Who's gonna be president?

I'm not happy about either field for president. A born and bred southerner, I am of course a card-carrying Republican but I will lean to the left on a very few issues from time to time.
For instance, I am for ... "limited" gun control. My poor father is rolling over BUT I don't think we need to be able to sell bazookas and RPGs on the street. Defending ourselves is important and the founders wanted us to be able to but that was back in the day when it took ten minutes to pour powder and stuff metal balls down a long pipe with an equally long rod. I don't believe they meant for us to load up our AK-47s and sit on the front porch. But I do think it is cool that in a Kennesaw, Georgia, there is a city mandate passed that each head of household is required to own a GUN with ammunition. (This is response to an Illinios town banning all guns in its town, except for police officers). There are of course religious objector clauses but the crime rate dropped 89% and has stayed that way with no murders since the law passed 25 years ago. Not bad odds if you ask me.
Yet I digress.
Today I'm thinking about the 2008 election. Isn't everyone? It's about 17 months out and both the Democrats and the Republicans don't seem to have anyone I'd vote for. While fundamentally disagreeing with Hillary Clinton on every single level, I admit to a begrudged admiration of her tenacity, intelligence and perseverance. It's time for a woman in the White House and she would probably be very good at it. There is no other Democrat that I believe has the wherewithall or experience to beat her or to do a better job.
On the other hand, the Republicans are looking pretty slim. Poor John McCain won't last the year with his less-than-stellar fundraising and Guiliani can't seem to decide which side he's actually on -- something the Republican base won't forget. Then there's Fred Thompson, my personal favorite and not because he's from Alabama like me or that he went to college in Tennessee like me, but because he is a straight shooter and as close to a "real" Republican as we have.
But then there's the sleeper...Michael Bloomberg. He recently went Independent and has more money than that Harry Potter kid that he can use to finanace his campaign with barely making a dent in his interest. He seems pretty smart and he's done some great things from the ground up in business but also in New York, he's enhancing Guiliani programs. He's banned smoking and trans fat when the industries refused to care about health-related issues. Crime has actually gone down in NYC and he turned a deficit into a surplus in just under three years by making the difficult and unpopular decisions to increase taxes on "luxury" items and close some of the city's fire houses. Leading a coalition of other mayors, he has signed up over 300, to increase gun control laws -- a nice slap to our ever slow public servants in Washington.
Time, Newsweek and the Economist have done pieces on presidential prospects lately and if Fred will ever make his announcement (expected in July), I believe he will be the nominee come next summer.
Hazelnuts predictions: Hillary for the Dems, Thompson for the Reps and Bloomberg for the Indies. Spoiler? Who knows but it will certainly be one of the most watched, talked about and covered elections in modern history. Let's sit back and enjoy the fun!