotty]

2. I like Dean, but Graham is my other favorite. (nt)

[liberalpress]

3. Primary Dean

Alternate #1 Kerry

Alternate #2 Edwards

[AnAmerican]

4. Voting Kucinich in the primary

Kerry is my back-up (for right now)

[LWolf]

5. Note to self:

Never attend a DU function if jmowreader will be there. He might tie a pork chop around your neck before you can play if you don't fit his aesthetic criteria. Forget the substance, man. It's the looks. If the looks don't fit, you must...oh well.

First choice, DK.

I don't need a fallback. 2nd choice, whoever the dems nominate should DK not pass the fashion show.

[jmowreader]

12. You know America's hung up on appearance!

Look at any report of anything political..."she was dressed in a gray pantsuit, black pumps and a string of pearls around her neck."

Or witness all the reports of Gore's campaigning: "he dressed in earth tones." "He appeared in a lumberjack shirt and blue jeans."

In Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Hubert Hoag got slaughtered by Winston Noble because Hoag was ugly and had a weird name--just like Dennis Kucinich.

And, of course, poor ol' Michael Dukakis ears, which made him look like a ground surveillance radar.

You hear about this shit long before you hear about what the meeting concerned.

I really do like Kucinich; he'd be an excellent president. I do fear the media will savage him on appearance long before they get to his views.

[LWolf]

21. Yeah, I have to admit that much of the nation is obsessed with appearance.

But I don't have to join it, or concede the political arena/process to the shallow end of the gene pool, either.

One way to move the process to deeper, more meaningful issues is to refuse to empower the shallow by conceding the race to them before we even hit the voting booth.

[BrewerJohn]

6. I'm a Kucinich guy

If he doesn't make it, I'd be quite happy with Dean.
After that, Kerry.
After that, anybody but Smirk.

[carrowsboy]

7. mine...

First choice is Dean

2nd goes to Clark

I'll pretty much vote for any Dem candidate except Lieberman or Edwards.

[Lady President]

8. Kerry First Choice

1st Alternate: Dean
2nd Alternate: Kuninich

But, I'm in the camp that believes that none of them are horrible choices.

[Rowdyboy]

9. First choice-Graham...

Bridesmaids-in this order:
Clark
Edwards
Kerry
Dean
Kucinich
Gephart

after that, the prospects are too dismal to think about!

[Darranar]

10. John Kerry is not anti-war

Kucinich for President! I'd fall back on Dean.

[phishhead]

11. The list:

1. Dean
2. Kucinich
3. Kerry

[Mz Pip]

13. First choice

Clark - if he runs

runner up goes to either Dean or Kerry. I'm doing a lot of vacilating between the two these days.

MzPip
:dem:

[jiacinto]

14. Graham or Kerry

It would be tough to choose between those two, but I would go with Graham because Kerry is from Massachusetts. After that it would probably be Edwards, probably closely followed by Gephardt and Lieberman.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

15. 1st choice: Kucinich, then Gephardt

That's right, it's the economy, stupid. I'm not going to support DLC conservative Republican-Lite voodoo economics, whether it's from Dean, Kerry, or Lieberman.

[goobergunch]

16. Kerry (n/t)

[trof]

17. Easy Peasy-ABB

[phillybri]

18. My list

1. Kerry
2. Dean
3. Clark

[mdmc]

19. Whoever wins the nom

is my candidate.

My order goes
Dean
Kerry
Edwards
Geps
Graham
Kucinich
Leiberman
Sharton
Braun

[dpbrown]

20. Kucinich, then Kerry

And my final vote to whoever gets the nomination.

[DemDogs]

22. Edwards #1

Second is tough because I want ideas and a winner. My heart says Gephardt because like Edwards he is a good contrast to Andover-Yale-Skulls and Bones-phony GWB, but my head says maybe Kerry except that I think he will get clobbered in the South. And we gotta win some in the South.

[dems4gore]

23. Al GOre

Best man for the job!