I can see why some of the more thoughtful Republican Party members and leaders around the country are worried about the upcoming presidential election. The collection of candidates you will see debating tonight in New Hampshire is a weak bunch. There’s nobody of the stature of Sen. John McCain, no matter whether you like McCain or not. Leading the pack is a former governor of Massachusetts who is doing his best to present himself as a non-politician with no foreign policy experience other than being involved in the Olympics. On paper, the current governor of Texas looks like the major-leaguer here, but he has performed as a triple A player so far. He doesn’t look ready for the bigs. Then there are several members of the US House. When is the last time a sitting member of the House was elected president? There are a former US Senator with extreme views on social issues and a successful businessman with no experience in public office other than serving on the board of directors of the Fed in Kansas City. The concern in some quarters of the GOP is so serious that people were pleading with a one-term governor of New Jersey to run and save the moment. Who stayed on the sidelines, and why didn’t they jump in? Lamar Alexander, Jeb Bush, others.

I’m an Obama supporter, so my view is filtered, but this is not an impressive list of potential challengers for an incumbent president. Democrats are always worried when it comes to the presidential election, at least during most of my lifetime. Independents will take a good long look at the choices next November.