THE PARTY OF THE PAST – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 10:25 A.M. ET: Have you noticed the average age of Democratic leaders? Wasn't this once the party of youth and vigor? Byron York, in the Washington Examiner, explains what happened:
The average age of the Republican field is far below the Democrats, with every candidate younger than Clinton. The most senior is Jeb Bush, who will be 64 on Inauguration Day. Scott Walker will be 49; Marco Rubio will be 45; Ted Cruz, 46; Rand Paul, 54; Chris Christie, 54; Mike Huckabee, 61; Bobby Jindal, 45. Although Bush is in the older range, they're all in the career sweet spot to win the White House.
What accounts for the Democrats' dramatic change from the party of youth to the party of age?
"It's the snuffing out of young talent by the strength and size and sheer velocity of the inevitable nominee," says a well-connected Democratic strategist. "The Clintons took all the air out of the collective Democratic room. There are a lot of people who would be running who are much younger, but they've got their future in front of them, and they don't want the Clintons to ruin it, in this campaign or after this campaign. So they're waiting for a moment when there is enough oxygen to run."
"If Hillary Clinton weren't running, we'd have a field that looks like the Republican field — young and vibrant and diverse."
If there were no Clinton campaign, would Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who will be 50 on Inauguration Day, be exploring a run? Would Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who will be 56, be thinking about it? Would New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who will be 59, be preparing to run? They'd all be considering it.
If any of them ran today, however, they could find themselves unable to gain any traction at all in a Clinton-dominated primary race. That could make it more difficult for them to mount a credible run in the future.
COMMENT: Once the party of Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy. Once the party of national-defense giants like Henry Jackson and Stuart Symington. Look at it now.
April 17, 2015 |