Which Democratic non president do you most regret and why?

[MarianJack]

In this poll I'm limiting the question to those Democrat nominees or those who came very close to the nomination and either lost, had the election stolen or died. I am also not including past candidates who may run again in the future, such as Hillary Clinton.

I have many choices. I believe that John Kerry, Al Gore, Hubert Humphrey, Ted Kennedy or many of the others would have been great (or at least very good) presidents.

For me, I think that I have to say Bobby Kennedy. I say this not only because I believe he'd have been a great president but because he was also the first candidate for whom I volunteered. I was 12. I stuffed envelopes and ran coffee errands. I helped o close the office down after Bobby was assasinated just 2 weeks before my 13th birthday. Seeing a candidate you admire lose is awful. Seeing
a candidate you admire murdered is worse.

BTW, I'm going chronologically.

Also BTW, Boy Howdy have I ever missed the polls and am I ever glad to see them back!

If you say that this poll/thread is somewhat depressing given whom we didn't have as presidents and given whom we did, I'll say that you're right.

Thank you for participating.

PEACE!

17 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Adlai Stevenson
	1 (6%)
	Bobby Kennedy
	5 (29%)
	Hubert Humphrey
	0 (0%)
	George McGovern
	1 (6%)
	Ted Kennedy
	0 (0%)
	Fritz Mondale
	0 (0%)
	Mike Dukakis
	0 (0%)
	Al Gore
	7 (41%)
	John Kerry
	2 (12%)
	Other
	1 (6%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[MarianJack]

2. Excellent points.

2 potentially great presidents, one of whom was murdered and the other robbed.

In their places we got tricky dicky and george w moron.

PEACE!

[spartan61]

3. I voted "Other" because I felt that

Edmund Muskie from Maine should have been on the list. His campaign fell apart in NH as he defended his wife in NH when it was alleged she told off color jokes and was guilty of drunkeness. He tried to challenge William Loeb, the publisher of the Manchester newspaper, but emotions took over, he choked, and shed some tears.

The Nixon White House felt Muskie would be the most formidable Dem nominee. It was felt that Muskie's tears were attributable to McGovern winning the NH primary.

I feel that Ed Muskie would have been a great president.

[MarianJack]

5. Ed Muskie would have been a great president.

Not to be nitpicky, but Muskie actually did win the '72 NH primary. McGovern got the press because he closed from 10% or less in late polls to a very close second place (on the order of 46-38%).

PEACE!

[spartan61]

18. Thank you for the correction on the winner.

I had checked only one source and it said McGovern won. I should have checked other sites to verify. Glad you corrected me. Thanks!

[coalition_unwilling]

4. Much as I wanted to vote for Bobby Kennedy, I voted for

George McGovern.

Had McGovern won with a Dem Congress and Senate, we might have gotten a Guaranteed Annual Income program that provided a real safety net for all citizens regardless of their employment status. That would have marked our maturation as a liberal democracy.

Now that I've cast my vote for McGovern, though, I'm realizing that Bobby Kennedy would have probably ended the war in Vietnam in 1969. That would have been good for a whole lot of Vietnamese, Cambodians and other southeast Asians, not to mention the 1000s of American soldiers who died and were wounded after January 1969.

Great poll, by the way. Maybe the best one I've ever seen on DU.

[MarianJack]

7. Thank you for the compliment.

I volunteered for him in 3 primaries in '72, PA where I Lived at the time, NJ & NY. I met him in PA in April and in June in NY and HE REMEMBERED ME!

He would've been a hell of a Prez, but my vote was for Bobby for the reasons I mentioned.

PEACE!

[zipplewrath]

6. There is no comparison

RFK was the only one that the people would have clearly chosen, and followed. Liberalism had it's "Lincoln" killed off before he could be even more relevant than Lincoln. Much of he disappointment in Obama has been that he has not been the fulfillment of RFK. Many have been literally or emotionally waiting for the fulfillment of his promise. It may be an unachievable standard.

[MarianJack]

8. As I mentioned,...

...Bobby was my choice, too.

PEACE!

[Life Long Dem]

9. It all came down to Florida for the win

The chad ballots screwed up Gore's win. I don't really regret Gore, I more so regret the turnout from the court.

[MarianJack]

11. That stolen election was downright criminal.

Those f'in hanging chads.

I always felt that he should have put the effort that he put into Florida into TN, OH & NH!

The media also CLEARLY wanted george w moron in the White House, too.

PEACE!

[BlueIris]

10. That would be my (formerly) beloved John Kerry.

We had a chance to take it back with him and we didn't. We failed. Miserably.

[MarianJack]

12. I think that I'm one of the few DUers...

...who regrets the loss of a President Kerry more than the loss of a President Gore.

PEACE!

[Control-Z]

13. Same as bupkus.

Both how (s)he voted and everything (s)he said.

[MarianJack]

19. What a pair of sucky exchanges.

tricky dickie instead of Bobby and george w moron instead of Al Gore.

PEACE!

[HuckleB]

14. I went with Gore because I think our world would be much more dramatically improved if he had won...

... compared to any of the others. This, of course, has to do with timing, and many other factors. It does not mean Gore is my favorite on the list. It just means, we'd be in much better shape if he had won.

[MarianJack]

20. Considering george w moron,...

...a dried up bag of monkey poop would have been an improvement.

PEACE!

[deacon]

31. I agree. So much damage could have been avoided including one of America's biggest mistakes, Iraq.

[ScreamingMeemie]

15. Since you said "came close to the nomination" I've gotta go with people powered Howard.

A President Dean would have been amazing. I am kind of partial to Governors as Presidents, over senators.

On edit: At least Democratic Governors.

[MarianJack]

21. Dean was never my 2004 first choice,...

...but he'd have been MUCH better than george w moron.

I don't, however, think we can say that he came "close" to the nomination, partly because th media blew the "Dean scream" WAY out of proportion.

PEACE!

[REP]

25. Dean.

A decent man with very good ideas. No wonder he didn't make it.

[Zorra]

16. Bobby. Because we'd be light years ahead in our social evolution

if Bobby had been elected instead of Nixon. There would have been no Reagan. No Bush I or Bush II.

We'd be living in the world we dream of for our grandkids right now.

College would be free. Health care would be free. Alternative energy systems would be in place.

We'd have a greater, wider sense of human community.

We lost the future when we lost Bobby.

[MarianJack]

22. After nearly 44 years,...

...I still get upset when I remember that loss.

PEACE!

[Art_from_Ark]

17. It's a toss-up between Bobby Kennedy and Al Gore

Both were robbed of their chance to become President and make a meaningful contribution to the country and the world.

[MarianJack]

24. As I've mentioned in other responses,...

...getting tricky dickie & george w moron instead of Bobby or Al is a nauseating memory!

PEACE!

[H2O Man]

23. Bobby.

Had he lived, he would likely have been elected; had he been elected, he would have changed the nature of the presidency, and the course the nation was on.

If you change one significant thing, everything that follows is changed. Hence, for example, had he won, Al Gore would have never had to run against a shit-stain like George W. Bush.

[MarianJack]

26. I agree with what you say, but...

...I think that you may owe shit stains an apology.

PEACE!

[H2O Man]

27. Right.

I should have specified: George H. W. Bush's shit-stain.

(I was first to "recommend" the OP.)

[MarianJack]

28. Thank you!

PEACE!

[RFKHumphreyObama]

29. Bobby is the obvious answer and that's how I voted

But I think Al Gore would come a close second. I remember the peace and prosperity of the Clinton years and I think Gore could have done a lot to continue that legacy and also pursue a visionary and innovative domestic and foreign policy agenda that would have gone a long way to making the world a better place in the 21st century. Instead the consequences and legacy of the horrific mess that Dubya and his crew made will I think haunt America and the world for most of my lifetime and it's gotten the 21st century off to a very bad start which I think it will be hard to recover from (although President Obama has done and I think will do enormous good in terms of rebuilding after the disaster and perhaps recovering some of what we've lost)

Wesley Clark probably counts as a candidate "who might run again in the future" but I think he would have made an awesome President and would have beaten Bush in 2004.

Bill Bradley was another one who could have made a great President. Same for Paul Simon (the Senator not the singer obviously, although the latter would have probably done a good job too!).

[MarianJack]

32. I agree with your points and...

...I (as probably most people) think that Paul Simon the singer would have been better than george w moron.

At least he would have been better to listen to!

PEACE!

[deacon]

30. Gore. 8 years of bush was a total catastrophe that will take decades to fix. It also was a period

Last edited Sun May 20, 2012, 10:36 PM - Edit history (1)

when rove stoked a fire for extremism to rise in this country which is still growing.

[MarianJack]

33. kkkarl rove was a topper for the george w moron misadministration.

Even tricky dickie didn't make hatred such a major policy in his term.

PEACE!

[treestar]

34. Gore

With 20/20 hindsight.

[MarianJack]

37. Anyone who paid ANY attention to george w moron...

...had 20/20 FORESIGHT that he'd be a disaster.

PEACE!

[GoCubsGo]

35. If Al Gore won, I'd still have my old job and a career.

I lost my job as a direct result of Bush administration actions, which definitely would not have occurred under a Gore administration. But, thanks to the five shitstains on the USSC, I still have no job, my savings is long gone, and my health is on its way out, too. I guess technically, this would all hold just as true for a Kerry administration, because technically, my job was axed during Shit-for-Brains' second term. But, the motions were set during his first. Had Kerry not had the election stolen from him, those motions would have been stopped.

And, then of course, there are the two wars, the Hurricane Katrina debacle, the economic collapse, and probably 9/11, that wouldn't have happened if history were different. Not to mention the tens of thousands of lives that wouldn't be lost or destroyed.

[MarianJack]

38. With Al Gore OR John Kerry...

...you (and all of us) also would have had a President who'd have given a damn about weather you had a job and career.

PEACE!

[stlsaxman]

36. Anyone who has read "The Assault On Reason" would have to vote Gore.

much of the book was taken and extrapolated from speeches as these...

[MarianJack]

39. You ARE right, but...

...many of those who vored for george w moron (twice) wouldn't have given a damn about thought or reason.

PEACE!