So with Fred’s disappointing 3rd place finish in South Carolina, I don’t see him being able to stay in the race much longer. Its a shame, because he is one of the few credible candidates who are strong on defense and yet truly believe in Federalism and decentralized government.

So now I need to find a new candidate. I don’t want someone whose only qualification is they can beat Hillary. I think Hillary would make a better president than several of the front runners *cough* Huckabee *cough*. I don’t want someone with an ‘R’ after their name in the White House just for the sake of having a Republican in the White House. We’ve done that for the past 8 years.

I also don’t think _if_ a Republican wins in 2008, they’ll win re-election. I think FDR was the last time a party held the White House for more than 12 years. History (not to mention voter sentiment) is on the side of a one term if a Republican wins.

The top three candidates are Mitt Romney, John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Rudy. If Rudy doesn’t make a killing in Florida next week he’ll be out too. Mike Huckabee is a liberal. I think he’s more liberal than Hillary Clinton. He may be more liberal than Barak Obama. The only candidate Huckabee looks good against is John Edwards.

So, my choices are John McCain or Mitt Romney. I don’t trust Mitt Romney. Maybe its because I agree with my friend who says all CEOs are sociopaths. Maybe its because he is too slick, his campaign rhetoric is too close to the party-line. I have no idea how he’d govern as president.

John McCain I know how he’d govern. He’s shown his independence from the party line from the get-go. I respect that. Unlike most in the Georgia GOP, I respect his work on immigration reform. I like how he bucked the current administration and the Rumsfeld Penatagon on the need for more troops in Iraq. I like how he bucked his leadership on earmarks and wasteful spending. Like Reagan I respect his ability to reach across the aisle to get things done. I often don’t like the things he gets done, but he shows a bipartisanship not seen these days in Washington. The two things McCain has done I don’t like are campaign finance reform and his votes against the Bush Tax Cuts in 2001 and 2003. With Fred in the race those were deal killers for me. Now with my choices limited I’m taking a fresh look at Sen. McCain.

I like Rudy as a nominee, I don’t think I’d like him as President. I think his federalism rhetoric is for convenience given his pro-choice stance. I think as President he’d be as bad or worse than the current President in expanding the size and scope of the Federal Government. However as a nominee I like him because it would really piss-off the folks in the party who are totally self-absorbed in a single unimportant issue.

Finally there is Ron Paul. I don’t dislike Ron Paul as I do the actions of his supporters. They exhibit the same kind of in-your-face tactics that I couldn’t stand when I was in the LP. I don’t like his whining negative attitude. I didn’t like how every question in the debates he tied to either the War in Iraq or the need to get back on the Gold Standard.