Why Should Only White Guys Have the Vanity Candidacy Fun?

Yet another potential person floating the idea of taking the path Wesley Clark memorably used to take the Democratic nomination in 2004:

Former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts has told Joseph R. Biden Jr. and other Democratic officials that he is considering making a last-minute entry into the presidential race, the latest evidence of how unsettled the party’s primary is less than three months before the Iowa caucuses.

Mr. Patrick told Mr. Biden in a phone conversation last week that he was weighing a bid, according to a Democrat directly familiar with the call, but did not indicate that he had fully decided to run. Mr. Patrick’s conversations with other party officials was confirmed by two other Democrats with knowledge of those talks.

Mr. Patrick has told party leaders that he doesn’t think any of the candidates running have established political momentum and that he thinks there is an opening for somebody who can unite both liberals and moderate Democrats, according to Democrats who have spoken to him.

Let me be blunt: there are a variety of things Patrick could have done after serving as governor that could have made him a theoretically viable candidate (although probably not as a last-minute parachute candidacy.) Working for Mitt Romney’s bust-out gang is not one of them. Not just that it’s a political liability in itself, but someone with that lack of political judgment is very unlikely to have what it takes to win a presidential nomination.