since I seriously doubt that Obama will NOT be the Demo candidate, the question is who will end up being the Republican candidate and can he/she/it beat Obama.

And in the leftist corner, standing where ever, for the demos:

(1) Obama:

He was stronger than many first realized, because notwithstanding his very liberal personna, because people forget the comments about him about how he wiggled his way into the Harvard Law Review Editor in Chief job while at law school.

They also forgot about his contacts with Wall Street, that saw him bring in contributions of ten to 15 times (and actually many say probably much higher) than McCain got from Wall Street.

McCain wanted a return to the effective laws and regulations that kept the financial system far more stable and less likey to go into the tank when times were bad--stuff adopted after lessons learned from the great depression, but far less profitable; in the late 1990's, we got those repealed, as part of the deal lead to all this "affordable housing for everyone" along with the mortgage meltdown, credit crunches, bailouts, et al.


Fuss about the national health insurance deal, all you tea sippers want to fuss, but Wall Street has never really opposed it, and the health insurance companies WANTED IT--yes, THEY WANTED IT!!!!


His best point: He has an excellent TV personality, and has maintained it during his time in office. (At times, Bush would have it, then lose it, often acting like the proverbial deer in the headlights-Obama does not have that problem)


(2) Other Demo candidates??? hello, anybody out there? Beuller, where are you?




Republicans, standing the right corner........ (including the tea partiers)

(1) Sarah Palin

Excellent TV personna......and her other qualities are excellent TV personna and excellent TV personna........

Scares the snoot out of Demos, because they see excellent TV personality. But like a dog in heat chasing a car, what is she gonna do with it, if she actually catches it????duhhhhh



(2) Bachmann---probably overall a better candidate than Palin......seems to be smarter

but she got her problems, one of which is she has this belief about blacks being better off before 1860 when they were slaves........sooner or later, that will come back on her

then there is the overall negativity and rage that seems to leak out.

(3) Rick Perry

Many years ago, I was around him several times at various functions. While not on stage, he seemed to have the personality of a chair, but as soon as it got time to speak in the spotlight, he would get this glow and energy where he lit up like a christmas tree.
Incredible!

reminded me of stories about Elvis Presley, where people would be with him, hanging out or whatever...and they would not be impressed, but when he was on the stage, in his zone, there was this incredible magnetic energy around him.....that was very preceptable


Intelligence--Not that high, a true talking head.


Past record: comes from a state which has not been hurt that much by the economic problems as elsewhere, unemeployment not a problem and so on.


TV personality--Likely to be excellent and probably better than Obama. went through many major scandals with them all rolling off him like water off a duck.






willingness to sell out-----probably much higher than Obama. As governor, busy selling major toll roads in texas to a Spanish company......and was going to require a controversial vaccination for Texas girls in order for them to be able to attend public schools, as a result of some "inside deals".....


Bob Schuman, a former campaign consultant for former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), Perry's political mentor. Schuman’s consulting firm has also represented the pharmaceutical company Merck, which was represented in Texas by Toomey. Toomey’s lobbying for Merck became a scandal in Texas after Perry mandated that all schoolgirls receive a vaccination against HPV -- a vaccination that was made by Merck. The ensuing controversy led the state legislature to override the governor and block the mandate. Schuman's effort has so far been underwritten by a large contribution from Texas billionaire Harold Simmons, a major Perry donor who has used his political clout to gain support from Perry’s administration to bury nuclear waste in western Texas.
Rick Perry Super PACs Raise Issues of Coordination, Collusion



as pointed out by democrats:
Under one-party Republican rule, Texas state agencies are plagued by pay-to-play politics, mismanagement and corruption.
Burnt Orange Report: Rick Perry's Top Ten State Agency Scandals: His Decade of Failure

HOUSTON -- Bill White called for an immediate state and federal investigation, and one of the nation's preeminent criminal defense lawyers weighed in today as Rick Perry stonewalls questions about the public corruption scandal.
Perry handed out $16 million in taxpayer dollars from a high tech fund to companies tied to his top political contributors.
"This is the kind of thing a Public Integrity Unit ought to investigate. If the fundraisers promised or suggested that grants would go to political donors and then that happened, that's criminal, plain and simple," said Dick DeGuerin.
DeGuerin has defended Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and Representative Tom DeLay and was recently named one of the 25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter Century.
"Perry's had 48 hours. He's stonewalling simple questions and refusing to release documents revealing the investors in companies getting taxpayer dollars. The Travis County DA and the Department of Justice should investigate," said White.
Will Perry explain what investments his family had in companies associated with his donors, companies benefiting from taxpayer subsidies?" asked White, continuing a series of Rick Perry's Unanswered Questions with #9.
White's call for an investigation comes after explosive reports in the Dallas Morning News showed $16 million in taxpayer handouts to companies tied to Perry's major campaign donors, including one very cozy relationship that yielded $6.5 million in benefits for a single contributor.
The reports have raised serious ethical and conflict of interest questions about Perry and his staff. Since the news broke, the governor's office has been on lockdown in an effort to keep the scandal from damaging Perry's campaign. A fact sheet summarizing the reports of the Dallas Morning News is available at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/3869...
as none of the above, has slowed him down at all, may be the toughest candidate for obama to beat, especially since he proably will not have McCain's problems of having a few principles not for sale that hurt mc cain when it came to getting wall street money......



(4) rommney.....

well Iowa seemed to have hurt more than helped.....