In today’s Washington Post, Chris Cillizza has some advice for John McCain, regarding how best to spend this luxurious period of time when the media is focused on Clinton and Obama, leaving him largely at peace. He lists ten items, all of which may have merit, but one action in particular might be good advice for not only McCain, but all three of the remaining contenders.
Retire From the Senate: Running for president from the Senate is a bad idea. First, there’s the history of it — no sitting senator has been elected president since 1960. Second, the Democrats who control the chamber will do everything they can to complicate McCain’s life, forcing him to vote on controversial measures. (Third, how great would another competitive Senate race be for political junkies? Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) versus Rep. John Shadegg (R), anyone?) Of course, resigning from the Senate to focus on the presidential race full time isn’t full proof. See Dole, Bob.
Chris makes a number of excellent points here. History certainly is a powerful instructional tool for candidates, and the curse of the Senate has sent many a promising presidential nominee to the showers. Particularly in McCain’s case, the caution against controversial Senate bills is a pertinent one. The Democrats control the flow of bills coming up for votes on the floor, and they have already begun this process in the past week. They can force votes on controversial legislation, causing McCain to either pass on returning to the hill to vote (leading to charges of “You’re not doing your job!” or taking a position in a no-win battle for the hearts and minds of voters.
The same applies to his Democratic opponents. And what would be the down side for any of them? Were Obama to retire now, even if he doesn’t make it to the White House, he could easily run for – and take in a walk – the Governor’s mansion in Illinois. This would give him more seasoning and executive branch experience which would serve him well in another presidential run in either 2012 or 2016. He’s certainly young enough to take that path.
Assuming McCain does not win the Big Prize, what’s the harm? The man is 72 years old and nobody could fault him for bringing his long career in public service to a close and parking the Straight Talk Express near a prime fishing hole. He would also be well positioned to act as an elder statesman in his party, write some books and still influence the process.
And Hillary? Well, she could …. let’s see. Ok.. if nothing else she could finally dump Bill and get on with her life. One or two more book deals would have her set up nicely financially and numerous activist groups would be falling over themselves to have her on board. She could even find her way into talk show success. She might be either the new Oprah or Nancy Grace.
The Senate just might not be the right base of operations for a White House bid. All three of these candidates might not be ill-advised to lend an ear to Chris Cillizza and pack it in to run full time.