"President Chuck Hagel?"

Check out a blog post, "President Chuck Hagel?" by Joe Leonardi. He makes some very good points and leads off with two great quotes. Thanks to mia for sharing it.

“Hagel is criticized for what many see as grandstanding on the Iraq war, but his critique of the problems we face there has been more right than wrong since our forces landed there.” “He may be right or wrong on Iraq, but no one can question his base conservatism or his devotion to a strong United States.”
American Conservative Union Chairman David A. Keene, quote from the Washington Times

“Beware those who cry for war the loudest, for they are those who have never known the horrors of combat.”
Marine Warrant Officer I served with.

"Is Hagel The Credible Conservative Candidate?"

Cyclone Conservatives has a great post titled "Is Hagel The Credible Conservative Candidate?"

There seems to be a lot of media discussion lately claiming that the GOP has not yet found a top tier conservative candidate to rally around yet.
...

So, there is definitely no ideal candidate out there...YET.

And so that brings into the equation Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. If conservatives can be calmed about his dovish tendencies toward Iraq, then Hagel might be the most well-known conservative in the race.

Recently, the National Journal released their 2006 liberal/conservative scores for Senators and Congressmen. After taking into account votes based on economic, social, and foreign policy; a formula is created and the votes are plugged in.

The Result? Of the 2008 Presidential aspirants already in the race or names that are floated, Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska is the most conservative U.S. Senator. He just outflanks Brownback by a little bit.

Sure, Hagel bucks the President on foreign policy; but on most other issues, he totes the party line better than any of the other Senators in the race.

I, for one, would like to see Hagel get into the race. I've met Senator Hagel and heard him lecture at Iowa State in 2005. He's a very intelligent man who would bring a lot to the foreign policy debate and future of the party.
...
I hope Hagel makes a decision soon because he quite possibly could be the credible credentialed conservative candidate to watch.

Vote in on-line polls

Don't forget to head out and vote Hagel in on-line 2008 pollls. Here are a couple:

Cyclone Conservatives
Oval Office 2008

Please let me know of others going on around the web (email me or post as a comment).

Generate some buzz!

Here are a couple of more ways to generate some buzz on-line:

Vote for Hagel in the on-line poll at Oval Office 2008.

The Caucus Cooler has move Hagel up in their odds ranking, so please comment on that wise decision and tell them why he should be moved up even higher.

Hagel big in the blogosphere in January

Senator Hagel has been a hot topic on blogs recently. He shot up in terms of coverage and that's a great thing for our grassroots efforts. Here are a couple of indicators of that.

The Next Prez looked at the number of blogs mentioning the candidates and rank ordered them. What I find even more impressive is that Chuck Hagel topped most of the candidates that announced they were running this month.

Republicans	Posts
John McCain	18,724
Mitt Romney	10,660
Rudy Giuliani	6,197
Chuck Hagel	5,988
Sam Brownback	5,661
Newt Gingrich	4,695
Mike Huckabee	3,516
Ron Paul	2,891
Tom Tancredo	2,837
Duncan Hunter	2,399
George Pataki	1,207
Tommy Thompson	495
Jim Gilmore	479
John Cox	292

The leading site for tracking blogs is Technorati and here's a chart from them of Chuck Hagel in blogs in the last 30 days:

Posts that contain Chuck Hagel per day for the last 30 days.

Get your own chart!

Another blogger supporting Hagel

Another blogger has expressed a sentiment that I've heard quite a lot lately. People who have lost faith in the Republican party are being drawn back by Chuck Hagel.

I sure hope the good Senator will consider a run for the White House.
He is just about the only person who could convince me to reconsider the GOP and come back.
I left the Republican Party last year after 34 years because I don't recognize the party any longer and it is no longer "conservative".
If Chuck Hagel runs for President I'm going to get a TV that gets a signal and watch the evening news.......I'm not kidding.

Thanks for your post Granny Miller.

On-line polls - go vote

One of the efforts of the Hagel grassroots movement has been to vote in on-line polls to drive the internet buzz surrounding Chuck Hagel for 2008. Here are a few polls in which you can go and vote Hagel:

Krusty Konservative
The Next Prez
WeThePeople
StrawPoll08
Is Anybody There? - poll is at the bottom

Vote Hagel!

The GOP field on-line

There is an interesting article at The Personal Democracy Forum on GOP candidates and the web. On the whole, the Republican candidates are waaay behind the Democrats in terms of on-line organization. While this blog is the centerpiece of one GOP effort to do just that, apparently we're a little behind. Take a look at the article and let's see what we can do to remedy that.

Yahoo! Answers

Anyone want to answer a question at Yahoo! Answers?

More Bloggers for Hagel

Two more blogs have officially announced their support for Chuck Hagel in 2008.

Edward Nashton at CopyWrite2007 had this to say:

Ewan Watt has it right again. Chuck Hagel in 2008 should be the most obvious choice for conservatives since the Gipper in 1980.

While Senator Hagel has certainly made waves in recent days by challenging the neoconservative foreign policy establishment, most Americans forget that the senior Senator from Nebraska is as solid on his domestic policy as his foreign policy. Just last year for example, the American Conservative Union rated Senator Hagel's voting record for 2005 96%--comparing favorably to a lifetime rating of 86%.

Given his solid credentials though, Senator Hagel will find the 2008 race an uphill climb as he faces off against two of the most recognized politicians in the U.S.--Rudy Guiliani and John McCain. We here at CopyWrite hope that Americans take note of Senator Hagel's recent efforts to salvage what's left of the war on terror and give him a chance to articulate his vision for the U.S. over the next two years.

Good luck Senator Hagel. Know that the CopyWrite Empire is firmly behind you.

Ewan Watt over at Ewan's Blog also came out in support of Senator Hagel for President and added a set of links to the grassroots movement here on the web (thanks for the link, by the way).

Moving up at The Next Prez

The Next Prez does their weekly Friday Top Five and this week Chuck Hagel is moving up. Also be sure to vote in their new 2008 poll for December. Here's what they had to say:

7. Chuck Hagel (rising) -- With the public weary of the ongoing war in Iraq, Hagel is one of the few Republicans who can claim to be right on the issue from the outset.

"Big Bad Chuck Hagel"

This was too funny (and interesting) to not share. Bayh2008 Coast-to-Coast is a blog similar to this one supporting Democrat Evan Bayh's likely 2008 Presidential run. Here's what they had to say about Senator Hagel.

The only Republican I fear is big bad Chuck Hagel.

The Chucker could give us trouble.

I would never vote for a Republican....

But the Chucker has BALLS that CLANG just ike Mario Cuomo had/has.

This is not the first time I've heard Democratic/liberal bloggers express their concern over Chuck Hagel getting the nomination, as he is one they do not want to face in the November 2008 election.

Convince The Caucus Cooler

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to convince The Caucus Cooler that Chuck Hagel's odds should be higher than they are listed right now.

The Caucus Cooler is an excellent blog (except for their low odds on Hagel) looking at the 2008 Iowa Caucus (and only the Iowa Caucus). Please take a look at their site (it's well worth the read) and post comments arguing why Senator Hagel has a decent shot in the Iowa Caucus in early 2008 and should be moved up higher in their line.

Comments around the blogosphere about Senator Hagel's op-ed

Here are a couple of posts about Senator Hagel's op-ed that were worth sharing. Please email me if you see others as well.

The excellent blogger Extreme Mortman, who I highly recommend, posted this about the op-ed:

Hagel blasting Iraq policy isn’t newsworthy, of course. What is significant about this piece is that he doesn’t name any member of the Bush Administration. He says “we” 12 times — but never mentions President Bush.

Perhaps this line will be his rallying cry for his presidential campaign: “Congress has abdicated its oversight responsibility in the past four years.”

Another blogger, Just Dahlia, had this to say:

In this already-started presidential election season, it is often hard to find anyone who not only knows what they are talking about, but also respects voter intellect. Chuck Hagel is that kind of guy...Originally an economist, my inclination is to reach for a Republican answer, but when they went off the reservation with W, one had no choice but to go left. Hagel offers a hope.... He has a moral center that is informed and he does not fear speaking his mind.

I was elated this morning when I opened the Post and saw that he had an opinion piece. I read it with excited anticipation, wanting to know what would make this mind speak out... and I was not disappointed.

How often have we heard a Republican senator (other than Lincoln Chafee) point to Iraq as a colossal mistake? More interesting, he reminds us that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. In other words, "America cannot impose a democracy on any nation..." He chastises the policy of the US for taking its eye off the ball. "And our effort in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate, partly because we took our focus off the real terrorist threat which was there, and not in Iraq." Not that it actually matters, but that is coming from a Vietnam vet.

For those who wonder why we even bother to have a Congress in view of its rubber stamp status these past years, Hagel seems to agree. After funding over $500 billion in Iraq and Afghanistan "dishonestly, mainly through supplemental appropriations," it is time for Congress to fulfill its obligation. As Hagel states, "Congress has abdicated its oversight responsibility in the past four years."

That is refreshing! Now, how can we get him to run??

Technorati tags: Chuck Hagel, 2008 Election, Iraq

Other Blogs that Want to See a Hagel Candidacy

Here are a few other blogs that have posted that they would be interested to see Chuck Hagel run for President.

Coach's Musings
Neil Slovak (is a Libertarian).
Citizen McLain
Divided We Stand, United We Fall

Let me know if there are others out there as well.