Will US Republicans secure an Obama victory?
According to the Sunday Times, Republican front-runners for the next presidential election include Mitt Romney, Donald Trump, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin.
If so, then perhaps that's Obama safely back in the White House for a second term.
Fortunately, in America they allow millions of ordinary folk, not just newspaper pundits, to decide who gets to be the Republican candidate. The wisdom of the crowd may throw up a wider range of contenders. Even so, the task ahead for US Republicans is formidable.
The grass roots Tea Party movement may have been tremendously successful in re-energising the Republican movement and making afresh the case for small state conservatism. But if their oppositional agenda is all very well when running for the legislature, what should small state conservatives propose to do in office when seeking executive power?
For much of the last half century, small state conservatism in both Britain and America used the power of central government to try to achieve their objectives. In doing so, conservatives often simply strengthened the power of government.
If you genuinely want to reduce the size and scope of government, what do you do when you are elected to preside over the government?
How do you rein in the vast, sprawling, self-serving bureaucratic machinery that you nominally control, but which keeps on churning out proposals and initiatives that can only mean more government?
How do you disperse power from the centre when you - however fleetingly - are at the centre?
It is only when conservatives - on both sides of the Atlantic - have answers to these questions that they can govern successfully. Daniel Hannan and I pondered this problem long and hard in opposition - and came up with a plan (which incidentally would end central planning).
I'm interested to see what ideas US Republicans come up with .....