Here’s the most recent sign that President George W. Bush, although perilously positioned beneath the Damoclean swords of a troubled economy and a controversial foreign policy, is still on track to be re-elected in 2004. By default.
Rep. Dick Gephardt just announced yet another son-of-a-Teamster, populist bid for the presidency. Much more telling, however, were the formal papers filed with the Federal Election Commission by former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
Mosely-Braun and Kucinich? Why not George McGovern? He’s still alive. Why not Jimmy Carter? He’s still has eligibility left.
These most recent candidacies, especially Mosely-Braun and Kucinich, represent more than the usual political grandstanding. They also constitute a vote of no-confidence in the previously declared candidates: former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman and the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Why not Ted Kennedy? He still has the Camelot connection. Why not Jesse Jackson? He still has but one illegitimate child.
Or is this all part of a vast, left-wing conspiracy to draft Al Gore?