Movement underway to draft Olbermann for Senate (Lieberman's seat)

[highplainsdem]

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/139677-movement-underway-to-draft-olbermann-for-senate-

Liberals want to draft Keith Olbermann to run for retiring Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman's (D) seat.

The ploy to coax the former MSNBC host into the Democratic Senate primary was hatched by activists attending a conference in Pennsylvania over the weekend.

Facebook and Twitter pages are already active and a website is expected to go up in the coming days.

"We’re using our full set of campaign tools but they won’t go active until we get a little downtime while we’re in D.C.," the blogger Stranded Wind wrote on Daily Kos.

I saw a few other news stories on this earlier today.

This is Stranded Wind's diary post about it:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2011/1/23/938260/-Senator-Keith-Olbermann

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, highplainsdem.

[highplainsdem]

73. Thanks, Uncle Joe!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. I just can't see him as a politician.

[DesertFlower]

3. i can't either.

[Cleita]

4. Why not?

Can you see him and Franken, two former media persons in the Senate? Maybe it's what we need, insiders, who can reform the sad situation we have with how we get our news these days.

[NYCGirl]

12. Only if he can take the entire summer off — and spring

training, too.

[tulsakatz]

15. that's the first thing I thought of when it was clear Countdown was over......

...it makes better sense than tea baggers in the Senate!!

[annabanana]

30. Politicians have to be "politic".. and Keith isn't. . .n/t

[harun]

53. Yah Michele Bachmann is real "politic".

:sarcasm:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

55. And she sucks as a legislator. That's the point.

[harun]

56. Who doesn't suck as a legislator?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

58. Al Franken, Keith Ellison, John Kerry, Bernie Sanders, just to name a few.

There are a lot of good ones. Michele is one of the worst.

[Name removed]

52. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[aquart]

5. He doesn't live there. Carpetbaggers are not adored.

[Uncle Joe]

10. Moving to a state to run for office doesn't make you a Carpetbagger, moving to a state in order to

rip-off a downtrodden people does make you a Carpetbagger.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

67. Even if they are named Hillary ?

Ducking .....

[SheilaT]

6. Does he even live in that state?

And I agree with those who don't see him in politics.

[krispos42]

8. He might. Lots of Nutmeggers commute to jobs in NY state

David Letterman lives in Westport, CT. And speeds so much going to work he's on a first-name basis with the State Troopers... :-)

Because NYC is such a big city and located at the junctions of 3 states, we might be a bit "meh" about somebody from the Five Boroughs moving here and running.

[Recursion]

17. Didn't he do a special comment about his building on the West Side going condo?

That was part of the joke when Ben Affleck made fun of him on SNL.

[melman]

25. Letterman lives in North Salem, NY

And is a former long time resident of New Canaan, not Westport.

[PBS Poll-435]

7. This has become absurd.

Has everyone gone nutz?

[NYCGirl]

11. +1 NT

[MineralMan]

16. +10

Seems like every time someone's name appears in the news, someone wants that person to run for office. On both sides.

[Davis_X_Machina]

22. No one suggests that....

....the way to fix the fact that the Pittsburgh Pirates suck is to go out and hire not 25 better baseball players, but 25 fascinating celebrities who have deep and abiding interests in baseball.

It's related to, but it's not the same thing, as playing.

Our own private Schwartzenegger would be cool, but it would only be cool.

[Uncle Joe]

24. Sometimes celebrity can pan out and sometimes it doesn't, I believe Al Franken

has been a great Senator from Minnesota.

[PBS Poll-435]

27. Al Franken is Harvard-educated in Political Science and also is a genius

Olbermann went to Cornell and got a degree in Communications.



:shrug:

[EFerrari]

31. Reagan wasn't even a method actor.

:P

[PBS Poll-435]

35. Giddy-up!

I know. And it is so true.


However I think we can all recognize Keith's ability to communicate a message.

And Al Franken's ability to form one.

[EFerrari]

39. One of the things I learned about Olbemann during this flap

is that he writes well. A number of people mentioned that, of all things. So, he's not just a pretty face.

[PBS Poll-435]

42. I wish he would use the same careful and thoughful process in his delivery nt.

[EFerrari]

54. Well, half of the attraction of KO is that he's a little dangerous.

lol

[glinda]

60. Announcer voice and volume mistaken for loud and angry tone.

Sure he would get worked up but in fact, Big Ed is much more caustic. It is because Keith could actually communicate on a high level that he has been "branded".

[EFerrari]

64. These are the same people that said Howard Dean was angry

and John Kerry faked his service record.

[Uncle Joe]

33. And who does President Obama want to emulate and why?

I will give you three guesses.

If one of them is the so called "Great Communicator" you win.:think:

[PBS Poll-435]

36. Billy Jeff Clinton

And I am ok with that.

[Uncle Joe]

38. Well Obama didn't mention Billy Jeff Clinton's name when asked, however he did mention Reagen.

[PBS Poll-435]

(And then hired Clinton's staff)

And not that staff, pervert.

[Uncle Joe]

46. Perhaps because Reagen's staff was too old, but he did hire some of Bush's as well.

[Horse with no Name]

34. And Coburn is a third rate physician who went to a middle third tier medical school

Does that make him more qualified?

[PBS Poll-435]

37. Not in Connecticut

Or any state that has an average IQ above freezing.

[glinda]

59. But is a genius also.

[Doremus]

71. Yes, that degree in PolySci is a must-have.

And Harvard is so much more preferable than :sniff: Cornell.

:rofl:

[Buns_of_Fire]

72. SNOOKI / 2012! nt

[Hydra]

9. What an awesome idea!

Admittedly, we need him in the media, but if he's been shut out, why not?

[Recursion]

20. Why not? Where to start

He's tactless. He doesn't deal well with being told what to do. He has no experience fundraising. He doesn't have a network of supporters in CT. He doesn't even live in CT. He shows little interest in policy details as opposed to big gestures. He has a history of not following through on occupational commitments. He's made a lot of enemies in the media. He could factually be described by his opponent as "brain damaged" (he cannot drive because a head injury killed his depth perception). He's alienated a lot of the Democratic party establishment without managing to win over independents.

Any one or even two of those could be overcome by a strong candidate. But all of them?

[MineralMan]

23. But, it'd be soooo cool. Here's the slogan:

"Our Chief is Keith!"

It almost rhymes. :rofl:

[GSLevel9]

13. how long has he resided in CT? nt

[MineralMan]

14. Has anyone asked Olberman if he's even the least bit

interested? I'm betting the answer will be that he's not interested in that at all.

Sounds like a blue sky proposal.

[glinda]

61. not

[cali]

18. I'd rather see Ted Kennedy Jr. run

He lives there

[MineralMan]

19. That sounds good. I wonder what his chances would be.

That's very important. Whoever runs must be electable. Anything else is unthinkable.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

70. I'd rather see Lamont run. He's much smarter than

Teddy Jr IMHO

[hfojvt]

21. oh good grief

the government of the rich celebrity, by the rich celebrity


is likely to be for the rich celebrity.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. First he'd have to move, that residency issue

second... Keith as a politician... you kid me right?

[Cleita]

28. Or how about Rachel Maddow, who is also

a resident of Connecticut and one of her degrees is a doctorate in the philosophy of politics from Oxford University?

[PBS Poll-435]

29. But can she brew a potion?

Or say an effective spell?




:P




Honestly, I hate the idea of using a commentary show as a platform to run for office.

[Cleita]

41. So would you prefer a beauty queen turned

sportscaster, whose only political experience was as mayor of a backwater town, like Sarah Palin? I mean there are many Senators and other politicians, who really don't have much in the way of credentials, yet ran for office and won.

[PBS Poll-435]

44. I think the same "sportscaster" argument, in a way, is very apropos.

:rofl:

[Cleita]

45. So you see that your argument doesn't hold water.

Sportscasters can enter politics and even aspire to be President.

[PBS Poll-435]

47. Doesn't that require some kind of intent or desire?

I have yet to hear Olbermann express a desire to be the Junior Senator from Connecticut.


:shrug:

[Cleita]

49. I frankly don't think he does.

I just thought him and Franken would make a dynamic duo fighting for real First Amendment rights as it was intended to be.

[PBS Poll-435]

50. I can live with that

We are in need of statesmen, and We could do a whole lot worse that Keith.

[glinda]

62. That is their pre-requisite for Tea-Republicans? Beauty Queen. Media babe?

[cali]

40. She lives in the Northampton area in MA

[Cleita]

43. My bad. I thought it was Connecticut.

[KamaAina]

48. Rachel lives in Mass.

maybe she could go against Code Brown.

[Cleita]

57. Sorry. I thought it was Conn. Mental mixup.

Running against Brown could work for her, however, Mass. seems to be Kennedy territory, so I think perhaps there will be a Kennedy to fill that candidacy.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

69. I thought she lived in Mass. n/t

[karynnj]

75. I think she is a MA resident

There was a silly story that she denied that she would run against Scott Brown and he used it for fund raising. She also called Kerry, "her Senator" one time he was interviewed by her.

[Uzybone]

32. KO is way too thin skinned for any public office

dude has a hard enough time keeping a grip when talking into a camera, let alone to voters.

[Youth Uprising]

51. Eh...

There's way too many petitions floating around about Keith Olbermann. Some are asking for him to be returned to MSNBC, some are asking for him to be hired at CNN, some are asking him to replace Parker/Spitzer on CNN (lol), and then there's this one. It's starting to become laughable. He's a grown man. Why don't you let him decide for himself? Maybe, he doesn't want to do any of those things. This why people never take us (the left), seriously, because we're so goddamned unorganized.

[glinda]

63. Agree totally! I think he is working on something.

[cbdo2007]

65. YAY! And Ricki Lake for Attorney General!!!!

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

66. Does Keith live in CT ???? n/t

[defendandprotect]

68. Fine ... but it should be for president, imo --

[Heywood J]

74. According to the New Yorker,

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/23/080623fa_fact_boyer?printable=true

Olbermann had a short ride home from Rockefeller Plaza to his condominium on the Upper East Side,

as of 2008.

Doesn't sound like he'd be eligible for CT. What he might be better for is a position doing PR with the DNC or a related organization.

[2Design]

76. Mistake - too confining