I imagine people will take exception to the characterization of republicans as kucinich -- you could make the same point by associating them with Vilsack, but I get your point. I think you are correct regarding tancredo but see some slim hope for Hunter (not Ron Paul).
Hunter's got some time to try to make something happen, but I don't expect he will. My hope is the Hunter people will realise they don't have a chance and join up with Thompson, Romney, or some other yet unknown conservative candidate.
Gingrich scares me because he has a lot of negatives that I think are real and not just manufactured by the media.
Dick Cheney himself has no chance, because he never tried, and therefore never defended himself against the attacks -- but when I listen to him speak, I swear he reminds me of how Reagan communicated.
Of course, it's funny to see the hard-right swoon over Cheney given his position on civil unions.
I'm not rabidly opposed to Gulliani, despite what my posts look like. Of the people that have a chance at this point, he has the most negatives for me. I doubt I'd be voting 3rd party unless we had a really good candidate, and if we did I don't know why he wouldn't have won the primaries.
I do worry about the stupid front-end loading of the primaries this year. If we ever needed a few early primaries to beat the conservatives into the realization they have to get together behind ONE candidate, it's this year, and I'm afraid by the time it becomes clear which candidate that is, it might be too late.
Hunter has NO chance and would not have one, if things were different and the primaries put off and the run up to them the same as they were in 1960. People here are seeing things that are not there, refusing to allow to even allow for the possibility of there being anything negative that he will have to contend with and over blowing things about others, that will not come into play.
No GREAT WHITE CONSERVATIVE HOPE is going to come, deus ex machina, to save the day. This is a fairy tale that some are telling each other. McCain, Romney, and Rudy have been fund raising, lining up the big money men, the political backers, and assembling teams for months. Do you honestly see any of these people leaving whom they're with, now, for Newt, or Thompson, or Hunter, or anyone else? If so, WHY should they, after donating big bucks and a lot of time?
Yes, the heavily front loaded primaries, not to mention the fact that the race began last fall, is disturbing, but there isn't anything anyone can do about it now.
But there was a concerted effort, here, for years prior to the actual primaries, of discrediting and trashing "W". And yes, it was fierce and very nasty; lots of lies got told against him and his supporters were trashed, bashed, and impugned by some of the same people who are now doing the same act against Rudy.