Just thinking about what might happen in the next presidential election. Here's a possibility:

Democratic Party
Bill Richardson (president)
Barack Obama (vice president)

Republican Party
Rudolph Giuliani (president)
Joseph Lieberman (vice president)

What do you think of this potential race? And if you think other candidates are more likely, or have your own dream presidential race for 2008, please chime in.

Well, I think Obama or Edwards would be best to work on being a running mates rather than out right leader. They are still young and that will hurt their presidential campeigns. Currently though, public exposure will help them down the line. Sadly the only strong experienced Democrat to guide them along is Hillary. I'll give her credit, living in the white house for 8 years, she can put, "knows how the country is run" on her resume.

There's always Gore too, despite what he says, but that's a very long shot.

I don't see Joementum catching on with the Republicans. He's trying to play both sides, but he's just going to find himself without help from either in the end.

Here's another possible Democratic presidential nominee I'd forgotten about earlier, but who came up as a topic of discussion on "The McLaughlin Group" just the other day -- Jim Webb, recently elected U.S. senator, decorated Vietnam veteran, well-regarded author, secretary of the Navy during the Reagan administration, Virginian (something to be said for fielding a Southern Democrat) who might be able to embody a broadly popular Democratic agenda capable of winning over an electoral majority.

And I can't help but spend more time thinking about the Democrats because I find the Republican prospects for '08 a bit depressing -- too many of their potential candidates can be divided between big names who also have big issues with the Republican social conservative base, and obscure names with no national cache and some stridently conservative beliefs that might turn off moderate voters. Rudy Giuliani and John McCain are still widely talked about as Republican frontrunners, but both face resistance from social conservatives, and without those conservatives the Republicans won't have the turnout to win.

Then, of course, there's Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side. Sure, everyone's more or less assuming she's the likely candidate, but I can't help but wonder whether the Democratic Party's base will be able to stand her political triangulation, especially on the war issue. If the Democratic base is still dissatisfied with the course of the war and their party's response to it in 2008, Hillary's record in the Senate could be a liability, and Democratic voters might prefer someone with a clear and consistent message repudiating Bush's Iraq policy, either a governor like Richardson with no direct role in the war, or a senator like Webb who didn't vote for the Iraq War Resolution like Hillary and can therefore claim to have had a consistent stance against the Iraq war (not to mention the hawkish bio to balance his antiwar message and offset any Republican "cut and run" criticisms).