I think it will be:
McCain/Huckabee (R)
Clinton/Clinton (D)
Bloomberg/Paul (I)
Nader/Kucinich (I)
McKinney/? (Green)
Who is the choice? Will Hillary/Bill hate be stronger than McCain/Huckabee hate enough to get conservatives to the polls? I think the Clinton/Clinton campaign will do something stupid to make people vote for McCain/Huckabee. Of course, some here would argue that a Clinton/Clinton ticket would be better for the country than McCain/Huck. I doubt anything could be worse than Clinton/Clinton though.
My guess would be ...
(R) McCain/ Thompson — or possibly Romney/ Thompson (which is why I think Fred Thompson has declined to endorse);
(D) Clinton/ Edwards;
(I) Nader (don’t know who he’d pick — doubt it’ll be Kucinich, Kook’ll have to focus on his House campaign);
(I) Bloomberg (also don’t know — Paul’s got too much baggage though);
(G) McKinney (who cares)
I think a McCain or Romney ticket with Fred Thompson would be strong competition for Clinton/ Edwards. Neither is perfect doctrinally by any stretch (though Romney would be preferable to McCain) — but the addition of Fred to either ticket may help comfort concerned conservatives.
I don’t see McCain adding Huckabee ... strategically, he’ll need a southern conservative. Ultimately — McKinney, Bloomberg and Nader would all siphon from Clinton (some, but not a ton) ... which is good news for us.
Strategically speaking, in a McCain/Thompson vs. Clinton/Edwards election — I think we’d have a good shot at winning. McCain is likeable, even if not particulary conservative, and popular among the middle. Hillary is not likeable at all. Thompson might help bring conservatives back into the fold, and the Nader/Bloomberg/McKinney trifecta should siphon off a few leftist purists.
Doctrinally speaking, the re-addition of Thompson to either a Romney or McCain ticket is the closest we’re going to get to having a true conservative in the White House.
H
Get real. Bloomberg is a fricking globalist Rockefeller statist from Hell. Paul would never join forces with him.
The irrationality of Paul bashing here is reaching epidemic proportions.