He still has a pretty decent profile among working actors today and also has a good cool factor (he was Snake Plissken and just worked with Tarantino), at least in terms of actors who consider themselves Republicans. Of course, he doesn't have anywhere close to the possible qualifications for him to get anywhere near the White House or even a Senate seat, but I could see him running for and winning a House seat. This is a no brainer for the Repubs.
They've been parading him out during SotU addresses and campaign stops since he became a Super Bowl winning QB. Combine that with his good looks, and you can see them grooming him for a Senate seat post-retirement and the inevitable White House run '20 or '24. Of course, they would hope that his success with the Patriots will buy him enough goodwill to swing the New England states (namely Massachusetts) red during that time.
While some feel that Matthews has already become a whore for the GOP and not the straight shooter he claims to be, it is fact that he was Jimmy Carter's speechwriter back when Carter was President. Thus, not only getting Matthews to align with the GOP but run for office as such would be a real coup for the Republicans, as they would be able to claim that they changed the mind of a lifelong and highly visible Democrat. What else needs to be said about him?
He's talented, good looking and seems to know his world issues. He has been used for campaigning in the past and you get the sense that if he runs for any kind of office, that he would bring legitimacy even though he is merely an actor (and now director). His profile is huge, and the Dem are already accused of being the 'Hollywood elite' party, so why not throw him out there and see what happens?
I just feel that he wouldn't embarrass them. Athletes tend to never run as Democrats, only as Republicans. One could point out that athletes tend to be simple minded and rich and thus make that connection to why they are overwhelmingly Republican in nature.
Regardless, I can't think of an athlete that the Dems would or could get to run for office. This is actually pretty much a given that Franken will be running for a Senate seat in his home state of Minnesota. So drafting him is just for show, as he's doing it anyway.
I'd liked the idea of drafting Bill Maher for the Greens, but as this is just Dems and Republicans, we'll throw that out the window. For the Republicans, Bruce Willis would be real star power (as opposed to Fred Thompson) if they could woo him back to the fold. If the party decides to swing libertarian, Clint Eastwood would be another possibility.
(or maybe they could just adopt the Fox News Network and make it official) For the Democrats, there are already a lot of second tier stars hanging around (Affleck, Damon, Sarandon, Robbins...
) who could be pulled in, but for real star power there can be only one...
Will Smith would also be a good choice, but there is not much evidence he is interested in such things except for his involvement in Live 8. Or Tom Hanks, who supports the Dems but tends to stay silent in public. Republicans should draft Jim Webb and "Big Diesel" Shaq.
I know Webb is already Senator of Virginia on the Democratic ticket, but that's only because Bush's total mishandling of the war in Iraq pushed him over the line. The man has been a life-long Republican; in fact, he was even Secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan.
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