Campaign '08 is off and running

Now that he has left the governor's mansion in Virginia, Mark Warner has his sights set on the White House. If there was any doubt whether he was running for president, the media frenzy around him should clarify he is definitely a candidate for teh Democratic nomination for president in 2008.

A large profile in the Washington Post, reprinted in papers around the country, and a national Sunday-morning interview both contribute to Warner's moment in the spotlight. He is an attractive candidate for the Democrats for several reasons.

He is a moderate politician in a modern Southern state. The last two successful Democratic
candidates were governors in Southern states. Warner, 51, has worked to reach bipartisan success with the Republican-controlled legislature.

He has three huge hurdles in his path to the nomination. First is Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is the odds-on favorite to be the nominee. She has a huge fundraising and name-recognition advantage over Warner, who has barely any of either. Second is that he is a centrist, and the Democrat primary voters usually like someone a bit more to the left. Problem is, Sen. Clinton already has a firm control of the center, and she is vulnerable on the left with her positions on the Iraq war. Third, as a governor, he has not had a chance to gain a lot of experience with foreign policy, especially since he is not from a border or heavy-immigration state such as New Mexico or Florida. While some would point to the lack of experience of Bill Clinton in 1991, then governor of Arkansas, this is a different world -- a post-9/11 world. Warner should try to play up how while some in Washington have been appropriating money for homeland security, he was on the front lines actually implementing the policies to get the job done.

Warner will make a strong candidate in the Democratic primary. To be successful, he needs to carve a niche as a moderate, experienced alternative to Sen. Clinton, and someone with real experience governing. Four of the last five presidents were governors prior to being elected president. Warner's main competition for the center are two strong candidates: Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana and Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico. Bayh was governor of Indiana, a conservative Midwestern state, before being elected twice to the Senate. Richardson served as a Congressman, gaining notoriety for his negotiating abilities with North Korea, and later ambassador to the United Nations and Secretary of Energy before being elected governor in 2002.

On the Republican ticket, don't overlook another Virginian angling for the nomination: Sen. George Allen, a handsome and articulate conservative who is a strong candidate.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.