Eric from the Viking Pundit reminded me of the “Rule of 14”. To summarize, the Rule of 14 says:

With only one exception since the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, no one has been elected president who took more than 14 years to climb from his first major elective office to election as either president or vice president.

A major elective office is defined as governorship, Congress, or the mayoralty of a big city. As soon as someone is elected to one of those offices, the clock starts ticking. I looked up the 2008 candidates (well, all of the ones who will be on the Wisconsin ballot) and found that the Rule of 14 disqualifies everyone except: Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo, Fred Thompson, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama. Since all of the front runners are on that list, it’s hardly insightful this time around.

The theory around the Rule of 14 is that Americans like “fresh” candidates. We want someone with some experience, but not a President that we know too well. They’re stale. Their flaws are all too evident.

According to the Rule, Hillary Clinton is “fresh”, but is she? The Clintons boasted that they offered a unique “two for one” deal for America in 1992. I think Clinton’s clock starting ticking in 1992, not with her election to the Senate in 2000. By that measure, she’s expired. She feels stale. As the Viking Pundit says, we already know her all too well.