Sure, it's a ways off…

…and there's an important election in between, but a lot of us are thinking about '08 and some of us are closer to decisions than others. Ezra makes a good point...

As the primaries heat up and allegiances cement, the blogs really will be ripped apart by warring partisans, all the more so if folks refuse to divulge, but nevertheless exhibit, their preferences. My guess is that, going forward, transparency is the best policy, and we'd all be well-served by a willingness to calmly accept (and even respond to) speculation about the thought processes driving our commentary.

…and follows it up with his own '08 rankings. I'll bite. Using his list of potential candidates, here's how things look from the Upper Left, as of now...

Favorable:

1) John Kerry (surprised?)
2) Russ Feingold *
3) Wesley Clark *

Neutral:

4) John Edwards
5) Tom Daschle

Leaning Negative:

6) Hillary Clinton
7) Al Gore
8) Bill Richardson
9) Joe Biden
10) Tom Vilsack
11) Mark Warner
12) Evan Bayh
13) Chris Dodd

(* - I like these guys well enough, but I just can't bring myself to believe. Still, if they're around for the primary election debate season, they'll elevate the discourse and have a potentially salutary effect on the Party message.)

This far out, everything's subject to change, and I'm not endorsing anyone at this point, but if Kerry runs, someone's going to have to be pretty damn appealing to get me to turn my head.