The year is 2008. (Don’t ask any questions, let’s just pretend.)

The last two years of President Bush’s term have been about building a legacy and reestablishing goodwill in the world.  Sadly, President Bush’s effectiveness has been marginalized as he no longer poses a threat to the Democrats and his coattails have been effectively shredded.

As one recalls, in the days of the Republican revolution in the early 90's, a new branch of the Democratic Party sprung to life that was more conservative and more centrist. William Jefferson Clinton benefitted from the political change and filled the vacuum of leadership missing in the Party.

Leading up to the 2008 political race scattered Republicans were looking for new answers.  Like the Democrats in the past, the Republicans rejected the political extremists and hawkish leaders. Immediately after the 2006 Democrat sweep, the consensus of the party was that conservative central ideals must be embraced without abandoning conservative morality.  Now, in 2008 (wink, wink), Libertarian views and Christian fundamentalists have been all but abandoned in favor of centrist themes with a moral twist.

The new centrist-heros of the party are William Bennett and Colin Powell, though the moral majority still claims its geographically limited southern foothold.  Recognizing the need for new faces, the 2006 Republican leadership looked at the Bush legacy established through two presidencies and recognized that taking uncompromising positions on non-morality issues was the wrong approach. Arnold Schwarzenegger set the example in recapturing liberal California while his fellow Republicans were burned at the polls.

Looking to retain the White House in 2006, the party’s rank-and-file took one last look at John McCain and decided he was not an acceptable candidate. McCain had been too vocal in his criticism when the party was down. He had burned too many bridges.  Additionally, is age did not send a message of vigor in a time when the country was facing great challenges. With Bob Dole, there were a lot of favors outstanding.  With McCain, all those favors had already been called in, so McCain was allowed to continue in the Senate leadership, but was given no support beyond that role.

Rudy Giuliani was also an attractive candidate, but the pundits believed he lacked the moral character to gain broad Republican support in the primaries. He was considered for the vice president position, but most considered him too strong for the second chair.

Starting in mid-2007, it became more clear that there were only two viable, national candidates: Tommy Thompson, the former governor of Wisconsin, and Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts.  Both had their strengths and weaknesses, but only one would prevail in the public’s mind.

Tommy Thompson’s candidacy was short lived. Though politically smart and well-liked, his association with the Bush Presidency made him unelectable, despite his creative ideas. That left Mitt Romney. The momentum started to build in the summer of 2007 for Romney, but there was a persistent concern that Romney could not win over the narrow-minded religious right – spelled E-V-A-N-G-E-L-C-A-L-S.  Though Mitt Romney was still winning over the hearts of mainstream Republicans with his outstanding credentials and persona, he was generating a backlash among the fundamentalists who were willing to vote their religion, regardless of Romney’s obvious skill and talent as a political leader.

But we were no longer in 2006. In two years, Romney was able to solidify his position with the help of two United States Senators: Trent Lott and Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Seeing a political door of opportunity open, Trent Lott was able to use Senator Reid’s Mormon beliefs against Reid while simultaneously strengthening Romney’s ties with the Moral Majority. As the Mormon faith is entirely in-step with the religious right on all moral issues, Lott began to question Senator Reid’s position on these moral issues, thus isolating Reid in his own party and waving a banner of unity with Romney. Lott’s actions essentially coalesced the Christian Right around the common moral positions between Mormons and Christian Fundamentalists.

In a calculated move to prevent Lotts agenda and further advance his own political agenda, Senator Reid began to chip away at the far left as being too extreme and the far right as being intolerant to their main candidate simply because of his religion. Centrists morality becomes his new banner and Harry Reid is “born again” in the ideals of his Mormon belief system.

Recognizing that the Democrats are losing their worker base, Reid sets an agenda to recruit moderately conservative Northern Union members and Hispanics in hopes of blocking Romney from taking the White House. Reid is smart enough to know that the left-wing of his party will not carry the party’s bid for the presidency.

In the 2007 the duel between Senators Lott and Reid put Mormon beliefs in the forefront of discussion. Southern Republicans and religious conservatives remain unconvinced.  Because of their concern that someone must monitor the Romney presidency, Rudy Giuliani’s fight for a position on the ticket as Vice President is effectively derailed. Only one man gains the trust of religious conservatives: Trent Lott.

Trent Lott became the party’s vice presidential nominee for many reasons. First, he was actively engaged in defending Romney and building bridges between the various factions of the party.  Second, he was an effective advocate for the party and he inflicted some political damage to the Democratic party and its leader Harry Reid.  Perhaps most importantly, however, he became a check on Romney’s Mormonism for the Southern Conservatives.

The compromise was acceptable.  Religious conservatives got a voice in the White House, a check on the Presidential candidate, and a potential shot at the Oval Office in eight years.  The ticket coalesces as Romney/Lott for 2008 and the party is reborn.

With a new look, the ticket looks to gain from a previously untouched northeast corridor while capitalizing on its southern strengths.  The new ticket presents new opportunities in the West.  States like Washington and Oregon are comfortable with the centrist views of Romney and suddenly are in play.  Even the State of California looks to be on the table for the first time in decades as President Schwarzenegger seeks to become Secretary of State under the new presidency. With Schwarzenegger’s endorsement and fundraising and Romney’s good looks it is a picture-perfect race for the superficial state.  

The Mormon population in Nevada, Arizona, Utah, California, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Texas came together with Christian Conservatives to assure every effort was made to win these states.  The influence of the Mormon faith in the Hispanic community unexpectedly robs Democrats of their previously protected voting bloc.

Perhaps most surprising, however, was Romney’s ability to attract Northeastern voters.  An unexpected endorsement by Senator Lieberman and several key union leaders put many of the Northeastern states into play for the Romney/Lott ticket.  Hoping to avoid political oblivion, Tommy Thompson aggressively campaigns for the ticket in Wisconsin and in Minnesota.  Jeb Bush delivers Florida and Lindsey Graham was an effective cheerleader in the moderate high-ground.

On the Democratic side, the ticket of Hillary Clinton and Bob Graham, the former Florida Governor, is formidable and like before Florida becomes a pivotal state. Bob Graham’s experience as the State’s governor and his success as a Senator make Florida a true fighting ground.  Likewise, Graham’s persona is seen as strong but not sufficiently overpowering to minimize Hillary Clinton’s role at the top of the ticket.

So who wins the presidency in 2008?  I can’t tell you.  It’s only October 2008 and the election is only two weeks away. It looks to be close, but the edge goes to Romney.