Political analyst Dick Morris used a baseball analogy out of season to summarize what he considers the bleak prospects for Republican victory in the 2008 presidential election.
"I think you’ll see one of the minor leaguers win it [the GOP nomination],” Morris told Fox News Channel.
Morris thinks the leading Republican candidates – Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich – are "too flawed” to win the hearts and votes of conservatives in the early primaries.
"The top four candidates for the Republican nomination can’t win,” Morris said. "Rudy Giuliani, John McCain . . . Romney with all of the flip-flops on abortion and Newt Gingrich, who I don’t think gets into it.”
That leaves a cast of lesser-known Republicans in line for a surprise run toward the nomination.
Story Continues Below
"I think that the Republican nominee is going to be one of these minor leaguers: [Tom] Tancredo, [Mike] Huckabee, [Sam] Brownback, [Jim] Gilmore from Virginia, Duncan Hunter from California,” Morris said. "It’s like the pitching rotation is all going to be injured at the World Series and the Triple –A pitching staff, one of them is going to pitch the opening game.”
Morris suggests the GOP will face Hillary Clinton in "the big game,” despite all of the buzz surrounding Sen. Barack Obama.
"Obama serves the function of keeping Al Gore out of the race,” Morris said. "He just sucks up too much of the anti-Hillary vote, but he won’t win.”
Morris said Obama’s showing in the primaries may boost Hillary to victory in the general election.
"Hillary will run a vigorous race against Obama, probably a nasty race,” he said. "She defeats him, then reaches out to African-American voters and puts Obama on as vice president.
"I have said from the very beginning, Hillary is the Democratic nominee and she is the next president of the United States.”