Explanation

[libertango]

Ulrika says she thinks that Harper's Index post is bit too inscrutable on its own. So, to tell you what I mean by it:

* I have no idea why, but we're clearly in an era where the electorate prefers to vote for governors for president. Now, as Rene Dubos once said, trends are not destiny, but that's why I was saying back before the Iraq assault that Dean was the most likely nominee for the Democrats. He's the only governor running. It's not impossible for the rest of the field, but it's the way to bet. Interestingly, this also makes him the most "electable", at least going by recent trends.

* I'm not the only one who believes this. Jeb Bush is almost certainly going to run for president in 2008. He's already a governor. And the Administration has appeared to be almost single-minded in its pursuit of taking sitting Republican governors off the board by appointing them to Federal office, from where they're very unlikely to run. That greatly reduced the risk of any maverick primary challenges this cycle, and clears the way for Jeb next cycle.

The spooky part about this, of course, is that it's clearly been part of the plan all along. There was Dick Cheney, interviewing the VP hopefuls and getting all their dirt from them -- for purely "defensive" reasons, you understand, to rebut the press when they ran {cough} -- and then he pulls his switcheroo and becomes the Veep candidate himself. The shade of J. Edgar Hoover must've been so proud.

Comments

[scottscidmore.livejournal.com]

I have no idea why, but we're clearly in an era where the electorate prefers to vote for governors for president

I think a possibility may be that as both the Republicans and the Democrats redistricted so as to preserve "safe" seats, the electorate has lost the sense of Congressfolk being anything but "the guy that runs basically unopposed every X years". I've noticed this in talking to people in various areas, Congress is for bringing home pork protecting the district's interests, but nobody that interesting otherwise; perhaps they don't want to loose that benefit. Governors have lead an entire state, so maybe he can lead the country.