“If you find a candidate you want to support, you should do so.”

That’s what George Pataki told a group of his friends and supporters over dinner last night. And while the article linked does say, “Pataki did not rule out running for president in 2008,” what else can you glean from that statement above?

Pataki told the group that he was going to focus on policy instead of the Presidency, and specifically on finding a bipartisan solution to the Iraq war. Good luck with that, Governor. Methinks he is leaving the door open just enough to seek the Unity Party nomination if he wanted to down the road. But cross him off the list for the GOP nomination!

That leaves us with 12 people either running or exploring, and 3 2 that have not announced their intentions yet (Hagel, Gingrich, and Franks).

[UPDATE:Just received word back from one of Tommy Franks’ spokesmen who seemed caught off guard by the rumors that Franks would be running for federal office (exact words: “Wow, where’d that come from?”). He said Franks would most likely never run for any political office. So take him out of the running.]