The one alternative is former U.S. senator, and now actor, Fred Thompson, who could throw a wrench into Romney's campaign should he declare for the presidency himself, said Bennett.

"I don't see any scenario whereby Fred becomes the nominee" of the Republican Party. But he could be a spoiler to Romney's effort. "Fred could trip up Mitt and allow (Rudy) Giuliani to come through" and win the nomination.

The core question Republicans want answered for any of the GOP presidential candidates, Bennett said, is: Can they beat Sen. Hillary Clinton?

"And Romney is moving. He can beat her," Bennett said.

Romney has the money, the issues, and the personality and charisma to win, Bennett said.

But Americans could also find themselves choosing only from New Yorkers — former New York City Mayor Giuliani as the GOP nominee; Clinton, D-N.Y., as the Democratic nominee; and current NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg running as a strong independent.

Bennett said Washington, D.C., rumor has it that Bloomberg is worth more than $1 billion, and "he could spend $500 million on an independent presidential campaign and not miss it."

As long as Giuliani has the beat-Hillary-card via the polls, "It trumps everything else, (Giuliani's) position on abortion, all his marriages, everything else."

Republicans are looking more at Romney because he has lived, through his private life and his family, "the family values they like." The other Republican candidates don't have that, said Bennett.

"I have heard maybe fourth-hand that Hillary is most concerned about Mitt," said Bennett. In large part, that's because of his wholesome reputation. "Many Americans see that if they vote for Hillary, they get Bill. And they don't want their soap-opera marriage playing out before them (on TV) in their living rooms for another four years."

While the Iraq war is much hated in America, and Bush's approval ratings are just terrible, Bennett said he doesn't see the war greatly harming the GOP nominee, assuming the nominee is not Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who supports the current military approach in Iraq.

"Mitt and Giuliani can just say: 'It is not my war.'"

What D.C. politicians heard from the "screaming and yelling from the 2006 election is that they want a new face — they are tired of the Establishment," he said. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., is a new face, but he won't win the Democratic nomination, believes Bennett.

Obama "is not connected to the automatic delegates" that have such a large say in the national Democratic convention.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com