Hold Your Conventional Wisdom!

Three reasons Republicans could recapture the White House in 2008

John Raoux / AP

Republican presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and John McCain talk before the Republican presidential debate in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007

"In case you missed it, a few days ago Senator Clinton tried to spend $1 million on the Woodstock concert museum. Now, my friends, I wasn't there. I'm sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event. I was tied up at the time." This jab by John McCain at Hillary Clinton at the most recent Republican presidential debate received the evening's only standing ovation. Admittedly, those standing were partisan Florida Republicans. Still, it was a moment--in its combination of high-spirited playfulness and polemical sharpness--that made me think happier days may lie ahead for the GOP.

The first two years of George W. Bush's...

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