1,2,3, - I think Obama is GREAT - I like his cool, intelligent demeaner, his willingness and ability to work with the other side, and his forward looking attitude but I just keep going back to his awesome campaign (both primary and general).  If he can run a campaign as phenominal as that I am all for trusting he will make the right decisions at the right time.  Now, even though I have partaken of the kool aid, I can still do a little of my own thinking and I know Obama is going to make mistakes but I will bet a day without caffine they will be few and far between.  As the next Queen of the Universe my answer to one through three is to banish them.  Guess who is President of the United States?

4 Bill Clinton is not going to help Martin.  Obama could.  Excitment could still be built up around that run off.  I don't know.

5 I think it would be the most fun if Palin ran only because I welcome the opprotunity to make fun of losers who will never confront me directly and call me on being a little shit.  The republicans have 2 years to get their act together and decide what to do with thier evangelical base.  It doesn't matter who they run if they can't get the moderate independents. They start to lose their base if they appeal to the moderates.  Which baby to push out of the nest?

1. Clinton would be a dynamic, ambitious Sec. of State. That's good. We need someone to bite into Israel and the Palestinians like a rabid pitbull. But I'm afraid of the scandals, infighting, and leaks that have plagued both Clintons since they entered politics. What's the point of even vetting Bill? If he hasn't done something too controversial already, we can be confident that he will soon.

2. You know how I feel about Lieberhate. Ugly team politics and vindictiveness. People can't get past that sense of betrayal. Bad boys must be punished, right? That said, Lieberman is a weenie, and I have always thought so, even when he was our VP candidate. Especially then. Made me cringe.

3. Agreed. The error many made in judging McCain was to conflate lack partisanship with being above politics. He is and has always been extremely political. He obviously was not above lying and lowball tactics. But he really is a maverick in the sense that he's not a partisan. His chief concern is not the Republican party but John McCain. Obama can use that to his advantage.

4. Agree on Georgia and Lieb. Not sure about MN. I'll go with 58 to be contrarian.

5. I completely agree with your "ask again in two years" proscription but disagree with your confident "of course not." Two years from now, Palin may be eclipsed by stronger Republican candidates but not necessarily. If the same quality of bozos that ran in the last primary run in the next one, and if she can avoid embarrassing herself, she's got a good shot.

Can anybody remember the last time the person pegged as the frontrunner 2 years out actually captured the party's nomination? (Not including incumbent presidents, of course.) That's why I wasn't worried in 2006 and 2007, when people said Hillary had a lock on the nomination. It's like the kiss of death--being the frontrunner that early pretty much guarantees you won't win it.

1.  Hillary at State = Obama wins.  Hillary's influence is sidelined on the domestic agenda in the Congress.  They will be merely a rubberstamp.  I'm very ambivalent about Hill heading up State.  It will give her a larger stage, but in deference to Obama's agenda rather than her own.  She's a team player and will be forceful in carrying out Admin policy.  It's insane to think she'd give up a position she'd been elected to in the Senate to backstab Obama in his cabinet, especially since he has the authority to get rid of the Secretary of State at any time.  There's much less in it for Hill at State.  But on the other hand, it will anger Clinton haters  and Bill Richardson.  So I am slowly coming around to the idea of Hillary As Secretary of State but for all the wrong reasons.  And if you have any doubt just how sidelined a Sec of State can be in an Administration where the President is just trying to keep his competition close at hand, look no further than Colin Powell.

2. Lieberman - gross cave at Obama's command.  Lieberman is a liberal on basically everything else but homeland and national security.  If in a fit of pique he decided to punish Dems by running to the GOP caucus, he is as morally bankrupt as they come.  I don't believe he would do so, and furthermore, I'd rather reach out to a moderate Republican like Susan Collins or Arlen Specter that is trustworthy and honorable than that slimy putz.  Lieberman has NO standing to be making demands about what he would and will not accept. And this is from someone who has been sharply critical of Obama in the primary.  For me to say Lieberman was out of bounds and unfairly attacked Obama should say something.  I would have called his bluff and let him caucus with a party he disagrees with 90% of the time if that would make him feel more at home.

3.  I never hated McCain, I always thought he was a very decent Republican, even though he was wrong on what I cared about.  That said, McCain's irrelevant in his own party and in national politics right now, much moreso than Hillary.  Which is why Obama's meeting with McCain is pretty meaningless.

4.  I'm guessing 58.

5.  Palin is a no-go for 2012.