McCain for president in 2008

In the Friday's edition of the Arizona Republic Chip Scutari opines that John McCain is the GOP front runner for 2008. He claims that McCain is the most "influential politician not living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave." He's a national statesman with star power to match Hillary Clinton. He has hosted Saturday Night Live, appeared on Letterman and Leno and is a constant fixture on the Sunday talk shows.

Scutari goes on to write that If Kerry wins, McCain will run in 08. He can garner crossover vote from moderates and independents and will appeal to "pragmatic conservatives."

McCain thinks there should be more women in office and complains that there are no Hispanics in the Senate. Scutari writes that McCain is a regular guy that has a lot of charisma and claims that McCain has mended his fences with the White House as evidences by his recent stay at Bush's Texas ranch, the only second member of congress to get that honor.

My question to Scutari is, what have you been smoking? McCain has so alienated the Republican base that he could not get elected to national dog catcher. If I was Bush I'd use McCain too.

There are a lot voters out there, moderate and independents, that think because McCain is loved by the press, Larry King and late night show hosts that he would make a good president. But without the Republican base McCain doesn't have a chance.

I will never forget McCain's recent appearance with Senators Lugar and Hagel on a Sunday morning talk show in which he criticized President Bush. President Reagan once said "don't speak ill of a fellow Republican." And McCain did so in the middle of Bush's reelection campaign.

Called "the best governor in America" by National Review magazine, Bill Owens was sworn in as Colorado's 40th Governor in January 1999. He was re-elected in 2002 with the greatest majority in Colorado history, earning a broad mandate for his innovative leadership.

Gov. Owens pushed through the largest tax relief package in state history, amounting to $1 billion in cuts in rates of sales, personal-income, and capital-gains taxes, and an elimination of the marriage penalty. As a result, he has won high marks for his fiscal leadership, earning the highest grade among the nation's governors from the Cato Institute. His policies of low taxes and restrained government spending were cited as an example for other states in a lead editorial in The Wall Street Journal.

Touted as one of the major emerging leaders in American politics by The Economist magazine, Owens was also identified as one of the country's top ten rising political stars by syndicated columnist Robert Novak. He is the Chairman of the Western Governors' Association and the immediate past-Chairman of the Republican Governors' Association and the Natural Resources Committee of the National Governors' Association. Owens is a member of the Board of Governors of Young America's Foundation, which owns and runs the Reagan Ranch in Santa Barbara, California.

Keeping his promise to institute sweeping school reform in Colorado, Gov. Owens created an education accountability system - including detailed, online school report cards - that U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige has called "the envy of the nation." His accountability system has been praised as among the best in the nation by Education Week magazine and the Heritage Foundation. He combined this model education accountability plan with six consecutive years of full state funding for K-12 public education. Under Owens' leadership, in 2004 Colorado became the first state in the nation to send students to college with vouchers. The College Opportunity Fund replaced block subsidies to colleges or universities with individual stipends for students to use at the school of their choice.

Gov. Owens kept his commitment to transform Colorado's transportation system, which had been neglected for nearly a quarter century. Through TRANS (Transportation Revenue Anticipation Notes), an innovative financing program, he accelerated $1.7 billion in transportation projects statewide that would have taken up to half a century to complete - projects that will now be done in a decade without an increase in taxes.

Known as one of Colorado's most effective policy makers, Bill Owens served in the State House and Senate and as Colorado Treasurer. He authored landmark legislation creating charter schools, toughening prison sentences, modernizing child abuse statutes, and reforming the tort system. He is a leading advocate of the Colorado Taxpayers' Bill of Rights (TABOR), which caps government spending and requires that excess funds be returned to state taxpayers.

Gov. Owens, who holds a Master's degree in public administration from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, worked for 20 years in the private sector with the consulting staff of Deloitte and Touche, with the Gates Corporation, and as director of a trade association. The Governor is an expert on Soviet affairs and writes and lectures often on Russia.

Mayor Giuliani would be the best I can think of. He is highly respected by both parties... His biggest flaw is that his name is difficult to spell.

Funny comment about the name. I was thinking the same thing. I think Giuliani would kill Kerry or Hillary in a general election, however Giuliani would have difficulty winning the nomination. McCain would also have a problem. I think, even among Republican, Giuliani is preferred over McCain. McCain has done things to tick off a lot of Republicans. Giuliani has been very helpful to Bush and aggressive against Kerry. Much more so than McCain. That will help him in the future.

Giuliani's biggest problem is his social views. It will be difficult for any Republican who is pro-life and has a very liberal view regarding gays and marriage. I don't think his view on gay marriage can be much different than Bush's if he wants to get nominated. He could be against a constitutional ammendment, but he would have to be against gay marriage and would have to affirm regulage marriage, or I don't think he'd have a chance. Regarding abortion, if he took the view that he was personally pro-choice but believed the states should be able to decide the issue themselves (which would mean he would be agreeing that Roe vs. Wade should be overturned) that would work. He's a bright man and savvy politician. I think he'll be able to figure something out.

I think he'd be a good president. Bush hasn't been very fiscally conservative. His strength has been in foreign policy, and I think Giuliani also would. I would prefer him over McCain.

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