1. George Allen might have a tough race if Warner runs against him. But all signs point to Warner running for President in 2008. I like him better as our nominee than as a senator frankly.
   
2. VT, RI, and CT all have GOP governors. That's cant happen. Jim Douglas got by in VT, a state that went to Kerry by 20. Cercieri should be one in RI, and Pat Kennedy might run against him. Jodi Rell was John Rowland's LT GOV in CT and ppl need to be reminded of it. Word is Chris Dodd might run and would likely won if he did. Dick Blumenthol would  be good as well.

Meanwhile, on the Democratic side there is a ton of buzz building for Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, who was shown in a recent poll to be the most popular politician in Colorado.  I expect the party leaders to try to anoint Mark Udall as the candidate as a reward for him stepping out of the Senate race in favor of Ken Salazar.  But Hickenlooper, now riding high over the passage of a metro-wide transit initiative that was opposed by Owens, would be the stronger candidate in my opinion.

1. Rudy Giuliani - we can't defeat him preemptively, but it will be interesting to see if he opposes Hillary for the Senate seat in 2006 - with the winner headed towards a Presidential nomination.
   
2. John McCain - will be 72 in 2008, thankfully.
   
3. Arnold Schwarzenegger - born in Austria, isn't eligible, but maybe they'll amend the constitution, blah blah blah.

I also read earlier today that Bill Frist won't run for the Senate in 2006. Harold Ford Jr. is the likely nominee, but let me throw another name out there for the Senate seat in Tennessee - Al Gore. Why not? It would be good for the party to have Al back on the national stage.

Hoeffel came damned close against the moderate Specter despite running a weak campaign, and he now has the name recognition for a stronger run. And with the Philly suburbs trending blue, there's no way Little Ricky can match his 2000 margins in Montgomery, Delaware, and Bucks counties.

I am inclined to give a free pass to Rudy Giuliani because if he were the Republican presidential nominee, he might allow the Democrats to be more competitive in the South.

Maybe its good not to have an emotional target Focus on about seriously getting 5-7 blue state house seats and harrassing a bunch of others

and getting back a coupe of Senate seast starting with Santorums

Get dem govs for 2010 redistrcting in CT NJ and NY and keep PA-there are 5-10 seats and a majority there alone

Doesn't Pataki want to run for President? Will the Party of W and Santorum nominate a New York Republican? (Epecially one not named Rudy?)

As for Hillary's seat do we think that Rudy's up for it this time?

Jim DeMint - South Carolina
A fellow three-term fundamentalist Christian Congressman, DeMint caused an uproar in his race against Democrat Inez Tenenbaum by saying that homosexuals and pregnant women with live-in boyfriends should be forbidden to teach in public schools. He opposes abortion even in the case of rape or incest and doesn't think gays should be able to adopt. A virulent supporter of strong national defense and unfettered free trade, DeMint told his opponents in a Republican primary debate to "stop whining about job losses."

Tom Coburn - Oklahoma
The former doctor and three-term Congressman elected during the "Gingrich Revolution" of 1994 is undoubtedly the most right-wing member of his new Senate class. Coburn called his campaign against conservative Democrat Brad Carson "a battle of good vs. evil," suggested blacks have a genetic disposition toward a shorter life expectancy, and said "lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they'll only let one girl go to the bathroom." Most noteworthy, Coburn favors "the death penalty for abortionists and other people who take life," explaining his ardent opposition by noting how his great-grandmother was raped by a territorial sheriff. Not surprisingly, he earned a 97 percent lifetime approval rating from the

Mel Martinez - Florida
President Bush's former Housing Secretary earned rebukes from the state press for his dirty campaigning in the GOP primary and general election. The St. Petersburg Times took the unprecedented step of revoking its endorsement of Martinez after he ran ads calling his opponent--conservative Republican Bill McCollum--"the new darling of homosexual extremists" and "antifamily" for supporting bipartisan federal hate crime legislation and expanded stem cell research. Martinez accused his opponent in the general election--former state superintendent Betty Castor-- of allowing a "terrorist cell" at the University of South Florida, allegedly run by professor Sami Al-Arian.

John Thune - South Dakota
In his successful bid to knock off Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, the three- term Congressman pulled out every dirty trick in the book. In addition to illegally  intimidating Native American voters, his campaign employed the "Southern Strategy" by sending out mailings reading "The dogs are lining up to vote for Tom Daschle,"--a reference to old racist store signs that used to say "No Dogs or Indians Allowed." As if blatant racism wasn't enough, Republicans sent out "Vote for Daschle and Vote for Sodomy" stickers to churches across the state. Finally, six South Dakota Republican campaign workers, including Thune's nephew, were forced to resign after forging absentee ballots, but later dispatched to help run ground operations for the GOP in  Ohio. Thune would make Tony Soprano proud.

David Vitter - Louisiana
This far-right, family-values, three-term Congressman becomes the first Republican Senator elected in Louisiana since Reconstruction. As Vitter prepared to run for governor in 2002, the secretary of the Jefferson Parish Republican Party accused him of an 11-month affair with a prostitute. He denied the allegations but withdrew from the governor's race due to marital problems. Two years later Vitter--whom Charles Pierce calls "a polite David Duke"--ran for the Senate opposing all forms of abortion, gun control and affirmative action, prompting cries of racism in the heavily-African American state. He also ran possibly the most ludicrous ad of the political season, showing UN troops from Libya, North Korea and Cuba taking over Louisiana elections and lowering the American flag. Vitter even outdid his formidable arch-conservative colleagues by scoring a perfect 100 from the ACU in 2002, for a lifetime average of 93.

Here they are folks. Your crazy new leaders. Get used to them.

I fear nobody but a Rove-enabled McCain candidacy.    

I think George Allen would also be very strong for them, as would Frist, and I think the Relig Rt likes these two.     For Allen and McCain, you can't do anything in '06, really.    Is it true Warner wants to run for WH?

Personally I'm looking forward to the bloodletting at the Republican primaries in 2008.  Of all the candidates listed so far, I don't see any who will be able to walk the tightrope between the fundamentalist evangelical wing of the party and the secular business wing.  I expect that the some fundie candidate will emerge who will energize the evangelical base.  Remember, Pat Robertson actually WON the Washington Caucus in 2000.  These people are even more organized now and I expect to see evangelical preacher type candidates.  Perhaps we'll even see a Dean-type phenomenon in the Republican party where someone emerges who scares the bejezus out of the secular business Republicans.  Then after he is beaten down by the party hierarchy the fundies take their bibles and go home, or go for a 3rd party candidate.  Could happen.  Especially if they are feeling that Bush let them down in the next four years by not getting rid of gays and abortion, or not getting prayer in schools.  Or whatever.

Obviously, any Amendment to change the Prez requirements would drag on beyond 2008.

But, knocking him off would definitely put the GOP in its place.

---

I hope Frist runs for the Senate seat AND Ford runs.  I still feel that Frist is vulnerable -- and that crushing him outright would go a long way to killing the GOP in 2008.

Ford is an absolute GEM of a candidate.  Young, well-spoken and dynamic.  He's Clinton, minus the perversions.

With Frist out of the way, the GOP doesn't have too many stable types to run for Prez, either.

---

Rudi is a friggin joke.  We have pictures of him dressed as Marylin Monroe . . . hopefully the we can keep quiet about Rudi, and let the GOP nominate him.

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Jeb has said he will not run.  Anyway, he's clunky compared to his brother.

Plus, FLA is a hellhole -- twice as bad as Texas ever was -- and could easily be held against him.

"I'm not going to run for president in 2008. That's not my interest," Bush told ABC's "This Week." "I'm going to finish my term."  (An odd phrasing, that, inasmuch as his term ends in 2006; he can't run again)

Americans like a "dynasty".  Jeb speaks spanish fluently and has a Mexican wife.  He is a brutal, dirty campaigner in the Bush family way.  I suspect Rove will happily work for him.

To be sure, Jeb is running the state of Florida into the ground (he is significantly more "conservative" than Dubya), but he will get away with it - the media is generally sycophantic and the electorate simply does not blame him.

A recent book by a couple of Bush family insiders suggest he will run:

"In a new book, The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty, authors Peter and Rochelle Schweizer claim the Bush clan has already discussed a presidential campaign by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), whose term ends in 2006. One anonymous source claims loyal Bush donors have been asked to 'keep their powder dry' for the 2008 campaign."

(http://politicalwire.com/archives/2004/03/29/book_claims_jeb_bush_will_run_in_2008.html)

Harris has been promised a clear shot at Bill Nelson, so a Senate run is out ... there is no where for him to go but "up".

Alex Penelas (the Dems made a huge mistake in nominating someone so boring like Castor just like they did in nominating McBride instead of Reno in '02....Penelas could have won the solid Dem vote plus stopped many Hispanics Repubs, especially Cuban-Americans, in Miami for voting for Martinez)

Ron Smith from Gainesville

Bob Graham? He's not that old!

Kendrick Meek! very popular guy in So Fla

Words

Dole is an absentee candidate who bought a home here less than a year before seeking election to the Senate here. And, for different reasons, she's another "Senator Gone."

I can see it now, Guiliani would cloak himself in the American Flag and 911. Given the infidelity issues here, the Right Wing would need to make a 180 from making "morals" their priority here.  

John McCain is a strong contender who "could" pull a lot of swing votes.  

from bookshelves and for good reason ..he

brags about the deceit in killing innocent

animals...cats especially ..very cold and

evil in my view.

1. we need to bring that book back

2. deconstrut Frist as being someone who is

3. Push this to media outlets ...demand

answers from frist about this story

4. Expose..expose..expose...

5. My god frist looks like a damn vampire!!

Just heard GOP state chair Beth Harwell will be running for Frist's seat.  I have to hand it to them, at least they have high-profile women candidates in their party...