Not a Normal Political Year

I'm at our Excellence in Government conference today, where CNN political analyst Bill Schneider got us off to a great start with a breakdown of this year's presidential election.

"This is not a normal political year," he noted, with both John McCain and Barack Obama running as independent-minded candidates who can bring an end to longstanding partisan divisions in Washington. In the upcoming political conventions, Schneider noted, "what we'll be witnessing is the remaking of the Republican and Democratic parties." Obama, he said, will be seeking to translate his movement for change into an electoral coalition, while McCain seeks to limit the influence of "movement conservatives" in the GOP and take the party toward the center.

But both candidates have serious challenges ahead of them. Given President Bush's low approval ratings, "this election should be a lost cause for Republicans," Schneider said. So McCain must try to win as a "Harry Truman Republican." Obama, on the other hand, is a "very difficult candidate to elect," Schneider said -- not because of his race, but because of his relative lack of political experience.

We'll be profiling each of the candidates in upcominng issues of Government Executive -- McCain in September and Obama in October.