I was checking the BRB last week when my friend’s boyfriend, a Giuliani-loving centrist Republican, came in.
Me: Yeah, I have a political blog with a friend.
Him: About what?
Me: About Bill Richardson…he’s the governor of New Mexico. We’re trying to stir up some buzz for him.
Him: Really. You know, I respect that. He seems like a good guy.
Me: Yeah, we don’t want people to think Hillary’s the only game in town for 2008.
Him: Ugh. (Even moderate Repubs are allergic to Hillary. I’m not sure why. Will look into it.) He has a lot of different kinds of experience, right?
Me: Why, yes he does. (I run down Bill’s CV.)
Him: Yeah, I have to say, I respect that. He seems like a good centrist guy.
Me: He IS.
This conversation says to me one very important thing, which I think is true beyond just this one dude: Moderate Republicans can get behind Richardson. When one party nominates an extreme candidate, the party centrists have a hard choice to make: vote the party line, or cross the aisle for the person who actually represents them better. This happened to a small extent in 2004, where people who voted for Famous Original Moderate Bush were now horribly conflicted about voting for New Extremist Fiscal Nightmare Invasion-Happy Bush. The problem, of course, is that we offered them Kerry, who, aside from the death penalty and some confusing Iraq positions, was not centrist enough to let Republicans really feel okay about voting for him.
This is very relevant for 2008. I don’t think a moderate Republican like Giuliani will make it alive out of the GOP primaries, which tend more toward yelling about taxes and abortions than calm discussion of centrist foreign policy or education reforms. I think it’s pretty likely we’ll have a GOP candidate who is very conservative, and so the Dems need to field a rock-solid person who can draw moderate Republicans in significant numbers. Even if it doesn’t turn out to be Bill, I hope someone takes this strategy to heart.
But if it IS Bill, you know. That would rule.