[fieldmarshaldj]

At the present time, I have no favorite for the '08 race, aside from current non-candidates SC Gov. Mark Sanford and Business Exec Herman Cain. The rest are damaged, or are phonies. You have a particular pick ?

[Torie]

Rudy, but then I am a social moderate (except when I am not), and part of that wing of the party. Rudy however casts a wider net. McCain is too old, and lacks the temperament to be a judicious choice for POTUS, but I do admire Romney, but he would be less likely to win, and has been disingenuous about the abortion issue. I don't mind abortion moderates, I am one, but flip flopping from one end to the other, as the political need arises, on such a life and death issue, as Romney has, just does not set well with me. It just seems like the power imperatives, trumps a bit too much. Not all ends justify means. It suggests a lack of candor, and to use a psyhcobabble term, "centering." Bush for all his faults, of which there are many, is "centered."

[dufekin]

I haven't found any dirt on Mike Johanns, the Secretary of Agriculture and a popular former Governor of Nebraska. He also meets all biographical criteria that history suggests we need to win:

* able to carry home state (Bush carried every county in Nebraska in 2004, and Johanns trounced his Democrat opponent 69-27 in 2002)

* first election as a statewide official or to Congress fewer than fifteen years ago [since 1993] (the mayor of Lincoln first ascended to the governorship in 1999);

* either a governor or a member of the President's Cabinet (Johanns qualifies under both; the former gives him important experience in running the massive structure of government, the latter in such federal issues as foreign policy)

* NOT A SENATOR (although redundant with the next preceding criterion, Senators almost always lose because they sound particularly boring and long-winded but lack charisma or convictions; President Bush will tell you that filibustering and flip-flopping skills only impede you in making many critical decisions quickly as commander-in-chief)

Johanns also possesses some critical advantages in preparing for the presidency: as Secretary, he has developed a network of foreign contacts and an understanding of global affairs without coming under withering media fire or getting intricately involved in the Iraq battle theater. He also can take credit for anything good for farmers in farm states, and rural media around the country probably possess a passing familiarity with him and regard him favorably.