Thinking back to the 2008 presidential election, it is easy to remember such Democratic candidates as Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and, of course, Barack Obama, but there were a few other candidates that did not get the sort of publicity or make the sort of impact the other three did.
The Democratic 2008 presidential candidates were actually a pretty strong group. Of course, Barack Obama was actually elected president, and Hillary Clinton was appointed to the position of Secretary of State. The two of them really fought it out until the end of the primary.
One person that some people may not even remember was among the Democratic 2008 presidential candidates, however, was the current vice president, Joe Biden. We so often associate Vice President Biden with President Obama that it is hard to imagine, even two years later, that they were actually opponents during the Democratic primaries.
Then there was Chris Dodd, the Senator from Connecticut, who will forever in my mind be linked with the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fiasco. He dropped out of the race shortly after the Iowa caucus.
Dennis Kucinich from the state of Ohio was another of the Democratic 2008 presidential candidates. He seemed to have a fighting chance for a while, but eventually withdrew from the race and supported the Obama-Biden ticket.
There there was Bill Richardson from New Mexico. He is still the governor of the Land of Enchantment and is a very popular one at that. I believe that he dropped out of race shortly before Kucinich withdrew.
What always struck me about the Democratic 2008 presidential candidates was how quickly the three front runners seemed to emerge and how it eventually became a two-horse race with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton near the end. Many of my conservative friends argued that it was the media who had found their two favorite candidates and didn't give the other ones a chance.
They pointed to the fact that you rarely saw any of the candidates besides Obama, Clinton and Edwards invited to debates or receiving significant air time.
I don't know how much truth there is to that, but it seems that the Democrats got it right, judging by Obama's margin of victory in 2008. I would not necessarily call it a landslide, but it was definitely a decisive win for the Democrats.
As a person of moderate political views, I initially saw the crop of Democratic 2008 presidential candidates to be relatively weak. Obama was relatively inexperienced; Clinton could be viewed as divisive and Edwards had some serious personal issues. I stood corrected when Obama took the oath of office.