The Democratic candidates’ foreign policy gurus
As a politics junkie, I love what’s going on in Iowa. Four candidates with roughly the same level of support the wekend before the caucus? That’s awesome, baby!! How long has it been since this many candidates had a legitimate shot at winning Iowa this late in the day? Another leading indicator indicates that it’s ...
As a politics junkie, I love what's going on in Iowa. Four candidates with roughly the same level of support the wekend before the caucus? That's awesome, baby!! How long has it been since this many candidates had a legitimate shot at winning Iowa this late in the day? Another leading indicator indicates that it's a close race. I argued a year ago that the Democratic candidate that attracted the heavyweight foreign policy advisors would be the putative nominee. Last month, Dean unveiled his list of advisors, and they seemed like a formidable group. However, thanks to Foreign Policy, we now know the major candidates' roster of foreign policy advisors. Go check it out for yourselves. A few surprises: John Kerry has a lot of foreign policy advisors. The story observes that many of them, "are regional experts who meet weekly in what one Kerry advisor calls 'a mini or shadow NSC [National Security Council].'" The only advisor Wesley Clark has who isn't advising another campaign is Jaime Rubin. It's disturbing that there is only one foreign economic policy advisor in the entire list -- and George Soros does not make me feel more sanguine towards Richard Gephardt. This is doubly odd because the strength of the Clinton foreign policy team was its international economics team. Where's Robert Rubin? Larry Summers? Mickey Kantor? Charlene Barshefsky? Lael Brainard? If you care about democracy promotion, John Edwards really is your man -- Larry Diamond is one of his advisors. Sandy Berger is advising four campaigns? That foreign policy whore!! Although Clark and Kerry are minor outliers, the overall distribution of advisors is pretty even. As a leading indicator, it suggests the race is still up for grabs. Developing.....
As a politics junkie, I love what’s going on in Iowa. Four candidates with roughly the same level of support the wekend before the caucus? That’s awesome, baby!! How long has it been since this many candidates had a legitimate shot at winning Iowa this late in the day? Another leading indicator indicates that it’s a close race. I argued a year ago that the Democratic candidate that attracted the heavyweight foreign policy advisors would be the putative nominee. Last month, Dean unveiled his list of advisors, and they seemed like a formidable group. However, thanks to Foreign Policy, we now know the major candidates’ roster of foreign policy advisors. Go check it out for yourselves. A few surprises:
Developing…..
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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