According to Chris Cillizza, author the Washington Post blog called "The Fix", Mark Warner had the best 2005 of "the five Democrats and five Republicans with the strongest chances to win their party's nomination." Interestingly, Cillizza ranks "Cowboy George" Allen right behind Warner in his "Best of the Rest" category, but let's not go there right now...there's plenty of time to expose Allen as the incompetent, right-wing, bumbling buffoon that he is.For the time being, let's just gloat in the fact that Virginia's own Mark Warner "entered 2005 as a little-known figure on the national stage and leaves it, arguably, as the leading anti-Hillary candidate in the Democratic field." Let's also thank Gov. Warner for taking "a major risk" - namely "making the November gubernatorial election a referendum on his four years in office." As we all know, Warner's gamble paid off BIG TIME, with Tim Kaine's victory helping to catapult him into the national spotlight. In addition, Cillizza points out that Warner:
...showed he was ready to compete outside of his home state by making a splash on both the staffing and fundraising fronts. He recruited Monica Dixon, former deputy chief of staff for Vice President Al Gore, to run his Forward Together PAC -- a hire that drew plaudits from Washington's insider crowd. Earlier this month he held an event that raised nearly $3 million for Forward Together -- a sum that wowed many in the donor community.
In sum, Mark Warner had an amazing 2005. Now, his challenge is to keep it up in 2006 after he leaves office. Already, Warner is planning lots of quality time in places like Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina - three key, early caucus/primary states in 2008. In addition, Warner has a strong and rapidly growing grassroots movement - "Draft Mark Warner" (DFW) - headed by former Draft Clark leader Eddie Ratliff, and a team of talented people across the country. DFW also has a blog and Yahoo group, which you should definitely check out. It seems to me that this grassroots movement will be a key to keeping Mark Warner's name in the spotlight during 2006 and early 2007, after which the Presidential contest will begin heating up.
Warner's main competition at this point, according to Cillizza? On the liberal left, it looks like it could be Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold. In the populist center, the leading contender is probably former North Carolina Senator (and Kerry running mate) John Edwards. And on the moderate/conservative Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) right, it's the super-wealthy and super-popular (except among the anti-war left), as-yet-undefeated heavyweight Hillary Rodham Clinton. Cillizza also mentions former Vice President Al Gore, who's 90% certain not to run, and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who will be dhairman of the Democratic Governors Association in 2006.
Oh, and let's not forget on other possible candidate not mentioned by Cillizza for some strange reason (as pointed out by numerous people in Cillizza's comments section): General Wesley K. Clark, with his super-strong national security and foreign policy credentials, plus an enthusiastic and talented grassroots movement of his own. Sure, Clark ran a godawful campaign in 2004, but it was his first time as a political candidate, he got off to a late (and slow) start, and he never managed to effectively integrate the "bottom-up" Draft/netroots folks with the "top-down" political professionals. Clark's a smart guy, though, so don't be surprised if he learns from his mistakes the last time around and doesn't repeat them this time.
Meanwhile, all of these 2008 hopefuls will have a chance to make their marks in the 2006 mid-term elections, with every seat in the House and one-third of the Senate up for grabs. It will be very interesting to see who is invited to campaign in swing districts around the country. And how about right here in Virginia? Will Mark Warner be able to push the Democratic nominee for Senate, plus a few Congressional candidates, to victories over people like George Allen, Thelma "no low is too low" Drake, Virgil "MZM" Goode, and Jo Ann "Candy Cane" Davis? It certainly should be interesting. Stay tuned!