And The Nominees Are . . .

Last night, at a holiday dinner party in D.C., the Curmudgeon and friends--pretty much all Democrats--tried to predict who the nominees will be, including running mates. A tall task this year.

It was an interesting exercise amongst a very politically savvy group. On the Democratic side, everyone thought Hillary would eventually be the nominee. The ticket would be either Clinton/Richardson or Clinton/Obama. Our consensus was that a Clinton/Obama ticket would be fabulous, if it could be pulled off. Polls show that Democrats around the country like that scenario, too.

[We did have one intriguing pick: Hillary with Virginia Governor Tim Kaine as her running mate.]

On the Republican side, not surprisingly, everyone was all over the map. A couple of our predictors thought Giuliani would prevail. One said Huckabee would be nice because he'd be easy to beat, at which there was immediate protest from others not to take Huckabee too lightly. There was some agreement that a Giuliani/Huckabee pairing might be just the ticket for the GOP.

Someone thought Romney still had a good chance, and some wondered about a full-circle tilt back to McCain. (Notice that the major newspaper endorsements in Iowa and New Hampshire are going to McCain.)

Kay Bailey Hutchison and Liddy Dole got thrown out as possibilities for a VP pick--to counter Hillary.

Where did the Curmudgeon come out? What the heck, we decided to go for the long bomb! Our prediction: a deadlocked GOP convention turns to someone not running, because all the candidates in the race now will be viewed as "damaged goods" by September, when the convention rolls around. The party's savior: Newt Gingrich. His running mate: Tommy Thompson.

Now that's a long shot, for sure. A simpler prediction: it will be chaos for the GOP and they could well turn to someone not running now. And, their chaotic selection process will spin-off independent third-party candidates.