[Hoot Gibson]

All Democrats really wanted was to keep a credible candidate OUT of the White House so the rabid left could be free to do as they please.

There were no credible candidates to choose from in the last election.  Let's hope that we get at least one in 2024.  I believe things are trending that way, but I wouldn't bet on it.

What names are on your list of credible candidates?

IMO, no credible Democrat has any chance of winning their party's nomination because the only credible candidates are those who have been able to create some separation between Joe Biden's idiotic and disastrous agenda and their own political positions.

The list of credible candidates on the Republican side is longer than the long list that I have posted below. I hope that former President Trump is unsuccessful in his efforts to intimidate potential GOP candidates from running, Joe Biden's failed presidency will make it very difficult for any Democrat who has consistently supported him to have any shot at being elected president. I believe that Trump could win his second term in 2024 but I also believe that any other Republican who is likely to win the nomination will have an easier path to the presidency than Trump would have.

Here are my shortlists of credible candidates for each party, with the litmus test for credibility being the ability to appeal to independents and to a share of the opposing party's voters:

Democrats:

Tulsi Gabbard (former four-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives, a Major in the Hawaii National Guard, and a veteran of the Iraq War)

Joe Manchen (current U.S. Senator, former West Virginia governor, and a successful small businessman)

Kyrsten Sinema (current U.S. Senator, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives)

Republicans:

Donald Trump (former U.S. president)

Ron DeSantis (current governor of the nation's 3rd most populous state, formerly a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and formerly a Navy JAG and advisor to Seal Team One as a veteran of the Iraq war)

Gregg Abbot (current governor of the nation's 2nd most populous state, formerly the longest-serving Attorney General in Texas history, and a former member of the Texas Supreme Court)

Nikki Haley (former governor of South Caroline and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations)

Kristi Noem (current governor of South Dakota and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives)

Mike Pence (former Vice President, former governor of Indiana, and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives)

Tom Cotton (two-term Senator from Arkansas and a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars)

Ted Cruz (Senator of Texas, former Attorney General of Texas, and a successful attorney who has argued and won multiple landmark cases in front of the U. S. Supreme Court)

Tim Scott (current U.S. Senator from South Carolina and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives)