As the rats don their life jackets, think about what might come next...the final triumph of the neo-conservatives

A number of key Bush advisers seem to be planning a hasty retreat before the beginning of the second term. And while it might sound pretty good to be rid of the likes of Condoleezza Rice, John Ashcroft, and Tom Ridge, think about what might happen next.



According to a USA Today report, here are some possible scenarios:

• National Security Advisor Rice might either move to an other cabinet post, most likely Defense or State, or she might walk away completely to pursue a political career in California. In either case Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz is a likely successor.



• Powell is a virtual certainty to leave the Secretary of State slot and take along with him his chief deputy Richard Armitage. The potential successor mentioned most often is Paul Bremer, former Proconsul of Iraq and the architect of much of what went wrong after America's "catastrophically successful" invasion.



• At Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge has already announced his plans to leave. How does Asa Hutchinson, a leader of the Clinton witch hunt crowd from the House, sound as the man to give us all confidence that we are safe and sound?



• Finally, Attorney General John Ashcroft is expected to create another vacancy, though some administration officials say he might stay on for at least a year into the new term.

What we have to fear most in a second term George W. Bush is that he will have no pressure to moderate his arch conservative ways.



USA Today - Exodus expected at White House