Summer Series - The Other Guys

Weekly Presidential Politics - 8/8/07

The ’07 Seven Candidates of Summer Series

The Other Guys


When I began the Summer Series, I promised eight blogs during the summer - seven for each of the seven major candidates and one for all the minor ones. I've already tackled Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Fred Thompson. Two more to go, each of whom I deem the favorites in their primary. Before we get to them these next two weeks, however, it's time to quickly address the rest of the field.

Here is a list of all the other candidates, in ascending order of probability that they will be our next President.

Group Zero (Zero chance)

Duncan Hunter - He regularly comes in at 1% in national polls, which is less than the margin of error. That means that there's a chance his poll numbers are below zero.

Tom Tancredo - The classic one issue candidate has yet to realize his dream - not of being President, but of eradicating the country of brown people.

Tommy Thompson - The classic one state candidate. He's put all of his resources into Iowa and could see a top 5 finish. Then it's all downhill.

Mike Gravel - Ha.

Group 1 (Unannounced potential)

Chuck Hagel - This vocal anti-war Republican Senator is the perfect candidate for the Republican voters... but it's not what the party wants and he'll get squeezed out quickly if he runs. He knows this, so I doubt he will enter the race.

Newt Gingrich - He's one of the smartest Republican in the country, and one of the best debaters I've ever seen. He said he'll enter at the end of September or the beginning of October, depending on if the conservative issues are being properly addressed.

Al Gore - The Gore heads have been quiet of late and it doesn't look like he's going to run. But everyone reading this understands the potential of a Gore candidacy.

Group 2 (Snowball's chance)

Dennis Kucinich - Everyone's favorite liberal Congressman running for President has never been able to raise his profile enough to be a truly legitimate candidate.

Chris Dodd - Northeast liberals should be disallowed from the Democratic nomination process. I like Dodd, but the White House should be the Democrats' top priority.

Joe Biden - I seem to like him in the debates more than most. He's furious with the Bush Administration and doesn't feel it's appropriate to remain reserved like Clinton and Obama. Plus, Biden knows Washington and the military as much as any Democratic candidate, so if anyone should have confidence in the debates, it's him.

Group 3 (A scenario exists...)

Mike Huckabee - A scenario exists in which Republican voters simply cannot trust the contenders as true conservatives, and they turn to a conservative with executive experience who makes more sense than most Republicans on state and church.

Sam Brownback - A scenario exists in which Republican voters simply cannot trust the contenders as true conservatives, and they turn to a Senator with foreign policy experience who has been a classic conservative his entire career.

Bill Richardson - A scenario exists where the best resume of any presidential candidate finally resonates with the voters, not to mention his clear potential to swing New Mexico and Florida into the blue column makes him an attractive asset.


But let's be serious, folks, none of these candidates will be our next President. Only seven have a realistic shot. Five down, two to go. See you next week.