IS THE '08 RACE OVER?

[ariesgem]

From NBC's Mark Murray
The AP's Ron Fournier writes that the presidential nominating contests may be far from over. "John Kerry's presidential bid was dead. If you didn't know that in September 2003, all you had to do was ask almost any pundit, politicians or political writer. We were wrong. Kerry picked up a key endorsement, poured his own money into the race and took advantage of the fact that Democratic front-runner Howard Dean's campaign had quietly peaked in the summer of 2003."

"We may be wrong again. The same folks who buried John Kerry months before he won the 2004 Democratic nomination are jumping the gun for 2008."

"The consensus in Washington is that Sen. John McCain's presidential dreams are dead and the only Republicans with a shot at the nomination are former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Sen. Fred Thompson and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Conventional wisdom also suggests that the Democratic nomination is Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's to lose, and that her only serious rivals are Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and, perhaps, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina."

"Then along comes a day like Wednesday that rubs history in our faces, reminding the so-called experts how much the political landscape can change before the first votes are cast in Iowa: Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, a longshot candidate for the Democratic nomination, picked up the endorsement of the International Association of Fire Fighters."

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/08/30/340472.aspx

[Captain Hilts]

1. Hell no! nt

[JeffR]

2. Not by a long shot

The candidate hyper-partisans here and on rightwing boards may think so, but I think they're very much mistaken.

[jobycom]

3. Can't be. Fuckwad is still flying around Air Force One. nt

[sendero]

4. It's not over.....

...but it's damn sure over for McCain.

[AlCzervik]

5. no way it's over, i thought Kerry was done and then surprise.

like they say---the only poll that counts is on election day.

[saltpoint]

6. The gun's just sounded and the horses are just out of the gate.

Way too early for firm predictions.

[illinoisprogressive]

7. I was so happy for Dodd. Obama's advisors have purposely been pulling Obama back

through the spring and summer to keep him from peaking too soon. these guys were really studying the Dean errors and have been trying to keep Obama from the same traps.
They probably will let him go full force soon.

[Yukari Yakumo]

8. '04 =/= '08

That said...

It isn't over yet. But if Edwards, Kuch, Richardson, et al want to be serious contenders, they really need to light a fire beneath the butts of their campaigns immediately.

I definitely wouldn't rules Obama out.

On the Repugs side... not even close. That race is so divided up no one can be sure who's ahead.

[defendandprotect]

9. It's probably already a GOP-fixed eletion . . .. however . . .

I remember the Kerry/Dean thing a little differently --

Dean was leading -- with huge popular support --
Kerry was at the bottom of the heap --

Suddenly, the pools show votes that weren't really believable --
Dean down/Kerry up -- What?

And then the sidelining of Dean -- and the "swiftboating" of Dean --

The Dems did little to keep the record straight or to help Dean --
About as much as they did when Kerry subsequently was being "swiftboated" ---

We're a year away from another farce as far as I can see --

[jillan]

10. Over? Look at who is #2 in endorsements in Iowa - - -

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/08/24/biden-adds-to-support-in-iowa/