In my unscientific Presidential candidate polls, Hillary Clinton is consistently running first and Elizabeth Warren is consistently running right behind her at second. Nobody else is close so far. One of the biggest concerns raised about Warren was if she could generate the money and the organization to run a national campaign. This was the sort of concern raised about Barack Obama in 2008. However, his skill as a community organizer stood him well as he was able to build an operation that was able to beat Hillary Clinton and win two elections, one in 2012 when all the conventional wisdom said that he should have lost due to the continuing recession.
Here are the votes from last week's diary:
Hillary Clinton 34% (+8)
Elizabeth Warren 22% (-2)
Bernie Sanders 12% (+4)
Sherrod Brown 5% (New)
Deval Patrick 3% (-9)
Joe Biden 3% (0)
Wesley Clark 3% (0)
Martin O'Malley 2% (New)
Kirsten Gillibrand 1% (-2)
Russ Feingold <1% (-4)
NOT A FREAKING CLUE 10% (+4)
Out -- Did not receive votes: Mark Udall, Cuomo, Ellison, Schweitzer
Out -- Kirsten Gillibrand: As noted in last week's diary, she would not run if Hillary runs in 2016.
One poster suggested Julian Castro, the Mayor of San Antonio. However, he is out.
Also out -- Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper.
In -- three long shots; but, you never know:
Jeff Merkley
The junior Senator from Oregon is one of the leaders on filibuster reform.
Alan Grayson
One of the most colorful characters in American politics and one of the Progressive leaders in the House. He is from Florida, always a critical battleground state. And he is one of the most accessible candidates as well; he recently did an "Ask me Anything" on Reddit.
Joe Sestak
Rumored to be running for Governor of Pennsylvania and a formidable fundraiser. Money and organization would not be a problem with him.
I'm always open for other suggestions. The goal is to find the best possible candidate out there and then go with them.