He's a likable guy, a personable guy |
He's going to be a huge factor. He needs to rally Republicans for himself, and for the (November) elections. |
His religion is a significant problem because many evangelical Christians do not believe that Mormons are Christians. To the extent that we have controversial religions in this country, LDS (Latter Day Saints) is one of them. |
I think [Bush's] whole strategy is going to be to neutralize everything except character, ... They'll say, 'We're as capable on the economy, education and preserving health care. There's not a difference except you can't trust him, but you can trust us.' |
I think it will go a long way to bringing this chapter to a close. I think there will be a few more days of some questions, but this story is mostly inside the beltway [of concern only to Washington political insiders]. |
I think it's less risky for the Kerry campaign to embrace former President Clinton than it is to reject him. |
I think we are going to hear an awful lot about reform, open government, transparent government. And most presidential elections, frankly, turn out to be about change or the status quo. Do you like the direction of the country or do you want to change it? And if you want to change it, how do you want to change it? |
I think we do know for sure that there are plenty of interesting races in the Senate and that this will be used in Senate races but we don't know exactly what kind of effect it's going to have. |
I thought it was a strong night for the Republicans, John McCain talking about national security defense and foreign terrorism. I think Rudy Giuliani did a pretty good job of mixing criticism of John Kerry -- and talking about the president and his efforts on the war on terror. It was a good start. The only question is: How does it build? And will Vice President Cheney and President Bush close the deal? |
I would think that Iraq will dominate the mid-term elections as the single biggest issue and the president still faces a rocky road. Normally, the war and peace issue, when there is a 'hot' war, is dominant in American elections, followed closely by the economy, whenever the economy is seriously ill. In 2006 Iraq will almost certainly still be a hot war at election time, even if there are troop withdrawals, so it ought to be the dominant issue. |
If Gore were up 10 points, this wouldn't happen. There would be a lot of golf to be played otherwise. |
If the country is dissatisfied with the direction of the leadership, the direction of the country, dissatisfied with the president's performance, frustrated with the inaction or action coming out of Congress, voters tend to respond to a `time for change' message, |
In the context of American politics, this is a pretty big deal. It symbolizes the influence and growth of a key voting group -- Hispanic voters -- in Democratic politics, but also in American politics. |
Iraq is now a cloud over everything. It's the 800-pound gorilla in the room. |
It seems to me there's a lot of smoke here, but I don't know how much heat. To the extent that any of these candidates are going to win, they will probably win because they are Democrats in a Democratic wave year, not because all of a sudden voters have embraced them because they are veterans. |