AND, of course, the Reagan Era will NEVER be over so long as Ronaldus Maximus continues to be cherished in the memories of free people everywhere.
Mitt, as his father's son, cannot be nominated. Gingrich is a bit of a loose cannon on deck, can be a good and resourceful adviser but never POTUS lest his bright ideas get the best of him and us. Sharing a love seat with Nancy Facelift in favor of green whatever did not evidence wisdom. Jeb was, by all accounts, a very good governor of Florida. He is a different Bush but a Bush nonetheless and we have grown tired of that brand. Bush the Elder's "New World Order" enthusiasms ought to have been enough to guarantee that the Bush Era was the one that was over. I don't know who we are about to nominate but those three seem unlikely. It won't be paleoPaulie since sanity is a desirable commodity in any POTUS and we need a foreign policy and a military and both of them strong.
Mrs. Palin's nomination would enrage and outrage all the people who need to be enraged and outraged for the good of our nation. Is she ready for prime time? Can she slice and dice the Lamestream Media? Can she do that while impressing the less biased public with gravitas as well as policy prescriptions? Time will tell.
Marco Rubio? A bit early for him but Slick Willy was obviously terrified by Rubio's iumpending election as Senator, enough to alienate a quite respectable black Democrat candidate Kendrick Meek by trying to get him out of the race to beef up Limp-wristed Charlie Crist's failed candidacy and career. Rubio's victory speech on election night marks him as more of a potentially worthy successor to Reagan than anyone else in sight but maybe not in 2012.
We have a verrrrry unpopular POTUS who has earned every iota of his unpopularity and will earn more. What we don't yet have is an obvious candidate to defeat him.