Mark Warner vil ikke være præsident

Det kommer som noget af en overraskelse men den tidligere Virginia-guvernør Mark Warner (D) besluttede sig for ikke at stille op til præsidentvalget i 2008.

"I headlined 86 events in 25 states to help raise or directly donate $7.3 million to Democrats this cycle ...
But this has also been another kind of journey -- one that would lead to a decision as to whether I would seek the Democratic nomination for President ...

After 67 trips to 28 states and five foreign countries, I have made that decision. I have decided not to run for President. This past weekend, my family and I went to Connecticut to celebrate my Dad’s 81st birthday, and then we took my oldest daughter Madison to start looking at colleges. I know these moments are never going to come again. This weekend made clear what I’d been thinking about for many weeks -- that while politically this appears to be the right time for me to take the plunge -- at this point, I want to have a real life. And while the chance may never come again, I shouldn’t move forward unless I’m willing to put everything else in my life on the back burner. This has been a difficult decision, but for me, it’s the right decision," forklarede Warner dem der var interesseret i at høre hvorfor.

Der er højst sandsynlig en del donorer der bliver rimelig skuffede over beslutningen. Mark Warner havde samlet mere end 9 millioner dollars sammen til kampagnen (udover de førnævnte 7,3 millioner).

Det er jo ualmindelige gode nyheder for John Edwards (D-NC) og Evan Bayh (D-IN) som begge vil profitere af at Warner forlader kampen. Edwards vil helt sikkert samle en del op på dem der stemmer ud fra nogle geografiske hensyn og Evan Bayh henter vel en smule fra den ideologiske del, altså de moderate demokrater. Den eneste der vel ikke får noget ud af det her er Hillary Clinton, godt nok får hun en konkurrent mindre, men jeg tror at folk der har valgt at støtte Warner allerede en gang har valgt Hillary fra og det vil de nok kunne gøre igen.