I realize I completely forgot about Fred Thompson. His somnolent campaign makes him a likely irrelevancy, but if he wakes up I kind of put him in the category with Romney. He's Reaganesque in his fuzzy but wrong-headed conservatism, without the real political and personal skills of Reagan. So he'd be a disaster, but a shade less disastrous than those in the Bush/Giuliani/neocon axis of evil. He's so unimpressive that I almost hope that he wins the nomination by default because the base splits over their hate of the other candidates. I think you'd be talking Nixon vs. McGovern levels of landslide in favor of the Democrats if Thompson's the GOP nominee.

Clinton's candidacy is beginning to look so inevitable that I'm beginning to think that the best bet for those who fear her foreign policy and potentially low willingness to repeal the expansion of presidential power is a VP who will balance her on these issues. I'd love to see progressives form a bloc at the Democratic convention demanding a VP who wants to repeal the worst aspects of the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act, end the Iraq War as soon as possible, and hold Bush administration officials accountable for their crimes against the Constitution. Russ Feingold would fit the bill nicely. Chris Dodd wouldn't be a bad fallback if he keeps up his current efforts. James Webb, though generally very conservative for a Democrat, is right on the war and the Constitutional issues and would be someone I could see her choosing. Unfortunately, I see her more likely to choose someone like Biden (among her current rivals) or an empty DLC suit like Evan Bayh.