An excellent sign of impending good fortune for Democrats in the November '08 elections is that Republican pundits are obsessed with the Democratic candidates, and all-but-ignore conservative candidates running for office.

Don't believe me? Try and find a couple conservative columnists/commentators not dwelling endlessly on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Try and find conservatives devoting most of their attention to the important factors affecting Republican chances at the ballot box.

Meanwhile, they blithely ignore innumerable telltale signs of bad news for their own:

• Democratic turnout for the party nomination race has been energizing and record-shattering, while Republican popular vote has been at lethargic levels. For instance, in the North Carolina primaries held on May 6th, 1,571,337 votes were cast for Democrats vs. only 518,224 votes cast for Republicans (with 99% of precincts reporting).

• A sign of possible disaster for John McCain: in North Carolina, as in many other Republican primaries, less than 75% of Republican votes were cast for the party's presumptive nominee. Rep. Ron Paul and Gov. Mike Huckabee collectively received over 100,000 votes, reflecting the dissatisfaction of Republican libertarians and Republican religious right voters, respectively.

  In fact, the Los Angeles Times reports today that "the forces of Rep. Ron Paul have been organizing across the country to stage an embarrassing public revolt against Sen. John McCain when Republicans gather for their national convention in Minnesota at the beginning of September."

• "Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr launched a Libertarian Party presidential bid Monday, saying voters are hungry for an alternative to the status quo who would dramatically cut the federal government," per AP. The sensationally popular Libertarian-infused message of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul amply illuminated the conservative hunger for a small-government, anti-Iraq War alternative to John McCain.

  The vitally pressing question for Republicans should be: will Barr's candidacy siphon desperately-needed votes from McCain... not: how will long-shot Hillary overtake Obama.

• This past month in a possible harbinger of bad electoral news in the fall, Congressional Republicans have lost two special elections in conservative districts held for many years by the party: one, the Illinois seat of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, and the other, a Louisiana district which George Bush won in 2004 with 59% of the vote.

• Then there's the under-vetting of John McCain because he won the Republican nomination so quickly and easily. Despite concerns about his age, Sen. McCain refuses to publicly release his medical records. Cindy McCain refuses to release her tax returns. And, of course, recountings abound of McCain's legendary, vesuvian temper...

  And McCain's voting record has, thus far, been woefully under-perused. He's rated a stunning ZERO on pro-choice stances by NARAL, a ZERO on civil rights by the ACLU, and surprisingly, is rated only 17% on energy independence issues by the CAF. Only months ago, McCain publicly claimed to know little about the economy, and he's offered no credible plan for U.S troop withdrawal from Iraq. And this is merely a short-list of McCain unvetted policy shortcomings.

As if all that's not enough, Politico.com reported last week:

"Shellshocked House Republicans got warnings from leaders past and present Tuesday: Your party’s message isn’t good enough to prevent disaster in November, and neither is the NRCC’s money...

"In a piece published in Human Events, the Republicans’ onetime captain, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, warned his old colleagues that they face 'real disaster' on Election Day unless they move immediately to 'chart a bold course of real reform' for the country."

So please understand that lately, it's begun to amuse me that conservative pundits are foolishly besotted by the Democratic race, while they ignore addressing and fixing problems in their own house.

All I have to say is this: Thank you! Your attention, criticisms and vast publicity are helping to make Democratic candidates smarter, stronger and more battle-ready, while leaving Republican candidates unprepared for the tough elections that lay ahead.

(Photo taken on May 12, 2008: Craig Mitchelldyer/Getty Images)

Related Reading
Obama vs. McCain: Overdue National Referendum on Iraq
YouTube: Keith Olbermann on John McCain's Anger
Politico.com, May 6, 2008: Special elections an '08 warning for GOP