Candidate Wishes

With the approach of Three Kings Day (or, Epiphany) and the Iowa caucuses, it is time to look at the gift wish for Thursday, January 3, 2007 of the major Democratic and Repub Presidential candidates. Here we go:

Hillary Clinton- a first place finish; otherwise, second place to John Edwards. Edwards is not nearly as well-financed as Obama, and the media will spin an Obama victory as "historic."

Barack Obama- a first place finish; otherwise, second place to Edwards. (If Clinton wins here, she may be unstoppable.)

John Edwards- first place, anyway he can get it legally and ethically; and with hopes that Obama then finishes second. (There must be a reason Edwards has made it clear that he prefers Obama to Clinton, and that Edward's chief strategist Joe Trippi takes every opportunity to criticize the campaign of Hillary Clinton- but not of Barack Obama.)

Mitt Romney- first place- and a fourth place finish for John McCain, his chief rival in New Hampshire (and with the non-evangelical wing of the Repub Party)

Mike Huckabee- a first place finish by a sufficient margin to overcome media hostility to a GOP candidate who apparently believes that greed is not the highest value to aspire to.

John McCain- third place, so that the other Establishment Republican (F.T., see below) experienced in the ways of Washington comes in only fourth; and an Obama defeat in the Democratic primary so that independents are not attracted to Obama in New Hampshire (but do vote in the Repub primary for the Arizona Senator).

Fred Thompson- third place- and first place for Romney, so the other Southerner doesn't come in first. If- a big "if"- Thompson survives Iowa and New Hampshire and Huckabee is weakened, he has good shot at winning in critical South Carolina.

I would make a prediction. But it would be coming from someone who believed that the New York Giants (10-6) would scrap to win five games this season, the Baltimore Ravens (5-11) would compete for the Super Bowl, and no team could go undefeated in the National Football League. So I'll spare everyone.