Ross Marine (Conservative):

621. The number of days before

Barack Obama’s first (and hopefully last) term and the waking nightmare haunting conservatives ends. The difficult part of this equation is finding a conservative who can get nominated, elected and also be a good president because in politics, the right thing to say isn’t usually the right thing to do. Right now, the Republicans can’t even seem to find a person to do the first task.

To get the Republican nomination (and thus a shot at the presidency), the candidate will probably have to be diametrically opposed to all things Obama; which, as much as it pains me to say it, could result in a dangerous reversal of policies (especially on taxes) and another recession, as well as little solution for the national debt.

The most important job for the new president will be to reign in the deficit.  Right now, the U.S. is on a spending spree that would make John Keynes himself blush. Under Obama’s fiscal policies, by 2014, the national debt will be 116 percent of America’s total economic output. This is obviously untenable. This is largely because of Washington’s reaction to the recession (throw money at it) and the recent health care bill.

The answer, however, is not to simply slash all spending immediately. Spending will have to be weaned while taxes are slightly increased. This might seem like a radical concept for many of my fellow conservatives today, but it’s really the only way to restore American credit.

But who is going to be the man (or woman) for this job?  The most electable (and one of the best) person in the Republican Party is Condoleezza Rice. She has a tremendous amount of experience with foreign policy and would also reach out to the female and African-American voters. Unfortunately, she has already stated that she will not run for president.

Another possibly qualified president would be Donald Trump. He obviously understands how to run economic affairs and doesn’t seem to care too much if people hate him, which means he could be less vulnerable to “politics as usual.”

Foreign affairs might get a little dicey (I’m not sure how well his hair will hold up in different climates) but it would be nice if somebody told Kim Jong Il

“You’re fired.” Sadly, the American public would probably elect “Carrot Top” and an invertebrate long before Donald Trump and the latest winner of “The Apprentice: Vice-President”.

Pavan Kota (moderate)

Granted that nothing crazy happens between now and November 2012, there are a few issues that have been on the radar for a while that still need to be attended to. But one thing has popped up recently that needs to be fixed as soon as possible.

Given that Donald Trump may run for president, all other Republican candidates should focus on derailing him. Somehow, he’s the one currently at the top of the G.O.P. polls. The only major issue he’ll be addressing would be Barack Obama’s place of birth.

If elected to the presidency, Trump will zero in on impeaching Obama, a clever strategy to say the least.

Don’t get me wrong; I respect Trump for being a cultured man by preferring to focus on ethnic backgrounds as opposed to the real issues.

Some of those real issues for our 2012 candidates have been addressed by Obama, but only alleviated, not fixed.

Apart from Apocalypse awareness and prevention programs, potential presidents need to focus primarily on the economy and the wars in the Middle East.

To target the economy, budget cuts need to be made wherever possible. Spending should address job creation to boost consumer confidence, an essential component for economic recovery.

The deficit has soared over $14.3 trillion, indicating a definite need to at least start moving toward some sort of balance.

One way to reach that balance would be to bring some sort of end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. By saving money and lives, we’d be hitting roughly 30 birds with one stone.

NATO and the U.S. have already set deadlines for full withdrawal from both countries (with the exception of purely peacekeeping forces), but these deadlines have been adjusted a number of times before and are subject to being postponed again.  Candidates should focus on how to set these dates in stone.

These, of course, are the issues of today. As campaigning heats up over the next year, we’ll see what new forms of chaos emerge, such as Trump winning the G.O.P. nomination.