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.