The first hurdle of the Holiday Season is over. Traditionally many seeking the presidency wait until after the holidays to officially announce their candidacy. Right before Turkey Day most potential candidates are hesitant to make an announcement that would be tied too close to the just held November elections while the prospect of a run in the next election seems both distant and daunting.

The usual response to any questions about running sound like this. “I plan on taking some time over the coming holiday season to sit down with my family, look over the options and discuss the consequences and then make a decision in the New Year.”

Thanksgiving has come and gone which means in a little over a month we should be hearing some major announcements. Until then, enjoy the news in The Corner and enjoy the shopping!

The Race for the Conservative Soul
Many in the Republican Party are looking over the data from the 2006 election to see what it all means for their party. One of the big issues in 2008 for Republicans is how will moderate candidates fair in the primaries and how will conservative candidates fair in the general election? The same can be said about moderate and liberal candidates for Democrats but with what many see as a national referendum against Republicans in 2006 the debate is raging much stronger within the GOP.

This issue will undoubtedly dominate the primary season in the Republican Party. With two moderate Republicans, Giuliani and McCain (though some would question the McCain moderate label) dominating the opinion polls at the moment some potential conservative candidates are seeing a chance to rise. The first is Republican Gov. Mitt Romney who has officially opened the debate in the Party, and all before anyone has actually announced.

In an interview with the Examiner Romney questioned the conservative credentials of John McCain & Rudy Giuliani saying “I’m a conservative Republican, there’s no question about that. I’m at a different place than the other two.”

Romney specifically attacked McCain’s position on gay marriage which he called disingenuous. McCain has said he is against gay marriage but that the issue should be decided upon by the states and not with a federal ban.

Romney has also used abortion as another issue where he claims very conservative credentials. It should be noted however that Romeny’s views on abortion have been questioned in the past. In 1994 while running for the Senate he vowed to keep abortion “safe and legal in this country” and in 2002 as a candidate for governor he said he would not change the states abortion laws. Romney has claimed several times that his views on abortion have “evolved” since 1994.

Meanwhile John Ferguson compares the two latest speeches by John McCain to the speeches given by Ronald Reagan in 1977 which helped him become the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination. In many ways this election could go a long way in defining what a “conservative” and a Republican are. With John McCain looking at fiscal and governance issues and harkening back to Ronald Reagan and others like Mitt Romney looking at social and religious issues that have dominated the party for the last few decades.

The Roundup

Robert Novak writes in the Washington Post that only one Republican, expected republican presidential candidate Duncan Hunter, would go on record to discuss Republican dismay over the firing of now former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. To sum it up, Hunter was not happy.

The New York Daily News is reporting that Hillary Clinton is pushing for the 2008 Democratic Convention to be held in NYC. At the moment NYC and Denver Colorado are the two cities left in the running. Clinton’s aides say the choice has nothing to do with a potential presidential run.

Meanwhile the Benton Evening News has more information about Hunter’s recent visit to Illinois including his stop at an Army National Guard Armory.

The NY Daily News reports that Democratic Presidential Candidate in 2004 the Rev. Al Sharpton is considering a run for the presidency again in 2008.