What about Tom Ridge??

[12th Doctor]

Ridge would be a good President.  He is deceptively intelligent, not afraid to go his own way, and has the nerve to stay in any fight.  I mean, the man fought in a war, and worked his ass off to make it through some of the top tier schools in the country.  He didn't get into the Ivy League because daddy set it up.

The problem is, he seems to lack charisma, depending on how, exactly, you define that (I would say he has presence even if he failed to light the room on fire), and since the selection process for Presidents has become increasingly shallow, I don't see how he wins in the general, even if he does pull in PA and Ohio.

Age is also a factor here.  He would be 67 upon assuming office.

In terms of the issues, in their utter stupidity, the "conservative" wing of the party seems determined to give the boot to anyone who isn't only slightly to the Left of Mussolini, and so Ridge would have a Hell of a time making it through a primary, because his record as PA governor was strongly in favor of supporting social programs... not huge ones, but he did start the CHIP program, and a few other initiatives, and since the current Right can't make a distinction between good and bad programs, that will hurt him, as will his good relationship with the Unions (which really just has more to do with him being someone who is alot like them). 

Of course, then you have the fact that he is not a screaming social conservative.  He has a very complicated position on abortion.  He is not anti-"fags".  Frankly, he is to the Left of McCain, and if people abandoned McCain, they would abandon Ridge.

I think we need someone to move the Party to the Left, socially, but I don't think Ridge has the ability to do that.

Ridge is in my top-5 of people I would like to see in the Oval.  I strongly supported him for VP in 2008.  But, I just don't see how he wins.

[12th Doctor]

Ok, aside from his weird Pro Choice views (and I call them weird because he's always had a complicated position on the issue), do you really think Tom Ridge could go toe to toe with Barack Obama during a campaign? Ridge has zero charisma. He's an old. It would be Bob Dole all over again with the only difference being that Bob Dole actually wanted to be President.

I think it's unfortunately that we have come to associate "complex" with "weird".

As though it is abnormal to recognize that there are no easy questions, let alone easy answers.

[12th Doctor]

This is an embarrassing thread.  He is not up to the job and should not be considered.

He could have locked up that Senate seat fo us if he had gotten in against Specter.  He's a wimp and I don't want a wimp in the Oval Office.

I'm sorry, John... how many years of military service have you put in, and where did you work construction to pull your ass through the Ivy League?

I wonder sometimes if someone has taken over your account, because you hardly seem like the same person to whom I was almost attached at the hip a few years back.

[12th Doctor]

In 2012 it'll have been almost a decade since he held elected office. Quite pathetic if the GOP has to resort to THAT.

Yah yah, he had a cabinet position after that, I don't think serving in Bush's cabinet and creating the much mocked color-coding system is a huge plus.

Yeah, running a guy who has been out of elected office for sometime would be a huge embarrassment for the Republican Party...

[12th Doctor]

In 2012 it'll have been almost a decade since he held elected office. Quite pathetic if the GOP has to resort to THAT.

Yah yah, he had a cabinet position after that, I don't think serving in Bush's cabinet and creating the much mocked color-coding system is a huge plus.

Yeah, running a guy who has been out of elected office for sometime would be a huge embarrassment for the Republican Party...

Right after I did that, I went back and added them, plus Eisenhower.