While everyone is emphasizing their 2008 obsessions let me interject one of mine recently that is the subject of this column–Newt!
A couple of other things. I think a governor with no foreign policy experience is going to have some difficulties in the 2008 environment that didn’t exist in 1992 or 2000. So I’m glad Romney is handling the Big Dig business well, but at the end of the day, it’s a highway project. It’s not going to help much in 2008 debates to stand there and say, “I’m the guy who managed the 2006 tunnel-tile crisis.”
As for Giuliani, JPod mentions Iowa, which raises an issue I’ve been thining about recently. What early state does Giuliani project well in? The socially conservative Iowa caucuses? No. New Hampshire? Maybe–if it weren’t McCain territory. South Carolina? I kind of doubt it. Giuliani’s poll ratings can’t be entirely shrugged off, but they reflect his status as a national hero, not a candidate. The day he announces is the day he begins to spend down his hero status, and either defend positions the GOP faithful fundamentally disagrees with or flip-flop like crazy.
Personally, I think it’s much too early to have a candidate (although we can tell something about the relative strengths of the potential candidates). Let’s see how these guys run and what they run on…