Moving left

Only two people mentioned as possible Republican presidential contenders seem eager to adopt the Bush image of a president who is boldly aggressive overseas, committed to a steady run of tax cuts, and willing to pursue the social agenda of the religious right.

Those would-be Bush inheritors are the president's younger brother, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, who is downplaying the possibility of a run, and Senator George Allen of Virginia, who is actively drumming up enthusiasm for an '08 run.

Allen is banking on the idea that voters will want more of the same. He does not offer even a stylistic contrast with the president. He is blunt and direct, he pays homage to the wisdom of the common man, and he pursues a staunch conservative agenda.

But at least seven other would-be candidates have broken with the president on a variety of important issues.

They are: Arizona Senator John McCain, Bush's sparring partner on everything from judicial nominations to some military matters; Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam veteran who has been relentlessly critical of Bush's handling of the Iraq war; former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who has criticized Bush's handling of homeland security; Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who once promised to uphold state abortion laws; Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who dramatically broke with the president over stem-cell research; New York Governor George S. Pataki, who supports abortion rights; and former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, an unabashed social liberal who endorses gay marriage.

Even the Republicans are likely to run -- at least at this point -- a candidate to the left of Bush, especially on the war. This really ought to be a wake-up call to Dems to get to the "hardest problem," as Sheehan says: the Iraq War. We (anti-war folks) might otherwise end up having the only realistic choice for Americans being one between a Hagel and another Bush. If the primaries run to the Hagel side, then the Dems risk looking even more pale by comparison than they do now on Iraq -- "yeah, what he said."