Dear friends, it might be thought incredible that over two years before the start of the 2008 Republican primary season your humble correspondent would undertake to predict the outcome.

The fact is, I have been prepared for some time to make the following predictions.

It is due to my reluctance to humiliate other pundits that I have refrained from offering this analysis till now.

And I would forbear even further, did it not pain me to see other analysts muddling along, wasting gallons of misguided ink on this or that potential candidate... naming supposed favorites based on early polls of Republican voters.

I am happy, my dear readers, to greatly simplify the national discourse on this subject by revealing the following astonishing fact:

There are only two persons who can possibly capture the Republican nomination for President in 2008.

You may ask, how can I, Mortimus Squid, be privy to such astonishing information ... at a stage where most prognosticators are still debugging their failed predictions from the last presidential election?

It is elementary, actually ... the common process of elimination, carried out with uncommon care and skill.

Allow me to approach the matter as follows:

(1) I will identify the "dwarves"  ... the third tier of potential nominees, who not only cannot win, but who could never actually be in serious contention.

(2) I will discuss the "giants" who cannot win ... those candidates who have the star power, the potential fund-raising prowess, and the resume to leave large footprints on the race ... but who cannot in the end win.

(3) I will name the two candidates that have a possibility of winning the nomination ... one of whom will be the Republican nominee in 2008.

Since this post is becoming a bit lengthy, I will begin in a new post.