If Sharpton, Kucinich, Gephardt, Moseley Braun, and even Nader

[Hippo_Tron]

Want to make a real difference why don't they run for Senate seats? Hillary Clinton managed to move to New York and beat a Republican for the Senate so I don't see why some of these high profile politicians don't try to pick up Senate seats in their home states or elsewhere. It can't hurt to try and even if two of these five beat out Republicans, that could be enough for a majority. Dean should consider this as well, assuming he doesn't win the nomination.

[JI7]

1. braun was senator

braun was senator until she lost the election in 1998. gephardt was democratic leader of the house which is a powerful position so no need for him to consider senate. sharpton probably wants to get a message out, and i think he did run for other office which he lost. i do wonder why ralph nader doesn't try running for senate though.

[Hippo_Tron]

2. Braun can try again and Gephardt isn't minority leader anymore

although, he may have fucked any chance he had at the Senate by missing 80% of the House votes. I think that if these people are getting national attention as presidential candidates then they definately would stand a chance as senatorial candidates.

[JVS]

3. A couple reasons

First of all with Gephardt there is a reasonable chance that he'll be the candidate, so why should he drop out?

Now, more along the lines of what your post is saying. Some of these candidates are trying to bring up issues. President and VP are the only elected offices on a national level. It is quite understandable that Sharpton and Nader wouldn't want to spread their messages in just one state, but rather want to speak to the entire country.

So the basic answer is that each of them either consider themselves likely to win or wish to preach to as big an audience as possible.

Another possibility is that they are looking to position themselves as VP candidates.

[Hippo_Tron]

11. But while senators are elected from individual states...

They are also part of the federal government. Senators are very often leaders in bringing up issues on the national level.

[Terwilliger]

4. Nice little right-wing thing you've got going on Hippo

maybe Dean should run for some other office, Edwards should get a clue, and Kerry should get out of politics and play with his kites.

[JVS]

5. Why have an election at all?

If the people really wanted to replace Bush they would rise up and topple the government ;-)

[JohnKleeb]

7. revolution?

:shrug:

[JVS]

8. Hey there John

Just kind of joking that once you start questioning if people should be running you could end up wondering why you hold elections in the first place.

[Terwilliger]

14. you dont think I wonder why we have elections?

very litle results from elections

very little

[JohnKleeb]

6. hi Terwill

Why should DK have to give in to the Dean machine. He has just as every right as Dean does to run. Plus Kucinich inspires me a lot, hes probably in my young life the first candiate to really inspire me, and while its mostly issues that attract me to him I have many other reasons for supporting him and liking and respecting him.

[Hippo_Tron]

10. I understand completely...

Why you think Kucinich would be a great president. I think it would be awesome if Bill Maher would seek the nomination and I would love it if we chose him. The point is, the chances of it happening are almost none. Although with Kucinich seems like a bit of a different story when I think about it. Bill Clinton was an unknown in '92 and he wound up winning the nomination. The point is that if these guys find themselves not going anywhere in the primaries it would be a great help to Democrats everywhere if they would seek election to the Senate so that they could not only help us win back our majority but bring new prespectives to the government, which is something very much needed at the moment.

[JohnKleeb]

12. ok why I support Kucinich

His department of peace idea is a great one. He wants to repeal Taft-Hartley which basically says FU to workers. He wants to bring the social security age back to 65. He opposes the death penalty. He was the most active against the Iraq war. He is a sucess story. See my posts in politics/campaign to see why. I dont know who you support but I dont like it when Dean supporters get a superiority complex and diss Kucinich supporters because they were regarded as a joke too. That said DK is for real. go to the website on my sig and you will see the reasons I support DK. Also he has done good where others have failed, his district isnt your hotbed of liberalism yet he wins good.

[Terwilliger]

15. there's your problem..."chances are slim"

that means that if you agree with what Kucinich says, but cant support him because not enough other people will...then you don't believe in what Kucinich says

[JohnKleeb]

21. Wow Terwill thanks

Thats so true but ironically they play the hated DLC game on Dennis. That said I still support him for president. I dont wanna be told to back out just because so and so is popular, Dennis has every right to be in this race. Thanks terwill we agree on most of the issues for a reason.

[Hippo_Tron]

9. Well...

1) Dean should run for some other office (but I wasn't going to flat out say it originally because he is a front runner)

2) Edwards should get a clue as well as Bob Grahm.

3) Kerry I consider to be liberal and not moderate. Moderate in my opinion = Max Baucus, Mary Landrieu, Joe Lieberman, John Edwards, and to a certain extent Bill Clinton. I consider Zell Miller and John Breaux to be the conservative wing of the party if you were wondering where they fit in.

4) Kerry is what I'd consider a very typical democratic candidate and very electable, while I disagree with a lot of what he says I think he is our front runner and best hope.

[Terwilliger]

16. Edwards supports the Patriot Act and Homeland security

how is that moderate?

Is everything the Democrats do defined by the Republican party?

[Hippo_Tron]

18. That makes him conservative on defense only

Many liberals and moderates are for strong defense and support Bush's plans.

[John_H]

13. All of them, except Nader, has the right to run for pres as a dem

The primary voters will decide who'll run against the Chimp and Fidelity Ralph.

[Terwilliger]

17. all of them "have"

including Ralph Nader

[John_H]

22. Your subject verb agreement is better than your reading comprhension

Nader have no right to tun for the dem nomination since he are not a dem. I can't waits for him to runs in the general elction, where he have every right to sends the green party into the oblivion it deserve.

[Hippo_Tron]

19. I'm not suggesting they drop out now

But once it becomes apparent that they aren't going anywhere, I think they should consider running for the Senate. Look if Dennis Kucinich or Carol Moseley Braun or Al Sharpton had a good chance of winning I wouldn't be suggesting this. The point is that except for maybe kucinich they don't stand a snowball's chance in hell of winning and know it. They are running to get a message out, and while I have nothing against it I think it would seriously help the party advance as a whole if they would run for the Senate and again not only give us our majority back but bring their ideas to the Senate and give us new prespectives on things.

[LWolf]

20. I don't know about the rest.

I believe (but don't quote me!) that if Dennis does not get the nomination, he will seek reelection for his current seat in congress. Where he is very active.