State of The Race '08

This morning's Meet The Press produced some news nuggets worth bantering about, on this final day of fundraising for the 3rd quarter.

Bill Clinton thinks there's 2 fundamental questions driving the Republican presidential race. 1) Can Mitt Romney hold his leads in Iowa and New Hampshire if he doesn't move up in the national polls? 2) Can Rudy Giuliani maintain his national lead if he doesn't win Iowa or New Hampshire.

Clinton also thinks Mike Huckabee is the only darkhorse candidate in the field that could make a place. "He's the best speaker. As he said, he's extremely conservative, but he's not mad at anybody about it," Clinton said.

Washington Post political reporter Dan Balz doesn't think many of the Republican voters in Iowa know which candidate they will caucus for come January. Balz thinks Romney's support is soft. He also offers some hope to Huckabee. "If Governor Huckabee can consolidate the religious social conservative vote out there, he's going to surprise one of the top four if not a couple of the top four and embarrass somebody out there," Balz said.

Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan thinks it's essentially a Mitt Romney versus Rudy Giuliani race. "If I were Rudy, I'd get a lot of money into Huckabee in Iowa so he knocks off (Romney) . . . you've got to slow down Romney from three straight victories. You can't let him go 3-0," Buchanan said.

On the Democratic side, Buchanan said, "If Obama doesn't win Iowa, this game is over." Buchanan said Hillary would rather have Edwards beat her in Iowa than Obama because he believes Edwards isn't a national candidate, while Obama is.