Gary Peters in the future?

[Maxwell]

Let's say Hillary retires after one term. What Democrat would run in her stead? I've been looking back at the 2014 elections, and I have to say, Gary Peters is someone I think is a top Democratic talent. A lot of his ads showed him putting liberal issues in a conservative light (shrink government by stopping big tax giveaways to corporations). I think he's someone Republicans should be deeply afraid of.

[IceSpear]

Hillary will not retire, she'll become Supreme Leader for Life until her death when Chelsea will proceed to inherit the throne.

In all seriousness, Peters would need to find a niche. I don't think he exactly bleeds charisma. Working in his favor is that Democrats might want to default to a white guy after the first black president and first woman president in a row. But then again, there's Julian Castro...

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Wait Gary Peters is white?!? Why have I thought he was a black guy this entire election cycle?

[Adam Griffin]

He strikes me as horribly generic, irrespective of any of his talents.

[Nichlemn]

Wait Gary Peters is white?!? Why have I thought he was a black guy this entire election cycle?

Possibly because he represents a majority black district in Congress.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

He strikes me as horribly generic, irrespective of any of his talents.

That's because he is.

[hopper]

Peters I think he could have a long US Senate career barring the Republicans actually find a good candidate to run against him in the future in a R wave year. It took the R's a wave year in 1994 to elect a Republican US Senator from MI(Spencer Abraham.) Land ran a mediocre campaign this year against Peters that's why she didn't win.

[ShadowRocket]

I think he could be a decent VP candidate, but I have a hard time seeing him as a Presidential candidate.

[JRP1994]

Peters I think he could have a long US Senate career barring the Republicans actually find a good candidate to run against him in the future in a R wave year. It took the R's a wave year in 1994 to elect a Republican US Senator from MI(Spencer Abraham.) Land ran a mediocre god awful campaign this year against Peters that's why she didn't win.

[DS0816]

Michigan is keeping its U.S. Senate seats in the Democratic column just as much as Connecticut and New Jersey are. Yes, Michigan was a Republican pickup in 1994, for Spence Abraham, but we know what kind of year 1994 was. And that's what it took for the GOP to win a U.S. Senate seat in Michigan. The party, with Louisiana a likely pickup (from the run-off), garnered nine pickups 20 years later here in 2014. Michigan resisted. And in the Republican presidential pickup year of 2000, Abraham became unseated by Debbie Stabenow (who won re-elections in 2000 and 2006 by increased margins). Gary Peters had no reason not to win the open-seat race in 2012.

As for Gary Peters on the national stage of presidential or vice-presidential talk, the answer is no. There isn't a g.d. thing I can think of in which Michigan Democrats are leaders. Not even in the state of Michigan. And this is a top-10 state, in population rank, for which I am stating the following: I don't think we'll be getting a presidential winner, specifically from the Democratic Party (and forget the Republican Party!), where Michigan is the home state. The Michigan Democrats are followers. They're not leaders.

[Bigby]

Peters better thank Jesus every day his opponent was Land, because there was no way Land would have won. Do I REALLY need to remind everyone of the Sharknado ad?

[pbrower2a]

Let's say Hillary retires after one term. What Democrat would run in her stead? I've been looking back at the 2014 elections, and I have to say, Gary Peters is someone I think is a top Democratic talent. A lot of his ads showed him putting liberal issues in a conservative light (shrink government by stopping big tax giveaways to corporations). I think he's someone Republicans should be deeply afraid of.

He has yet to start his Senate career, having just been elected in a horrible year for Democrats.

As such he will gain seniority fast, and Senate leadership is not out of the question if and when the Democrats get the Senate back.

VP candidate? Nobody really wants the job unless a back-bencher or someone too old to have any chance of being President, and if in 2016 he is essential to winning the electoral votes of Michigan, the Democrats have lost the election anyway.

Definitely not a Presidential candidate until at least 2024, at which point:

1. Four terms of the Democrats will be seen as enough;
2. The Republicans have their new Reagan elected in 2020 and he is a sacrificial lamb;
3. The Republicans may have so consolidated power that they have a lock on the Presidency and just about everything else

(he would not run) -- or

1. The  Republicans have had two terms of the Presidency in 2024 and Americans are become exhausted of it
2. The incumbent Republican is a Carter-scale failure on foreign policy or a Hoover-scale failure on the economy.
3. The Republican Party has so discredited itself that it has become irrelevant.

It is hard to figure which of those scenarios will be relevant.

[DS0816]

Peters better thank Jesus every day his opponent was Land, because there was no way Land would have won. Do I REALLY need to remind everyone of the Sharknado ad?

Gary Peters would have defeated any Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat from Michigan.

[Modernity has failed us]

Wait Gary Peters is white?!? Why have I thought he was a black guy this entire election cycle?

This, ironically enough, is not the first time a forum member has mistaken a white man from Michigan for a black man.