Within GOP, stumping fails to impress

[ariesgem]

Within GOP, stumping fails to impress
Candidates make either no impression or a negative one on Republicans

ANTRIM, N.H. - Nancy Adams bought her fishing line this morning at Place in the Woods, an old trading post here, and was hopping back into her red pickup truck when she was asked to contemplate the political landscape.

Mrs. Adams, an energetic 70, is a lifelong Republican who voted for Senator John McCain in the 2000 primary and backs President Bush. But she is a bit lost when it comes to the current crop of eight candidates seeking the Republican presidential nomination.

“I’m having a hard time sorting out all these candidates and what they think,” she said. “I liked McCain, but he’s losing ground too fast to win. I don’t know if it’s his age or the war.

“We’ll see what Thompson says,” she added, referring to former Senator Fred D. Thompson, who is expected to enter the race on Thursday.

Interviews with dozens of Republicans across the country this Labor Day weekend found that despite the already lengthy campaign, which started almost a year ago, many candidates have made either no impression or a negative one, and many voters are still chewing over their options.

“The Republicans need to get their spunk back,” said Leanne Stein, 41, who lives in Claridon, Ohio, and works at a retirement home.

So far, Ms. Stein said, Rudolph W. Giuliani has shown a bit.

“He’s got style, and he has firsthand experience with how to run government in a way that deals with terrorism,” she said. “But he needs someone to coach him on all the issues. All he talks about is terrorism. What about health care? What about education?”

By and large, those interviewed said they still supported Mr. Bush, but they were deeply ambivalent about the war in Iraq, leaving them ambivalent in turn about their party’s presidential candidates, most of whom have so far stuck close to Mr. Bush on the matter.

“What we’re going to do with the war is a big issue,” said Caleb McNew, 22, of Lakewood, Colo., who works in building maintenance.

Mr. McNew said he was leaning toward Mr. Giuliani, who as mayor of New York, he said, “did a pretty good job during Sept. 11.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20580666/

[LeftCoast]

1. Wasn't that a lovely article?

The companion NYT article was this:

For Democrats, Primary Field Gives Confidence

Quite a contrast!

Edited to add a few paragraphs for those not wanting to sign up for the NYT site:

MANCHESTER, N.H., Sept. 3 — Forget the “lesser-of-the-evils” talk typically heard from Democratic primary voters around this time of a presidential campaign. Interviews with dozens of Democrats here and across the country this Labor Day weekend found them enthusiastic about their presidential choices and, if slightly nervous about potential weaknesses in their candidates, confident of victory in 2008.

“He’s a one-term senator. How much time has he really had to prove himself ?” MELINDA FOUNTAIN, bureaucrat from La Porte, Ind., on Barack Obama
He is too much of the same old thing: It is time for something different.” EMILY VANCE, writer from Jacksonville, Fla., on John Edwards
“I think Hillary is pretty strong,” said Lesley Cain, a dentist, as she sat out in the afternoon sun on Market Square in Portsmouth, N.H., waiting for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Bill Clinton to arrive for a Labor Day rally. “But I think Obama is good, too. It’s a flip at this point.”

Carol Brackett, 51, a retired dental technician from Portland, Me., said: “I love the field of Democrats. This is going to be hard.”

These expressions of satisfaction from members of a party better known for quadrennial rites of grumbling do not mean that primary voters do not have some qualms about their leading candidates after months of getting to know them. Especially in the early voting states, like New Hampshire and Iowa, but also in other parts of the country where voters were asked over the last few days about their impressions as the campaign barrels toward the first primaries early next year, Democratic voters said that they were pleased to be able to select among Mrs. Clinton, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and the rest of the party’s candidates, but that they also continued to have questions about them.

-snip-

[avrdream]

2. Yes, indeedy, I'm glad to be a Democrat right now!

Come to think of it, I haven't heard much about the Republican candidates either.


Very little news of them trickles down to Australia. It's mostly Bush-bashing and articles about Hillary or Barack.

[Skittles]

3. can someone please tell me what Giuliani did during the 9/11 events

besides his f***ing job? I swear the only reason he is viewed as such a hero is he did his f***ing job whereas our incompetent twit of a "president" did NOT. Also, why aren't the beefs of the New York firemen about Rudy well known? The fact is, Giuliani's negligence prior to 9/11 contributed to many, many deaths.

[Demeter]

4. “The Republicans need to get their spunk back”

The rest of this thought is unprintable by a lady like me.

But I'm giggling insanely at it.