SC Gov Mark Sanford

[Democratic Hawk]

People seem to be forgeting about the CNN poll that showed that Giuliani beats all the other choices for '08, by far, among Republicans (38% I think).  McCain comes in second (10% behind Rudy) and First comes in at 15%.

Pure name recognition.  My sisters like 8 and she knows who Rudy Giuliani is.  My dog knows who Rudy Giuliani is.

I agree. I think Giuliani is only riding high among Republicans because of name recognition. The 'Talibangelicals' won't stand by and watch Giuliani win the GOP nomination simply because he's not conservative enough on the issues

I don't know enough about Governor Sanford to form any opinion on him - but should he run and win the nomination, he'll most likely carry the South as southern Republicans do nowadays and I'd say the chances of him seeing off a liberal Democratic opponent are pretty high

Dave

[Democratic Hawk]

Basically, what I am reading from this conversation is that the Republican Party, in the eyes of its own members, is a party for Southern WASP's only.  We should not attempt to branch out and be leaders let alone leaders of a real cooalition.

Having a vision for leading the country is not nearly as important as holding onto power by sticking to a strategy that sqeeks out wins every 2 years.

We don't need states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, etc. to win, so we shouldn't even bother trying for them.  As long as we have Florida and Ohio, we are good.  No matter how slim our leads are there.

Vision=bad
Servicing the Narrow Interests of the Base Only=good

Soulty, the GOP made a conscious decision to become a southern-oriented party. You're just reaping what your predecessors have sown.

Would that have been the 'Nixon Strategy'?

Dave