is it wrong to run for President while you are currently holding office?
kenny olav
Posts: 3,319
i'm inclined to say yes. given that presidential campaigns start almost two years before election day these days, how can one possibly do the job one is elected to do while campaigning across 50 states (or most of those 50 states at least)?
so here's a list of those who are not fully doing their job:
Sen. Hillary Clinton
Sen. Barack Obama
Sen. Joe Biden (dropped out)
Sen. Chris Dodd (dropped out)
Gov. Bill Richardson (dropped out)
Rep. Dennis Kucinich
Rep. Ron Paul
Rep. Duncan Hunter
Rep. Tom Tancredo (dropped out)
Sen. John McCain
and here's a list of those who only have their campaigns to focus on:
Fmr. Sen. John Edwards
Fmr. Sen. Mike Gravel
Fmr. Gov. Tom Vilsack (dropped out)
Fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney
Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee
Fmr. Gov. Jim Gilmore (dropped out)
Fmr. Sen. Fred Thompson
Fmr. Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Fmr. Amb. Alan Keyes
however, running for re-election is also taking time away from your current job, so should representatives and executives then be limited to one term?
perhaps the problem is the ridiculous amount of time that modern presidential campaigns must devote themselves to. if presidential campaigns (and other campaigns) were to start at the beginning of the summer and all states had their primaries (or caucuses) on the same day at the end of the summer, i think that would work out great... would it not?
another problem with these extended presidential campaigns is that they take the focus away from campaigns for other offices. i think it's safe to say that 95-99% percent of people in Massachusetts have no idea that John Kerry is being challenged for his Senate seat by Ed O'Reilly ... and primary day is less than a month away!
so here's a list of those who are not fully doing their job:
Sen. Hillary Clinton
Sen. Barack Obama
Sen. Joe Biden (dropped out)
Sen. Chris Dodd (dropped out)
Gov. Bill Richardson (dropped out)
Rep. Dennis Kucinich
Rep. Ron Paul
Rep. Duncan Hunter
Rep. Tom Tancredo (dropped out)
Sen. John McCain
and here's a list of those who only have their campaigns to focus on:
Fmr. Sen. John Edwards
Fmr. Sen. Mike Gravel
Fmr. Gov. Tom Vilsack (dropped out)
Fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney
Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee
Fmr. Gov. Jim Gilmore (dropped out)
Fmr. Sen. Fred Thompson
Fmr. Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Fmr. Amb. Alan Keyes
however, running for re-election is also taking time away from your current job, so should representatives and executives then be limited to one term?
perhaps the problem is the ridiculous amount of time that modern presidential campaigns must devote themselves to. if presidential campaigns (and other campaigns) were to start at the beginning of the summer and all states had their primaries (or caucuses) on the same day at the end of the summer, i think that would work out great... would it not?
another problem with these extended presidential campaigns is that they take the focus away from campaigns for other offices. i think it's safe to say that 95-99% percent of people in Massachusetts have no idea that John Kerry is being challenged for his Senate seat by Ed O'Reilly ... and primary day is less than a month away!
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
I think that if you want to run for a different office than the one you are currently holding, you should have to resign first. There is no way that all the Senators and Representatives that are currently running for President have also given a proper amount of attention to the job they were elected to do.
I agree with you. 100% bull shit job. Not to say that the work *getting* to said job wasn't hard. But still.. All these guys really do is listen and vote.. it is by no means a full-time job, or at least it cannot possibly take up much time.
For Senators and Congressmen that aren't putting together campaigns, what do they do? Field questions from the public? I'm pretty sure they all have secretaries answering their mail, sifting through it, and finding stuff that may or may not need 10 minutes of time to react to.
I would love to see a year in the life of one of these guys..
I'm pretty sure that if I told my boss that for the next year, I was going to be spending all of my time trying to land a better job, I'd be fired right away.
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
From what I understand about the US legislative system I don't think it would make much of a difference for congressmen, more for Senators. I mean for congressmen your term is only 2 years so you are pretty much always campaigning anyways. What difference does it make if you are campaigning for reelection to congress or election for president? As long as you can’t do both at the same time its not much difference. Now the fact that they only have 2 year terms seems weird to me.
The difference to me is that if you are campaigning for re-election, you are basically talking to/with your current constituents. Yes, you are campaigning, but you are still getting questions and feedback from the people that you serve, especially if you are a congressmen who have much smaller districts than senators.
Using Obama or McCain for example. When do you think the last time they met with anyone or gave a speech in Illinois or Arizona? At least when running for re-election for their senate jobs, they are still engaged with the people they represent.
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
But if you are a congressman and you change over and run for president does someone else run for your seat in congress if both are up in the same election year, or can you run for both at once?
Neglecting your responsibilities at your old job to try and get a new job, should get you fired at your old job. Then again, how many congressmen and senators have perfect attendance anyway? Most of them just want the power, control and the title. It's not public service... it's a career and they vote thier own salary bumps.
those senators in office now have the ability to do what they are campaigning about today...and they arent...so why the fuck would they when they get elected... hmmmmmmmmmmm
So true. I want to see this exchange....
Candidate: "When I'm president, I will do this, that, and all of these things..."
Reporter: ok, in your career as a senator, have you ever written or proposed any legislation to do those thing?
Candidate: "ummmmmm..... no... not really."
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
The Democrat in the race made an attack ad about how the incumbant republican "Missed 290 votes" or something. I thought this was bad.
Then the Republican ran a counter ad... explaining she missed all the votes because she was taking care of her sick mother. I guess this was supposed to make me understand?
The Republicans ad actually made me NOT vote for her. And it waSnt because of the fake sympathy she was trying to get... it was the thought that My Tax money is being paid for her to represent Me. If her mother was sick- good for her for trying to take care of her, but her job is one where a lot of people count on her to represent them. If you cant do the job for an extended period- no matter how noble the reason- resign.