While visiting PollingReport.com to see the latest polls on the Missouri senate race, still a statistical tie by the way, I noticed another set polls I found interesting.  It was conducted by CNN and asked solid Republicans and Democrats who they favored in the 2008 presidential election.  On the Republican side it’s not good news for John McCain, who everyone seems to think is the presumptive GOP nominee in 2008.  Unfortunately for two-faced John, people are more interested in Rudy Giuliani, which is not all that surprising.  I’m not fan of the man, but he is a much more moderate Republican than even McCain.  What I continue to find interesting in this polls, and CNN is not the only one to conduct them, is the continued interest in having another President Clinton, this time a woman named Hillary.  In fact, most of the head-to-head pairings show Clinton either ahead or in a statistical tie with both McCain and Giuliani!  What made me do a double-take at these polls is a recent conversation I had with several friends, all moderate to right of center Democrats, who favor a Clinton run in 2008.  These are people who became very disenfranchised with Bill Clinton following the Lewinski scandal; people who eight years ago had contempt for Hillary Clinton for defending her husband’s behavior.  I just find it odd how they’ve changed their minds.

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of Hillary Clinton, but I would have no problem voting for her as president.  Right wingers like to accuse her of being a Liberal, a name she doesn’t seem to mind, but I think they don’t know Mrs. Clinton very well.  Her record in the Senate over the last six years has been far from a Liberal’s dream.  She voted for allowing the president into Iraq and continues to stand by that vote.  She has reached out to Conservative religious leaders to look at ways to decrease the number of abortions; although, she continues to be pro-choice — the old “safe, legal, rare” meme.  She has strong national security and military credentials and she’s not afraid to work with the other side of the aisle.

I don’t know if Giuliani is running, but I think having both him and Hillary running against each other would make for an interesting race.  Giuliani’s pro-gay and pro-choice stances would make it difficult for right-wingers and Conservative Evangelicals to vote for him.  Granted, he would, like McCain has been doing, have to take a strong Conservative stance on these issues, but there is no way in hell he will change the GOP platform to be even minutely pro-choice or pro-gay.  None!  All of this would come out in debates and people would discover that neither of these candidates is too far apart on their respective political viewpoints.  That, of course, would make for a very tight election, but if Conservative Evangelicals stayed home, the election would definitely tilt in Hillary’s direction.

I’ve never read the Army Times, Air Force Times, Navy Times or Marine Corps Times, so I have no idea if they are usually pro-military to the point of never saying anything bad about current military leaders and/or presidents.  I have read a few letters in these papers written by active dutiy soldiers that are both pro and con when it comes to the war in Iraq, but only when they were posted by other in a blog.  Now, it seems, these four military papers are taking a stand that will most assuredly bring them grief:  they are, collectively, calling for the resigantion of Donald Rumsfeld.  I’m not sure what the repurcussions of this statement will be, but it will be seen as a traitorous slap in the face by those on the right.  Especially those who seem to think only Republicans properly understand the needs of the military.