Who do you think will be the next President of the US?

[Perfection]

Dude's a Creationist, having one of those in the White House scares the hell out of me.

[DirtyMartini]

I selected McCain on a hunch. All this early primary business is fun and all, but McCain is the only real candidate on the Republican side who stands a chance of defeating any of the top three Dems. I think Republican voters will recognize that before it's all over.

Despite her poor showing in Iowa, I still think the Dem race is going to be a close one between Hillary and Barack. It's fun and games right now for voters to consider nominating the young idealist with the politically unfortunate name, but I think Hillary (or even Edwards) will make it interesting before it's all over. Too bad Dodd and Richardson didn't get all the press coverage -- they actually have something to say most of the time and would make much better candidates and presidents IMO.

In a national election, it's all about the undecided/uncommitted/waffly voters. People like my mom who vote for the candidate that "she likes the sound of" Basically, a popularity contest -- Kerry destroyed Bush in the debates, but he's a robot ,while W. could be your idiot neighbor that you drink beer with on Saturday afternoons. In that type of popularity contest, I think McCain would come out on top. He'd come off as your sort of crotchety but wise and hard working uncle. Hillary in a national election will have to deal with the spectres of Bill that have been quiet so far. Obama has a name (yes dumber things have decided elections) no undecided voter is going to like, and his inexperience will be glaringly obvious next to McCain. His only chance would be to successfully bring out the youth vote, I don't think it can be done.

Not happy about it but I think that's the way it goes down. It matters little really. Anyone would be better than the corrupt moron currently pretending to do the job.

[Sprayber]

Originally posted by Arrian
Well I'm generally scared of religious nuts. Granted, Huckabee seems to have been fairly careful about being too gung-ho for God in his campaign, but still I just can't help but be wary. That's before I get to his positions on issues.

Look at the last guy the evangelical Christian set foisted on us, eh?

-Arrian

That worries me less than him just not really knowing whats going on. Being president would just be way over his head and I'm not confident he would appoint people much better. He is like any other politician in that he speaks to his audience and he can be very religious to one audience and maintain a distance from that sort of talk to others. I honestly don't think he is a nut but he might appoint those types. He didn't run the state as a preacher so I think he can tell the difference. He just isn't the man to be president. Congress would suit him much more.

So that still leaves the question who the hell I will vote for.

[Sprayber]

Originally posted by DirtyMartini
Too bad Dodd and Richardson didn't get all the press coverage -- they actually have something to say most of the time and would make much better candidates and presidents IMO.

For some reason I liked Dodd. He seemed to know what he wanted to say and even though I'm not sure I would support all he ran on, he actually looked like someone who I would seriously consider. Richardson annoys me but at least he answered questions put towards him without wondering what people wanted to hear.

[DirtyMartini]

Originally posted by Sprayber
Richardson annoys me but at least he answered questions put towards him without wondering what people wanted to hear.

Agree. Anyone who actually answers the question asked is better than the average stuffed (pant)suit.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Tiamat
I think Obama is going to pull it off.

It depends on what happens next Tuesday in New Hampshire, and how big a bump he gets from his Iowa victory. If Iowa translates into New Hampshire votes, then Obama will pull ahead in that neck-and-neck race. And that will give him two victories in what are essentially all-white states.

Next in line is South Carolina, where the Black community has been lining up behind Hillary because of their perception that a Black man can't win the Presidency. Two victories will change that perception and swinging Black voters to Obama there would then give him three victories in three tries. At that point, his momentum would be unstoppable.

He'll be able to concentrate much earlier in running for the Presidency, while the Republicans are still struggling to choose their candidate.

[Arrian]

Dodd is my senator. I know nothing about Dodd, other than his party affiliation. Actually, I think I know that he voted for the Iraq war, because I don't recall his name on the list of those who voted no. But that's it.

Obviously that's on me, for not bothering. But I don't think it says good things about the man's chances...

-Arrian

[Lorizael]

Originally posted by Arrian
But I don't think it says good things about the man's chances...

-Arrian

Having dropped out also doesn't say good things about his chances.

[Arrian]

Did he? Poor bastard, I didn't even notice.

-Arrian

[Lorizael]

Just today (or maybe late last night), after getting .02% of the delegates in Iowa. So you have an excuse.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Considering Dodd dropped out today, I think his chances pretty much suck .

Oh, and another you can know about him is that his father was a Nuremburg prosecutor.

[Lorizael]

No one pays attention to me.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Sprayber
It's somewhat amusing to see all this hating on Huckabee. I've met the man on a dozen occasions through different ways and he always seemed genuine.

That's the scary bit.

[DirtyMartini]

My comments regarding Dodd were sort of meant as an epilogue on the most intersting part of the race -- the part where there is still the illusion of real democracy. I watched a couple of the Democratic debates. There is no way you could convince me that Dodd, Biden and Richardson didn't outperform Hillary, Obama and Edwards. If the media storm and the constant droning of polling numbers were removed from the process, how different might it look? The whole primary thing in general is anti-democracy. It should be one person, one vote, secret ballot, all on the same day nationwide. Done. That's it. I don't even care that that would screw over small states in terms of exposure to candidates. Yes, they would spend all of their time in Cali, Florida and New York, but at least it would somewhat resemble democracy.

[Arrian]

Hell yes, DirtyMartini!

Kuci - yeah.

-Arrian