who will president bush support in 08?

[WalterMitty]

i suppose he will have to remain publically neutral during the primaries.  however, im sure he will support a candidate behind the scenes.

any chance he may encourage cheney to run?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

i suppose he will have to remain publically neutral during the primaries.  however, im sure he will support a candidate behind the scenes.

any chance he may encourage cheney to run?

Why would he remain neutral? He's supported plenty of people in various primaries. Maybe he'll lend early support to some fellow wingnut like Allen, Brownback, Frist, or his brother.

[Moooooo]

Frist, Allen, or Santorum.  If First is not productive as SML the list will drop to Allen or Santorum.

[Keystone Phil]

If Santorum runs, he'll support Santorum. Otherwise, Frist or Allen.

[Joe Republic]

If Jeb eventually enters the race, then obviously George will support him.

[TheWildCard]

If Rice were to run he'd support her.

[opebo]

Jeb.

[Keystone Phil]

If Jeb eventually enters the race, then obviously George will support him.

Obviously. I guess he should have been mentioned but it's very unlikely that he'll run.

[AkSaber]

Is it possible that President Bush would support McCain beause McCain supported him in '04?

[A18]

No way Cheney runs, regardless of what Newt Gingrich says.

[minionofmidas]

No way Bush supports McCain. In fact, most likely he'll support whoever has the best chance of beating McCain.

It really depends. If there is a very divided field, he'd probably have to remain neutral. Then again, he'll probably do his best to prevent a very divided field. He'll (try and) see to it that there is an obvious heir apparent. It might be Cheney but Iit's probably going to be someone else? Who? I don't know. But I guess we all will by this time two years on.

[TheresNoMoney]

He'll support one of the wingnuts-Jeb, Santorum, Allen, or Brownback

[TomC]

He'll support Frist- and it on't matter how productive he is as much as how loyal he is. And Frist has proved to be pretty loyal.

Cheney will not run unless for some reason he is President at the time.

[Joe Republic]

Is it possible that President Bush would support McCain beause McCain supported him in '04?

Maybe in a perfect world where politicians actually believe in repaying favors to each other.  Even so, McCain was hardly the most fervent Bush supporter in 2004, despite everything he said or did to that effect.  Would he have offered to be John Kerry's running mate if that was the case?

[Beet]

I think he will support Frist in secret with his influence, and there may be some fleeting rumors that he is supporting Frist, which he will promptly deny. Then if Frist does well in the primaries without his public backing, he will eventually make it be known that he supports Frist. However, if Frist goes down I think he will have to regroup and pick someone else, most likely whoever is ahead.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I could see him supporting Frist, Allen, Santorum, or Brownback due to them being as conservative, if not more so, as he is.

He would back Cheney if he ran, but like has been said in this thread, he's not going to run unless something happens to Bush and he has to become acting President.  His heart just won't allow him to handle the rigorous demans of Commander-in-Chief.  Plus, Halliburton would doom Cheney, as it almost made Bush hand the keys to the Oval Office over to John Kerry.

Jeb Bush has said repeatedly that he will not run, so I will take him at his word (dangerous, I know).  If he did, by some longshot chance, run, then both Bush 43, and, naturally, Bush 41 would support him as well

[TomC]

Would anyone buy the theory that Bush would support a relatively weak candidiate to tip the scales to the Dems so  that Jeb has a shot in four years. I mean wouldn't Pres Hillary be the perfect argument for brother Jeb getting in?

[Joe Biden 2020]

TCash,

I doubt President Bush would risk such.  If he supported a weaker candidate (i.e. Romney, Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho, Richard Lugar of Indiana, etc.) and the Democrat won, then if Jeb Bush did not run in 2012, then he will regret his decision in 2008 and would risk his status and rank among the die-hard Republicans.  I think it would be too much of a risk, especially if the Democrats started a long streak in the White House as the Republicans did with Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush in the 1980s and early 1990s and if the Democrats took the Congress back.  That would be a nightmarish scenario for the GOP, but it could happen.

[Notre Dame rules!]

TCash,

It's possible, but that would also lend credence to the idea that Bubba was trying to sabotage Kerry in order to give Hillary a shot at it.  Both are possible, but how likely?

[TomC]

TCash,

It's possible, but that would also lend credence to the idea that Bubba was trying to sabotage Kerry in order to give Hillary a shot at it.  Both are possible, but how likely?

I wouldn't say it's as simple as yes or to but to what degree. Obviously it would have to be a careful manuver. And it is unlikely that such subtle, covert moves would actually tip the balance, but it's worth questioning, on both sides.

[MODU]

If Rice were to run he'd support her.

This is about the only one I could agree with on the list.  If anyone from his 'team' runs, he'll back them.  However, he will refrain from supporting anyone until the field narrows down to just one or two candidates, and the party needs to back someone in order to begin the hard campaigning.

[Wakie]

If his brother or Cheney run its a no-brainer.  But assuming that they do not I think he'll sit back and wait until after the primaries to endorse the GOP candidate.

[MissCatholic]

Guiliani or McCain

[Joe Republic]

Guiliani or McCain

Nope.