Presidential Prognostication

It's early days in the 2008 presidential campaign (you think?), but the Haggis is hereby offering a few predictions that will surprise no one:

There will be no President Vilsack.
There will be no President Obama.
There will be no President Rice, Brownback, Kerry, Gingrich or Biden.

There will be no President Clinton (not the one I would love to have again, anyway). Her negatives are as high as her positives in most polls. She, although capable in every way, is perhaps too much of a lightning rod to pull in those independent undecideds every candidate needs to win. She will no doubt get the nomination, but she will not win.

There will be no President Gore. Yeah I said it. No matter what Joe Trippi says, no matter what some people of good faith say. The days are gone in American presidential politics when you can viably and credibly "try again." The race for POTUS is now a one-shot deal, at least for those who earn their party's nomination and lose the general election.

There will be no President Giuliani. It's just not going to happen, folks. Too many pre-9/11 situations that, although forgotten in the hagiographic aftermath of that tragedy, will come roaring back in the primaries. If his newly-created exploratory committee doesn't arrive at those findings, they will prove themselves to be pretty lackluster explorers.

All of which is to say that I am not ready to make a call on President McCain, President Clark, President Richardson or President Whomever. I'm not going to make the final call till all the currently-little-known Governors of Southern states have officially jumped in or stayed out.