Newt Gingrich decided to drop out from the Presidential Candidate race. I'm not a fan of Republicans, but he was one of very few admirable Republican Candidate since he was a U.S. House Speaker and spoke put against Bush. Now that he is out of the picture, there are only two people left who I think have a chance to be the next President. Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson.
It seems like Gingrich gave up his seat for American for Winning the Future, which is "a non-partisan organization set up by Mr Gingrich to find solutions to problems facing US society." I guess he already calculated the risks that he was going to take. If he went on with the Presidential race, then his organization would collapse. It can be a smart thing since the Presidential race seems to be leaning towards the Democrats rather than the Republicans this time. America needs a change ever since Mr. Bush decided to go to war with Iraq.
Giuliani likes to say that he was there during 9/11 attacks. I'm not too sure if I want him to become the President only because of that. But I'm glad he supports abortion rights, legal benefits for gay couples even though he is against gay marriage, and citizenship for illegal immigrants as long as they pay taxes (and learn English) even if he supports putting up high tech fences on the boarder of America. I think he supports Bush for other issues, so that can be a good thing and a bad thing I guess. We wouldn't want the next President to be Bush again, do we?
As for Fred Thompson, I know very little of him since he only wanted to join the Presidential race not so long ago. Most Republicans seem to be supporting him though. Either way, Giuliani and Thompson do not look like they can be the next President. The Democrats will probably get the White House next term. I hope so because I want a change. Eight years in a roll with Republicans...I'd like to see Democrats shine too.
As a "likely to vote Democrat unless something drastic happens", I hear what you're saying. I too don't know much about Fred Thompson, and I agree with you on Guiliani. But there's no way the Republicans will vote him in. There are too many extreme rights controlling the party. But he'd be the lesser of all the evils. Though the fact that he always brings up 9/11 irks me. It's a tragedy, yes you handled it well, but it's still a tragedy.