It's debatable whether the Republicans who want to unseat President Barack Obama next year are the best and the brightest who could be seeking that job.
But a new USA Today poll suggests that either of the two leading Republicans - former House Speaker Newt Gingrich or former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney - could do well against Obama.
In the all-important "swing states" - states where voters sometimes vote for Republican presidential candidates and sometimes pick Democrats - the poll shows that the president now trails both Gingrich and Romney among registered voters.
There is still quite a ways to go before a Republican nominee is selected, let alone before the November 2012 election.
But it's shaping up to be a close race.