Primaries?

[phattonez]

Pretty Self-Explanatory, given that you vote and are a United States Citizen, who are you voting for?

[The_Amaster]

Oh, whoops, I voted before I read the post. I can't vote in elections yet.
Still, Edwards for me. Obama strikes me as a bit too inexperienced, and Hillary, well, having that many Bush's and Clinton's in office in a row starts a disturbing pattern, among other things. I probably wouldn't vote Republican, and I don't know enough about the other candidates to make an informed decision.

So, anyone else have opinions on today's caucus?

[phattonez]

I only have an opinion on John Edwards. I will not vote for someone who's solution for health care includes mandatory check ups.

[XMuppetSB]

By the time I register to vote, I would vote for Hillary Clinton. Having a woman as a president would change the history of the United States, seeing as all of our previous presidents have been white men.

[phattonez]

So you would vote for her just because she's a woman? Well isn't that a great reason.

I have to say that Fred Thompson has a lot of my support for calling out Michael Moore's trip to Cuba and his portrayal of Cuban Health Care. I'm also glad that he's against Castro and calls the government tyrannical. I still don't know if I'm voting for him though, but I do support his views on federalism and that he wants to simplify the tax code, but I'm skeptical about more tax cuts. Can we really afford them?

[MasterSwordUltima]

I'm displeased by your lack of Steven Colbert.

[MrCow]

Barack is the only somewhat ok option in my view at this point. Yes he isn't as experienced, but given the other candidates, he's still the best option. huckabee's views are insane, clinton is uberbitch that will bring no good, rudy is even worse than the aforementioned. It's a poor field to chose from but given what there is barack will get my vote.

[Lilith]

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[phattonez]

I can see what you're getting at with Huckabee, but why is Romney scary?

[Lilith]

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[phattonez]

I haven't seen anything scary about him.

[Prrkitty]

I'm torn between Wops in the Whitehouse '08 (Guliani) and a Dem. Our domestic policies are kind of falling apart so we need to focus on that instead of Bush insanity, and the Huckabee/Romney shit is scary (seriously, how are they getting taken seriously). Um, I guess it would take a liberal Republican or a conservative Democrat to fix us now?

Wops? White old penis's?

As for who I plan on voting for... I honestly don't know. None of them tweak my fancy. I don't like a lot of what most of them have to say (their tactics for handling problems specifically). So I will wait and see which two are the final choices (so to speak) and then vote the one that's the least dangerous.

[Lilith]

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[Masamune]

Obama, because he is black.

[Zaphod Q. IX]

John McCain, because I agree with him on many of the issues, and because the man deserves to be President. None of the other candidates have been tortured and refused to capitulate to their jailers because of their love of freedom and country. McCain knows the terrible responsibility that comes with freedom, and is careful not to take it lightly. He's the only one I trust among that lot.

[phattonez]

Someone tell me why Obama is so great that everyone here is voting for him (except for Masa's reason).

[Zaphod Q. IX]

Obama, because he is black.
If you're going to vote for someone because they're black, vote for Alan Keyes. He's a darker shade. ;)

[Daarkseid]

Someone tell me why Obama is so great that everyone here is voting for him (except for Masa's reason).

Well that it appears to be irritating you seems reason enough.

That is, I voted for him purely out of spite.

[phattonez]

It's not irritating me, I just want to know what's so great about him. Frankly, I don't know much about him.

[Daarkseid]

It's not irritating me, I just want to know what's so great about him. Frankly, I don't know much about him.

First off I must state that spite is a lousy reason to vote and I'd probably want people to be discouraged from doing so.

My reasons for actually liking him is that he's a Washington insider with a history of cooperating to get legislation passed(both in his home state and in Congress).

Presidential insiders(that is, presidents who previously served in DC as lawmakers) tend to do a better job of negotiating with congress to their policies approved. The downside to being an insider is that Washington DC's much deserved reputation of being irredeemably corrupt means that voters on the whole are going to side with an opposing candidate who is an outsider(typically a former State governor, like Reagan, Clinton or W).

Outsiders are (rightfully or wrongfully) viewed as uncorrupted by Washington's influence, and so this adds a great deal of appeal to a presidential candidate. The problem with outsiders, of course, is they tend to have little to no experience dealing with Congress, and then what you get are Presidents who cave in too easily to the irresponsible tendencies of Congress. For example, the massive amount of pork that has accrued in the US budget during W's presidency.

Obama, of course, being an insider, means hes suspect as a member of congress and so theres that perception of corruption. Fortunately, his career in congress has been short, and during that time he co-wrote an important piece of legislation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Funding_Accountability_and_Transparency_Ac t_of_2006), that improves transparency of Congressional allocation of funds(usually introduced by tacking requests for funding onto necessary legislation). The act intends to make lawmakers take more responsibility in adding spending measures to otherwise crucial legislation.
The other co-writer of this piece of legislation was Republican Senator Tom Coburn(Oklahoma). This single piece of legislation demonstrates that Obama is capable of cooperating across the aisle to get things in Congress. Also, it perhaps help to ease concerns people have towards liberals, which is the belief that liberals tend to be less fiscally responsible.

Somebody like Obama, although its perhaps too much to hope for, might actually help to at least alleviate some of the budget deficits that have racked up immensely in the past 7 years.

Edit: Okay, maybe I was lying when I said "purely out of spite".

[Mitsukara]

Al Gore. Not for primaries of course, but for the actual final vote.

I'm 55% serious (the other 45% is based on my lack of education, lack of being registered right now, and lack of faith in either of the two popular democratic candidates despite their nice minority representation). He hasn't a chance, but write-ins do have a reason for existing, and I'd love to see him run as an independent in the future (and I'd far more likely actually vote for him if he actually does suddenly go as independent, though it's a bit late for that now I think).

[Lilith]

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[Masamune]

Someone tell me why Obama is so great that everyone here is voting for him (except for Masa's reason).

Black people tend to have larger penises.

[MasterSwordUltima]

Black people tend to have larger penises.

Fact.

I suppose that's who I'd vote for, if I actually registered, which I was supposed to do back when I was 18. Oh well.

Obama, that is. Or whomever the token black representative is.

[Toolie]

After Obama gave the now famous keynote address (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Democratic_National_Convention#Barack_Obama.2 7s_Keynote_Address) at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, I became very interested. He sounded different. As I followed him through the blogs over the next years I knew that if the media would give this man a chance that he might make it to the White House - and we might see the promise and hope that we haven't seen in a president since Kennedy. I picked up "The Audacity of Hope" and after the first chapter, and after covering most other hopeful candidates from both sides for some time - I was sure. It's seriously a great book, and if you're unsure about what's going on this election cycle, I'd suggest at least skimming through it. This man is a leader for everyone, not just his base. He's a Democrat on all counts, but he is not hollow in his promise (or record) of bipartisanship - something we haven't seen since Bill Clinton, or back in the "golden age" of politics in the 50s when opposing senator's would meet for cordial and smoke-filled dinners where deals were struck and respect was had.

*EDIT*
Wow, I realize I sound like an Obama campaign worker. I just really respect this guy a lot.

[punkonjunk1024]

Not a lot of mormons around here, eh? Mormons are sweet.