Caught your breath yet, electorate? I hope so, because—as captured humorously in the above cartoon by Mike Keefe of the Denver Post—the 2008 campaign season is already motoring up. (Yes, the campaigning never really ends.) Today’s Washington Post features an article by Jeffrey H. Birnbaum that suggests the current frontrunners for president in 2008 are Senators Hilary Clinton and John McCain. What a shock…

Results Give Clinton and McCain Food for Thought on the Future

Tuesday marked not only the end of Election 2006, but also the beginning of Election 2008.

Democrats romped this year, but Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), who polls say is the party’s front-runner for president, learned that her positions on Iraq might be an electoral handicap, analysts said. And, they said, while the Republicans were set back severely, the GOP’s leading presidential contender, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), was handed another reason to think his reputation as a maverick has its advantages.

Clinton voted to allow the president to go to war in Iraq and long defended that view. Although she turned into an opponent of the president’s war policy last year, the party’s liberal wing — which played a key role in inciting the Democratic wave that swept through Congress this year — has not forgiven her for the delay.

McCain, on the other hand, was a much-sought-after GOP surrogate on the campaign trail because he was widely accepted as independent of his party and President Bush in particular.

How they and other potential presidential aspirants were perceived during the campaign has been important because the midterm elections were always about more than electing people to Congress and governors’ mansions. They were also opportunities for aspiring presidents to gain allies around the country to help them with their quests for the White House. [full text]

Obviously, a lot can happen between now and 2008, and new frontrunners may emerge. But, for what it’s worth, some bookies also currently give the best odds to Clinton and McCain:

Online Casino Offers Odds on US Presidency

Senate Elections resulted in a bruising embarrassment for President Bush and with the final counts just coming in attention is turning to the presidential election in 2008.

BetUS.com have offered odds on who will win the race to the White House in the presidential election.

The senate election showed Americans were willing to give Democrats another go, which places Hilary Clinton as the firm favourite at this early stage at 5/4.

Who will be the next U.S. President:

Hilary Clinton- 5/4
John McCain- 3/1
Al Gore- 8/1
Mark Warner- 7/1
George Allen- 7/1
Rudolph Giuliani- 8/1
John Edwards- 8/1
Condaleeza Rice- 12/1
Barack Obama- 9/1
Bill Richardson- 16/1
Mitt Romney- 12/1
Bill Frist- 20/1
Howard Dean – 20/1
Jeb Bush – 20/1
Mike Huckabee – 20/1