WASHINGTON
Democrats will nominate Hillary Clinton for president in 2008 and Barack Obama as her running mate, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich predicted in an interview yesterday.
The Republicans will have three "formidable" choices in Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, said Gingrich, who is considering whether to get into the race.
Gingrich is ruling out Republican John McCain. The Arizona senator "has taken positions so deeply at odds with his party's base that I don't see how he can get the nomination", Gingrich said.
He said he had dinner recently with Thompson, the former Tennessee senator and actor who has set up a political committee that allows him to raise money for a presidential bid. An official launch is likely in September.
Gingrich said he expected Thompson to enter what is becoming a competitive race for the Republican nomination against Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, and Giuliani, a former New York City mayor.
"I think that either Mayor Giuliani or Governor Romney or Senator Thompson would be a very formidable opponent for what I expect will be a Clinton-Obama ticket, and I think that there's a possibility that will work," Gingrich said.
He added he might join in, depending on how the Republican candidates fare against Clinton, the New York senator. "If there is a vacuum and if there's a real need for somebody to be prepared to debate Senator Clinton, then I would consider running," Gingrich said.
In another US political sensation, it emerged that Springfield, home of The Simpsons, will be the unlikely site of the first US presidential primary.
Residents, tired of politicking, submit a protest vote, said writer-producer Michael Price, outlining future developments in the hit TV cartoon.
"They decide to write in the most ridiculous, insane, stupid protest candidate they can think of, which is Ralph Wiggam eight-year-old son of the porky police chief," Price said. "But of course it's taken seriously and Ralph Wiggam becomes the front-runner of the presidential nomination for both parties."-AP
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