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Disagree there RachelFaith. This whole mess started with Bush I, who won 40 States in the general in 1988, including California, Ohio and Pennsylvania. He squandered an opportunity, even with sky high approval ratings after Gulf War I, to advance the Reagan legacy by pandering to democrats. Remember “read my lips.” The GOP has been on a downward slope ever since. Heck, even when the Pubbies got control of Congress it didn’t matter, and we know how long that lasted.

Sure Fred had some faults, at least as seen by political junkies like many here at FR, for example, CFR and tort reform. But those types of issues are far from the general public’s mind. Most of them don’t even have any idea what they are. The two biggest items on the agenda for 2008 are the economy and national security. I could be dead wrong, but I think none of the remaining candidates would be strong on either of those issues, especially with a Democrat led Congress that does not have a clue of how to address them with any common sense.

Fred’s biggest mistake was not getting in early enough in Iowa and possibly New Hampshire. If he had, he might have stopped the Huckabee boomlet in Iowa, resulting in a three man race for the prize, between Fred, Mitt and McCain. I am excluding Giuliani from the remaining pool since his strategy of capturing the big States and ignoring the early primaries was doomed to fail from the get-go, not including his considerable baggage at odds with many of the GOP base voters.

So what do we have left. Mitt, a Bush lite?, from a State he probably can’t win in the general. The infamous “Gang of 12” McCain. Huckabee from Hope, AK, who is running on fumes. And last but not least, Ron Paul, another also-ran, who I expect we will see again in 2012.

Be prepared for a Clinton III/Richardson combo in the general this fall. It will be tough to beat.