Everyone For President In 2008!

Governors, Senators All Seem To Be Humming 'Hail To The Chief'

(AP)  Other Democrats looking at 2008: Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the party's presidential nominee in 2004; John Edwards, Kerry's running mate; former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner; New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson; Delaware Sen. Joe Biden; Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd; Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold; Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh; Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack; former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle; and retired Gen. Wesley Clark.

Voters and political parties are not always kind to politicians who have known defeat, as Gore, Kerry and Edwards have in a presidential campaign and several others, including McCain, have in the primaries.

But newcomers and second acts are united by one trait.

"In order to run for elective office," said Democratic strategist Anita Dunn, "you need to be an incurable optimist."

A lack of interest, not optimism, led President Calvin Coolidge to surprise everyone — even his wife — by deciding not to seek another term in 1928. His vice president, Charles G. Dawes, wasn't strong enough with party regulars to get the Republican nomination, either. The GOP turned to Herbert Hoover, the popular and respected Commerce Department secretary who went on to defeat the Democratic nominee, New York Gov. Al Smith.

The last wide-open race came in 1952 after Harry Truman opted not to run for re-election. Truman had decided not to run well before the nominating season began, but he didn't officially drop out until Tennessee Sen. Estes Kefauver defeated him in the New Hampshire primary.

Truman's vice president, Alben Barkley, sought the nomination, but he was in his 70s and bowed out because of doubts raised over his age. The Democrats nominated Illinois Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson, who lost to GOP nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower.

In those days, as they had for decades, party bosses operated in the tradition of the "smoke-filled room." They picked many of the convention delegates and had more control over who became the nominee. By 1972, rules for both parties were changing to put more power in the hands of voters through primaries and caucuses, said Thomas Cronin, a presidential scholar at Colorado College.

"What makes 2008 so interesting is that we have a completely wide-open field in the age of totally democratized primaries," said presidential historian Gil Troy, a transplanted New Yorker who works at Montreal's McGill University.

Troy said the lack of any incumbents could lead to wild swings of voter sentiment on both sides and an unpredictable campaign. "To have that kind of chaos on both sides is really quite destabilizing," he said.