US History/New Ruler

Possible GOP Candidates

Possible GOP Candidates are Former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Representative Ron Paul of Texas, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, and Former Representative and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia.

Other speculated candidates

The following are rumored as possible candidates, but either have little support in early polling or have not been in any poll at all:Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, Governor Rick Perry of Texas, Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. of Utah, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, General David Petraeus of New Hampshire, Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Senator John Thune of South Dakota,Former Republican National Committee chairman, Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi,Former Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee, Former Governor Gary E. Johnson of New Mexico, Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina

Nuclear Deal Likely

An American expert on South Asia, Bruce Riedel, who has served in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), says the stalled US-India nuclear agreement is likely to be approved next year under a new US president.

'This agreement is probably one that is going to slip over into the next administration,' Riedel, senior fellow at Brookings Institution, said in an interview with the Council on Foreign Relations, a US think tank.

Asked if there is any chance that a new US president would want to scuttle the nuclear deal held up due to opposition from Indian coalition government' s leftist supporters, he said: 'I certainly hope that wouldn't happen.'

'This deal is the basis for strong US-Indian relationship,' he said. 'There is certainly a possibility that a new administration may try to strengthen the non-proliferation parts of it and might, particularly if the Democrats are elected, try to revive the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).'

'But the first step there of course would be for the United States to ratify the CTBT. I don't think we could go to the Indians and ask them to do something that we haven't done so far,' Riedel said.

Indians are determined to push the nuclear deal forward, Riedel said. He was of the view that sooner or later the Manmohan Singh government will force a showdown with the Communists over the issue, but probably closer to the next scheduled Indian election in May 2009.

New US president to inherit $505bn deficit

THE next US president will inherit a record budget deficit of $US482 billion ($505.4 billion), according to a new Bush Administration estimate released yesterday.

The Administration said the deficit was being driven to an all-time high by the sagging economy and the stimulus payments being made to 130 million households in an effort to keep the US from falling into a deep recession.

But the numbers could go even higher if the economy performs worse than the White House has predicted.

The budget office has predicted the economy will grow 1.6 per cent this year and rebound to 2.2 per cent growth next year.

That is a half percentage point more than previously anticipated - but also the consensus of leading economists.

The Administration foresaw inflation averaging 3.8 per cent this year but easing to 2.3 per cent next year - better than the 3 per cent seen by the panel of "blue-chip" economists.