McCain
I don’t know if I’ve said it here yet, but I’ve been saying it for weeks elsewhere: John McCain is far and away the front runner for the 2008 GOP nomination. He’s not a front runner in the way that Hillary Clinton is a supposed front runner in the Democratic race. He’s the real deal. He’s working for it. What I’ve noticed for a long while is that he’s definitely trying to win the money primary and win it early. If he’s able to bring on the right fundraisers and start getting donations from the right people, he’ll scare some other viable challengers from entering in the first place. He’s doing that and this is the first article I’ve seen in the national press that kind of addresses it. He’s actively out doing the things that he needs to get this nomination. I’ll be keeping a McCain watch over the next year and keep you updated.
Hillary, by the way, is the front runner because she’s got a high national profile, a proven ability to raise money, and most of the contacts that she and her husband cultivated over 30 years. So far, she’s only doing the bare minimum necessary to be a viable candidate for 2008. She is not already pushing hard for the nomination. I’m still not convinced that she’ll run. It wouldn’t surprise me, but she hasn’t put the kind of committment into it that would upset key insiders if she backs out. I used to say that I believed she was too smart to run for president this time around. I’m no longer convinced of that, but I’m still fairly convinced that she would lose the general election unless the GOP manages to nominate someone who is a total disaster, someone who makes George W. Bush look like Bill Clinton in terms of intellect, competence, and political skills. I think she could wait 4 or 8 more years to run and have a much better chance, but I’d rather see her spend another 18-24 years in the Senate, a thorn in the GOP’s side the entire time.
