Is Kerry-Edwards the most electable (D) ticket?

[curtsibling]

Originally posted by jimmytrick Does anyone around here really think John Kerry can beat George Bush in a landslide?

What will happen if GWB actually does not win in this election?

Mass-spontaneous combustion in the bible-belt?

I look forward to November with relish.

[Capt Dizle]

Originally posted by GePap


Last newsweek poll out there had him beating bush 49-47%.

Okay, let us say you are right GePap. Lets assume Kerry gets a narrow win in the popular vote.

Find me a historical example of a close race won by a democrat who did not do well in the South.

The democratic party has to have a good run in the South or, you have to have a landslide.

Does anyone around here really think John Kerry can beat George Bush in a landslide?

[GePap]

Originally posted by jimmytrick


Okay, let us say you are right GePap. Lets assume Kerry gets a narrow win in the popular vote.

Find me a historical example of a close race won by a democrat who did not do well in the South.

The democratic party has to have a good run in the South or, you have to have a landslide.

Does anyone around here really think John Kerry can beat George Bush in a landslide?

Who needs a landslide? The only people who claim landslides are those that say Dean is unilectable and that bush would sweep him, so forth...

Everyone knows this election will be tight. As for your example- well, GORE. and before you get ina huffy, he lost Florida by under 1000 votes, and on year were about 20,000 voted for tohers, including Nader.

So, as has been said already, if all states remains as they were in 2000 with the exception of 1 large one, like Tennessee, or more importantly, Florida, dems win, even wit a weak Southern finish. For the umptenthe time, the Dems do NOT need the south- they need the mIdwest, west and southwest, NOT the south. Dems would be better of trying to switch NH, Ohio and Florida.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Gore had some sort of slick, geek, can't trust him, phony quality and that is what killed him.

And yet he was so close to winning in the Electoral College and it would have happened with Florida being the Southern state.

So your 'history' doesn't square with what happened in 2000.

Kerry CAN beat Bush and WILL beat Bush.

[Capt Dizle]

You can't give me an example of a time when the Democrats won a close election without doing well in the South so you point to Gore who lost.

That of course proves my point. You almost won with Gore. A Southerner. Who almost had enough support in the south. Either way you don't beat Bush without Edward atop this ticket.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Who almost had enough support in the south

No one considers Florida the 'South'.

And plenty here believe Gore did actually win Florida and thus a Democrat who won without the South.

And besides it's only been 20 years that the Republicans have controlled the South.

[Winston]

Originally posted by GePap
Edwards is a good second- I don;t think he is a worthy first. Also, two senators? The last senator to win was Kennedy, and before him? Senators don;t win that often due to their lack of executive experience- Kerry was a lieutenant governor, but Edwards is a total newbie. He is the pretty, charming face at most.

I tuned you in on Kennedy being a Senator earlier, now I have to remind you that both Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon were also Senators before being elected President, albeit they were also Vice Presidents. But I wouldn't put too much stock in your theory that Senators are not electable as Presidents.

[Ramo]

The Democrats don't have a shot at winning the South (excluding Florida). If a Edwards is running for President, Tenessee, Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, and Louisiana would be more competitive, but are ultimately wastes of time (Gore couldn't even carry his own state), and aren't in the least needed. If more effort were placed in midwestern states like Ohio, the Dems would've won in 2000.

[Capt Dizle]

Some of you folks better go look at the electoral maps for past northern democratic contenders. You need to get sobered up.

John Kerry ain't John Kennedy and even if he was, today's South ain't the South Kennedy won in 1960. A northern Democrat can't win this election.

[Ramo]

Kerry doesn't need the South excluding Florida. As long as he does slightly better than Gore in the midwest, he'll be fine.

[Capt Dizle]

The last northern Democrat to win Ohio was Roosevelt. Sixty four years ago. Good luck.

[Ramo]

But I wouldn't put too much stock in your theory that Senators are not electable as Presidents.

Senators can have every vote they made scrutinized, while Governers can be more fluid on issues. So there is a strong bias against them.

I tuned you in on Kennedy being a Senator earlier, now I have to remind you that both Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon were also Senators before being elected President, albeit they were also Vice Presidents.

LBJ was President before being elected President (so he had more executive experience than Guvs), and furthermore was the Senate Majority Leader as Senator. Nixon is interesting in that a lot of political rules didn't apply to him (i.e. he lost a Presidential election before becoming President), but as you said he was a VP so his associaton with executive decisions was legitmized by Eisenhower. Kennedy was the heir to a political dynasty and didn't serve long enough in the Senate to create that much baggage. The idea that Senators can't win Presidential elections isn't a physical law, but a historical tendency.

[Imran Siddiqui]

The last northern Democrat to win Ohio was Roosevelt. Sixty four years ago. Good luck.

I like how you qualify it. Why 'northern Democrat'? It would make more sense that a Southern Democrat would have a harder time winning Ohio... oh, and Clinton won Ohio both times. Carter won it in '76 as well.

I wonder how jimmytrick will react when a Northern Democrat wins this elected . I also seem to remember people saying a Catholic couldn't be elected President as well.

[PLATO]

Originally posted by Ramo
Kerry doesn't need the South excluding Florida. As long as he does slightly better than Gore in the midwest, he'll be fine.

Overlooking the fact of course that Kerry stands no chance in the midwest.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Why do you say that