YOUR NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?

Uncle Kelso is still of the belief that Hillary Clinton should be (and is) the betting favorite to be the next President. From the you-read-it-here first department, however, something very strange has happened while Tim Russert, Judy Woodruff, Kate O'Beirne and some pollster dude were sitting around talking about Obama's money, Hillary's problems, the Fred Dalton Thompson phenomenon and Edwards' polling strength in Iowa and New Hampshire. Those were last week's stories, but what else do you expect from the corporate media?

Here in the real-reality-based world, yes the world of la otra cosa, in this case gambling, next week's story happened. It seems as if someone, some crew, or various someones and crews made an enormous bet on Al Gore to win the presidency. In the middle of last week, he was available at a best outright price of 45/1 against, and 25/1 to 35/1 in most places. As of Sunday morning, all of the Caribbean bookmakers have taken down all betting on U.S. politics for the time being, and the British bookmakers have cut the odds on Gore outright all the way down to 6/1. Intrade.com shows a mid-point of approximately 9p-in-the-pound for Gore, which equates to just over 10/1. Yet, the Gore future on that market is the only one with live bids pending.

Kelso is well aware that most people "don't understand odds," and he has no desire right now to teach anyone that water's wet. Here it is in simple stock market terms that everyone will understand: the imaginary "company" Gore-For-President-in-2008, Inc., was trading at $2.17 a share a few days ago and is now trading at $14.29. Whether you "understand odds" or not, you can see plainly that this is a monster move, all the more shocking considering that he has not announced, and has demurred at every opportunity. A quick check of a compendium of polls at realclearpolitics.com shows Gore now in a tight pack with Obama and Edwards in the high teens, with Hillary in the 40s. The only note that even gives a hint of Gore's entry into the race is some gossip about his going back on the Atkins diet with the goal of losing 40lbs.

If Gore does enter the race, Hillary's got a pack of problems on her hands. Gore now probably occupies all of the territory ideologically left of Edwards and right of Kucinich. Kelso believes Gore understands that he missed his chance at a Yeltsin-on-the-tank moment in 2000 and now wants it. He has foresaken the market-based, half-measures environmental ideas advocated in Earth In The Balance and is really a legit Green. One would expect that he has shucked off all the DLC, neo-lib, AIPAC silliness and this time is ready to go for it without the fear he reeked of in 2000. In other words, if he gets the Democratic nomination, don't expect Joe Lieberman to be his running mate.

The other issue is DNC Chairman Howard Dean. Make no mistake about it, Dean has an enormous hard-on for the DLC and mainstream Democrats in general, Rahm Emmanuel and James Carville in particular. He would like nothing more than to absolutely punish every one of them from Hillary to Emmanuel/Carville/Schumer to Obama to McAuliffe on down. And don't believe the hype, Howard Dean is no joke. He is hardly the clown the corporate media made him out to be and is more responsible for the Democratic successes of 2006 than either Emmanuel or Schumer. He first came up with the 50-state strategy, the idea that it's ok to agree-to-disagree on abortion and guns, and is furious that he got no credit. Expect Dean to be with Gore all the way despite his need to seem impartial. Yeah, Hillary raises lots and lots of money. Obama has shown he can, too, but nobody can do it like Dean. Gore and Dean will be big trouble for Hillary and Obama-The-Church-Lady. [An aside: Obama made a big deal of admitting to having used cocaine in the past. It's a good bet Hillary's spilled more than Obama's had!]

While Kelso doesn't believe a word of this crap about Hillary being "unelectable" because of all of the "strong feelings" she evokes -- she's a top-class campaigner, leaves nothing to chance, and as we've noted here before she looks very crisp on the hustings and has an iron chin -- Gore faces none of these doubts and the public, it seems, would very much like to right the wrong of 2000. Kelso would actually favor Gore heads-up against Hillary on the order of -140/+130. [Again, it's a gambling thing; if you don't understand exactly, that's cool. You get the point].

On the Republican side, Kelso is starting to feel that it's McCrazy and Giuliani who are unelectable and Kelso's giving Romney, F.D. Thompson, Brownback and even Huckabee a second look -- as a proposition, not ideologically; Kelso cannot abide any of the Republican candidates other than Ron Paul. Romney's the scary one. Crazed-up Mormon, yes, flip-flopper, yes, but a total pro from a political family who -- never forget -- won the governorship of Massachusetts. This is a dude with skills. Fred Thompson's got the personality. Brownback has the natural talent, the aggression and can get the lion's share of the base. Huckabee's the classic Southern Governor and is way, way brighter than he seems at first blush. McCrazy's thirst for blood is not playing and as far as Giuliani's concerned, 9/11 has worn very. very thin. It's now a slender reed for to hold on to, and Giuliani, like McCrazy is capable of going beserk at any moment. And the conventional wisdom about the base's inability to get with some of Rudy's more...oh,...flexible personal habits and views and all of that weirded-out cross-dressing is probably right.

President Gore doesn't sound all that bad right now. It sounds better than President Hillary Rodham Clinton. And is Mozart compared with President Barrack Obama.

One final note. British bookmaker Victor Chandler still lists Condoleeza Rice at 66/1 against, outright for President. And Kelso still thinks she's way shorter than 66/1 to end up banged-up in a cell in The Hague. For war crimes. For a while.

As for Masters' Golf. Rory Sabbatini's tie for best South African helped the Kelso cause out somewhat, but what's with winner Zach Johnson's thanking Jesus for his win. Kelso was of the impression that Jesus was rooting for Phil Mickelson and Davis Love III.

Kelso's Nuts love you.