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[RedKing]

Out on the campaign trail, Rick Santorum kinda sorta said he'd rather see Obama reelected than Mitt Romney win.

"You win by giving people a choice," Santorum said during a campaign stop in Texas. "You win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision for our country, not someone who's just going to be a little different than the person in there."

Santorum added: "If they're going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk of what may be the Etch A Sketch candidate for the future."

80% chance he sets the land speed record for backpedaling, 20% chance he doubles down and makes "a vote for Romney might as well be a vote for Obama" his new stump speech.  No doubt he's taking shitloads of heat for it, but the grand irony is that people like George Will and William F. Buckley have been basically saying the same thing since January.

Wow. Buckley actually rose from the dead to criticize Romney? Well, there goes the zombie vote. 

Yeah, 2016 might be wild. I can't seriously see the Democrats lining up behind Biden as the heir-apparent, assuming Obama wins this fall. Might be another scenario like 2008 where there's no incumbent or Vice President running and it's a real free-for-all.

I still have hopes that Brian Schweitzer (Dem. Governor of Montana) make take a shot at the WH. Eh is a cool guy who uses a branding iron to veto shit and doesn't afraid of anything.

Speaking hypothetically of an Obama reelection, I can't even see Biden running in 2016.  He'll only be a year or two older than John McCain was when he ran in 2008, but that would still make him the oldest man ever to run for President.  I do kinda expect Hilary Clinton to run, and while I also expect her to lose the nomination again, I can't imagine to whom.  How many Democrats are there with the national recognition and wherewithal to run after two terms of a Democrat President?  Brian Schweitzer's not impossible, but he sounds more like "also-ran to VP" material; Jennifer Granholm maybe; Bill Richardson will probably run again; I've heard mention of Andrew Cuomo, who's certainly in the realm of possibility, and that's everyone I can think of.  There's a few other governors out there like Bev Perdue who might think they can try, and that's enough for a field, but none I can see as of now winning against what's likely to be a very well bolstered Republican opposition.

There is no way in all that is holy that Bev Perdue will run for President. She's not even running for re-election as Governor, because she knows she'd lose. I mean hell...*I* voted for the Libertarian candidate, that's how unimpressive she was.

Cuomo's got a shot, although Northeastern Dems have a hard time in the general election. Eliott Spitzer would have been a strong candidate if he coulda kept it in his pants. Richardson.....he might run, won't win. Granholm's got potential, although you might see a minor "birther" movement since she was born in Vancouver. I wouldn't put it past Rahm Emanuel to throw his hat in the ring. There's also Antonio Villaragosa...he's got some name recognition and he'd be a lock for the not-insubstantial Hispanic vote (although he brings a fair amount of personal baggage too)

But man, wouldn't THAT rub the GOP's balls raw...a black President followed by a Hispanic.

[Aqizzar]

Well, I didn't realize Jennifer Granholm was born in Canada.  So she's out.  I mean legally, she can't be elected as a foreign born citizen.

I've never even heard of Antonio Villaraigosa, and while automatically locking up 20% of the national vote isn't necessarily a bad thing, it'll be a cold day in Hell when a mayor of Los Angeles with a name like 'Villaraigosa" comes close to winning a general election, at least by 2016.

[GlyphGryph]

You legally be elected as a foreign born citizen. McCain was foreign born.

Being foreign born doesn't stop you from being natural born - at least not legally.

[FearfulJesuit]

One of these days, we're going to have to actually, legally define what that term means.

[Aqizzar]

You legally be elected as a foreign born citizen. McCain was foreign born.

Being foreign born doesn't stop you from being natural born - at least not legally.

Nope, you do have to actually be born in American territory.  McCain was born to American citizens, one of them a serving member of the military, on diplomatic territory in the Panama canal zone.  That's good enough to count.  Vancouver, Canada is not American territory.

[FearfulJesuit]

It's a silly rule in any case, and I wouldn't be surprised if we got rid of it one of these days.

[GlyphGryph]

No, being President only requires you to be natural born. You do not have to actually be born on US soil. It's why the Obama thing is utterly stupid. There is no legal requirement for a president to be born on US soil, they just need to be natural born i.e. a US citizen from birth. And that ALSO doesn't require being born on US soil.

[RedKing]

No, being President only requires you to be natural born. You do not have to actually be born on US soil. It's why the Obama thing is utterly stupid. There is no legal requirement for a president to be born on US soil, they just need to be natural born i.e. a US citizen from birth. And that ALSO doesn't require being born on US soil.

^^^^^^^^^
This.

As long as one of her parents was American, she's a natural-born citizen. We use a mixture of jus soli and jus sanguinis.

[Nadaka]

No, being President only requires you to be natural born. You do not have to actually be born on US soil. It's why the Obama thing is utterly stupid. There is no legal requirement for a president to be born on US soil, they just need to be natural born i.e. a US citizen from birth. And that ALSO doesn't require being born on US soil.

For instance John McCain was born in Panama.

[GlyphGryph]

Nadaka, you didn't actually read the last couple posts did you?

[scriver]

It's a silly rule in any case, and I wouldn't be surprised if we got rid of it one of these days.

I agree it is and that you should, but I doubt it's going to happen in the current overly nationalistic political climate.

[Aqizzar]

No, being President only requires you to be natural born. You do not have to actually be born on US soil. It's why the Obama thing is utterly stupid. There is no legal requirement for a president to be born on US soil, they just need to be natural born i.e. a US citizen from birth. And that ALSO doesn't require being born on US soil.

Okay fine, I forgot the technicality of American citizens traveling abroad, but I find it hard to believe Granholm specifically isn't disqualified.  I don't know her life story, but according to Wikipedia's sourcing, she was born in 1959 and despite living in America somehow didn't actually become a citizen until 1980.  Ergo, I'm betting she would not count as "natural born".  By the sound of it, her parents were Canadian citizens.

[GlyphGryph]

Okay, yeah, if she was not eligible to be a citizen at birth, she's out. (Note, you could have just taken a while to get it made official, which is allowed, but I think you have to do it... before your 18th birthday or something? And then it's like... retroactive. You were ALWAYS a citizen. But again, that still requires you to be eligible since birth. That doesn't seem to apply here.).

Neither of her parents were citizens, AND she wasn't born on US soil, so she's right out.

[Nadaka]

Nadaka, you didn't actually read the last couple posts did you?

Define "read"? Maybe McCain is just my fnord.

[RedKing]

Huh. Okay, I thought her parents were Americans. Nevermind.

And McCain was born in the "Panama Canal Zone", which technically *is* (or at least was, until Carter handed over the Canal to Panama) American territory. The same way that many American military bases and embassies overseas are technically part of the United States.

And in McCain's case, his parents were also Americans, so he holds birth citizenship by right of blood *and* right of soil.


Anyhoo....to re-rail this a bit, let's look ahead to tomorrow:

SATURDAY! SATURDAY! SATURDAY! It's the the Bungle in the Bayou! The Creole Caucus! The Voodoo Vote! That's right, it's Louisiana Primary Time!
Aaaaaand Santorum's gonna win. Well, that was exciting.

Main questions are: win by how much, and will Gingrich do badly enough to think about dropping out? Since I don't see Gingrich dropping out even if he somehow got negative votes, the latter is more rhetorical then anything.


The bigger news is that Romney has a double-digit lead in polling in Wisconsin. That's a huge flip from Santorum's 16-point lead a month ago. Might be a sign that the "inevitability" narrative is beginning to finally take hold. Of course, that latest poll was before the "Etch-A-Sketch" gaffe, so who knows?

Wisconsin is winner-take-all, so it really becomes a must-win for anyone other than Romney if they want to try and drag this thing out to the convention. If (as the polls suggest now) Romney takes Wisconsin *and* Maryland, then he probably clinches it sometime in early June (say, after winning California).