Of those running right now, I'd support Mike Huckabee with Duncan Hunter a close second.
But being a realist, I know in my heart that neither one of them have a chance at the nomination. Maybe as Veep, but not in the top slot on the ticket.
Unless things really, really shake up over the next 8 or so months, it's going to come down to McCain or Guiliani versus Hillary.
It'll be really tough for me to support McCain because he wrote the bill that, in clear violation of the First Amendment, abridged free (political) speech. He's also co-sponsored this travesty of an Amnesty bill. He does advocate that we vigorously prosecute the war on terror- which is a major plus in my book- but the scales of judgement (my judgement anyway) still tilt against him.
Guiliani's stances on the issues are bothering me less and less the more I consider them:
abortion- he is personally pro-choice, but he has repeatedly said that he would appoint Constructionist judges to SCOTUS and lower courts who would, assuming they follow rather than invent the law, would ultimately overturn Roe and give the States the power to write their own laws on the matter. That's a Constitutional position, folks.
gay rights- basically the exact same thing.
gun rights- he follows the law as it has been interpreted (as it is) rather than how it was written 200+ years ago (as one might wish it was). Until a case goes before SCOTUS that challenges the laws that provide for some restrictions on gun ownership, we're stuck with the laws we have. However, his promise to nominate only Constructionsists means that, if/when the laws are challenged, the Justices might well be more favoribly disposed to overturning the restrictions.
war on terror- no one- no Republican and for damn sure no Democrat- has the moral authority to speak out on this issue like Guiliani does. I only wish the rest of us took as personally the attacks by the Jihadists as Rudy does.
immigration- I've not read anywhere that he supports the Shamnesty Bill as written (and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong on this). From his record, I'd say he wouldn't be as good as, say, Tancredo would be but he's far better than any Democrat would be (again unless he supports Shamnesty).
Plus he brings something to the table that neither Huckabee, Tancredo, Hunter or Paul does- the prospect of defeating Hillary Clinton.
I'll be pulling the Republican lever come next November- even if it's very reluctantly for McCain. Keeping Democrats from controlling all four branches of government (including the media) is just too terrifying a concept for me to contemplate.