Predictions on the Republicans in 2008

[FerrisBueller86]

As a Democrat, I've thought about which Republicans we need to watch out for:
1.  No need to worry about Rudy Guiliani: He's too liberal for primary voters, and he blamed the troops for the missing 380 tons of explosives, so he'd be easy to beat in the event that all the other Republican candidates get abducted by aliens.
2.  No need to worry about John McCain: Republican primary voters don't like him, so unless everyone else gets abducted by aliens, the fact that he'd trounce most Democrats in the general election would be a moot point.
3.  No need to worry about Condi Rice: From what I've heard, she wouldn't handle a campaign very well, and she has no experience campaigning.  She may not be conservative enough for primary voters, and Republican primary voters wouldn't vote for an African American woman for their nominee.
4.  No need to worry about Bill Frist: He's a Senator, and I've heard that his speeches put people to sleep.  He also has skeletons in his closet, like earning money from abortions even though he's anti-choice and experimenting on cats.  If the Republicans are smart, they won't nominate him.
5.  No need to worry about Mitt Romney: As governor of Massachusetts, he's stuck between a rock and a hard place.  If I were Karl Rove, I'd find a way to get him out of the race.  If Romney badmouths Massachusetts, then he is admitting that he was an ineffective governor.  If Romney talks up Massachusetts, then he's admitting that the Republicans have been lying since 1988.
6.  Jeb Bush: I think this is one candidate the Democrats need to be ready to take on.  He's conservative enough to get the nomination, he's smarter than his brother, he's a better speaker than his brother, and he'd have Florida in the bag in the general election.  I know Jeb announced that he's not running in 2008, but I think he just said that to avoid 3 years of scrutiny.  If he doesn't run in 2008, he will run later on.  The big wild card is his brother.  If George W. Bush is fully discredited, then Jeb Bush is toast.  If George W. Bush can improve on his popularity, and if the Middle East stabilizes, then Jeb Bush will be a serious contender.
7.  Unknown: I think there's a substantial chance that the 2008 nominee will be someone other than the biggest names.  Tim Pawlenty and George Allen are some of the names I've heard.  I also think that some of the 1996 and 2000 candidates will be back, such as Lamar Alexander and Richard Lugar.  I think that there's better than a 50-50 chance that the Republican nominee will be from this category.  If George W. Bush's popularity falls further, then Jeb is toast, and if the Republicans are smart, they'll nominate someone other than the big names most cited today.