The candidate no one has mentioned...

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Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry (Democrat).



"You heard it hear first: Gov. Brad Henry of Oklahoma is going to be the 44th president of the United States and will begin his campaign right after he is reelected in 2006. Henry is a 40 year old (44 by 08) popular, progressive, governor of one of the redest states in America.  Henry is a strong advocate for universal health care, and for early childhood education, and a leading opponent against school vouchers.   Henry attened public schools in Shawnee, OK, and graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1985 and recieved his law degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law, where he served as managing editor of the Law Review. Henry was elected to the state senate in 1992 and served there until his election as governor in 2002.  Henry and his wife teach Sunday school, every weekend at the First Baptist Church of Swanee." -jkfp2004



*What type of candidate would this guy be in a Presidential Election?
*Do any of you guys know more about him?
*What do you guys think?

(p.s. dont claim he is to conservative to get the nomination because he is loved at three of the most liberal message boards on the internet Democratic Underground, MyDD, and DailyKOS.)

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I think the fact he's loved at DU and DKos says more against him than it does for him.

The state of Oklahoma thinks otherwise.  The point of discussing his popularity at those sites was to prove he can get out of the "brutal/liberal" primary.

The only downside I see is, he is up for re-election in 2006.  It will be kind of hard to come off a long gubernatorial campaign and jump right into a presidential campaign.

I would label him as a "sleeper" or "dark horse" candidate.

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2) Voters have proven they will vote for certain types of candidates at the state level but not the federal level.

Im not claiming he will win Oklahoma in a presidential election.  I know that would be impossible.  But the fact that he was even elected Governor of Oklahoma as a progressive/liberal democrat proves he would put alot of states in play that most democrats could not.

Let me ask you this.  As a democrat I openly admit that there are certain republican candidates I would rather not see get the nomination because I know they would be extremley hard to beat.  As a Republican would you rather see him not get the nomination?

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I'd be happy to run against a real liberal, as long as he also promises to raise everybody's taxes.

So, a republican that raises taxes is now considered a liberal too?

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Also note that if he even HINTS at a Presidential run before the 2006 Governor's race, he is done, over, through, kaput. So you certainly won't be hearing anything from him or his close supporters until at least late 2006- if he's reelected.

I agree,  if he comes out and says he is running in 2008 he will be toast in 2006, but other than that I dont see how he can lose in 2006. His approval ratings are at 65%.  Approval ratings of 65% are usually enough to say the odds are strongly in favor of a candidate being re-elected.

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Did the OK Gov run as a Progressive/Liberal, or has merely tried to govern as one since taking office.  If he ran as a stealth conservative, then turned around and governed as a liberal, I rate his chances very low.

I doubt he switched it up to much when he ran for governor considering he was a state senator for 10 years.  If he did the voters would have caught on and slammed him.

The fact that he is a Sunday school teacher will hurt him in the Dem primaries

I dont see how that would hurt him at all.  This idea that progressives and democrats hate christianity is insane.

The DU crown is still shell-shocked from their beating in Nov, and is no doubt looking for anyone who can reverse the tide.  By '08 their attitudes will have shifted to the left, er...ultra left.

Not true.  If they were so shell shocked and hard up for a win they would be flocking to the "electable" Evan Bayh or Bill Richardson etc. instead of pounding me everytime I mention the name Evan Bayh.

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Could he win OK for the Dems if nominated in 2008?

Hell no, but the fact that he is popular there (65% approval rating) proves he will appeal to other southern and midwest states.  I dont know who his opponent would be so I cant really give a specific map, but I can put one together of states that I think he could defintley put in play and probably win.

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I don't think it's feasible to draw up maps at this stage. Too much we don't know about the next few years.

I agree, but I was just estimating what states he could compete in.

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The biggest problem is that the oklahoman democrats had to bend over backwards and spend every last dime they had for this guy to slip in, the only reason he was elected is because the republican we had at the time frank keating a bungled quite a few things in a very short time

Yeah, it does seem like he barley slipped through the cracks, but his approval ratings are farley high (65%).  Do you think he will be re-elected?