The Republicans presidential candidates held another debate today; However, it was a tad meaningless because 2 of the main contenders where not there.  Neither Fred Thomson or Newt Gingrich have official declared their presidential candidacies, but Thomson is expected to enter soon and Gingrich sounds like a candidate as he goes around the country discussing everything from the war on terror to public schools. That gives us 4 serious contenders for the nominations: Giuliani, Romney, Thompson, and Gingrich. (As I stated before, McCain is done) Giuliani is currently the front runner, but I don't see him having strong support among the cultural conservatives. In addition, a Giuliani nomination would make it easier for Hillary Clinton to win some southern states which might make Republican primary voters leery of voting for him. Thompson, while being the media darling for the past few months has major drawbacks; His senate career is undistinguished, he is known for being lazy, and oh yeah his wife is half his age and way too hot for a politicians wife. (Click here to check her out) Gingrich has a lot of appeal with the party base in the fact he "is a straight talker" who is not afraid to shoot his mouth off on every issue. In addition, many of his views jive well with the Republican base. However, his style is more suited for his former job in The House Of Representatives. The white hot spot light of a white house run will bring attention to all the off the cuff statements he makes which will lead to countless controversies. In addition, he has more demons in his past then an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. That leaves us with the guy who I think will be the last white guy standing. Glove Romney err I mean Mitt Romney. Romney biggest liabilities are his Mormon faith, flip flop on abortion, and being the governor of one of the most liberal states in the nation. That last fact, he can spin pretty easily as some sort of badge of honor, but the first 2 will hurt him. Other then that though, he talks a really good game, looks like a president, has a strong fund raising network, and his views are generally in line with the conservative base. For Mitt to win the nomination, he needs a first or second place showing in Iowa followed by a strong win in New Hampshire where he is currently polling really well. With the attention and extra money he gets from the New Hampshire win, he could propel himself to the nomination by running a lot of attack ads against Giuliani in the south and Midwest highlighting Guiliani's liberal social positions.