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Hagel Hints at Independent Bid for White House in 2008
By CQ Staff, CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY
Published: May 14, 2007
Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., continues to weigh a 2008 presidential campaign, and he is hinting that he might run as an independent — perhaps in tandem with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
In an interview Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Hagel, one of the GOP’s sharpest critics of the war in Iraq, said, “I am not happy with the Republican Party today. It has drifted from the party of Eisenhower, of Goldwater, of Reagan, the party that I joined.”
Hagel said he would decide by late summer whether to get into the presidential race. He voiced support for the notion of a third-party or independent option in 2008, saying, “I think it shakes the system up. The system needs to be shaken up.”
Hagel acknowledged he had dined earlier this month with Bloomberg, who he said “is the kind of individual who should seriously think about this. I think he is.”
Asked whether he could envision himself on a ticket with Bloomberg, Hagel replied: “It’s a great country to think about — a New York boy and a Nebraska boy to be teamed up leading this nation.”
After months of speculation that he would enter the GOP presidential primary field, Hagel called a news conference March 12 to announce he had nothing to announce. He said he had determined that the urgent issues facing the nation — and particularly, the Iraq war — required that he focus on his senatorial duties.
He said then, however, that he would continue to travel the nation to promote his views on issues, raise money for Republican candidates and prepare for a possible Senate re-election bid in 2008.
“In making this announcement, I believe there will still be political options open to me at a later date,” Hagel said then, adding that the “political currents in America are more unpredictable today than at any time in modern history.”
He used almost identical language in his “Face the Nation” interview Sunday, saying: “I think we’re living today at the most unpredictable political time in modern history.”
And this time he spoke more enthusiastically about a third-party approach.
“I think a credible third ticket, third party, would be good for the system,” he said, adding that both Republicans and Democrats “have been hijacked by the extremes of their two parties.”
© 2006 Congressional Quarterly
By CQ Staff, CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY
Published: May 14, 2007
Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., continues to weigh a 2008 presidential campaign, and he is hinting that he might run as an independent — perhaps in tandem with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
In an interview Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Hagel, one of the GOP’s sharpest critics of the war in Iraq, said, “I am not happy with the Republican Party today. It has drifted from the party of Eisenhower, of Goldwater, of Reagan, the party that I joined.”
Hagel said he would decide by late summer whether to get into the presidential race. He voiced support for the notion of a third-party or independent option in 2008, saying, “I think it shakes the system up. The system needs to be shaken up.”
Hagel acknowledged he had dined earlier this month with Bloomberg, who he said “is the kind of individual who should seriously think about this. I think he is.”
Asked whether he could envision himself on a ticket with Bloomberg, Hagel replied: “It’s a great country to think about — a New York boy and a Nebraska boy to be teamed up leading this nation.”
After months of speculation that he would enter the GOP presidential primary field, Hagel called a news conference March 12 to announce he had nothing to announce. He said he had determined that the urgent issues facing the nation — and particularly, the Iraq war — required that he focus on his senatorial duties.
He said then, however, that he would continue to travel the nation to promote his views on issues, raise money for Republican candidates and prepare for a possible Senate re-election bid in 2008.
“In making this announcement, I believe there will still be political options open to me at a later date,” Hagel said then, adding that the “political currents in America are more unpredictable today than at any time in modern history.”
He used almost identical language in his “Face the Nation” interview Sunday, saying: “I think we’re living today at the most unpredictable political time in modern history.”
And this time he spoke more enthusiastically about a third-party approach.
“I think a credible third ticket, third party, would be good for the system,” he said, adding that both Republicans and Democrats “have been hijacked by the extremes of their two parties.”
© 2006 Congressional Quarterly
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