Anyone surprised? Anyone?
Buehler?
Ugh, I can already hear the Frankenboys mewling
Somewhat surprised
While I didn’t at all like how things went down with Franken, I’m willing to give her a chance just as I would anyone else. I hate what happened to Al, and I truly believe it was a GOP hit job, but I also can’t deny that Democrats probably wouldn’t have fared as well in the elections last year if we had kept him around.
True. And he was replaced by a Democrat who while she may not be as clever as Franken is a Democrat. But I always wonder what the announced candidates are exploring with their “exploratory” committees. Which polling company is available and for how much? Which reliable Democratic campaign strategists are looking for work? What deep pocketed donors might support her? What’s the next late night talk show to show up on?
They are exploring how much money they can extract from the usual suspects. Billionaires, Wall Street, CEOs and the well-connected…
Exploratory committees, according to the FEC, are organizations that support a candidate who is considering a run for office – in campaign-law parlance, one who is “testing the waters” of candidacy.
The functional difference is this: An exploratory committee doesn’t have to report its finances to the FEC, whereas a campaign committee does. Until a campaign is official, the exploratory committee goes unscrutinized.
Simply a way to keep their name in the news while others are declaring-er, I think.
I think Gillibrand is competent and I’d vote for her. I’m not sure she’s my first choice. I’m not sure who has her as their first choice. That likely poses for her something of a problem.
He got railroaded
Sorry , I’m not so forgiving
If Al Franken had been a better and more decent man, it would never have come up.
He’s five miles back in the dirt, and oh well. Next Democrat up. I’m intensely skeptical of anybody who, as their first thought about Kirsten Gillibrand, thinks about the man’s career that she is claimed to have ruined.
And to be clear, I have cast a vote for Franken for US Senate. We had the yard sign up all the way through the recount, though it was half-buried in snow by the end. It’s not entirely impersonal.
You still had snow in July? Either there are mountains in Minnesota that I don’t know about, or we secretly annexed part of the North Pole…
We have an election to focus on. We all need to be careful the broad brush statements. Name calling is as unhelpful as said “mewlings”
I myself do not think she can get through the election without being considered as Hillary 2.0.
30 years of unfair treatment will easily be transferred to Gillibrand based on being a blonde female NY senator.
Is this stupid? Incredibly.
Is this reality? Sadly.
Is this fair? Very much no.
I don’t think she gets over that.
…Wow, I looked at Wikipedia and I very much did not remember how long that went on. I think we gave up and took it down when the count was certified in January.
She will likely present herself as the faute de mieux candidate. Not too old, not too young. Not over-qualified, not completely inexperienced. It only works though if she can keep from being too sanctimonious.
I think we know the cons (or at least what will be asserted as the primary con), but what are the pros? And what differentiates her from the other 800 candidates running? (It is going to need to be something more substantive than being better than Tulsa Gabbard, Andrew Cuomo or Rahm Emanuel . . . and yes, I know that only one of these has really announced a candidacy.)
Thanks for that link. Seems like the candidate who shuns PAC and corporate money is the rarity though more are at least considering it including Warren and probably Biden. Booker’s on board that money train however.
It is a little like the old joke about why Willie Sutton robbed banks . . . because that was where the money was. Candidates, collectively at least, are going to spend a billion dollars chasing a job that pays only $400,000 a year, and for which you have to reapply in 4 years. (It does come with a nice rental arrangement for a lovely and historic home.)
An exploratory committee is substantive, it turns out, but money is at the core.
I’m right there with you.
Hard pass on Gillibrand. We can do much better.