Look if I can’t have one afternoon to talk about my ideal candidate four years out before I have to pick a compromise candidate then we’re in really sorry shape. Yes, I know Gramm is very, very unlikely run and even more unlikely to win. But dagnabbit a socially conservative libertarian foreign policy hawk is my kind of guy.

Anyway, I agree that Allen was very impressive and certainly he was the biggest surprise of the bunch I saw back at those NR-meetings during the GOP Convention. I don’t know enough about his campaign style or his record. As for Jeb. I do think it’s sad that he’s got such a headwind against him, but I think it’s a real headwind. George W. Bush has exhausted his and his family’s credibility with so many Democrats and the media (fairly or not) that I think a Jeb candidacy would be dominated with Bush family themes and would of necessity have to be a 100% referendum on GWB — in the primaries and the general — at a time when people are going to be naturally looking for a change. That just sounds like a tough hurdle, even if Iraq is looking great by then.