W's 2nd term agenda: Set Jeb up for 2008

One of the main reasons Dick Cheney got a second term was to make sure there would not be an incumbent vice president with presidential ambitions in 2008.

Four years is a long way off. But if Jeb does run, he has a real shot at the nomination. Pataki and Giuliani may be too liberal on "values" issues to win red-state primaries. Romney's from Massachusetts. Owens and Allen are unknowns from second-tier states. McCain, the media's candidate, is a cancer survivor who will be 72 in 2008. Frist has a golden résumé but he's a snooze.

Jeb is head and shoulders above this field. He's the popular governor of a crucial state. Fluent in Spanish, married to a Mexican, the darling of the Cuban community, he has vast appeal to the constituency the GOP most covets: Hispanics. He's conservative on social issues but comes across as less regional and ideological than his brother George. Jeb is a Southern Republican who sounds like a Democrat. In 2002, he won reelection in Florida, an evenly split state, by 13 points.

The king is a lame duck. Long live the king.