Seems Massachusetts is at the center of the political world these days and not only do the Democrats seem to want to fish for future presidential candidates here so do the Republicans. Now usually most people wait and see who the two parties offer up during primary season but we already know two folks who will run for president for the Republicans in 2008. One is John McCain and I think it will be the last time he runs if he doesn't win. McCain is obviously very high profile now and I think most Republicans wish he was the one sitting in the oval office right now. The other guy that the GOP is orgasmic over is the governor of the great state of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney. They descended on former governor Jane Swift like rabid dogs to remove her to make room for Romney. It was easy and Swift at the time a pregnant mom could hardly put up a fight. Romney was a golden boy and being fast tracked for a presidential run or some thought, and still this may be true, to move him first into Ted Kennedy's senate seat. Of course they may try to move him into Kerry's seat now if he wins this election as that would open up first. The thing is though Romney's term as governor ends in 2006 and everyone sees him sticking that out, then stepping down to begin his run for president. Which he will take my word for it. The GOP loves this guy. For good reason, he easily won his job here in "liberal" Massachusetts and his resume looks great. It should be kept in perspective though that we seem to love Republican governors here in Massachusetts. Look at who we had before him Bill Weld, Paul Cellucci and Swift, Republicans all. He's seen as a moderate that will win votes from both sides of the aisle. He's also a pretty good campaigner. To drive home the point that the GOP loves this guy just keep in mind he's one of the feature speakers at the RNC on the night before Bush speaks. You guys on the right should try and catch his speech because you may at some point be voting for this guy and this will be a good look at him.
Now I think this is sort of a safe topic that left and right can discuss as it does not involve Kerry or Bush or anything that's happening right now. What I'd like us all to do here, for a moment, is look beyond this election to the next one. We all complain about the choices we're given and in the Republican primary for 2008 you'll be given a choice between Romney or McCain...and whoever else throws a hat in the ring (Jeb Bush?)...but those two will be there and will begin as favorites for the nomination. They will be there no matter who wins this election more than likely...some do say if Kerry wins Romney will run for senate...we'll see I guess.
So read the following article and I'd be very interested to hear who Kevin G and Pat would prefer out of these two choices. Of course those on the left can comment as well...we all should know more about these guys now because they very well could one day be president. Best to be prepared when the day comes that we are asked to choose among them.
I'll reserve my personal comments on Mr. Romney until the discussion gets rolling.
Read this first:
Romney’s political forays seen to keep options open
Some say decisions rest with Election Day results
As Governor Mitt Romney strives to raise his profile and emerge as a Republican leader nationally, nothing is more pivotal than the Nov. 2 election results, in Massachusetts and in the presidential race, to determine what is in store for his political future, party strategists and analysts say.
The election returns will lay out the first clear road map for Romney, allowing him to make his most important decision: whether to seek reelection as governor in 2006 and then evaluate his presidential chances or to serve out his current term and move on to a 2008 presidential campaign, free of the burdens and political sniping on Beacon Hill.
His forays onto the national scene have become more frequent since the beginning of the year. They began with his battle against same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and picked up when the Bush campaign used him to attack Senator John F. Kerry's presidential candidacy. More recently, Romney has been promoting his book about his experience running the host committee for the Winter Olympics. Next week he will be in Athens at the Summer Olympic Games, and he is scheduled to address the Republican National Convention the night before Bush makes his address.
Romney and his aides insist that, amid all the exposure he is getting, the governor is focused on winning another four-year term. "The governor expects to be a candidate for reelection, but we have nothing to formally announce at this early stage," said Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney's director of communications.
But, as they watch the governor raise his national image, Massachusetts political leaders from both parties are becoming convinced that he will not run again if he decides he can be a viable candidate for president in 2008.
They say that what will most drive Romney's plans is the outcome of the race between Kerry and President Bush. But the results of Romney's campaign to elect Republicans to the Legislature, a battle that has put his prestige on the line, will also have a strong bearing. If the GOP makes some gains, several Senate seats and a couple of House seats, the governor will have a significant victory in a Democratic stronghold that could impress national Republican leaders and audiences.
If he fails to make a dent, his argument that he is an effective leader in his home state will be undercut, although some analysts think the damage will be minimal. "That would be a problem, but a short-term problem," said Jeffrey M. Berry, a Tufts University political science professor. "It is too much a local story."
But while Election Day will provide a new political landscape for him to play out his national ambitions, the decision-making will be not be easy.
"It is a pretty complicated chessboard," said Berry, pointing to the factors swirling around the governor's political future. He said a Bush defeat would give Romney an opportunity to present himself as the moderate leader who could guide the GOP back from a defeat that many would blame on the party's swerve to the right.
"The election will create a potential change on the national climate," Berry said. "If Bush loses, there is an opening for a moderate Republican. Romney is just conservative enough to be a credible candidate in the Republican primary."
But others, including leading Democrats who helped former governor Michael Dukakis win the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, say Romney's road to the White House would be blocked, at least for 2008, if Kerry is the incumbent. Romney would have no home-state advantage with fund-raisers or even with Massachusetts's voters, these strategists contend.
"It is a huge mistake to run for president as a sitting governor," said Philip Johnston, a former top Dukakis administration official and adviser and now the Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman.
A hostile Democratic Legislature would undermine Romney as he campaigns around the country, Johnston said. "Dukakis had a friendly Legislature, and even then it was very difficult. His attention was always being diverted back here."
Romney's decisions will have a profound effect on Massachusetts politics. Not running for reelection would create a political vacuum that a host of Democrats and Republicans would rush to fill in 2006.
Another option, one that Romney insiders are increasingly convinced could well develop, would be for him to reevaluate his public posture that he will not run in a special election for the US Senate seat that Kerry would vacate if he wins the presidency. If control of the Senate depends on the GOP winning Kerry's seat, the pressure from national GOP leaders would be almost too much for Romney to resist. He would be the Republicans' best bet.
A Bush victory would also offer him the opportunity to angle for a Cabinet position in the second Bush administration. With Tom Ridge signaling he will leave shortly, Romney, with his experience running the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, would be very likely to emerge as a top candidate for secretary of homeland security. His recently stepped up, high-profile national media appearances -- attacking Kerry as a Bush campaign surrogate and touting his book, "Turnaround," about his Olympic Games experience -- are providing a platform to audition for the job.
Speculation runs strong within the state political establishment over Romney's lack of focus on the minor political details at home. Republican leaders talk privately of their belief that Romney is not a candidate for reelection.
They don't see him doing the sort of traditional political chores and massaging of political activists that governors do to win another term.
Meanwhile, Democrats are coming to the same conclusion, convinced that Romney -- a tough opponent, with his wealth, charm, reform image, and good looks -- will drop out of the governor's race.
"Everything he is doing suggests he has his eye on the White House," Johnston said. "Look at his daily schedule. He is not engaged. The issues he is discussing resonate beyond the state borders."
Furthermore, says Johnston, Romney's role working with the Bush campaign shows that he is not concerned about the political fallout in his home state, which could be considerably nasty if Kerry loses. 
