Brownback is Out! Who’s next?

BrownbackSam Brownback has planned to announce his official departure from the GOP Presidential race on Friday. I wonder if this will affect his appearance in the debate on Sunday. Frankly, I didn’t expect him to drop out this soon, despite the fact that he should have dropped out several months ago. I suppose scenes like this were too much for him:

So I can’t say I blame him. It’s about time he got out of this race and let the big boys battle it out. Who’s next? Tancredo? Duncan Hunter? We can only hope.

Ron Paul won’t bail out until there’s a clear winner, which is fine. His supporters are still under the impression that their Babylon 5-like internet following will be enough to win him the nomination.

Huckabee has to maintain his “bottom of the top-tier” status so as to set him up for a potential Vice Presidential nod. And rightly so. I think he’d be a good VP, but I’d rather see the candidate choose someone different. Perhaps J.C. Watts?

Duncan Hunter is a principled conservative, but he should get out soon, regardless of the fact that he has more supporters than Tancredo. Speaking of Tancredo, that guy should’ve been gone from the race after the first debate. It’s clear that he is definitely not Presidential material.

With Fred Thompson’s campaign floundering and McCain’s increasing irrelevance, this race is really down to two people: Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney.

If Romney can sway the social conservatives and evangelicals, the nomination is his. But if Rudy keeps making an issue out of Iran and the idea that he’s the “only candidate” that can beat Hillary Clinton, he may pull some reluctant traditional conservatives his way.

At this point, if you’re a fiscal conservative, it’s 50/50 between Romney and Giuliani. If you’re a social conservative, Romney is by far the best.

Even though Brownback is leaving, you must admit, this GOP race is definitely much more interesting than what’s happening on the Democratic side.