Leave NOW, Chuck! :patriot:
http://buzz.nationalreview.com/074102.aspChuck Hagel, (I-NE)?
Ankle Biting Pundits passes along their potentially huge scoop that Republican Senator Chuck Hagel may be considering running as an independent in 2008:
Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel is privately meeting with his top advisors and political contributors to discuss the prospects of an independent bid for the White House in 2008, a high level GOP source told me this morning. …
At issue is the concern among Hagel higher-ups that the Nebraska Senator will not be able to outshine Sen. John McCain in a GOP primary. . … Should Senator John McCain win the GOP primary, Hagel would likely endorse his friend (and maybe even angle for a #2 spot on an “all maverick” ticket.) If McCain were to lose and the GOP to nominate a right-winger, Hagel would try to tap into the disaffected McCain primary vote in a three-way general election.
“When we hear Hagel say things like ‘Iraq is looking like Vietnam,’ that’s him testing the independent waters,” my source told me. “He knows the media loves a self-loathing Republican. And all the accolades showered on Jim Jeffords for bailing on the GOP was not lost on Chuck Hagel.”