GOP Top Ten As Of Now

Perhaps you have read numerous accounts now of what has gone wrong in the Republican party, and of how we can repent and find our way back into the good graces of the wise and good voting public. Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post offers this list of ten Republican leaders and potential leaders who will be offering themselves as the One To Whom We Will Turn when we have learned our lesson for having embraced the Boy King, and the O-phoria has worn off. In traditional, Late Night fashion, he starts with number 10.

10. Steve Poizner, the Insurance Commissioner of California, likely Republican nominee for governor in 2010.

9. Haley Barbour, governor of Mississippi since 2003.

8. Jon Huntsman Jr., Governor of Utah.

7. Eric Cantor, Virginia Congressman and now also the House Minority Whip.

6. Mark Sanford, Governor of South Carolina and newly elected chair of the Republican Governors Association.

5. Bob McDonnell, Virginia's attorney general, and surely the Republican candidate for governor in 2009.

4. Mitch Daniels, governor of Indiana.

3. Mitt Romney, who needs no introduction.

2. John Thune, South Dakota Senator who beat former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle in 2004.

1. Bobby Jindal, 37-year-old Indian American governor of Louisiana.

Well, print that up and post it on your wall, then check back with it in three years. Or you can just ignore the whole matter, and whoever shows up in three years shows up. Cillizza explains his exclusion of Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee. I've heard Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas has ambitions beyond the U.S. Senate.

If you're interested in the particulars on these fine horses, you can read "The Friday Line: Ten Republicans To Watch."