[honeychile]

I worry about McCain being considered "too old" by 2008, or I could easily get behind him. I'd like to take a look at some of the "no names" who are sitting back, making their plans, while hoping that the GOP will do something major to improve their image.

Can Hillary win? Without seeing the stats (and who obtained them), I'm not sure. Yet, in my world, I don't know of one person who would vote for her. Just look at her failed health care campaign - had that been in place prior to Katrina, the disaster would have been far worse. She does not have the Teflon (nor Keflar) to win a Presidential bid - but she would be a HUGE divider in the Democratic party. The best part is that it wouldn't be solely an "anti-female President" backlash, it's a mess of her own (and Bill's) making.

Barak Obama will have to do something outstanding prior to a 2012 bid. I hate to say it, but his name works against him. And again, that would make him a divider - many people who would vote for a black President without problem would have a problem with his name. Surprisingly, I heard this from my biracial foster cousin & her friends!

Should the GOP damage control fail, it's going to take one of two types of candidates to succeed:

1) The "I'm not the other guy" candidate, or the negative vote.
or
2) The "All American Boy" candidate, who has a perfect family, perfect past, perfect political record, perfectly pc but folksy sense of humor, perfect control of speech/debate, and perfect - but not too perfect! - looks. The party who finds him will absolutely-without-a-doubt win.

One of the problems is that we, as voters, are asking too much. We either want someone who is pro-choice OR pro-life; pro-NRA OR anti-NRA; pro-big government OR anti-government; etc, etc. Somewhere, we have to figure out the compromise that will again bring our world status back to where it should be. I don't pretend to know how to do that, but whoever does is going to be the Campaign Chairman of the Century!