Will the Next President Be in Tenn. This Weekend?

March 9, 2006 — -- Would you like to get a sneak peek at the next president of the United States? You may well have a chance this weekend. You will most certainly get some insight into the post-George W. Bush Republican Party.

Nearly 2,000 Republican activists from 26 states will gather in Memphis, Tenn., starting Thursday to hear from national Republican leaders, including six potential 2008 presidential candidates at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference: Sens. John McCain, George Allen, Bill Frist, and Sam Brownback, as well as Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

It's the first "cattle call" of the 2008 cycle providing attendees a chance "to look at and hear from what the people who represent the future of the party have to offer," said the host of the big gathering, Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Bob Davis Jr.

With Bush's low poll numbers and the continued uproar over the Dubai ports deal as the backdrop, you may hear some of the potential '08 candidates carefully walk the line of distancing themselves from the president without appearing to snub him. It will be a delicate balancing act since the audience will be made up of die-hard Republican devotees who are still quite supportive of the president on nearly every issue.

Some Republican sources tell ABC News the likely places you will see some daylight between the administration and the presidential wannabes will be on federal spending and perhaps the ports controversy. (You probably won't hear too much cheerleading about the Medicare prescription drug benefit either.)

One GOP strategist cautioned that Republican White House hopefuls who distance themselves from Bush may not be employing the best strategy. "I wouldn't try in the least bit to calibrate my positions versus the president's," said Rich Galen, a former aide to Dan Quayle and Newt Gingrich. The potential candidates should "begin to make the case that [they] have the capability and background to be the president of the United States," Galen said.