Janus To Announce Candidacy. Or Not.
There are reports that Chucky "Janus" Hagel is planning to announce that he is jumping into the race for the 2008 Republican nomination for President.
Mr. Hagel's candidacy could refocus the presidential contest debate, adding his Iraq doubts to those of former Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III, currently the only prominent Republican in the race who has been skeptical about the basis of the war from the beginning.
The question on nearly every Republican's lips yesterday was whether Mr. Hagel can raise the $100 million-plus that campaign analysts say will be needed by the end of this year to be a serious 2008 nomination contender.
"Hagel has a strong conservative record and great campaign skills, and if he could raise money, he could be a serious competitor," said Charles Black, who has advised every Republican presidential campaign in the past 31 years. "But his opposition to the president on the Iraq war would deny him access to the great majority of primary voters. Most of them support Bush on Iraq."
In Nebraska, Republican officials and operatives say Mr. Hagel could raise money as an anti-war Republican presidential aspirant, especially from the Omaha business community, which strongly supports him.
Only he's not really running for the Republican nomination.
What he is trying to do is make himself attractive to a third party attempt (read Unity '08). He knows - unless he is a complete idiot - that the Republican base would have nothing to do with him because of his self-serving and self-aggrandizing stance on Iraq. But he is hoping to parlay that self-conscious stance into a third party run. That's my read on it, anyway.
By jpg, Friday, 9 March , 2007 @ 9:17 pm
Yes, this is about a third party run. Here in Nebraska, though, I don’t see the supposed support for Hagel from the Omaha business community. You certainly don’t see it in the news; nobody is out running point for the Chuckster in the state wide media. The interesting question to me is, assuming Hagel gets any traction and parlays support into a third party run, who does he hurt in the general election?