Columnist Bob Novak just spoke at the John Locke Foundation’s Headliner Luncheon at the Brownstone Hotel. Here’s the gist of his remarks:

? Giuliani can’t win the Republican nomination in 2008 because he’s pro-choice, pro-gay and pro-gun control.

? McCain is wrong on taxes and that will hurt him in 2008 if he tries for the nomination. His appeal is that he outpolls Hillary. Frist not likely to run. Newt Gringrich is the perfect candidate if one wants to have a Democrat in the White House in 2009. Insiders are pointing to Virginia Sen. George Allen and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Condi Rice, if anything, might be a vice-presidential pick if the Republicans think they need a “hail Mary” option.

? On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is the front-runner but not a guaranteed winner of the nomination. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is running, too, as is John Edwards. Republicans should pray for an Edwards nomination. But a Southern governor is what the Dems need so former Virginia governor Mark Warner comes to mind as an attractive option (Ed.: Imagine an all-Viriginia presidential campaign, George Allen vs. Mark Warner).

? President Bush and his neo-conservative cabinet members wanted regime change in Iraq. There were no WMDs, it’s obvious. It should have been obvious to the White House. But now that we’re in, we need to win.

? His source for the Valerie Plame information is, he is confident, the same as The Washington Post‘s Bob Woodward’s. He would be surprised if President Bush didn’t know who “he” was (Ed.: So we know it wasn’t Mary Matalin, Karen Hughes or Laura).

UPDATE: On hearing an audio of this portion of Novak’s talk I learned that the above is in error. He said, rather, that Woodward speculates that his source and Novak’s source are the same and that he is confident that President Bush knows who the source is.

? The New York Times will continue to be a powerful agenda-setter for other print journalists, but the power of print journalists is fading rapidly, especially due to the pull of the internet (Ed.: He didn’t mention blogs specifically).

? Bush has presided over a big-spending administration and should never have signed the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill, but what he has done on judicial nominees and tax cuts has been truly commendable and should comfort depressed conservatives.