Michael Barone writes in US News & World Report that 2008 is shaping up to be the year where people are brought more towards the common-sense middle:

For 10 years American politics has been sharply polarized, with just about equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats arrayed angrily against one another. We have come to think of this as a permanent condition. Yet by the next presidential election that may very well change. The reason: The leading candidates for both parties’ 2008 nominations are in significant tension with their parties’ bases–and, in some cases, outright opposition.

On the Republican side we have McCain and Guiliani:

This is most clearly the case on the Republican side. The consistent leaders in 2008 polls are John McCain and Rudolph Giuliani. Of the two, Giuliani is most sharply out of line with the cultural conservatives who have been the dominant force in Republican primaries and provided a large share of the Republican majorities racked up in 2002 and 2004. Giuliani is pro-choice on abortion, opposes the “partial-birth” abortion ban, and opposes a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. McCain’s differences with the Republican right are more subtle. He has consistently opposed abortion rights but doesn’t seem comfortable talking about the issue. He has taken the lead on campaign finance regulation and on Kyoto-like responses to climate change, in opposition to most of his Republican colleagues. At a critical point in the 2000 campaign, he made a point of denouncing evangelists Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.

Recently, conservatives have been defined by their stances on gun, god and gays. But this passage suggest there’s some tiring on the subjects.

Conservative radio talk-show host Hugh Hewitt, speaking to Republican women in conservative Temecula, Calif., found that most favored Giuliani, despite his stands on cultural issues. When he asked why, one said, “All that doesn’t matter if we are attacked. Rudy will keep us safe.” Republican blogger Patrick Ruffini’s late-August poll of more than 10,000 readers showed Giuliani far in front of the nearest competitor, Allen.

And on the Democrat side we have Hillary:

As for the Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton is in significant ways out of sync with the Bush-hating left. She voted for the Iraq war resolution and for all the appropriations to fight the war, and she has shown no sign of apologizing for these stands. She spoke approvingly of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council at its most recent meeting–and got attacked in the left-wing blog “Daily Kos” for it. From time to time, she has issued sharp partisan attacks on the Bush administration, but she has been careful to distance herself from Michael Moore- or Cindy Sheehan-type rhetoric. You will not catch her calling George W. Bush a maniac or a war criminal.

I urge you to read the whole post. Very good stuff…

And by the way, it’s going to be an interesting few years…