Spitzer in 2006, Vilsack backed by From, Bunning 2010

I've started to read more on this guy and the more I read about him, the more I think Eliot Spitzer has a great future.

Like Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, he served as Attorney General (well, currently serves). Both are in the Democratic Leadership Council which Kossacks tend to hate. Moderates that read this, please back up fellow moderates on Kos if you can! Spitzer went to Princeton '81 for undergrad and got his JD at Harvard in 1984. Senator Schumer and Atty. General Spitzer both ousted Republican incumbents in 1998. May they continue to get re-elected!

The Des Moines Register has some interesting stuff today. Apparently, it appears that Gov. Vilsack will most definitely be running in 2008. Not just that but it looks like he will be backed by DLC CEO Al From. Come on Al, be like Terry and stay neutral!

As Vilsack works to expand his national network for a possible future beyond Iowa, he is not alone as a Democrat positioning himself as a party leader with centrist credentials. Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, leadership council chairman, is mentioned as a potential presidential candidate. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Virginia Gov. Mark Warner are also moderate Democrats considered possible presidential hopefuls.

But Vilsack is a favorite of Al From, founder and CEO of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. From backed the Iowan when he was a vice presidential nominee finalist last summer before Kerry chose Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

And in a clear sign that Vilsack and From are of like mind, each said independently after the Nov. 2 election that Democrats were hurt by "trust gaps" over security, values and ideas.

The Denver Post ran an interesting article on Third Way which can be found here. Here's some of the things it mentions:

It's important that Democrats reassess their image and their strategy in the wake of the party's electoral-vote weakness in much of the nation's heartland. But they need to coalesce first as a party and establish their priorities. There are those who fear that the Democratic Party, by going centrist, will forget its populist roots and abandon core values that have championed the underprivileged and equal rights.

What the red-state Democrats seem to have in common is a willingness to reach across the political aisle and work with Republicans in an increasingly polarized and dysfunctional Congress. Indeed, the group derives its name from the notion that there should be an alternative to the conservative and liberal tenets of the two predominant political parties.

Bayh, one of the group's founders and often mentioned as a 2008 presidential contender, has said that Third Way wants to "break through the partisanship and the sterile ideology" and forge a consensus on economic growth, possible entitlement reform, health care and other basic but critical issues.

Here is something that is really interesting that the editorial mentions.

Moderates are relying for their new strategy on exit polls last month that said 34 percent of voters described themselves as conservatives, compared with 21 percent who said they were liberal. Forty-five percent described themselves as moderate. To quote Bayh: "Do the math."

"The answer to the ideological extremes of the right has to be more than rigid dogma from the left," Bayh has said.

Sen. Evan Bayh, I am in complete agreement with you.

Speaking of the DLC, check out this on Daily Kos!

Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky has filed with the FEC for his 2010 campaign bid for a third term. If he doesn't die or resign, Jim will be 79 in 2010. We all know Ernie Fletcher will resign the Governorship when Bunning resigns from the Senate! Even at that, Kentucky State Treasurer Jonathan Miller stands the best chance right now to defeat the Republican nominee for the US Senate in 2010.

"The 2004 election sent a clear message that the values I am fighting for in the United States Senate represent the values that Kentucky stands for," Bunning said in a statement released by his campaign, Citizens for Bunning.

He added that "there is still much more left to be done" and that "I am at the top of my game right now."

Jim, you were at the top of the game years ago while playing baseball. Can we trade you for Sandy Koufax?