New York Post columnist John Podhoretz is warning that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will win the 2008 presidential election unless Republicans start focusing now on a plan to defeat her.

"If you Republicans don’t get real serious real fast, if you don’t wise up and settle down and get focused, it will be Hillary up there on the podium taking the oath of office" in January 2009, he writes in his new book: "Can She Be Stopped?: Hillary Clinton Will Be the Next President Unless …"[Editor’s note: Get this book FREE with our special offer Click Here Now]

Podhoretz says the answer to that question is yes — and he offers the GOP a 10-point plan of action to expose Hillary as the far-left liberal that she truly is.

• Smoke Her Out: "Republicans must now — right now, this week, today — declare [Hillary] the leader of the Democratic Party and insist that she become its primary voice and its primary spokesman." Enough "blather" from the likes of Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, argues Podhoretz, when Hillary is the real party leader. "On blogs and radio shows, in letters to the editor and op-eds in newspapers, and in communications with reporters, we should insist on ‘hearing it from Hillary.’"
• Make Her Vote: "One of the priorities of Republicans in the Senate should be to use their power to make her vote … on matters of controversy where she would prefer to remain silent." Podhoretz urges the GOP to introduce Sense of the Senate resolutions on parental rights, gun control and eminent domain.
• Make Her Criticize Tax Cuts: Podhoretz invokes Hillary’s infamous 2004 quote, "For America to get back on track, we’re probably going to cut [the Bush tax cuts] short … We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." The comment is "pure gold for Republicans" he writes, urging the GOP to focus an ad campaign on Hillary’s tax hikes if she wins the White House.
• Talk Up Free Trade: One of the crown jewels of the Clinton economic program was the North American Free Trade Agreement [NAFTA]. But Hillary voted against a more modest proposal by President Bush for Central America - CAFTA. The vote against free trade indicates Hillary felt the need to tack left on the issue, contends Podhoretz. "There’s a gap there. Toss her into it," he urges.
• Talk a Lot About Health Care: "Clearly the Stop Hillary movement can’t leave her alone on this matter," Podhoretz says. "If it makes her uncomfortable, her discomfort should only be enhanced" by having Republicans talking up market-oriented reform plans.
• Suggest a Pullout from the U.N.: Podhoretz notes that Hillary "has a long record of institutional support for the United Nations." He says that in 2008 her GOP opponent should float the idea of creating a new international agency to replace the failed world body. "Would Hillary be prepared," he asks, "to defend the United Nations hotly? To argue forcefully that the United States cannot do without?"
• Fight the Culture War, but with Delicacy: For all her traditional values talk during the coming campaign, says Podhoretz, Hillary "will have nonetheless handed her IOUs out to liberal groups who will expect her to deliver on their anti-traditionalist wishes once the election is over." Gay marriage will still be a hot-button issue that could put Clinton on the defensive, he says. But with the GOP unlikely to nominate another born-again Christian, Republicans will have to tread lightly.
• Run a Reform Campaign: Podhoretz says Republicans must acknowledge that "things got messy" on the ethics front on their watch. For 2008, he says, the party "must commit itself to an agenda of reform."
• Go Outside Washington for a Candidate: Podhoretz says the GOP would do well to look beyond the D.C. beltway for their next standard bearer. He doesn’t like McCain, complaining that the GOP maverick "is a creature of Washington." He dismisses arguments that Condoleezza Rice could defeat Hillary, noting: "The presidency is not an entry-level job."
• Nominate Rudy: "The events of September 11 are nearly five years in the past, and yet [Rudy] Giuliani remains the only American figure whose enhanced standing as a result of the attacks on America remains undiminished," writes Podhoretz. To get the nomination, the former New York City mayor will have to relinquish his pro-choice credentials and "declare himself opposed to abortion," he says.
• Predicting Rudy will eventually come around on the issue, he notes: "If there’s one thing Rudy Giuliani’s political career demonstrates, it’s that he’s willing to commit to a controversial course for a higher purpose … Defeating Hillary Clinton while becoming president himself - could there be any higher purpose?"