Well, from the Repubican side, no one had the balls to take President Bush on. Even, though he not my idea of the ideal candidate, but he does like to tilt at windmills, Alan Keyes was decidedly quiet and did not mount a primary challenge. When Keyes ain't got the balls to do something..........
On the democratic side, what about Zell or for that matter what about Nunn? John Breux?
It seems to me that most successful politicians are, first and foremost, about winning elections. Alan Keyes is not, and doesn't. We need someone who is both conservative and "amiable" like Reagan, and to a large extent W. I'm hoping such a candidate emerges for 2008. In my area of southeastern Wisconsin, we have several such great candidates, such as Paul Ryan, representative from the 1st Congressional district, and Scott Walker, Executive of Milwaukee County, and likely next Governor.
The Democrats condundrum is that their "strongest" candidates are the ones that can never get through their primaries, like Zell, Nunn, or Breaux. I am concerned that Evan Byah may move far enough to the left to get the Democrat nomination, but without the terrible history of a Kerry. He would be a formidable opponent.