Democratic Agenda

A prominent blog author stated that he voted for Obama. That was not surprising. However he also said that he voted Republican for everything else. He explained himself by saying he just did not want a lot of tax increases. And that is what the Democratic party means to him.

The Obama vote was to keep the American dream alive that anybody can make it big. It was also because he believed that Barrack’s vision, leadership, and motivation would help the USA. The guy did not want to appear too far to the right with his Republican voting. So he did admit that he did not think tax cuts would help us at this point. But he definitely did not want any tax hikes either.

There was a lot of commentary on the blog post. There is a growing concern that with all the government bailouts, we are becoming a socialist nation. There is also worry that with the House, Senate, and presidency controlled by the Democrats, we have lost some level of checks and balances. Even Sarah Palin has come out and said that we cannot leave this happen.

Going further on the socialism idea, I keep hearing people say they don’t want the government to take from those who work, in order to give to those who don’t. Nobody likes free handouts like welfare unless it is you yourself who is on welfare.

And lest we get a little to serious here on this blog, I will say that I voted for McCain. However I hope that Obama can do a good job and get the United States out of the financial mess we are in. I liked one comment I saw recently that just said, “Gobama.”

Results Snapshot

I write this late in the evening on election day. NBC is calling Obama the winner. It is a tricky business to estimate who is going to win. However the outcome seems clear given the electoral vote advantage that Obama has. As of a little after 11PM, Obama has 284 electoral votes compared to 146 for McCain. You only need 270 electoral votes to win the election. It appears that Obama was victorious.

Obama won a number of key states that corresponded to many electoral votes. For example he won New York with 31 electoral votes. And he also won California with 55 electoral votes. McCain on the other hand, seemed to win smaller states with less electoral votes. The one big state McCain won was Texas with 34 electoral votes. The only state too close to call that had many electoral votes was Florida with 27 electoral votes.

It had been a long and hard race for McCain. He seemed to lose steam after the current financial crisis reached its peak. There was a blip in the radar with excitement over his choice of Sarah Palin as Vice Presidential running mate. That did not last for long. Obama had the staying power. Record number of Americans came to the polls. I heard reports that this many voters had not come out since 1920 when women won the right to vote.

This event winds down the 2008 race. I might post some more about the events that lead up to the January inauguration of Obama. However the election portion is done. Who knows? Perhaps I shall start writing about Election 2012 a bit early. I feel like I want to do more for my chosen candidate than I did this time. Yes I went out and rocked the vote. Sometimes it takes more than that to get your candidate to win.

I Voted

Today was the big day. I actually woke up a little late. So I was worries that going to vote would make me really late. Nevertheless, I had to do my civic duty. The girlfriend tagged along. Last election I was in a different house in a different county. So this would be the first time I would vote at the local school by my new house. I was pleased to see that there was actually some parking near the school. I was in a hurry after all.

Outside of the school I saw a guy talking to people walking up to vote. When I got near him, I recognized him as a member of the local civic association that had come door to door. He asked us if we had any questions. I told him we were good. Maybe he was not one of those guys who try to harass you to vote for their choice. Perhaps he was just part of the election staff. Who knows. There were not any signs as directing your where to go. I just went inside one of the open doors.

When I got in, there was a large sign that said, "One line starts here". I stood in line. When my turn came, and a man shouted "next in line", I went up to him. However some lady cut in front of me. Normally that would mean she needed to get the beat down. But she was older, and was pushing an even older guy in a wheelchair. So I decided she would get a little grace. But by then I was in the middle of nowhere with nobody to service me. I decided to get back into line.

I told the guy who eventually serviced me my name. He did not ask for any identification which was strange. The only needed me to verify my birth date. I signed a paper that came out of a little printer. Then I got a voting card. And I went to stand in yet another line. I stepped to a voting machine when the time came. I put my voting card in the machine. However I knew something was not right when I tried to select English as the language. I had to keep hitting the button to start the voting session.

It was a total chore voting on this machine. I think the touch screen was totally hosed. Either that or the machine was very slow. I kept hitting the buttons I wanted. Somehow I got through all the questions and submitted my vote. It was a little confusing on the way out. I tried to give my stuff to a lady that looked like she worked there. But she said I needed to give it to the other guy that was handling the line coming in. Overall the voting experience felt a little more disorganized than at my last location in a different county. All of these people are volunteers. So I doubt much more can be done to improve this, unless I myself decided to volunteer and step in.

Palin on SNL

Last weekend vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin appeared on Saturday Night Live. Tina Fey continued her impersonation of Palin from the previous week. The SNL ratings were off the charts. They got around 14 million viewers. SNL viewership is up this year, sharply contrasting with last year's numbers. The real question is whether Palin's visit to SNL will impact the election. Like everyone else, I did some Google searches to see what various authorities on the subject were saying.

ABC News reports that this showed Parlin could take a joke. She only spent 6 minutes on camera during the show. There are a lot of other people doing Sarah Palin impersonations these days. Nothing on the SNL show was too outrageous. Speaking of impersonations, Lisa Nova is doing Palin impersonations on YouTube. However I will not be watching Lisa Nova for her brilliant satire any time soon. If you have ever seen a Lisa Nova video, you know what I am talking about.

Yahoo News reported that the Palin visit to SNL made her favorability ratings drop a bit. However experts agree that it will have no impact whatsoever on the election results. The greatest impact is to the SNL show itself. Some Republicans may be thinking that this is too serious a time for Palin to be appearing on SNL.

The Wired Blog said that people all over the United States were doing Google searches on SNL plus Palin. Like I mentioned earlier, I did my own Google searches to research what others were thinking about the SNL appearance. NBC Universal has been diligent in issuing take down notices to YouTube so that the SNL skit would not be shown. I doubt this has anything to do with Palin herself or the election. This is just NBC protecting its copyright.

Personally I enjoyed the first impersonation done by Tina Fey on SNL. It was actually funny. I did not tune in to see Palin herself come on the show the following week. However I do credit her with having the audacity to actually appear. It takes strong character to be able to laugh when people are making fun of you.

VP Debate

Palin came out in the vice presidential debate, proving she is a force to be reckoned with. She walked up to Biden and asked if she could call him Joe. I confess I did not watch the actual debate. However I caught a couple shows with analysts going bonkers over Palin's part in the debate.

You had to love how Palin controlled the debate, connecting with the crowd and the viewer audience. She was seen winking on more than one occasion. She shocked analysts when she mentioned that she advocated an expansion of the vice presidential powers. LOL.

Biden had a tough job. He could not come out swinging. Otherwise he would look bad as if he was beating up a woman. Biden was careful not to correct Palin so as not to appear to aggressive. I give him some credit. He did hold his own. Then again he has a lot of experience.

Palin was the underdog. Nobody thought she would fare well in the debate. She proved them wrong. Now its up to McCain and Obama to duke it out in their second debate.

McCain Blasts SEC Chairman

John McCain has called for the firing of Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). This is quite an aggressive move by McCain. He cites poor wall street oversight by the SEC. In doing so, McCain states that Cox has betrayed the public trust.

There is no question that the economy and stock market have been hit hard recently. Speculator have been selling stocks short. In other words, they have been betting that stock prices will go down. Not only that, some have been doing naked short sales. Investors often blame these short sellers when stock prices fall. Whether or not they are the direct cause is a point of debate.

We should return to some facts of the matter. The SEC did eliminate something called the uptick rule for short selling. Essentially you could not sell a stock short unless the price was increasing. Another fact is that even good companies are suffering due to the recent events in the stock market.

Now let’s discuss the fate of chairman Cox. The chairman of the SEC is appointed by the president of the United States. Bush has come out and said Cox has his full support. Cox also rebutted McCain’s call with a 10 point list of positive actions the SEC is taking to deal with the stock market.

So why would McCain make such an aggressive move against Cox? He previously had stated that the fundamentals of the economy were strong. Big mistake. His campaign is also losing some steam as the news of Sarah Palin wears off. I would hope that McCain would work on some real action to help the economy instead of some cheap methods like declaring the SEC chairman should be fired.

Sarah Palin's Daughter

The big news for a while was that Sarah Palin's daughter is pregnant. Luckily the democrats are very gentle when dealing with Palin. They don't want to appear to be attacking women in general.

A funny thing about this story is that it generated all kinds of Internet rumors. I would be reading message boards about company stocks, and I would see stories about Palin, her children, and her future grandchildren. That was spooky.

Personally I don't care if Sarah Palin is pregnant. I don't care if her daughter is pregnant. And I do not care if her daughter is married or not and pregnant. All that matters is whether Palin can do the job of Vice President well. I suspect she can given her experience in Alaska. Her choice as Vice President may have been the move that pulled me to the McCain side.

Another Reason to Vote McCain

Here is another reason to vote for John McCain. Heidi Montag (of The Hills fame) has thrown her support behind McCain. This in and of itself is of no great consequence. However you normally hear about her so called real life relationship with Spencer. It is refreshing to hear something about her that has nothing to do with The Hills.

McCain Chooses VP

John McCain has announced his choice for Vice President. It is Alaska governor Sarah Palin. This was quite a bold move for McCain. It seems obvious that McCain is targeting women voters. But enough about McCain. Let's talk about Palin.

Sarah Palin is a 44 year old mother of five. She has a newborn baby less than a year old. Her son enlisted in the army just last year. She used to be a union member. Her husband still is. She is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. What a resume!

There are some challenges with McCain's choice. He is 72. She is almost 30 years younger than him. She does not have experience with foreign policy. However she does have a track record of fighting oil companies in Alaska.

The real question is whether Palin can lure Democratic supports of Hillary Clinton to vote for McCain-Palin.

Edwards Affair

John Edwards has finally come out and admitted that he had an affair with Rielle Hunter. He also confessed that he had lied about this relationship in the past. However Edwards continues to deny he is the father of Hunter's daughter Frances. The National Inquirer broke this story back in October 2007. They insist that Frances is the love child of Edwards and Hunter.

Hunter has professed her love for Edwards. But Edwards on the other hand denies being in love with Hunter. A staffer for Edwards has come forward stating that he instead is the father of the baby. Why am I having a tough time believing that one? Oh yeah. Edwards lied to the press repeatedly.

Apparently Hunter traveled with Edwards for about six months. That left plenty of time for extramarital activities between them. There are some additional sketchy details involving Hunter. Her company was paid $100k by Edwards' political action committee for 4 videos she produced. Nice touch.

The only real question is what impact will this have on Edwards. Bill Clinton lied and had an affair with minimal damage. Can Edwards pull this off as well? I do not think so. We already knew that Clinton was Slick Willie. However Edwards came across as a different kind of man sticking by his wife that had cancer. Now that the truth is revealed, coupled with the fact that he is not as good a liar as Clinton, might spell the end of his political career. I can say for sure that I am never going to vote for the man. What say you?

Terrible But Funny Ad

I have been seeing a certain commercial on TV a lot recently. It starts out by talking about the high gas prices. Then it asks who is responsible for the evil high gas prices. You see a picture of Obama on a podium. The crowd starts chanting the answer to who is responsible for high gas prices: Obama, Obama, Obama.

You have to give the McCain media people some credit. This commercial is absolutely hilarious. The commercial never comes out and says that Barack is to blame for high gas prices. And they do not point to any facts behind the commercial.

One good thing about the commercial is that, at the end, John McCain comes out and states that he approved the commercial. He does not behind some committee. McCain won some points from me with this ad. Now it is time for Obama to do something just as inventive. I am waiting.

Obama Ads

So Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for the presidential candidate. That was one tough fight. Hillary Clinton would not give up no matter how hard the Democratic Party pressured her. But in the end the primary votes were cast. And there was nothing else that Hillary could do to stop the Obama campaign from grabbing the ticket.

I recently saw an advertisement on TV for Obama. Although I tried hard to listen to it, there were people in the room making too much noise for me to concentrate on the message. The one thing I did notice was that it seemed like a clean commercial. There was no jabs at McCain. Just a positive message on why you should vote for Obama. This did not get my vote. But it made me respect Obama a bit. It is probably just his PR people trying to get some good will from the viewers. It looks like this is working.

Power of Michelle

The other day I was watching some TV. I think it was on a public access or local news channel. Somebody was speaking fervently about politics. At first I thought it was Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The hair was right. But she did not have the face of Condoleezza. Then I figured it out. It was Michelle Obama, wife of Barack Obama.

Michelle was quite the public speaker. She seemed to be able to discuss Barack's character and viewpoint on a whole host of matters. She also knew how to make the crowd laugh and cheer. I wonder why she has not been on the forefront a lot earlier.

In my mind, I thought it would be great to see Michelle and Bill Clinton speaking head to head. It could be the presidential candidate spouse debate. One would think that Bill Clinton could own anybody in the public speaking arena. But Michelle looked as if she could hold her own.

Now I am not a big fan of Barack Obama. But I found myself agreeing with a lot that Michelle Obama had to say. That's how you know that somebody is good. They make you question your own decisions and outlook on topics. We shall see how Michelle Obama's work affects the outcome of the democratic primary. I am excited to see.

Democrat Debate

The other day I tuned into the Democrat debate in Philadelphia. I must confess that I only saw about half of the show. But I found it interesting.

Both Hillary and Barack were reluctant to criticize the DC ban on guns. They tiptoed around the subject a lot. I guess they both are afraid of losing votes at this critical juncture. They did make some good points on gun control. Obama gave some gruesome examples of kids getting gunned down in Chicago. And Clinton spoke about the benefit of local gun laws in New York which cater to the specific locality.

Obama took a chance I thought at speaking bluntly regarding taxes. He said you don't get something for nothing. And that means he has to raise some taxes to combat the deficit. It sounded like he wanted to raise the capital gains tax rate, and also tax wealthy people more. Ouch. Hillary just responded by saying we should spend less.

One thing Hillary and Barack had in common was blasting the Bush, McCain, and the whole Republican party. Typical democrats. Or shall I say typical politicians. There was one humorous question where Hillary was asked how, as president, she would use past presidents such as George W. Bush.

Clintons are Rich

The Clintons finally released their tax records for the last 8 years. And guess what? They are rich. Last year alone they made over $20 million. And since 2000 they have amassed over $100 million.

Part of the mega millions comes from the fact that Bill Clinton makes a lot of money these days. With his speaking engagements and popular books, he is pulling down the mad bank.

Who would we rather vote for? Rich team Clinton? Or Barack who only recently made anything more than his senatorial salary? I don't think Hillary wants you to answer this question. It cannot bode well for her. I do salute Hillary for finally releasing her tax records, even though they show she and Bill are rich.

Obama Tax Returns

Barrack Obama and wife have made public their tax returns for the last 7 or so years. I applaud this effort. Apparently Obama makes a decent salary as a senator. But he really cleaned up with his income from his book. Together he and his wide made over $1 million in tax year 2006.

Strangely enough, Hillary Clinton has not made her tax returns public information. I wonder what she is waiting for. If she includes Bill Clinton's tax information as well, I bet their income is going to look Barack look poor.

No wonder Obama girl loves you Barack. You got the power. And you also got the cash. Maybe you are destined to be the next president of the United States. I will have only one thing to say then - bring our troops home.

The Race Card

About a week ago, a controversy erupted regarding words spoken by Geraldine Ferraro. As you might recall, she was on the ticket with Walter Mondale in 1984 as vice president. Ferraro stated that Obama would not be in the position he is today if he were white.

Ferraro works on the Hilliary Clinton finance committee. At first Ferraro stood by her words. She stated that she was exercising her first amendment rights, and that she would not be discriminated against because she was white.

Ferraro almost seemed to go on the offensive. She accused the Obama team of playing the race card. In the end she stepped down from her post on the Clinton finance committee. She did not want the issue to bring Hillary down. I find it a shame that this happened. Have we become so politically correct that we must jump when a black man cries "racism"?

Personally I would not have voted for Mondale/Ferraro in 1984 if I could have. However I applaud Ferraro's courage in not backing down from her recent words. Geraldine - this post is for you.

Eliot Spitzer Owned

The news wires are buzzing about the resignation of Eliot Spitzer. To tell the truth, before the whole prostitution scandal broke out, I did not know much about the governor of New York. At least the guy made the right choice rather than be impeached.

It is strange that there had previously been talks about Spitzer running for president. Now we have degenerates such as Heidi Fleiss putting the man down for his hypocrisy. Things change real quick when a scandal is involved.

The reason I highlight Spitzer is that he is a prime example of somebody who looks clean on the outside, but has skeletons hiding in the closet. Do any of our top presidential candidates have similar issues hidden about their past? It is hard to tell.

MySpace McCain

Today I did a Google search on John McCain. I was interested in his MySpace page which came up pretty early in the search results pages. So I clicked over to his MySpace page. I was actually quite impressed with the page. It felt like a normal, well crafted MySpace page. This is the real question: Did John actually create the page himself? Or did he assign his team the task with making his page more appearing to the normal person?

Something that was unusual was that I did not see his family listed in his list of MySpace friends. You would think his wife and/or his daughter would be up there at the number one friend position. Or maybe that is what they thought we would be expecting, so they decided to mix it up. Who knows? At least the guy is working to reach out with the a newer type of media. So do you think John McCain is also on FaceBook? LOL.

McCain Domination

It looks like John McCain has clenched the Republican nomination for the presidential race. He owned the last primary, winning in all the states. This is in sharp contrast to what appears to be a close race to the finish between Hillary and Barrack.

I was sad to see Huckabee call it quits in the race for the president. Even though it was clear that he was not getting the Republican nomination, I like a candidate that does not quit. It shows that Hillary is not a quitter. I may not like her. But I like that quality about her.

On a lighter note, I have been scouring the McCain Bloggette BLOG written by McCain's daughter. And I swear I cannot find any revealing pictures of McCain's daughter on the site. My hunch tells me she is one voluptuous girl. Check out the picture above though. Aren't Hannah Montana fans too young to vote?

Not so Great Debate

Hillary and Obama are at it again. The thing now is that Hillary need to actually win a primary. It has been quite a while since she accomplished that. We shall see in the March 4th Ohio and Texas primaries. However a recent debate between her and Obama did not seem to turn the tide of the battle.

Barack is on a rampage winning the last 10 or so primaries. I don't even know what caused this success. Perhaps it was just the locations where they favor Obama. I did not watch much of the Democratic debate. But I did see Obama say that he took Clinton at face value when she denied any knowledge or intent from some questionable mailings from the Clinton campaign. At least we seem to have a little civility here.

The problem is that Hillary needs to go gangbusters to reverse the tide of losses in the primaries. I saw that a number of analysts were recommending that she withdraw gracefully from the race now. Although I do not particularly like Hillary, I do respect her desire to fight on until the end. Add that to her view on wanting to withdraw from Iraq, and she gets 2 points in my book.

Revenge of Obama

Well the primaries came to my state. Any wouldn't you know it? I slept in. So I planned to sneak out of work to go vote. Turns out there was a ton of work and I had to work late.

That's OK. I could run to the polls before they closed. And darn the luck. We had an ice storm and it took forever to get home. So I gave up and skipped the primary vote. Shame on my.

It was not until I was safe at home that I heard they kept the polls open extra late since we had an ice storm. Thanks for getting the word out. Not. This is the real criminal part of this story. My vote would not have counted for much I think. I wanted Ron Paul to win the Republican nomination. And I am sure you know how his numbers are.

The real surprise was that Barrack swept all three states by my house. Hillary basically got crushed. And firing her campaign manager could not stop the carnage. LOL. As if that was going to do any good. A month ago I thought Hillary had this thing wrapped up, even those Obama was "close". Not it really is probably anybody's game. But on the Republican side, I figure the ticket is McCain's.

Hillary vs. Barack

I checked out Obama Girl's latest video. In fact this was the first time I ever watched one of her videos. It just got to the point where I could not ignore her. The hype was too strong. In this latest video, Obama Girl gets super powers to fight the "Legion of Doom". Not sure who the members of this evil legion are. But Bill Clinton is one of them. Obama Girl's video has the key ingredient for any popular YouTube video - a pretty girl with a big rack willing to show it off.

Barack has other things in his favor in the battle to win the Democratic nomination. Last month he raised $32 million in funds for his campaign. To understand how huge this amount is, note that John McCain raised $37 million total last year. Barack almost met this in one month.

Recently Barack and Hillary debated in California. One of the key issues separating them was their outlook on driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. Hillary was vocally opposed to it. Barack was not, but accussed Hillary of changing her opinion on this topic over the months. Well on this issue I go with Hillary's latest stance. But that does not mean she gets my vote.

McCain Blogette

John McCain has a daughter Meghan who is on campaign with him. She appears to have the liberty to blog about her life on the campaign trail. Her blog is named McCain Blogette. As a blog it is pretty good. There are lots of high quality pictures. And Meghan posts videos at crucial times like right before the winner of a primary is being announced.

Previously I knew very little about John McCain's family. Apparently Meghan is 23 years old. That seems a bit young for John, since he is currently 71 years old. In other words he had Meghan when he was 48. And that's not all. Meghan has a younger brother too. LOL. Well we know that John is still working in that department. Although I did not research any further, I assume John's wife is younger than he is.

I have to give Meghan some props. She appears in a lot of pictures on her blog. However she is always conservatively dressed. This may not be Meghan's doing. I imagine John has people on wardrobe duty for his daughter. But no matter what the reason, Meghan appears pretty classy in all the attire I see her in.

More Candidates Drop Out

Some of the bigger names in the presidential race are dropping out. First there was John Edwards. And now Rudy Giuliani has called it quits too. This has all happened before Super Tuesday when a lot of primary votes shall be cast.

There is some good news from all of this. Since Rudy Giuliani is now out, this enabled Arnold Schwarzenegger to endorse John McCain. Apparently Arnold was good friends with both Rudy and and John. So he previously would not endorse either. Now there is nothing holding back his endorsement. And Rudy Giuliani is also endorsing John McCain.

I might have to wait a while before making my final decision for my own vote in the primaries. Who knows? There might be even further drop outs from the race. At least Ron Paul is still in for the Republican nomination. This brings up a deeper and more important issue. For the actual election, who should I vote for? Somebody who I believe in? Or rather somebody that I think has a choice to win? This is the delemna.

Main Man Gone

I just heard the bad news. Dennis Kucinich has dropped out of the race. This is truly disappointing. Now I need to look at all the remaining candidates to figure out who I am going to vote for. Initially I thought I could wait until the primaries were over, and then start helping the Kucinich campaign. I guess that was too late. He needed my help now.

The other fear I have is that my next candidate may also drop out. Although I need to do some soul searching, my second bet may be Ron Paul. Given that he has not been doing well in the polls, I fear he may too drop out sooner rather than later. Perhaps it is time to go all out and support the candidate I want. And I need to do this immediately.

Let me gather my facts once again. And I will turn my blog towards supporting my candidates of choice. Stay tuned.

Goodbye Fred

Fred Thompson has thrown in the towel. It seems really early. Only a couple primaries are done. Maybe the writing was getting clear on the wall for Fred. My own experience with his web site was that he needed to fix his web site. If you are a guy that I have never heard of before, you better wow me with your web site for you to even have a chance to get my vote. This is the reality.

The real question on my mind now is whether Ron Paul will go the distance or not. I do not think he has done well in the Republican primaries. He was almost not allowed to participate in a Nevada debate due to his low numbers. I do not think I will be voting for Ron for president. But between all the other Republican candidates, he may get my nomination for the Republican ticket in the primary.

Hillary on Tyra

I was home from work today and tuned into the Tyra Banks show. Hillary Clinton was her guest and got a lot of air time. Tyra read a lot of questions for Hillary to answer.

The one question that stood out in my mind was what Hillary was going to do about same sex partners not being able to share health benefits. Hillary's response was that any relationship should be able to be used to use health care benefits for another.

I found Hillary's answer to be lacking on many levels. She used the typical politician maneuver of side stepping the issue, in that she did not directly comment on same sex partnerships. Then Hillary used examples that did not involve same sex partnerships to demonstrate her opinion that you should be able to extend your health coverage to whomever you want. Irresponsible.

Don't you know that you can't win votes with cheap parlour tricks like these? Guess not. Well at least Hillary gave me an excuse to post a picture of Tyra. Believe me I tried to get one of Hillary and Tyra together. Honestly. But all I could find was one of Beyonce and Tyra. Hillary's loss and your gain.

Kucinich Fading Fast

Given the research I have done so far, Dennis Kucinich will get my vote. But it appears he has no chance to win the Democratic nomination. Initially he was invited to the democratic debate in Nevada. However he got a little over 1% of the democratic vote in the New Hampshire primaries. So it looks like they are trying to "uninvite" him from the Nevada debate.

Kucinich might be able to participate in the Nevada debate, given that a judge is going to intervene. But he cannot seem to compete against the big 3 democratic candidates. I think Kucinich might have a chance if the election were to be decided strictly on the issues. The problem is that nobody knows who Kucinich is.

Is it time to throw in the towel and choose another candidate to vote for? I don't think so. I plan to vote for Dennis Kucinich even if I have to write his name in on the ballot. The real question is whether it is too late for me to try to help the Kucinich campaign. So far I have been telling people that I think he is the best candidate given the issues. But I feel like I could do more.

Ron Paul Redux

I watched a two part video on Ron Paul's Town Hall meeting. This gave me an opportunity to see him in action. It is one thing to read a candidate's web site. It is another to see them react in real time based on questions from the crowd.

The main surprise I got from the Town Hall meeting was that Ron Paul has a long term goal to abolish the IRS. This was not made clear in his web site. As I have mentioned many times before, I think elimination of income taxes is unfeasible. It is strange that many candidates endorse this corse of action.

In addition, Ron Paul also seemed to indicate that he has a long term goal to abolish the Federal Reserve. This troubles me. I know Ron has a lot ideas about economics. But eliminating the Federal Reserve sounds like another ill concieved notion. Having viewed the Town Hall meeting, my initial excitement about Ron Paul has waned. I guess I might be left with Dennis Kucinich to vote for.

Frontrunners

Having done the research on the two major political parties, I have concluded that I like only 2 candidates: Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich. I still need to learn how to say and spell Kucinich. At this point I think it is time to dig deeper into what these two candidates stand for.

I already know that for the key issues I am interested in, these two candidates align with my views. But that does not mean they do not also support some other strange viewpoints. I guess what I want to do now is see whether they make sense to be a president looking at the big picture. In other words, given all the issues (not just my favorite ones), which one of these candidates fares the best.

Although I am not against a tie, I am sure there will be one clear winner in my mind. Once I find out who that is, they will get my vote. Join me in the journey. I feel as if I have come a long way already. Election 2008 - here we come.

Bill Richardson

Bill Richardson is another one of those candidates I knew nothing about initially. His offical web site brings me to his signup page. How unoriginal. Let's see where he stands on the issues.

Bill wants to withdraw all troops from Iraq. Strong. Bill wants to end the AIDS epidemic. This seems a bit random. Doesn't everybody want AIDS to end? Bill lists Darfur as one of his key issues. I think a presidential candidate better list the issues on the homefront first if he wants to win. Bill does not want to build a fence to prevent illegal immigration. Unique, but I do not like the sound of that.

Although he does not come out and say it directly, Bill appears to support gay marriage. He is going to lose 25 points for that: 10 for supporting it, and 15 for not directly saying so. Overall I think Bill Richardson has a distinct opinion on a number of matters. Unfortunately those issues are not key for me. He has failed to gain my vote.

Barack Obama

I can honestly say I do not currently know what Barack Obama stands for. But I do know that Oprah stands for him. And I hear Barack stands for change. He must be a good speaker and a charismatic guy. He won in Iowa. Let me study his official web site for clues.

After skipping an initial signup page, I quickly got to Obama's issues page. None of the top issues he lists interests me. It is funny to note that the formatting for all of his issues do not match up. But that is a side detail.

Barack states that he is for immigration reform. And he chides other candidates for making it a point of contention. But I can't clearly understand what type of reform Barack intends. Deduct 2 points. Barack states he was initially against Iraq. And he says his plan for Iraq has met approval from some people. But he did not list a summary of his plan. Typical political mumbo jumbo.

Having read Barack Obama's issues page, I have no clue what he stands for. This web site is poorly done. Or he is taking the typical political move of stating no direct opinions. It is a shame. Barack has a lot of Buzz going on about him. I wish he could have clearly written down his stance on the key issues. To close on a light note, at least he was unique in that he listed technology as an issue.

Dennis Kucinich

It is nothing personal. But my initial reaction to Dennis Kucinich is how do you pronounce Kucinich? It must not roll off the tongue like Bush or Clinton or Carter. But let's not count it entirely against him. On to his stance on the issues.

Once again, Dennis tries to sign me up for his campaign like other Democratic candidate web sites. Stop wasting my time already! Dennis gets another strike against him in that it is hard to figure out how to get to his real web site. Don't piss off a potential voter before we even get to hear what you have to say.

Dennis prides himself on initially voting against the war in Iraq. That was indeed a bold move. Dennis comes right out and states he will end our participation in NAFTA and the WTO. Bam. Another seriously bold move. Now I have to give this to Dennis. He gave me a taste of where he stands on the issues. And he has made me go to his more detailed issues page. This is the first candidate who succeeded in doing this.

Wow. Dennis wants to legalize marijuana. LOL. And Dennis is against outsourcing. Two thumbs up here. And Dennis wants the rich and big business to pay more in taxes. He might not be popular with some, but I am starting to really like this guy. Dennis comes out and condemns torture. Straight and to the point. My kind of president. Dennis wants to make Washington DC a state. Wow. This man is firing on all cylinders.

The more I read about Dennis Kucinich, the more I like about him. Here is one more gem. He wants to repeal the Patriot Act. Here is a democrat after my own heart. Ladies and gentlemen. We may have a winner here. So let me wrap up the rest of the democratic candidates to see if anybody else comes close to the heart as Dennis Kucinich.

Mike Gravel

Who is Mike Gravel? Seriously. I never heard of him before. But I will give the man this. His web site is simple and well organized. I was able to jump immediately to his issues page. Let's hope his take on the issues impresses me as well.

Mike wants to immediately withdraw all troops from Iraq. He is starting out strong. Mike wants to eliminate the IRS and income taxes. Ooops. I heard this before and think it is irresponsible. Mike also is pro choice. Minus 5 points. Mike lost me on his lengthy discussion on illegal immigration. In other words, I don't think he has a solid opinion. Mike supports gay marriages. This guy is sinking fast.

At this point there is no real reason for me to find any more information about Mike Gravel. I was hoping for some strong values that match mine. Especially because he came out and stated we need to end the war in Iraq. On a lighter note, Mike counts the war on drugs as a key issue. That seems a bit funny in that nobody else mentions this.

John Edwards

I recall John Edwards had run for president before. And I remember he being a likeable fellow. All things being equals, his image seems ready for the presidency. But now let me do the research on where this man stands.

Once again, like Hillary, John's web site bring me to a page trying to sign me up for his campaign. Is this a Democrat thing or what? And here is another curious thing. He has a picture of his family on his signup page. I guess the pretty woman is his wife. But there is another woman there too. Is that his mom? Or maybe the pretty woman is his old daughter. Inquiring minds want to know.

John does have an issues page. But the format is terrible. Most candidates list the issues as titles to short paragraphs on their stances. But John buries all his issues in the words of his paragraphs. I take it he is for the everyday family. But I can't tell where he stands on the war, or on illegal immigration.

I liked John Edwards coming into the election. He lost my vote with a disorganized web site. That is poor. On to the next candidate.

Hillary Clinton

Sometimes I think it is not fair for Hillary Clinton. She can't help but be in the shadow of her husband. And I count that against her. I did not like Bill Clinton as president. I just did not trust him. Now don't get me wrong. I bet he is an extremely likeable guy. A great speaker. But not somebody I would trust to lead the country. However he somehow won 2 terms.

Prior to doing any research, I personally know great people who think the world of Hillary. And I also know those who hold it against her that she moved to New York and then became senator there. I know she is a pretty good speaker. And she stood by her man during the Monica Gate. But let's see where she stands on the issues.

Great. Hillary's web site bring me to a form to sign up to support her. What kind of cheap trick is this? Hillary states that she is for the middle class. I think my family is middle class. Yay. Hillary comes right out and says it is time to end the war in Iraq. Direct. Nice. But it is all down hill from there.

Hillary wants affordable health care. She wants energy independence. She cares for children. She wants to restore America's standing. Blah blah blah. Every single candidate wants all these things. But there is nothing new or unique here, except for her bold and direct stance on ending the war in Iraq. I wanted to give Hillary Clinton a chance. But it does not appear she stands for much. At least not by looking at her web site. Too bad. Next.

The Winner Is...

So I have researched the top 8 Republican candidates for president. I feel I have learned a lot already. So far the clear winner in my mind is Ron Paul. Who would have thought it? Previously I knew nothing much about him. This just goes to show you that a strong web presence, a direct message on key issues, and a little luck can win you my vote.

But it is far too early to cast my allegiance with one candidate. I will need more than a spiffy web page. And I still need to survey the Democratic landscape of candidates. So let's see who the top ones are.

• Hillary Clinton
• John Edwards
• Mike Gravel
• Dennis Kucinich
• Barack Obama
• Bill Richardson

Without further ado, let's do some research on these candidates.

Fred Thompson

Fred Thompson is another candidate that I never heard of before. But I won't count that against him, as long as he stands right on key issues.

At first arrival on Fred's official web site, I saw that he had 1299 friends. On the surface that sounds pretty damn sad. But I guess he means that 1299 people contributed to his campaign online. Bad presentation though.

Every candidate I have researched so far had an issues summary page. They list 12 or so issues, and a quick blurb on where the candidate stands. Fred's issues page only has links to other pages. He is making me do more work to find out where he stands. OK. I will bite for a couple key issues. But I am already annoyed.

Oh no. I tried to open one of Fred's issues links in a new Internet Explorer window. I get a message stating "The page cannot be displayed". Fred Thompson lost my vote before he even got to say anything. Who knows? Maybe his webmaster likes popups or something. My web browser has them disabled. And my vote for him has been lost.

Mitt Romney

I went out to lunch with an old friend of mine. He had mentioned something about Mitt Romney's position. I was embarassed that I never heard of the dude. But all of that is about to change since I am now investigating his position on the key issues.

Mitt's offical web site is unique amongst those I checked so far. His URL does not bring me to his site. It brings me to his countdown to victory ad. Not sure how I feel about that. A bit gutsy I guess. Man. This guy's web site is slow to load. Mitt loses 2 points for that.

Mitt does have an issues page. And he has blurbs on 12 topics he deems important. But at quick glance, I could not really figure out where he stands. It appears he is not against the war in Iraq. But I am just deducing that. And he is against illegal immigration, and wants to fight it via employers. Mitt has a lot of generic feel good statements on his issues page. But I just do not feel to good about him. Maybe he is bad at summarizing. Or perhaps Mitt does not want to come out and share a direct opinion about the big issues.

The bottom line is that I previously did not know much about Mitt Romney. Having read his web site, and checked out his issues page, I still have no clue what Mitt stands for. Next.

Ron Paul

Ron Paul is another candidate I initially knew nothing about. To his credit, I saw a video on YouTube from someone talking about him. At least he must have made a stir enough to get somebody to speak up on him. At it wasn't something cheesy like Obama Girl.

So I checked out Ron's offical web site. Apparently Ron has a PhD. Not sure what he major was though. Ron is for lower taxes. Amen. It sounds like he really wants to do something about illegal immigration. So far so good. Ron is against world organizations that threaten our independence like NAFTA. I know a close buddy of mine would love to hear that. And Ron is against the war in Iraq. All good stuff. Ron is definitely pro life. He also is for the right to bear arms.

I had heard some jokes before about Ron Paul getting 0% of the votes before. Not sure what election that was for. But I liked everything I read on his web site. This candidate is a serious contender for my vote. I will need to see if future research on the other candidates shows someone more worthy for my vote. And if nothing else, I will dig deeper into what Ron Paul represents.

John McCain

Prior to doing any research, I had heard about John McCain. There was an unfortunate running joke about him. Apparently he was taken prisoner in Vietnam. So the joke goes that he was brainwashed and could be turned against the USA at any time. On a serious note, he is a veteran. And I believe a senator. So he has some experience. It is time to see where he stands on the crucial issues.

John stands for low taxes. Sounds good. John's site confirmed that he spent 5 years as a POW in Vietnam. This guy has staying power. Unfortunately it appears he wants us to win the war in Iraq. Not good. John appears noncommittal about the illegal immigration issue. Don't dance around the issue man. At least John comes out and says he support the right to bear arms.

The overall impression I get from John McCain's sight is that he does not put his opinion on the line for many issues. Sure. He states that he is for lowering health care costs. That does not tell me anything. All politicians are for that. I wish I could have read something more concrete. Maybe if I dug into he detailed plans I could figure out where he stands. But I want a commander in chief who is a straight talker. And that straight talk should align with my personal goals. Unfortunately I could not figure this out from John's web site. He does not get my vote.

Alan Keyes

I can accurately say I have heard about Alan Keyes before. But I get the feeling he ran for president before and got about 20 votes. Seriously though, the main thing that sticks out in my mind about Alan is that he wanted to eliminate the income tax. He might get banned like Huckabee. But let's see if he has changed his mind about taxes.

Alan's official web site has a fresh design. I could get right to his stance on issues immediately. That makes him 2 for 2. He is pro life. Alan is also pro security (ala illegal immigration). Now he calls himself "pro economy". But let's see where that leads us in regards to the income tax.

I will give Alan this. He has a very eloquent argument against income tax. Alan actually helped put this tax into perspective by informing me that this tax is only 85 years old. However it seems he still wants to abolish it. How? By increasing sales tax and decreasing government spending. This just does not seem feasible to me. But I no longer consider Alan Keyes a crazy man due to his tax ideas. Just a candidate who I will not vote for president.

Duncan Hunter

I can truly say that I have never heard of Duncan Hunter before. And I even watched a Republican debate. But I will not count that against him. My vote goes with how a candidate stands on the key issues. So let's see what his official web site has to say.

To start with, looks like he used the same template as Rudy Giuliani to design his web site. LOL. Let me take that back. At least I could quickly find where Rudy stood on the issues from his web site. I am having trouble using Duncan's web site with Internet Explorer. Deduct 10 points right there.

Well I manage to get to some page on Duncan's web site. I am not sure if it his main issues page or not. But at least it appears he is pro life. He also believes that marriage is between a man and a woman. However I needed to read through a whole paragraph of political speak before deciphering his stance. Come on now. I think Duncan is for the right to bear arms. But reading his lengthy stance leaves me not entirely clear. Duncan looks like he has something to say against gambling. But once again I am not sure what he is saying.

I had to stop my Duncan Hunter research. Official web site is not user friendly. More importantly, I read his words and cannot discern where he stands on the issues important to me. The last straw is that these ambiguous stances are buried in rhetoric on a number of issues that do not seem to be key ones. I utterly feel as if I wasted my time visiting his web site. But I did gain one important conclusion, Duncan Hunter is out.

Mike Huckabee

To tell the truth, I really knew hardly anything about Mike Huckabee before writing this blog. I could not pick him out from a lineup. No clue what his background is. He should be lucky that I am doing some research and will consider his views. As usual, I started with his offical web site to get the 411.

This guy gets some points for his web site right off the bat. He has a blog. And now I see he used to be the governor of Arkansas. Looks like Bill Clinton may have paved the way for a Republican. Mike's bio shows he achieved a lot of success at a young age. And hello, the guy was a pastor. Good for him. But now let's see where he stands on the big issues.

Mike is tough on illegal immigration. Check. Comes right out and says he is pro life. Check. Mike is against universal health care. Sounds good. Now here comes the zinger. Mike wants to "completely eliminate all federal income and payroll taxes". Now I am all for lower taxes. But WTF? The government needs income to run. This may just make me label Mike a radical. Mike defines marriages as union between man and woman. Check. Mike commits to energy independence by the end of his second term. A bit presumptuous yes. But he is putting a goal on record and I can respect that. Finally Mike supports the right to bear arms. Very American.

It seems that Mike Huckabee has a great stance on all the issues that are important to me. If only he did not have this radical and crazy idea to eliminate income taxes, he would have my vote and I could stop the search here. But I don't think I can support someone with such a radical idea that cannot seem to fly. Sure not paying income taxes sounds good on the surface. But more importantly I do not want the government, and in turn America, to fall apart due to such a radical stance.

Rudy Giuliani

I feel good in that I have actually heard of Rudy Giuliani before. Maybe it was because he was mayor of New York. I hear he did a bang up job in dealing with the aftermath of 9/11. But to tell the truth, I really did not know much more about him. I did not even know he was Republican.

So I decided to do a little research. And to avoid and bias, I used his official web site to gather facts about his stances on crucial issues. Let's start with the good news. Rudy is for lowering tax and fiscal responsibility. Sounds like a true Republican. I don't like paying taxes. Less is more. And this guy is strict on illegal immigration. He wants to build up a big fence, track non-citizens, and deport then if they commit crimes. However you feel about his immigration views, I love that he spells out a forceful stance.

I get the feeling that, like many politicians, Rudy is taking a "non-stance" on multiple issues. Or he advocates some lofty goal with no clarity that makes me believe it is more than just rhetoric. Rudy wants to reform education to focus on children. As if there is any politician who does not want to do that. He also wants to increase America's economic competitiveness. That statement sounds good on the surface. But after reading his ideas, I get confused as to what the heck he is actually saying. Typical. Also Rudy would like health care reform. I just can't decipher what type of reform he is advocating. I needed to read between the lines for Rudy's take on Iraq. But I get the impression he does not want to end the war and bring home the troops now.

If I go to your web site, I want you to explain exactly where you stand on the key issues. Don't just give me some apple pie generalization. And more imporantly, don't give me political speak that actually says nothing. Initially I had a gut feeling that Rudy Giuliani was a contender for my vote. After having visited his official web site, I can only say I don't know what he stands for. Next.

Where to start?

There are so many candidates running for president. I need to start somewhere. When I registered to vote, I had to choose a party. I called my dad up and asked him what he was. He said Rebublican. So I signed up as a Republican.

To tell the truth I am rather ignorant about the political parties. But I know where I stand on a number of issues. So I will consider nominees from any politcal party, as long as their values align with mine.

But to narrow the field down, I am going to start looking at Republican candidates. That will give me something to talk about with my dad if nothing else. Me and dad don't talk much. Plus I think I can vote for them in the primaries. Unfortunately I am not sure when the primaries are.

Without further ado, I will post on each of the major Republican candidates in alphabetical order. And to further narrow down the field, I will start with the most popular candidates and work my way from there.

Who to vote for?

I am starting this blog to help figure out who to vote for president. Now that I am registered to vote, I got to do the research. Mom tries to make me watch these debates on TV. But they are terribly boring. I am hoping the web can help me cut through the political bullshit and choose the leader who will be best for me.

Here are some issues I am concerned about. I plan to gauge each candidate on where they stand on these.

• The war in Iraq is costing a lot of money and lives. How can we end it quickly?
• Gas costs a couple bucks a gallon. How can we lower the price so I can drive?
• I hear outsourcing is rampant. Jobs are moving overseas. How do we protect my work future?
• Illegal immigration is bringing in people who use up resources but may not be chipping in. How can we fix that?
• The USA used to be the world superpower. And even though we may not like to think about it, other countries are rising up. How can we restore world domination so I can live the good life?

Well. That last point might be overdoing it a bit. But the bottom line is that I want a president that can increase the chance that I can enjoy the good life. Hey. I plan to work hard in college. And when I graduate I will work hard in a full time job. But I want this hard work to pay off.

Join me in the search for the best presidential choice for Election 08.