Re: Thoughts on why the Dems feel this is the year to put Hillary, Obama..
The Dems have actually done a good job this year of putting forward middle of the road types that have a broad appeal. Hillary is actually a very moderate candidate: she is tough on Foreign Policy and relatively conservative on taxes. The hatred you see for Hillary is largely based on the first impression we got of her 15 years ago.
Obama is more liberal than Hillary, but he has a very broad message. He got 70% of the vote for his Senate run in Illinois and from what I've seen, conservatives at least respect him. The media still fawns over him so much that he isn't very controversial or polarizing.
Also, I'll say that your ideal candidate that is "tough, has a spine and can garner the support from those middle roaders" is basically impossible. The conventional definition of moderate is someone who holds some liberal positions and some conservative postions. Anyone like this is going to be labeled a flip-flopper.
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