[2008]

Frist: Done.

I'll give him half credit: earlier than anyone expected, Bill Frist announced he would not run for President in 2008. He spent his two years as Majority Leader vying for the Bush voters. Which now number seven. He did his best to look like a good ol' Christian boy and was one of the more inept Senate leaders in recent memory--proudly underperforming even Tom Daschle, whose ineptitude is now legend. His was not a shining resume:

Frist's decision came after a series of politically damaging events, including an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into allegations of insider trading for his sale of a large bloc of shares in HCA Inc., a hospital chain founded by his father and his brother. The sale was completed just weeks before the company issued an earnings estimate that failed to meet analysts' expectations, causing a drop in HCA's stock price.

Frist also has faced questions about his role on the board of a charitable foundation that paid consulting fees to some of his close political allies.

Earlier, Frist played a controversial role in the legislative drama over Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman who died after her feeding tube was removed. Frist, a surgeon, publicly questioned her diagnosis after viewing a videotape of the woman, an act widely seen as a sop to religious conservatives. An autopsy later proved Frist wrong.

He would have gotten full credit had he pulled out over a year ago, when wise men recognized his level of toxicity had surpassed even the tolerance of Bush voters:

"Frist's career is over. We can quit referring to him as "contemplating a bid for the White House." He's done." (Oct 24, '05)

See, even someone as bad as I am at predicting the future saw this one coming. A pity; he would have enriched the campaign (for Dems).