Please Enlighten Me....
By betsyraeduke
@betsyraeduke (2669)
United States
September 10, 2008 11:35pm CST
Hello mylot folks! I have a question, maybe someone could enlighten me? First, I'm not going to say who I'm voting for; 1. because I do not know yet and 2. because I do not want this discussion to become an argument about whom is better than whom. All I want to gain from this discussion is some simple information and/or understanding.
I have heard many people say that a lot of people who were going to vote for Hillary are now going to vote for McCain because they want Hillary to run for president in 2012. I have heard this in person, on tv and have read it on various websites, including this one.
My questions are these: 1. What does whoever gets elected president this year have to do with rather or not Hillary runs for president in 2012?
The only response I have heard to this is because Hillary has a better chance of getting nominated in 2012 if a Republican is in office this term instead of a Democrat.
But I still don't understand, why would Hillary have a better chance of being nominated in 2012 if a Republican was elected this year?
Will someone please explain all this to me?
Just a curious mind wanting to know, lol.
4 people like this
9 responses
@xfahctor (14113)
• Lancaster, New Hampshire
11 Sep 08
It seems that a number of Clinton supporters have flocked to McCain, not all, not even most, probably about 1/3 by some estimates. The rest are die hard democrats who wouldn't vote for a republican even if the democratic nominee had been Pat Buchanin.
Some analysts have summized that if McCain wins this year, he may do so badly that Hillary will have a ton of ammo in 2012. she could easily say, "see? you should have nominated me, I could have beaten McCain".
2 people like this
@bobmnu (8157)
• United States
11 Sep 08
Some of the higher numbers are polls that ask if they will vote for Senator Obama. Every Democrat who does not vote for Senator Obama is 1/2 vote for John McCain. To illistrate this assume 100 people are voting. There are 55% Democrat nd 45% Republican. If 20% of the Democrats do not vote or vote for someone other than Senator McCain or Senator Obama and all the Republicans vote for Senator McCain. Senator McCain wins 45% to 44%.
@bobmnu (8157)
• United States
11 Sep 08
IF Senator Obama wins and does even an OK job as president, Senator Clinton would be committing political suside trying to unseat her partys sitting president. If on the other hand if Senator Obama loses the election this year Senator Clinton is pushed to the position of being the one to beat in 2012 for the nomination. Remember she was winning the popular vote at the end of the primaries this year. She can point to her success in winning the primaries and remind everyone that she could have beaten McCain because Gov. Palin would not be the factor on the ticket that she is now. Senator Clinton would still have a grass roots orginazation in place and everyone else would have to start over from square one. She also becomes the major force in the party by appearing to be a more centrist candidate and pointing out that no far left candidate has won presidency and she could have done it. Her position would be "nominate me and I will be the President".
2 people like this
@KrazyKlingon (5005)
• United States
11 Sep 08
If a Republican is in the White House in 2012, it means that she can run again, because if a Dumbocrat is in there, of course, she can try running, but with the dumbocratic incumbent, he would almost always get the nomination to run a second term. Where I am, the few democrats that I know feel that they were cheated by their party. Truthfully, the Democrats that I know are voting for McCain, I don't know if they share the same thing that was pointed out about "Billary" getting a better chance at getting nominated, or if they're just doing it out of spite. But - will they admit it? Probably not.
1 person likes this
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
11 Sep 08
You've received some good explanations of "the plan" but the reality is that Hillary is out campaigning for Obama and I believe that there are many thinking Clinton supporters who sincerely care about this country and the outcome of this election. There are way too many ways politics can be played but most of us aren't politicians, we're Americans and have concerns and issues that need to be addressed. I know that some hardliners will vote their party regardless of their candidate's stand on anything but there are many who are listening and learning and those are the ones who wouldn't dream of playing a game like that.
@betsyraeduke (2669)
• United States
14 Sep 08
I wouldn't play games on such matters either. I just didn't understand the comment until it was explained to me and I was curious. Though upon receiving the explanation, I could kick myself, lol.
@lorelei1622 (329)
• United States
11 Sep 08
Generally speaking, unless the president really screws up, he or she is reelected for a second term. So if Obama is elected and doesn't make a mess of it, he would be hard to beat as the incumbent in a democrat primary-most often his nomination would be just about automatic if he wanted to run for a second term. So in a way pro Hillary supporters voting for McCain makes sense to them if thye have the patience to wait 4 more years for a democrat to take over. Like you I haven't made up my mind as to which way I will vote and I never discuss my personal choice on the issue either.
@jillmalitz (5131)
• United States
11 Sep 08
Well, I have heard of a lot of Hillary supporter who are still angry that she was not chosen as the Democratic standard bearer. They say they would rather vote for McCain because of this. This makes no sense to me, because how can you disagree with McCain and then turning to vote for him cause Hillary did not get the nomination. Seems that they want a woman one way or the other on the ticket. Now, as for 2012, if a McCain wins this year and runs for re-election in 20012, she could be open to be the Democratic candidate because the party would feel that since Obama lost and she did so well this year, she would have a better chance to run and win.It would look better for her if McCain's administration did poorly in the issues the country is having now and possibly then. It would, to me, be a kind of "I told you we should have nominated her in '08" type of feeling. The old Hillary was right kind of thing.
@underdogtoo (9579)
• Philippines
12 Sep 08
Politics always gets rabid reactions from supporters and so does religion. I wonder if those countries with kings and monarchs get the same kind of fanatical support from their subjects?
@Bluepatch (2476)
• Trinidad And Tobago
11 Sep 08
People who say this are running the betting game and following a fan kind of thing with the election.
Its necessary to elect someone now for the next term and thats about it.
What happens years from now can be so distanced from today its not worth even thinking about.
If they like Hillary so much let them wait for the next election and then vote.
@betsyraeduke (2669)
• United States
14 Sep 08
Yes, I agree. I just didn't understand what the reasoning behind the statement was before. Now I do.
