Wally Gallian
Who is running for US President?

Now that college football is over until September, I need something else to follow. The bowl games are over, Florida is the winner and the public wants to watch something else for a while. Personally, I do not have the stomach for American Idol so I have chosen a spectator sport that is covered by every national media outlet continuously even when the game is not being played. It is called "Who is running for US President?" and is appearing now in every form of media available.

US Senator John McCain was at mid-field conducting the coin toss for the national championship football game Monday night. I'm not sure if the senator is a football fan or not. I do know he wants to be our next president. McCain cashed in on some free exposure to a national audience. His coin flip looked a little limpwristed to me, but that's just an observation.

There are so many politicians who are considering running for president that no clear front runner has emerged. George W. cannot run again and Vice President Cheney has never even been mentioned by the republicans as a possible candidate. There will be a couple of independents also running who in the end will be just that: also ran.

Here is a look at the possible candidates so far:

On the right side, there is McCain who has been running for the office for years. Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney raised over 4 million dollars for his campaign last week. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is a potentially strong candidate or at least a yet unannounced candidate. Current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is someone who might be recruited by the party as a running mate for one of the other candidates. A likely candidate in 4-8 years is Jeb Bush who just finished his second term as the Governor of Florida. Republican leaders are holding up on a Jeb candidacy until a term or two after his older brother is out of office.

On the left side, there is Hillary you-know-her-lastname. She too has been running for the office for years. Former US Senator and Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards is also a contender with a background in seeking the presidency. Illinois Senator Borack Obama is a rising star in the party and will attempt to earn the nomination. Former presidential candidate John Kerry seems interested but the voters do not seem interested in him.

As far as the "also rans" or independents US Senator Joseph Lieberman is a democrat turned independent. His chances are very slim as are any independent candidate. Reverend Al Sharpton is considering a run because in his words, "I don't hear any reason not to."

The next 22 months will be fun to watch the candidates' position themselves for victory and defend against their political foes. As far as who will win the presidency in 2008, I have not a clue.--Wally Gallian is publisher of The Forest-Blade and can be reached at wgallian@ forest-blade.com

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