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November 25, 2007
A left-libertarian's dream ticket: Kucinich-Paul in 2008?
This just popped up in my feed reader: Dennis Kucinich says that he would strongly consider fellow Congressman, but candidate from the opposing major party, Dr. Ron Paul as his running-mate, were he to win the Democratic nomination. (Link via TPW)
I most certainly realize the unrealistic nature of this proposition, but I don't find it silly, as some do. There is a strong message in all this, and that is that the American people, just you and me, you know, are hungry for something other than the status quo either major party is clambering all over itself to serve up.
A Kucinich-Paul ticket, though it might on its surface please left-libertarians like me, would be fraught with contradictions—but so is the populace. (It wouldn't, however, be without precedent: the nation's first few executive branch duos were from mixed ideological backgrounds.) My only issue with it is that Paul isn't quite as libertarian as some have alleged. He's more old-school right-wing, but even that is preferable in many ways to the rest of the GOP's current offerings. (Caveat: I like and respect Mike Huckabee as a person, even if I disagree with about 87% of his views.)
I mean, come on: with the President's ratings in the low 30's, and those of the Congress even lower, how is a government that consists of "more of the same" going to help improve anything? Some kind of change is in order; and if Kucinich-Paul sounds just too far-fetched (and I readily admit that it does), then let's take an honest look at some more realistic options.
I'm interested to know what you think those realistic possibilities are.
Presidential Elections | By joe lance | 10:45 PM
Comments
Paul talked about his respect for Kucinich over the summer. Apparently they've worked together on legislation in the past.
But if Ron Paul has a snowball's chance in hell of winning, then Kucinich has a snowflake's chance.
I'm still bummed that Chuck Hegel didn't enter. He would have made a good President. On Halloween, Hegel dressed up like Joe Biden, walked onto the Senate floor and yelled "Biden for President. Lugar for Secretary of State." At which Biden replied, "and Chuck Hegel for Vice-President."
I knew they were joking but I couldn't help but get a little excited at the idea.
Posted by: davidm. at November 26, 2007 07:32 AM
There is a far better chance of a Paul-Kucinich ticket than the other way around, because Kucinich has zero chance of winning the D nomination. Paul's initial 100-1 longshot odds, on the other hand, have been steadily improving over the past several months. He's still not the front-runner (wait until New Hampshire, though) but he is one of 4-6 GOP candidates remaining with some reasonable chance to win the nomination.
(I'm being generous with my tally of 4-6 "live ones" because in my estimation, McCain and Huckabee are pretty much toast already and Thompson is not far behind them on the road to elimination; really I expect it to be down to Romney, Giuliani, and Paul by Super Tuesday.)
If (when!) Paul wins, I doubt he would pick Kucinich as a running mate, though. Way too socialist on fiscal issues which are very big with Ron Paul. I can't see Kucinich going along with eliminating the IRS, for example, because then there would be no easy way to fund his dream of national health care. I think mentioning Paul as a VP candidate is merely an attempt by Kucinich to stir up some enthusiasm for his DOA campaign. If you aren't gaining any traction, try dropping the name of someone who gained $4.3 million worth of traction in one day....
My personal guess, and it is only an educated guess, is that RP might choose Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona. If there is ever a 434-1 vote in the House, you can be sure the 1 is Ron Paul; and if there is ever a 433-2 vote, you can be almost as sure that the other dissenter is Flake. Picking Flake (or Kucinich for that matter) solves the perceived "problem" of having a running mate who, as a Governor or Senator, "outranks" Paul as the nominee.
Posted by: Joe at November 26, 2007 05:26 PM
What about pairing Biden and Paul together? I mean, here's a
chance to have bipartisan support out of the gate. That's a
pipe dream, but I have this twisted idea that they could work...
Jay
Posted by: Jay Bender at December 20, 2007 08:40 PM