The title of this diary comes from a documentary called
A PERFECT CANDIDATE. It details the 1994 Virginia Senate race between Chuck Robb & Oliver North. Toward the end, Robb appears at a black church where the minister tells the congregation
"that there was only 1 perfect person to walk the earth", so don't expect your politicians to be perfect. Robb would go on to beat North, but the fact that he lacked the ability to excite voters is probably the reason George Allen has his seat now.
In thinking about possible candidate for 2008 & looking back at what went wrong in 2000 & 2004, neither Gore or Kerry "excited" people. I've been reading about Bobby Kennedy's campaign in 68 recently, & it spoke of how people would show up just to touch & be near him. Howard Dean had that with young people but others felt Kerry was a better candidate "on paper". Things that look good on paper, sometimes don't work in practice. That's one of the problems that I have with people who argue it must be a governor, or someone from the south. Above all, it has to be someone that excites voters...
As of right now, there are only 2 candidates I could think of garnering that kind of excitement 4 years from now, but both come with negatives that hamstring their chances...
- BARACK OBAMA - Him being the first African-American to be the nominee of a major-party ticket will be big news. He might be able to help with minority turnout around the country on a congressional level. He also is able to stir the soul like few can. Some will argue that the fact that he is black, & doesn't come from the south will hurt in RED STATES. Also, he'll only have 4 years of experience under his belt.
- HILLARY CLINTON - Now I know some despise the idea of her running, but she would bring excitement to the race on a couple of fronts. Wherever Bill & Hillary go there is excitement among people who want to see them. Anyone with the name CLINTON will get spectacular media attention, good & bad. While there is a significant portion of republicans dedicated to her destruction, those people were there in 1992 & 1996. I think there is an equal number of people that worship the ground the Clintons walk on. George W. Bush is a polarizing figure too, but he seems to have done Ok. Plus, I always thought it worked to our advantage when they would say the Clintons killed Vince Foster & the other bogus crap. You can't be compassionate while calling someone a murderer. The other factor would be that since she would be the first woman to be the nominee on a major party ticket, it would be big-news. The Clintons also know how to win races. President Clinton didn't & Senator Clinton won't have Bob Shrum at the helm of the ship.