Maybe it means voters are tired of Nixon, Dole, and Bushes? This year was only the 2nd presidential ticket since 1950 that the GOP didn’t run one of them.

Maybe it means that they want something fresh, exciting, and new, someone with energy and new ideas?

A politician should show a certain amount of flexibility, a willingness to compromise, an ability to adapt – but Romney is willing to express three contradictory ideas to three different audiences within the same morning. That’s not a statesman, that’s a used car dealer. He hasn’t caught on to the fact that the internet exists, and I don’t expect him to survive as a politician unless he develops some personal integrity.

Biden got into trouble for calling Obama “clean”, but nobody will ever call Palin that. She’s got dirty laundry she needs to take care of. And that’s a shame, because she comes across well. It’s not lack of knowledge about national and international affairs that threatens her at this point; that’s easy to acquire. Lots of people are willing to tell you what you need to know. If she develops a greater sense of honesty and personal integrity, she’ll be hard to beat.

Bobby Jindal seems to be awfully smart – and the fact that he’s trying to lay low indicates that he’s got street smarts as well. After decades in which GOP candidates have tried to make a virtue of ignorance, Jindal is a refreshing change.

Ron Paul was not my kind of guy, but more on style than anything else. But the Ron Paul supporters were remarkable in their ability to raise money and did fairly well at organizing. I liked their enthusiasm.

I think the general direction of the party will probably be set by the first quarter of 2009–at least for the 2010 election cycle. It could change for the 2012, but I really doubt it.

As another indicator: it’s been funny to have so many of my social conservative friends express a new interest in Ron Paul in the past two months!

But what does it communicate to the remainder of the Party if the leading contenders for 2012 are clearly Jindal, Palin and Romney? Does that do something to indicate the direction of the party? I think it does. If the “squishes” like Christ and Graham (is that serious?) are kept in the background I think we have another round in the fight to make sure that principled conservatism returns to the center of the GOP.

There’s an old joke about two little kids at the beach, alone, and they decide to take off their duds and go wading. The girl looks at the boy and said, “Gee, I didn’t realize there was THAT much difference between Republicans and Democrats”.

And while that’s a joke, there is a VERY real difference in how they run for office. Will Rogers got part of it right when he said he didn’t belong to any organized political party, he was a Democrat. And Chris Matthews gets part of it right when he says Republicans fall in line and Democrats fall in love.

If there’s an acceptable Republican that stands out early in the race, other Republicans will drop out rather than challenge him. But what happens if both Palin and Jindal are polling well, come December 2011?

One thing is clear: it’ll be interesting.