Choosing next pres at Southern Republican Leadership Conferenc??

Ummm-doesn't this upcoming Hardball story suggest the dems aren't even in the race? I read the whole article and it seemed to really suggest it's decided that the next pres will be a repub! Do they already know this? If you feel like emailing Hardball about this here's the address. I shouldn't be shocked but I was.I mean right now w/Bush's approval #s would anyone sane think the next pres would be a repub?
hardball@msnbc.com <hardball@msnbc.com>

Link to article <http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11699903/>

SECAUCUS, NJ - March 2, 2006 - “Hardball with Chris Matthews” and MSNBC.com head down to Memphis for a weekend of rough-and-tumble Republican politics as America begins picking the next president at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC). “The Hotline” presidential “straw vote” will give Americans the very first look at who’s hot and who’s not in the race for the Republican nomination for president in 2008. “Hardball” kicks off its coverage of the 2008 race for the White House with a live Hardball edition Friday on MSNBC (at 5, 7 and 11 p.m. ET), non-stop blogging, and a special Monday web only post-game show.

Direct from the lobby of the historic Peabody Hotel in Memphis, “Hardball” and MSNBC.com bring the country its first size-up of the Republican slate of presidential hopefuls. Chris Matthews will be there to interview them all including Senator John McCain, Senator George Allen, Governor Mitt Romney, Senator Bill Frist and many others.

“Hardball” will kick off coverage Friday with three live shows at 5, 7 and 11 pm (ET) featuring the contenders and the important GOP players, including the Chairman of the GOP Ken Mehlman. Newsweek managing editor and a native Tennessean Jon Meacham will join Matthews to provide analysis and commentary, as well as “Newsweek’s” Howard Fineman and “The Hotline’s” Editor-in-Chief, Chuck Todd. Matthews and the “Hardball” team including correspondent David Shuster will provide live coverage all weekend for MSNBC and provide updates for Weekend Nightly News and The Today Show. On Saturday night, “Hardball” unveils the results of “The Hotline’s” straw poll of presidential candidates exclusively on MSNBC.com. (In 1998, George W. Bush won the poll and went on to win the presidency).

MSNBC.com’s National Affairs Writer Tom Curry will provide original reporting beginning with a preview of each of the contenders, then showcase all of the big speeches online followed by analysis. Armed with a digital camera and his laptop, Curry leads Hardblogger’s constant flow of news, dish, and dirt along with the rest of the Hardblogger live team. Plus, Matthews’s exclusive online interviews and analysis give web users a side-by-side size-up of the top GOP candidates for president.

I hope the actual story on the SRLC isn't as biased as your teaser suggests it to be. Do you know for certain that the "next president" will be chosen at the SRLC? How about saying the next Republican presidential candidate? I cannot imagine with the current political climate, Bush's poll numbers, the ongoing lobbying scandal, leak scandal, torture scandal, lying us into war scandal, probably lying us into another war scandal, that Americans will automatically vote for a republican president. Unless you know something I don't.