Of Clinton and Obama, I slightly favor Obama, but I wouldn't be at all displeased if Clinton wins the general election. I see McCain as the least objectionable of the Republicans, and the one least likely to continue the process of destroying America through divisiveness and hyperpartisanship.

Things aren't symmetrical over there on the Republican side. The very qualities that make McCain acceptable to a broad spectrum of voters are the ones that make "the base" at best suspicious of him, at worst convinced that he's a wolf in sheep's clothing and a traitor to "the cause" (i.e., his regrettable habit of putting America ahead of ideology). Whether the RINO label dooms McCain depends on whether the extremist base hates Democrats more than they hate McCain. It might work, and it might even turn out being carried to office on wings of the lesser hatred means that McCain will be less beholden to the extremists in the GOP and have less to lose by being a centrist President willing to compromise and be more than just President of the Republican United States. Wouldn't that be a refreshing change!

Hillary and Barack have decisively emerged as the Democrat front-runners, but it's still a horse race on the Republican side. John the Mac has a long struggle ahead of him against the extremist forces within his own party, and I give him at best 50-50 odds. If he fails, none of the other GOP candidates has a snowball's chance in hell of appealing to a wide enough segment of the electorate to make it to the White House.

Bottom line, I'm feeling pretty optimistic that however the 2008 election turns out, America will be a lot better off than it's been these last seven, long, nightmarish years.

Today is January 20th, and exactly one year from today we'll see the last of George W. Bush. That makes it a very special day....