As Hugh Hewitt has been saying for a long time, it is a two man race for the Republican nomination. The race is between Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. Rudy will be the nominee, unless the forces that do not want Rudy Giuliani unite behind Mitt Romney. Rudy is not the first choice of over 50% of the Republican primary voters. There may be more than 50% of the Republican primary voters who are willing to settle for Rudy Giuliani. That is not the same thing.

Mike Huckabee is putting on a rally in Iowa right now. That is just for show. The people that would really like Rudy Giuliani have decided to support Huckabee. By supporting Huckabee, they hurt Romney. By hurting Romney, they help Rudy Giuliani. Huckabee has no chance to be selected as the Republican nominee.

The same can be said of John McCain in New Hampshire. A vote for John McCain is a vote that Rudy Giuliani cannot get. Since both of them are fighting for the same voters, the chance that John McCain could derail Rudy Giuliani is interesting.

Neither John McCain nor Mike Huckabee has a chance to be selected to represent the Republican Party as its nominee. Mike Huckabee is sounding more and more like he is running to be the Vice-Presidential pick for Rudy Giuliani. He would give Rudy points where Rudy is weakest, with the evangelical community. He is also for gun control and giving rights to illegal immigrants. On both of those issues he is in step with Rudy Giuliani. It is his right to life stance that Rudy would need to have any chance of pulling in the values voters that make up the largest single group in the Republican primaries.

John McCain has no chance to be either a Presidential pick or a Vice-Presidential pick. He has made a point of being on the wrong side of many issues important to Republicans. He can do well where independents and Democrats get to vote in the Republican primaries, but in Republican only primaries, he stands no chance.

Since the race is really Rudy Giuliani’s to lose, it is interesting to see that he has chosen not to really compete in the early states. He is banking on his name recognition to get him the majority of the states in the Super Tuesday vote. He may be right, but it just sounds wrong. The nominee should be trying to win every state. They should not concede one state or another. Mitt Romney is committed to work hard in every state. Mike Huckabee is only working in Iowa and New Hampshire. He has almost given up on New Hampshire and just stayed in Iowa. He has no campaign outside of Iowa and New Hampshire. John McCain is competing everywhere. His campaign is on life support everywhere there are Republicans. Fred Thompson’s campaign has degenerated to pointing fingers at one thing or another that has kept him from gaining traction. He is falling everywhere. Ron Paul has fanatic followers. They consistently vote him the top person in on-line polls. He does not register much in the way of support in any other poll, however. It is just best to think of him as an oddity.

How will it all play out? I still think that Romney will take Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Michigan. All those are before Super Tuesday. With all those wins, he has some momentum on his side. He should be able to get at least half of the delegates on Super Tuesday. With all that, he should be able to put Rudy Giuliani away on March 4.

On the Democrat side things are getting dicey for Mrs. Clinton. She is in a three way tie for the lead in Iowa and in second in New Hampshire. She cannot lose both states and win the nomination. I still think she will pull it out. She has her lie squad out searching out truth and turning it into a lie. The lie squad is also putting out lies then denying that they put out the lie. The lie squad is good. The bad part is that people know about the lie squad and people know what they do. The lie squad has no credibility. They can say whatever they want and not be believed by the majority of the people in the country. Only the most ardent Democrats will believe the lie squad when they put out their lies. They have to hide what Mrs. Clinton believes and what she will do.

In the end the US will choose between the dark, squalid future of Mrs. Clinton and the bright future of Mitt Romney. The US almost always chooses the light over the dark. I sincerely hope that the US has not fallen so far as to believe in lies.