We can do better than Hillary Clinton.

[cascadiance]

257. Bernie would be ideal too. But it would be difficult as a third party candidate at this point...

We need something like instant runoff voting put in place at the national level before someone like Bernie running as an independent would have a shot. And I suppose there are a ton of ideas on how he might trade favors, etc. to become a Democrat just to run for the nomination, but I just don't see that happening. He's a bit older than the others, and I think he says he's happy staying a senator, and a fine one at that.

Russ Feingold needs to get back in the mix. I'd hoped he would have run in the recall election against Walker and won, and then he'd have both gubernatorial and senate experience on his resume to make up for the problematic notion that an unmarried candidate can't win the presidency.

I see others saying Merkley as well mentioned in other places, even with people outside of Oregon where he's my senator. I think at some point he could get support for being president, but perhaps its a bit early now. Personally, I'd probably rather at this point see Harry Reid "retire" and have Merkley take over the Senate Majority Leader position, though he probably doesn't have enough seniority for them to give him the job. He certainly has probably the best perspective on how we SHOULD have the Senate run with his trying to get filibuster changes in place that are sorely needed and would make a fine leader there I think to restore the Senate majority of Democrats to be a progressive majority and not a do nothing corporatist beholden majority that pretends they are "progressive" with their hands tied all of the time the way Reid runs it. But I guess I'm mostly stating in my earlier post the kind of politicians I'd like to see running instead of Hillary. Those who put the people they represent first instead of those with the corporate dollars that spend it on their campaigns.

I think ideally someone like Elizabeth Warren would make a good VP on the ticket, if not the nominee (if many view her term in the Senate as not long enough experience to be the nominee) as a decent woman president in waiting. I'd like a Feingold/Warren ticket, though I'd hope that people wouldn't treat Warren as a "virtual first lady" in that case which the media would try to do and which would not be fair to Warren and the women she'd represent in this country either, especially if Feingold were still not married. Perhaps Feingold needs to get in the mix and get a good partner like Dennis Kucinich did some years back.