Hillary Clinton is running for president in 2008. People say she has a good chance of winning but I am not going to jump to conclusions. I guess we will just wait and see....
I seriously doubt it. Unfortunately, I don't believe this country is ready for a female president. I'm not even sure how long it will take to get a minority president in office. This is an observation, not a statement of my own feelings.
Personally, I'd vote for a minority or woman candidate in a heartbeat if I felt the person were well qualified for the job. I'd love to see those kinds of barriers broken down in my lifetime. But I don't think the country as a whole is ready for it. We've come a long way in the last 50 or 100 years, but we have a long way to go as a society. There's still the underlying attitude that men are stronger and you need someone strong to be president. And still far too much racial bias exists for a non-white candidate to make a real run at the office. I sincerely hope that changes soon, but I'm doubtful.
That said, I don't really care for Hillary and wouldn't vote for her based on political principles. I think there are too many people who also dislike her for her to have a true shot at a nomination or victory, regardless of her gender. I could be wrong!
I predict Giuliani as the Republican nominee in '08, though.
I disagree. Bush's approval rating is hovering just a bit below 50%. No incumbent has ever won reelection with such a low approval rating. Jobs overall were lost during his presidency (just a statement of fact, not blame). The last president who saw that happen during his term (Hoover) was not reelected. A lot of people are very upset about the handling of Iraq for various reasons. This election was practically Kerry's to lose.
I'd say Bush won (or will win, in the end) despite all of the above because his opponent was horrible. Kerry was a terrible candidate and ran a terrible campaign. He tried to be on both sides of issues (I'm not talking about the flip-flop accusations - those were, as nearly all negative political attacks, taken out of context) but ended up sounding incoherent and without a plan. I sympathize with neither party, but surely the Democrats could have nominated someone better than him?
Both sides had their base that won't cross party lines, and a lot of the voters in the middle felt confused - even moreso than in 2000. Many people wanted Bush out but Kerry was not a palatable alternative. So my opinion is that Kerry and his team lost the election all by themselves.