Decision ‘08

Hillary’s Road To The Democratic Nomination Just Got A Lot Smoother…

…with the withdrawal of centrist Mark Warner, whose brief flirtation with the Nutroots® must not have yielded the dividends he was hoping for:

Democrat Mark R. Warner, the former governor of Virginia, has decided not to run for president in 2008, Democratic officials said Thursday.

Warner scheduled a late morning news conference in Richmond to make the announcement.

“This wasn’t the right time in his life. He would have to put everything else on the backburner in order to run for president and do it right, and he wants a real life,” said Jim Margolis, a Warner adviser.

Since Warner left the governor’s office in January, he has busily toured key states in the Democratic nomination process, particularly New Hampshire and Iowa. His political action committee, Alexandria-based Forward Together, has raised money for Warner’s exploratory effort and for other Democratic candidates in this year’s midterm elections.

Over the past few months, aides said he had discussions with his family while on a vacation in Europe, and more recently with senior advisers. Warner took three days off over Columbus Day, around the time his father turned 81 and the governor started to visit colleges with one of his daughters.

“He said, ‘Look these are fleeting moments, and I’ve spent 10 years either running for the Senate or being governor or doing what I’m doing this year, which is great,’” Margolis said. But, he said, Warner ultimately decided that it was not the right time for a presidential run.

Said Geoff Garin, Warner’s pollster: “He recognizes that this moment may never come again, but he’s not saying never. I think he’s just saying not now.”

The centrist governor who had won in a Republican-leaning state was seen as a viable Democratic alternative to perceived front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

I must say, I’m a bit taken aback…I wonder if there’s a backstory here?…

11 Responses to “Hillary’s Road To The Democratic Nomination Just Got A Lot Smoother…”

1 Fargus Says:
October 12th, 2006 at 10:07 am
My hope would be that his reasons were ones of simple practicality. The name-recognition battle wasn’t unwinnable, but he positions himself well for a VP nod, and he puts himself in a position where he doesn’t have to potentially slime the future nominee in the primary process before having to turn right around and back that person.
2 Mark Says:
October 12th, 2006 at 10:13 am
Perhaps so…still, I wonder what those internal polls were telling him…
3 mtl Says:
October 12th, 2006 at 10:30 am
The VA term limit for governor-one term/4 years, is not conducive to building a solid rep.

He’s less than 2 years way from beginning to get his governorship back, if he so chooses. In the meantime he still keeps his ’star’ power in VA politics.

His chance of being pres may have gone to zero, but his chance of being a veep has actually been elevated. His backing out of a presidential run is a smart career moves, and opens far more doors, than he closes.
4 Dennis Says:
October 12th, 2006 at 10:46 am
I’m taken aback too. It says something about our politicians that we all immediately start thinking, “What’s the real story here?” I mean, for any normal person, the explanations given - he’s been running for office for too long, his father is getting older, his daughters are just entering college - are perfectly legitimate reasons for not wanting to take on an all-consuming job like running for president. But I guess it’s natural to assume anybody with the ego to run for president, the ego to look around a country of 300 million and say, “Yep, I should be leader of ‘em all,” just isn’t normal.

It’s going to be an interesting day over in Kosland. Who will buy his support now? (Er, I mean make a strong case that inspires his completely impartial soul?)
5 mtl Says:
October 12th, 2006 at 11:06 am
up until today he was actively ‘exploring’ the possibility, some threshold was crossed that made him abandon his hopes, beyond family concerns.
6 Scrapiron Says:
October 12th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
His break the bank of working people taxes probably became public. I posted before that those that would elect him president should all live to suffer the results. Some in Va never learn. Now we have another Gov that is as bad or worse for the working people. You earn a dollar, they’ll find a way to get 75 cents of it.
7 Dmac Says:
October 12th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
I was kind of hoping for a Warner - Rudy showdown; at least that would’ve had the capacity for toning down the rhetoric that’s been incessant these days.
8 mtl Says:
October 12th, 2006 at 1:16 pm
I have noticed that McCain has been out in front, leading the charge in regards to challenging the dem’s foreign policy.

McCain knows that his only chance of winning the gop nomination goes thru rove. I’m getting a sense of some quid pro quo. McCain is setting the table for a direct assault of democratic foreign policy. Guilliani doesn’t have a prayer, unless rove vouches for him to the base.
9 mtl Says:
October 12th, 2006 at 5:03 pm
scrapiron. I’m intrigued. Got a link?
10 Aaron Says:
October 12th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
I’m a bit disappointed. I mean Warner wasn’t my first choice by any means, but I certainly wouldn’t have minded him as C-i-C as much as others.

I think he may have backed off with the apparent rise of Obama, who is looking much less like he will sit out the 2008 race.
11 Jack Rich Says:
October 12th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
Mark (I’m not John) Warner is a lightweight. A very likeable guy, and did a decent job as governor in my state of Virginia, except for those pesky tax increases he kept tryng to peddle.

Presidential material? Not even close. No national security experience. None. And everything else is chump change these days in the qualifications arena.

For his sake and the sake of his family, I hope he stays out of the fray.