A very, very, very, very preliminary look at 2008 (with bullets and everything)

It's been a long time since I've waxed political, and I fear I'm getting a little rusty. So, I thought I'd give a quick rundown of the 2008 election. I realize it's almost two years away and any analysis at this point is essentially useless because, well, a lot can happen in two years. Two years ago, pundits were still marveling at the President's victory over John Kerry and the Republicans picking up six seats (for a net gain of four) in the Senate and three in the House. Those were the days, eh?

Anyway, for this little shindig, I've borrowed the list of candidates from Congressional Quarterly. Here goes.

Democrats

• Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr.: Not happening. First of all, he's a northeastern liberal Senator with no new ideas. Sound familiar? Also, he has a tendency to stick his foot in his mouth. Again, sound familiar? Plus, I'm not convinced he has the political intelligence to pull it out.

• Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd: See above, minus the foot-in-mouth disease. Actually, to my knowledge he's never said anything of importance. He's Connecticut's 2nd least-boring senator, after Joe Liberman. Now that's saying something.

• Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards: I don't see Americans electing a former one-term senator. No experience. Plus, the whole 'two Americas' thing is getting old. There aren't that many poor people in America and most of them already vote Democrat. The formula doesn't work anymore.

• Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack: He might actually have a shot. Midwestern governor, executive experience. Not a total leftist. Likable guy. We'll see.

• Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich: NEXT!

• Former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel: Who? Never heard of this guy. Not a good start.

• Illinois Sen. Barack Obama: Media lovefest aside, I'm not buying the hype. Much like Edwards, he's a first term senator with no executive experience. Everyone's just excited because he's charismatic and good looking. No one knows anything about his politics, and I suspect that once they learn, they're going to be substantially less impressed.

• New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton: It's not really looking good for her right now. She's been in the public eye for about 15 years, so everyone knows her. And yet, there's not much excitement about her. Once the campaign actually begins and she starts getting competition, she could be in trouble. Most people don't want to vote for her, which doesn't help.

• New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson: Much like Vilsack, he's a fairly mainstream Democrat with executive experience. Also likable and articulate. Could make a run. It'll be interesting to see.



Republicans

• Attorney John H. Cox of Illinois: Who?

• Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback: Eh, not generating much buzz. Not getting anyone excited.

• Texas Rep. Ron Paul: Again, who?

• Arizona Sen. John McCain: Interesting case. Widely popular, but not with the Republican base so much. He could still pull it off if he can establish conservative credentials, such as distancing himself from his God-awful campaign finance law.

• Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani: Much like McCain, he has the problem of not appealing to the base of his party. He's quite liberal socially, but a fiscal and legal conservative. Also a bit of a foreign policy hawk. His main challenge will be getting the evangelicals to look past the gay marriage/abortion thing.

• Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy G. Thompson: Eh.

• Former Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III: Eh.

• Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: This guy has potential. He knows the issues front and back, and can debate articulately and effectively. Also has executive experience. Only drawbacks are his potential inconsistencies and the fact that he's a Mormon. The former can be taken care of fairly quickly, and the latter might not even be an issue. Plus it doesn't hurt that he vaguely resembles Ronald Reagan.

• California Rep. Duncan Hunter: Surprisingly, he's actually generating a bit of buzz among the base. At least more so than any of the other congressmen. If he gets some more facetime on television, which he's trying to do, he could gain some legitimate traction.

• Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo: More or less a one issue candidate. The one issue being immigration. And there's not enough agreement in the party for that to be enough for him to get the nomination, let alone win the general.

• Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee: Nice guy. Kinda laying low right now, which is probably a good thing. But I'm pretty sure the "southern Governor" bit only work for Democrats.

• Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia: Says he's not going to announce his intentions until Fall of 2007. Probably not a good idea. But he is one of the smartest conservatives in the country, so he might know what he's doing. If he does get in, he could probably get substantial support in short order. He's also been out of the public eye long enough for most people to have forgotten about his baggage from his Speaker days.

• Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel: Too liberal for the party. Not happening.

Whew. That was fun.