Primer on the Republicans

My opinion of the Republican field, as a Democrat/liberal/progressive:

John McCain: The straight-talking hawk.
The best thing I can say for McCain is that he does what he thinks is best for the country, not best for his polling. His choices to acknowledge global warming, fight for campaign finance reform and find a sensible answer to illegal immigration despite his base are admirable. On the other hand he's the poster boy for hawks and thinks the surge is the greatest thing since sliced bread. He also happens to be, by far, the strongest opponent Republicans could field next fall. So... I'm conflicted. My liberal, we-must-retake-the-White-House side wants to see one of the other, easy to defeat, Republicans. But my (stronger) American, political-reformist side would be happy to see McCain rewarded for speaking the truth and recognizing the hard decisions to be made.

Mitt Romney: The Republican's John Kerry.
A politicians' politician, with a slick smile and a poll-approved, audience-pandering answer to any and all questions. Strategically fairly easy to defeat, he polls 12 points behind Clinton and 21.4 points behind Obama in head-to-head. His recent pandering to the base combined with his history of switching positions on hot-button issues will make it difficult for him to come back to the middle without getting "flip-flopper" stamped on to his forehead. However he could position himself as the business candidate running in an economy that's slipping into recession, giving him some darkhorse potential. In general he strikes me as politically opportunistic and dogmatically conservative (at least for now), which are two big old strikes against him.

Ron Paul: The lovechild of hard-core libertarians and the blogosphere.
You've gotta hand it to Ron Paul, he doesn't quit or shift his positions. Again, a man that is doing what he thinks is best for the country, which I admire. He's against the Iraq war, liberal/libertarian on most social issues (with one BIG exception) and has some ideas on fiscal policy that seem interesting, though I'm unsure of their impact. That said, I don't swoon over him like many liberals seem to. He would drastically cut government, including the Depts of Education, Energy, Commerce and Health & Human Services. Oh and the IRS (this is always his applause line at rallies.) This strikes my as unnecessary and a drastic step back for the progress of our nation. Privatizing these is unrealistic and most likely more expensive than having one, central, manager of these fundamental aspects of our lives. So, the verdict, pluses for honesty and commitment, minuses for draconian cuts to gov't. Regardless it's unlikely he'll be on the slate in the fall, unless he runs as an independent/libertarian.

Rudy Guiliani: The (9/11) mayor (9/11) of New (9/11) York on 9/11.
Did I mention 9/11? I have the sneaking suspicion "America's Mayor" has developed a case of Tourretts Syndrome, somehow replacing the curses with "nine eleven." As a candidate he has a history of some liberal social views (abortion, gays), though he has since sworn them off. What scares me is his rampant militarism, neocon ties and over-the-top attempts to out-crazy Bush. He's behind in head-to-heads (-8.7 Clinton / -14.3 Obama) but would probably see a bump if he pulls out his win in Florida and wins nationally. Ultimately he wouldn't be too hard to beat, say enough crazy things and they catch up with you. Still, he's the person I'd least like to see on the Republican ticket... I've had enough Bush/Cheney for a lifetime, thank you very much.

Mike Huckabee: Chuck Norris' favorite populist social conservative.
Wow, a candidate with Chuck Norris in his ads. That the Daily Show has been out of biz during the IA caucus is a crime against us all. Huckabee is your standard social conservative, but with a twist from the George Bush model. He eschews W's (false) talk of fiscal conservatism in favor of economic populism, stealing a page from the Dems' play-book and blaming the corporations. He strikes me as fairly representative of most of the real-life social conservatives I've met, compassionate, but only in the cases where it meets their narrow, conservative approved constraints (eg forget the gays, teenage mothers, etc.) Again, he gets some points from me for sticking to his guns and taking some viewpoints not popular with the fiscal conservative wing of his party. Still, tough for me to feel too good about someone who denies evolution or is this reactionary. Strategically these things pull him so far right that his only chance seems to be riling up his base and ceding the middle to his opponent. A slim possibility that his economic populism could allow him to build some coalition if the economy keeps tanking. But that's unlikely, I'd label him as an easy beat, with a number of weaknesses and an inability to engage enough of his party to rely on base turnout.

---
That's all folks, real quick, rankings:

Who I like (or dislike the least):
1) McCain
2) Ron Paul
3) Huckabee
4) Romney
5) Guiliani

Easiest to beat:
1) Ron Paul (sorry Paul-heads, but it's the truth)
2) Huckabee
3) Romney
4) Guiliani (a case could be made that Romney is harder b/c he leaves room for Bloomberg to get in the race)
5) McCain