Abstract
Even though George W. Bush won the presidential elections in the year 2007, the Grand Old Party was already agitated by the 2008 Presidential nomination and the question of its probable candidates. The XXIInd Amendment prevented the President from running a third time and his Vice-President, Dick Cheney, announced that he would not run in 2008 because of his old age and ill health. However, some observers considered him as a serious "dark horse "; an unexpected candidate who was capable of winning the nomination contest. Officially, at least, the Republicans did not have a ?natural' successor to George W. Bush and the nomination contest was thrown open to whomever within the Party. Some people had already declared that they would be candidates. Others had not officially said that, but their popularity and political situation made their candidacy very likely to be realized.
