this has to weigh heavily of the Democratic leadership

[mbossman2]

Fifty percent of adults would not vote for Clinton
By Kelly McCormack
March 27, 2007
Half of voting-age Americans say they would not vote for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) if she became the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, according to a Harris Interactive poll released Tuesday.

http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/fifty-percent-of-americans-would-not-vote-for-clinton-2007-03-27.html

this number is especially chilling to Hillary's chances:

Fifty-two percent of people also said that “she does not appear to connect with people on a personal level.”

While I am not a big fan of polls and poll reporting, there are a lot of politicians and party leaders who do.

I wonder what they are thinking right now?

[bigpuma]

I could have told you a long time ago she has no chance. I think if the democratic race comes down to Obama/Hillary the republicans will be jumping for joy. I don't think either of them can win.

[Kuch]

Politics is such a strange profession that I wonder if one of the requirements is for a candidate to have lost touch with reality. The two major parties seems terminally afflicted with this, as they always have a penchant for pushing the most radical of candidates without any realization that few Americans totally sit to the left or the right on all issues. Truth be told, if a candidate could survive crossing party lines and portraying themselves as a moderate, they would probably connect better with most Americans than the candidates who are total radicals.

I never really thought Hillary had a chance. She has so much baggage and the plain truth is that a number of people don’t trust her. Plus, I’m not sure having the Clinton name in the White House for another 4 years will be a step forward for the nation. I never realized how disliked she was until I talked to some very liberal friends of mine who flat out stated they wouldn’t vote for her. Here’s the problem though, while I don’t think she has much of a chance, she has a very good campaign staff. I unfortunately think that her campaign staff is so good that she will be able to out-campaign candidates who otherwise might have had a better chance of getting into the White House.

Obama seems like a nice guy, but the big problem is, and this isn’t trying to be stereotypical, but I just don’t see voters coming out in droves to vote for a guy named Barack Hussein Obama.

A separate issue that is going to affect all candidates is that with all the campaigning starting this early, it gives their opponents a lot of time to dig up a lot of dirt on them. Plus, after a while, people will be tired of seeing these same people slinging the same mud and making the same promises. This strategy could actually serve to lower voter turnout.

[alex n]

Yep, the fact that Obama's middle name is Hussein will be a major handicap for him.

I would like to say Hillary will never win....but never say never.

[mbossman2]

the other issue that I have heard kicked around is that some folks don't want to see a dynastic office of the president.