Coming soon, to a theater near you: the GOP’s early class of 2008.

Monday’s Note has the inside scoop:

Thursday, a cattle call of potential Republican presidential candidates begin speaking in Memphis to the regional party faithful — and big-footed political reporters — followed by a straw poll. (Will the White House be able to delay the starting gun on 2008, and how much will these would-bees run against the Bush-Cheney record?)

…As the always ahead-of-the-curve Mark Z. Barabak hints in the Los Angeles Times, you are likely to hear more dissonance between the 2008 Republican presidential hopefuls and the Bush Administration on federal spending — during that Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Memphis at the end of the week — than perhaps on any other topic.

…Howard Fineman writes in Newsweek of Rudy Giuliani’s calculus in making a run for the White House which does not include a stop in Memphis for the Southern Republican Leadership Conference this upcoming weekend. Fineman reports Team McCain expects (hopes) Giuliani, in the end, won’t make the run.

…The Southern Republican Leadership Conference gets underway on Thursday with speeches by 2008 Republican hopefuls scheduled to be delivered on Friday and Saturday. Govs. Romney and Huckabee, Sens. Frist, Allen, McCain, and Brownback are all scheduled to attend and address the gathering.

We will be following these stories as they develop this week. Stay “tuned” for ongoing and live-blog coverage of the SRLC this weekend.