Grover Norquist's View of the 2008 Presidential Race

[This is reprinted from newsmax.com.]

Hillary Clinton is a shoo-in to grab the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, but the Republican field is wide open, according to Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

Writing in The American Spectator, Norquist says that Clinton "will be followed around the nation by six or seven emasculated senators" who will "pretend to run for president while actually auditioning for vice president."

He mentions Sen. John Kerry, Sen. Evan Bayh, former Sen. John Edwards and Virginia Gov. Mark Warner among those who might seemingly challenge Clinton for the nomination, but in the end they will "suck up to Hillary," Norquist predicts.

Here is Norquist's take on the race for the GOP nomination:


Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney "has the advantage of serving as governor of a state whose television footprint covers the population center of the first primary state, New Hampshire." But his Mormon faith could work against him.

Virginia Sen. George Allen "stands most comfortably in the center of the Reagan coalition" and is "on good terms with taxpayers, pro-family activists and gun owners."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist upset social conservatives with his support for experimentation on embryonic stem cells.

Arizona Sen. John McCain has high name recognition and a "fawning establishment press," but he voted against each of the significant Bush tax cuts, is anti-gun and favors the Kyoto climate change treaty.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has made himself an expert on healthcare and has "kept his name and ideas in the limelight enough to be ready if lightning struck and a presidential bid became possible for him."

Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum "looks very good on paper - Catholic, Big State, GOP Senate leadership - if he can get past the very serious challenge of getting re-elected in 2006."

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was the "welfare-reforming, tax-cutting, crime-fighting mayor who turned around a failing city." But Norquist wonders how his social liberalism on gay marriage and abortion might impact him in the GOP primaries.

New York Gov. George Pataki "has been a tax cutter and governed well in a large state that should be able to fund a serious presidential campaign."

Norquist also mentions Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel.

But he saves his final remarks for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush:

"At present Bush is saying 'no' to the idea of a 2008 presidential bid. Some believe he should pass that year to avoid the appearance of a Bush Dynasty.

"But logic runs the other way. Only in 2008 will it be impossible for even the New York Times to argue with a straight face that we cannot elect one president's brother because we must elect another president's wife."