You'll never guess what I came across while I was cleaning out my internets.
The following list was from a stillborn L&E post that never made it back in JUNE of 2007.
That was when the Presidential Primary candidates from both parties were beginning to shake out, and I decided to rank them (from best to worst) as I evaluated their leadership potential.
I never finished it because I was still working in politics back at this point (and doing consulting for several candidates on this list), and didn't want to burn any bridges.
I just ranked every potential candidate on my assessment of their character, their level of experience, and my personal relationships with them and/or their offices. The list is shockingly (in retrospect) non-partisan.
Our Dear and Benevolent Leader (elect) finished 20th out of 21.
The following is my presidential "power rankings" list from June 15th, 2007:
1. Mitt Romney (R)
2. Bill Richardson (D)
3. Ron Paul (R)
4. Mike Gravel (D)
5. Fred Thompson (R)
6. John McCain (R)
7. Hillary Clinton (D)
Top 1/3 = 4 Republican - 3 Democrat
8. Tommy Thompson (R)
9. Duncan Hunter (R)
10. Jim Gilmore (R)
11. Ralph Nader (I)*
12. John Edwards (D)
13. Dennis Kucinich (D)
14. Joe Biden (D)
Middle 1/3 = 3 Republican - 4 Democrat*
15. Sam Brownback (R)
16. Mike Huckabee (R)
17. Chris Dodd (D)
18. Tom Tancredo (R)
19. Michael Bloomberg (I)*
20. Barack Obama (D)
21. Rudy Guliani (R)
Bottom 1/3 = 5 Republican* - 2 Democrat
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*Including Nader as Democrat & Bloomberg as Republican in tallies.
Ain't that a kick in the nuts.
5 comments:
Mitt Romney? Really?
at least Biden made #14. Thats some small consolation, no?
Re: Romney: Oh hell yes.
As the Governor of Massachusetts, he took the state from a 3 billion dollar deficit to a 700 million dollar Surplus. He signed the first same-sex civil-unions legislation in America into law. He amassed a personal fortune upwards of $500 billion by helming a string of successful financial ventures (the polar business opposite of G-Dub). And above all, he was a moderate in the truest sense (he was a Republican Governor of Massachusetts, after all).
I think that type of proven leadership might come in more handy now than "hope" and a bunch of empty promises.
You completely discounted the superficiality of the American people. Romney did NOT capitalize on the Myspace or bumper sticker factors.
I've already learned to regret my lack of support for Romney. I have to learn to be less of a social conservative.
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