Last week Rudy Giuliani came out officially in favor of abortion rights and argued that the Republican party must be more "tolerant" on issues like gun control and gay rights. So in other words, his chances of being the 2008 GOP nominee are dead on arrival.
Giuliani is said to be betting on the big primaries in early February to allow him to coast to an easy victory. He's assuming, and rightly so, that the hardcore conservative primary voters in Iowa and New Hampshire will never give someone like him a chance. But election after election has shown that the victors in those early states usually have so much momentum that they can't be stopped. So where does this leave a clearly flailing and despondent GOP electorate?
Well, you have pro-campaign reform John McCain, who despite his best efforts to become the next Bush has managed to inspire hatred from both the Left (for his embrace of the surge) and the Right (for his lack of fervor on social issues and seemingly friendly attitude towards immigrants). Romney can't get any traction despite all the money he's raised because he has had to reverse virtually every major position he's ever had and no one's buying the "new Romney". Oh yeah, and he's a Mormon.
All that's left are candidates who are so low on the "bottom tier" that they have to duke it out to see who can capture 2% of the vote as opposed to 1%. Brownback has all the right conservative credentials but seems to excite no one but himself. Tancredo is the one issue candidate who's yet to make a lot of noise about his one issue. Does this mean that Arkansas' Mike Huckabee, who did garner some positive marks from the mainstream press for his performance in first GOP debate, is the best horse they have in the race? He doesn't believe in evolution and for some on the right that already puts him head and shoulders above the rest.
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