Ambers predicts:
Whatever Romney's difficulties in dealing with his Massachusetts health care plan will be, he seems intent on running as the candidate of pragmatic solutions in 2012. Daniels, with his call for a truce on divisive social issues, wants the same thing. Clearly, Romney and Daniels don't fit the profile of what today's average Republican primary voter is looking for, but they probably will: I anticipate that the overwhelming concern of 2012 primary voters will be a desire to, well, beat Barack Obama.
And I also predict that voters will think strategically about their options. Even Republicans who identify with Sarah Palin must know -- or they will know -- that, as of right now, Palin, projected forward in 2012, cannot beat Barack Obama. They know that the most acceptable conservative candidate probably can. They're seeing the 2012 election shape up as a referendum on, yes, four years of Democratic rule, but also as a referendum on competence and action.
I think Ambers is dreaming. But I hope he's right.