He Who Risks Much Gains Much

Chuck Todd chided some potential '08 presidential candidates for wanting to sit out the '06 elections on NationalJournal.com. Here's an excerpt:

For some handicappers, the hesitance to roll the dice on 2006 will be a sign they don't have the chops to win the presidency. Take a look at every past president and you can find that one campaign where they took the gamble.

For George W. Bush, it was the 1994 Texas governor's race where some thought he was risking whatever political future he might have had by running against a popular incumbent with job approval ratings regularly in the 60s.

Bill Clinton was the ultimate risk taker, first with his unsuccessful bid for Congress in 1974 and later by not "waiting his turn" to run for attorney general and then
governor of Arkansas.

Ronald Reagan could have easily done the establishment thing in 1976 and not challenged Gerald Ford , but would that have made him such a strong candidate in 1980?

Jimmy Carter had plenty of people tell him he had no chance at the presidency in 1976 and instead he found a new path (the Iowa caucuses).

Even Richard Nixon showed his gambling streak with his 1962 run for California governor. That should be evidence enough to our six current gun-shy politicians that there is life after losing an election.

Fear of failure is not a reason for avoiding a potentially winning campaign. The only way to win a seat is to enter the race!