Al Kamen’s In the Loop column in today’s Washington Post tells a delicious story of Bill Richardson’s power dinner in D.C. this week. Bill’s been quite coy with reporters for the most part in regards to 2008; quite rightly, he’d rather draw attention to his 2006 re-election bid. Apparently, though, Bill got excited by all the high rollers in the room and said a little more clearly than people expected what his future plans are:

After a dinner of lamb and wild rice and crepes suzette, Richardson held forth.

“You gotta read my book,” he said a few times, and then he explained why governors were the future for Democrats. Then: “Keep your powder dry,” Richardson was quoted by one guest as saying, “I’m running, and you can tell people that.” Two others recalled him saying: “I’m going in 2008.”

Keep your powder dry. I love it.

In a general sense, it isn’t really too early to start whispering about 2008, though we’re far from official announcement and rally time. One guy who knows this is on-the-way-out Virginia Governor Mark Warner, who has just put together a national team that says “Make me presidential!” all over it.

I have nothing against Warner, but the WaPo article is telling; it slots a platitude from Warner’s current lieutenant governor (”I genuinely believe he is the Democrats’ best shot at winning in 2008?) next to the truth about his resume: no foreign policy experience, one-term governor. Warner has held NO elected office besides this one. Hmm. If only we had a popular Democratic governor with more time in government and a gargantuan foreign policy background! We could call him…”Bill.”

I was checking the BRB last week when my friend’s boyfriend, a Giuliani-loving centrist Republican, came in.

Me: Yeah, I have a political blog with a friend.
Him: About what?
Me: About Bill Richardson…he’s the governor of New Mexico. We’re trying to stir up some buzz for him.
Him: Really. You know, I respect that. He seems like a good guy.
Me: Yeah, we don’t want people to think Hillary’s the only game in town for 2008.
Him: Ugh. (Even moderate Repubs are allergic to Hillary. I’m not sure why. Will look into it.) He has a lot of different kinds of experience, right?
Me: Why, yes he does. (I run down Bill’s CV.)
Him: Yeah, I have to say, I respect that. He seems like a good centrist guy.
Me: He IS.

This conversation says to me one very important thing, which I think is true beyond just this one dude: Moderate Republicans can get behind Richardson. When one party nominates an extreme candidate, the party centrists have a hard choice to make: vote the party line, or cross the aisle for the person who actually represents them better. This happened to a small extent in 2004, where people who voted for Famous Original Moderate Bush were now horribly conflicted about voting for New Extremist Fiscal Nightmare Invasion-Happy Bush. The problem, of course, is that we offered them Kerry, who, aside from the death penalty and some confusing Iraq positions, was not centrist enough to let Republicans really feel okay about voting for him.

This is very relevant for 2008. I don’t think a moderate Republican like Giuliani will make it alive out of the GOP primaries, which tend more toward yelling about taxes and abortions than calm discussion of centrist foreign policy or education reforms. I think it’s pretty likely we’ll have a GOP candidate who is very conservative, and so the Dems need to field a rock-solid person who can draw moderate Republicans in significant numbers. Even if it doesn’t turn out to be Bill, I hope someone takes this strategy to heart.

But if it IS Bill, you know. That would rule.