Which Presidential Candidates Give us Love

The kind of thing I would never know without you!

I mean, how the Dems respond to Reps makes a difference as they hone their talking points .
What puts Guiliani strong in his camp says something about what Hillary has to deal with, for example.
It will be different for Democrats this year with Republicans out there beating up on each other, knowing they cannot afford to cite the last administration.

instead of the "candidates?" In other words, what about Unity08? I'd like mole's thoughtful comparison and analysis of its campaign presence, too, because it IS part of the cultural phenomenogging this e-lection:

From the CBS news editorial director online, Dick Meyer --
The E-Doors to Unity08 have been open for about a month and so far about 42,000 people have signed up to become delegates. There's been no real marketing and very little of what pols call "free media" – columns like this one. The viral moment has not come yet for Unity08, but I expect it will.

Now according to the Group Think that regulates smart and cunning political talk under the evil party duopoly, third parties in any incarnation are farcical pipe dreams.

Ballot access laws in the 50 states are hopelessly stacked against third parties. Big money will never flow to third parties and federal campaign finance laws tilt to the duopoly. The media treats third parties as comic relief. They usually aren't allowed in debates. Fine, maybe that gutsy, bold, hard-boiled analysis is right and will be forever and ever.

But I doubt it. A system that takes two years to hold an election when every other industrial democracy can do it in about a month is vulnerable.

Mole knows his environmental science, how important even tiny climate shifts and collective human influence can be in global effect. Well then, how about an environmental hypothesis, that it's possible small changes in how we participate in campaigns, could change our lives, maybe dramatically?

(Would we call that a "punctuated political equilibrium" hypothesis?)

What I find appealing is that it is NOT about any one pin-up celeb trying to beat out other high-powered individuals in a winner-take-all popularity contest to crown the next prom king or queen to rule over the adoring and geeky little people as their subjects. (That would be all of us, right? -- the no-name blob of kids to whom they are charming while of whom they are resentful, because in the aggregate we make them our Idol and Sacrifice with the same vote) -- instead it's got more of a graduate seminar-like feel to me, of constructing your own education among worthy fellows with a skilled and wise professor who just holds the thing together and keeps us from competing as individuals over competing ideas.

So I respond almost hungrily to Unity08's fresh-feeling idea that ideas are the thing, that an election could *really* be about us instead of him or her, an idea competition where we all really do share the decisions as the American people, sort of taking it back FROM the horse race frame. (American Ideas rather than American Idols?)

OTOH in other ways, the site reflects the same old emphasis on organization, publicity, and of course raising money for both. In the interest of full disclosure, I did sign up last month as a Unity08 "delegate" because it does feel different enough to me, to be power of story worth learning more about, and as the only "campaign" site I can report on or care to visit.

Having been registered and locally active first as R and then D in my misspent youth -- and a registered nonpartisan on principle since then, avoiding primaries and campaigns all through my legislative policy work for education, as the forced-choice, stomach-turning cannibal fests they've always struck me as intentionally set up to be, or maybe more like the carnival carnage of medieval jousting where might makes right and then the nobility has a burial and an orgy, while the little people trudge back to their fields and taxes -- this finally to me feels different enough to explore.

Whatever you write, JJ, about unity08 is something I would like to read. More than that, if you connect to mole's Dem profiles you can see how it plays out there. Now, being an independent person and declaring for the Independent political label are different states of mind.
I think everyone agrees that Democrats, historically, have fewer registered voters than Republicans. Natural enough, considering that those who accept change must make their case. "Undecideds" are the darlings of both main parties and sometimes they do carry the day.
Sometimes they are also spoilers. And that shouldn't stop anyone from starting alternative movements.
To get back to Democrats, however. It's fair to say they come by their mascot honestly. Stubborn as a Missouri mule is my take on them. They cut each other down because in the process of redefining the party, there are a number of proposals. As examples: PDA on the House appropriation bill (John Lewis will be quoted a good deal, methinks). Moveon has to take heat if it moves from a stated position. And then there is what is now associated with the Clintons which is Bill's old DLC. Blue Dogs. The black political caucus. The Latinos.
I would like to keep track of what this Unity group will espouse about poverty issues, reduced government spending, and how to withdraw intelligently from Iraq.
So, if there is a caveat, reread what Perot and Nader did to change vote totals when they were 3rd party candidates.

Taft v Eisenhower Republicans
Truman v Dixiecrats
Kennedy v Carter 1980

And the time the Democrats were wondering about how to get back into play after everyone liked Ike for 8 years (a little like today in some respects, except "liked" doesn't apply).

Oh, just because you, JJ, are much more erudite than I, can you explain what your vision for 2020 would be? If a candidate you liked won, what might he do to make life different in the whole world by the time his chosen VP was ready for a second term. I ask because I believe you are at heart more interested in long term issues than the next cycle.

I was going to use the title "Vision 2020" but I give it to you.

I saw a note somewhere that the Senate laid out a budget (no appropriations, just ideas) which would be balanced in five years. It presupposes a cessation of Bush tax cuts when they expire.
Money is going to be a very big issue in the 08 campaign, couched in terms which may not make it seem so. The governors will be clamoring for help to replenish their National Guard equipment which was ruined in Iraq. They will certainly weigh in on the issue of universal health insurance, which the Democrats champion at a national level, but the governors will have to execute the plans. Probably the NCLB will be softened to make it easier for them. Some have already petitioned for that.
War always drains resources, even if graft is curtailed. Infrastructure in cities have been short of funds because they had extra expense for Homeland Security.
And there will be a longterm expense of providing for veterans, the current ones who have major medical needs and the VN group who are still numerous and aging.
The above are some of the drains on the US Treasury, before considering Social Security and Medicare. In that regard, there is an increasing hit in these entitlements beyond the Baby Boomer surge. A large percentage of current costs go to those who have been put on disability after the ADA enactment. Retraining of many younger men (mostly men) with some physical impairment is necessary, for they are currently recipients for lack of modest education and training.
The above deals with the dynamic tension between social services and the military. At the present time, such caucuses as Blue Dog Democrats and traditional Republicans demand strong military readiness and reduced spending on social programs. The liberal and progressive contingent believe that reducing poverty through "a hand up and not a handout" will be the way to "grow the economy" and make everything possible.
The real test comes, however, in the global arena. If you have not heard of Lester Thurow, I suggest he would be a good economist to read. He wrote a book in the mid 90's which outlined the tectonic changes for the next 25 years. It's called "The Future of Capitalism".
Hope the taxes are easy to prepare!