Farewell For Now

2008: Warner, McCain, Pataki, Vilsack and more

"Warner's the guy in the background no one knows about," Nelson said. "But as a governor, people will give him a look."

While in Des Moines this weekend for the annual summer meeting of the National Governors Association, Warner is doing no active political campaigning. The governor, who steps down Monday as chairman of the association after a yearlong tenure, has not disclosed his political ambitions.

But in perhaps the clearest sign so far of his interest in a presidential race, Warner held an undisclosed, private meeting with Iowa's veteran Democratic attorney general, Tom Miller, to discuss Iowa politics, according to party sources here. Warner would neither confirm nor deny the meeting.
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Warner also headlined a $500-a-plate fundraising luncheon for the Iowa Democratic Party. The exclusive lunch, in the private Embassy Club on the 40th floor of Des Moines' signature office tower, was closed to the press.

The governor already has formed a federal political action committee, called Forward Together, that could be used to help finance a potential presidential campaign. And he has hired Monica Dixon, once a deputy chief of staff to former Vice President Al Gore, to help advise him on national politics on a part-time basis.

If John McCain were just another U.S. senator, you might say that it was quite a star turn, particularly for a Republican who is actually quite conservative on social issues. And since it's not just another senator, but John McCain, a man whose life story is of courage and service, maybe you'd say it's part of what makes him an appealing figure across generational lines. As he explained it, "It impressed my kids."

But McCain isn't just another senator. He is currently - according to the polls - the "front-runner" in the Republican race for the 2008 nomination, although Republicans are sharply divided as to whether that can hold in a process dominated by party regulars and Christian conservatives.
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In the end, what may be at issue is not whether conservatives share McCain's sense of humor but whether they come to question his judgment.

Pataki started Saturday with a visit to a farmers' market. He then met privately with state GOP activists. He also joined other Republican governors for a party luncheon that raised $100,000. And later that night Pataki went to a Little League baseball game.

Pataki also met with Des Moines Register political columnist David Yepsen. One aide to the governor said, "It was more us picking his brain. Asking, what are the things we should be doing to prepare."

He gave every appearance Saturday of someone trying to generate buzz. With TV cameras and boom mics in tow, Pataki breezed through the convention center with a small entourage of aides and supporters, stopping briefly to chat in Spanish with Puerto Rico Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá.

Huckabee, the incoming NGA chairman, said campaigning for Republicans during the past three presidential elections has taught him to appreciate the primaries and caucuses.

"It's very refreshing that, in order for a person to seek the highest job in the land, they have to listen to people out in middle America," said Huckabee. "Candidates are forced to go out to small groups of people, actually go out to people's homes to a farm in rural Iowa and sit down. Instead of making a speech, they have to listen. It's more about what they hear than what they say."

Another GOP governor, Massachusetts' Mitt Romney, is preparing more aggressively for an '08 bid than any other sitting governor.

"But he hasn't been doing county fairs or house parties like some of the other governors," said Romney spokeswoman Julie Teer. "And ... he's not holding big dinners for reporters."

Instead, Romney spent Friday at a roundtable discussion of six GOP governors, followed by a fund-raiser for the Iowa GOP. Later, he met with Republican leaders of the state legislature and had dinner with former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a former client of Mike Murphy, Romney's chief political adviser.