Ratzinger Leads Papal Speculation

April 16, 2005

Ratzinger Leads Papal Speculation

"Any talk of who will become the next pope is guesswork, echoes from cardinals and their staffs sworn to silence about one of the world's most elite and secretive gatherings," the New York Times reports. "But one bit of wisdom has emerged in the Italian press as conventional: that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a German close to John Paul II, has up to 50 votes among the 115 elector cardinals, or at least that is the strength his supporters claim."

Newsweek says the speculation is "an obvious smear campaign -- Machiavelli for amateurs, really -- thatís actually intended to take Ratzinger out of the running, at least according to the old dictum that he who goes into the conclave a pope invariably emerges as a cardinal."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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April 16, 2005