It's been a while, so let's check in with the A.B.B. field.
REPUBLICANS
John McCain - Big Mac veers ever rightward, becoming the Senate's spear-carrier on Bush's surge plan. Until he formally hires Rove and gets on the complete values-voter bandwagon, his evangelical support will continue to be tepid.
Rudy Giuliani - No incriminating photos of him in bed with men yet. I hear he will be speaking at the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association conference in March. Since I might (and the CEO's of several oil companies will) be there, all I can say is, good move! Maybe I'll do a blog entry after I shake his hand.
Mitt Romney - My Man Mitt is working hard to ban gay marriage in Massachusetts before he steps down as Governor. This is a canny strategy, since it helps him with the skeptical evangelical crowd, and will probably be completely forgotten by everyone else once the ban is ultimately defeated.
Sam Brownback - Oh, no, he might actually run.
Newt Gingrich - Oh, yes, he might actually run!
Tom Tancredo - Little-known outside the Minuteman community, he's pretty much a one-issue candidate. If that one issue should happen to be thrust into the forefront because of a terrorist attack launched from Mexico, for example, he might get some play, but otherwise, he's a non-starter.
George Allen - Toast.
Mike Huckabee - Still trim and ready to lose.
DEMOCRATS
Hillary Clinton - Oh, Hillary. Just when you thought you had a clear path to the nomination, a certain Illinois Senator vists New Hampshire. I'm not sure who is licking their chops more, the dark forces of insidious sexism or those of insidious racism, but since sexism is generally more acceptable, I'm thinking Hillary's in big trouble.
Barack Hussein Obama - Yes, I did list his full name, but I'm not a dark force of insidious racism, as far as I know. I'm just getting everyone prepared. This not entirely surprising newcomer to our shindig threw his sort-of hat into the maybe ring with his aforementioned sojourn northeastward. Is America ready for Obama? asks the newsweeklies. The correct question is, is Obama ready to have his hide ripped opened by the newsweeklies, bloggers, Gang of 500, the Sons Of The Confederacy, and Us Magazine et. al., etc., for the next two years? Or, does Obama know a damned thing about foreign policy? Both questions will have to be answered, and soon.
John Edwards - Edwards, Tom Vilsack, and Dennis Kucinich are the only official candidates right now. I rate all of their chances to be about as dismal, despite Edwards' significantly higher profile. Edwards has taken his anti-poverty advocacy to a higher level with the formation of One Corps. This is odd for a 2008 presidential candidate, since poverty is not even one of the top ten issues that people who are polled think is the most important. The top 5 or 6 are the disastrous occupation of Iraq and the related strains this has had on the larger War Against Extremists Who Use Terror As A Weapon or whatever it's called. In Edwards' press conference (in the 9th Ward of New Orleans to maximize the poverty theme) announcing his candidacy, he repudiated his own vote for the war as a mistake. So, why exactly should we trust you to not make the same kinds of egregious mistakes as President?
Al Gore - He's teasing us. We'll get Melissa Rivers to ask him on the red carpet.
John Kerry - French Toast.