I think this election turned out badly for us mostly because of Iraq, and secondly because not enough has been done yet on immigration. If we can get Iraq and immigration into decent shape by 2008 then McCain or Romney should beat whoever the Dems nominate. The thing that nailed us big time in this election was the lack of troop withdrawals from Iraq. We're not showing any concrete, measurable progress at getting our troops out of Iraq. That will be critical for 2008. We need at least half of our troops out of there by then.
Define "done enough."
I hate to say it, especially here, but comprehensive reform, like the President's plan, is what's going to sell. Hard-liners like Randy Graf can win primaries, but their solutions just aren't going to sell.
As maddening as it is, the independent and swing voters that Republicans have to win over to win just aren't that agitated - at least not enough to embrace deportation.
But, yeah, I think it's going to be McCain, after this.
As much as I disagree with him on some issues, I think it should be McCain.
America's bitter divisions provide encouragement to our enemies. Put McCain up against Hillary (and it will be Hillary now, let's not kid ourselves abotu that, etiher), and he can win 55% of the vote. I think that America needs that.