Now begins the next campaign

There’s no time for celebrating.

There’s no time for relaxing.

There’s no time to lose.

Right now, beginning today, starts the next campaign – the one to give the American people better political choices in the next election.

Unfortunately, Americans think about politics every two to four years. They think about it when they see political commercials airing or when they get mail from candidates or receive a telephone solicitation.

That’s not the time to think about politics.

The time to think and pray and plan and volunteer and work is before the choices are presented to you. Now is the time to determine what those choices are.

It’s no secret I wasn’t thrilled about the choices we had in the presidential race. In many ways, it was no choice at all. It was the choice between bad and horribly unimaginable. I don’t think I was alone.

But, my guess is, that today, most Americans are complacent, happy. They are thinking: “The politics is behind us. Now things are going to be all right.”

It’s not true. Everything is not going to be all right.

Now is the time to get active. Now is the time to get political. Now is the time to turn the pressure up on elected representatives. Now is the time to start working within the system to build viable third parties and to take over at least one of the two major parties.

Maybe you think I’m nuts. Maybe you think I’m some kind of fanatic. Well, guess what? You have to be some kind of fanatic to be effective in this game of politics. Witness Hillary Clinton.

She is not sitting back relaxing. She is not resting on her laurels. She is not mourning the loss by the John Kerry campaign. She is getting her ducks in a row and preparing a presidential campaign that begins right now.

If you want to beat her, you’ve got to think like her. If you want to beat her, you’ve got to beat her with someone. My thought is to beat her with someone really good.

Who should that be?

We’ve learned there is tremendous power in the Internet. It has become a major tool in the organization of political campaigns. I suggest we start the dialogue immediately. If we have to draft a candidate, we need to find him or her right now. We have no time to lose.

Who is that candidate? Who are our future leaders? Who is being positioned right now to take on Hillary Clinton in 2008? Who is being groomed and refined for that kind of challenge?

Are you willing to leave it to the party professionals? Are you willing to leave it to the political establishment?

This is where the real action is – in finding and positioning the next Ronald Reagan.

George W. Bush told us yesterday he has run his last campaign. Who will succeed him? It’s not going to be Dick Cheney. I hope it’s not going to be Arnold Schwarzenegger. Who is it going to be? Are you going to sit around and wait to be told? Or are you going to get active in politics right now – starting today – and help define the choices we will have in four years.

Let’s get the dialogue going now. Let’s start the debate. Let’s start floating ideas. Don’t let Hillary claim the high ground. Don’t let her have a four-year head start. It’s time to find the successor.

Who is it going to be?