If you can’t see the freight train of the 2008 Presidential Election coming, you must be blind. Debates between primary candidates are already on the air and make for great entertainment. Here’s my prediction: none of the above. We’re going to be surprised next year by a candidate and a platform and he’ll win in a landslide.

The United States is increasingly aware of the concept of saving energy. Long the niche cause of a small part of society, the last 10 years has seen a sharp increase in recycling, waste reduction and consideration for the environment.

Then came the war in Iraq.

The chain that connects our cars to a oil sheik in the Middle East got pulled tight a couple of times in the last two years. This year, there’s rumblings of US$4 a gallon for gasoline during the prime summer vacation months.

Here’s how it breaks down: people are sick of the war and they are sick of arguing about it. There is one thing that Americans of all political leanings agree upon and that’s the price of gas and it’s too high. The candidate that figures out how to spin energy conservation, the impact on energy of the war in Iraq, the Republican party and it’s ties to big oil company profits together will win the election.

There’s already someone who is doing that: Al Gore.

He’ll step back and let everyone yell and scream about George Bush and whether it was right or wrong to go to Iraq. When the general public is tired of hearing that line, he’ll step in and say “Let’s be nice to our neighbors, explore alternative energy, stop the advance of global warming.” It will be refreshing and positive and *that’s* what will win the election.