Now THERE'S a thought!

 With the Republican Primary in 2008 looking increasingly likely to be a head-to-head between John "First Amendment?" McCain and Rudi "Due Process?" Giuliani, I was starting to wonder if there'd be anything to keep me interested. I mean, if Newsweek's latest cover is to be believed, then the Dems face an even worse pair of choices: Sen. Barack Obama who, in addition to being a certifiable socialist, has approximately 20min. of total national political experience, and Hillary Clinton nee Rodham, who is possibly the sleaziest pol to run for the office since Johnson. (There's also a rumor that Boy Wonder may try again. *Yaaawwwnnn*) So whoever wins the Republican nomination is pretty much guaranteed to be the better choice for the job.

Which isn't to say he's going to be anything like a good choice. And indeed, if it's down to McCain and Giuliani, I think I may take up (very) heavy drinking till it's over.

Not that I'm voting Republican anyway. I'll stick to my voting algorithm - which means I vote Libertarian in every running where there's a candidate and Republican when there's not. I admit I got a little excited when I heard Gingrich might be running, but while I still think he's worlds better than McCain or Giuliani, he's been saying some pretty dopey stuff recently. So after calm reflection I think I won't break my perfect Libertarian voting record if he manages to get nominated.

Today I heard one other interesting suggestion, though, that gave me a couple seconds' pause: South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. Yup, Mr. Pig Shit himself.

C'mon - the "only in South Carolina" political stunts aside (it isn't just the pigs - Sanford has also been serving free grits to state guests, driving himself around in an SUV rather than the traditional chauffeured limo, and sleeping on a cot in his office rather than in the Governor's Mansion. Of course, this DIY approach means he sometimes forgets important things.) - you gotta love a guy who started off his term by vetoing all 106 spending bills proposed. Sanford took the reigns during the first period since 1955 that the state took in less in tax revenues than the year before, and despite a weak veto mechanism (it's typically easy to overried a governor's veto in Southern states) managed to keep South Carolina solvent anyway.

I don't know that much about Sanford, and he's not likely to win the primary anyway, so I don't know that it matters. But if the linked article is right, people may be putting pressure on him to run for President. And he may have a better chance than you think if the Republican base really is fed up with Bush's single-minded ambition to be the biggest deficit spender since Johnson.

Here's hoping.