Which 2008 candidate has impressed you the most so far?

Lou Dobbs. Oh bummer, he's not a canidate

Ron Paul

Barack Obama?
Do we trust any politician. Probably not.
But someone is going to be elected (chosen) so of our options, I choose Barack Obama because:
He promotes the Honest Government and Leadership Act. He promotes reducing the influence of lobbists and special intersts. He promotes bringing about the concrete change that is needed in Washington.
Further, he seems to be able to talk to the people and make sense. I don't see this with many of the others. America needs change, and to me, he appears to be the best candidate to bring this about.
For instance, we need to find a solution for the costs of medical insurance. Obama claims to have the idea of how this could be solved. Does he really? I don't really know. But he seems to make more sense with his plan than anyone else. Further, he seems to put America ahead of helping other countries. We have big problems in America now, and these need to be addressed ahead of the problems in foreign countries.
I'm interested in how others foresee their favorite candidate and why.

John Edwards or Barack Obama are my candidates. I too am very concerned about the impact of lobbyists and special interest groups. I heard the other day that there are more then 60 registered lobbyists in D.C. for every elected official. Hard to believe but don't doubt that the number is close. More then ever I'm in support of government funded elections. Both sides of the aisle are guilty of allowing money from large corporations to influece their votes. Let's not even talk about politicians who write legislation favoring a particular company and then leave elected office to work for said company for a multi-million dollar salary.

Hillary...experience, poise, and she IS presidental. I trust her and her help from such a great person as Bill Clinton will help direct our country back to "pre-Bush" sanity! Just look at Bill's record in all presidental areas and ADD the fact that Hillary has learned much in the past seven years. Hillary is a no-brainer, slam-dunk to WIN!

I haven't been impressed by any of them yet. But then again I've been so disgusted with politicians lately and the general condition of our country that I think I'm in a political funk these days.

Just what is Mrs. Clinton's experience? The only person with enough experience for the Presidency on the democrat side is Biden by a long shot.

Sen Clinton has 6 year experience as a senator. It doesn't hurt to be widely travelled but I don't know if I would count that as experience. She is politically savvy and able to take a punch.

Mr. Biden has nearly 35 years of experience as a Senator. In the world we now live in I want someone with experience to spare.
I live in NY and can't point to anything that Mrs. Clinton has done for our state that makes her worthy of even running for President. I don't believe she would of ever been elected here if her last name wasn't Clinton. Her second term is being spent running for President not doing the work of the people in NY State. I view her as a carpetbagging power hungry dangerous woman and wouldn't dream in a million years of giving her my vote.

"Today, Norman Hsu, a Democratic fundraiser and supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, was indicted Tuesday for allegedly orchestrating a massive $60 million fraud scheme and making illegal campaign contributions."

While I would not necessarily come down on Mrs. Clinton for her support from this fraudulent person, it does just add to my list of why she is not my prime choice at this time. My question: How many others does Hillary Clinton not have power or control over? Read on, please.

While in my eyes (and for my vote) Hillary Clinton is not out of the picture entirely, but she has more things to overcome than Barack Obama before she'd get my vote.
Hillary's #1 positive point is that she is democratic. Her #2 positive point is she is smart, smart, brilliant. That I won't take from her.

Hillary's #1 negative is that she is married to Bill Clinton, and if elected, he also will return to the Whitehouse with her! Does it make you wonder if Monica Lewinsky (or the likes of her) will be returning to the White House also? It's obvious that Mrs. Hillary Clinton has no say about such affairs happening in the White House while she is living there. Do you think that the fact that Hillary is President versus Bill's Presidency will make a difference in Hillary's controlling her husband's affairs?

And if Hillary can't seem to have an above-board marital arrangement, (at least while in office) just how am I to believe she can run this country in an above-board manner?

Further, does anyone remember that Hillary as the First Lady was in charge of coming up with a medical program to insure every American has affordable medical insurance? That was her #1 thing she talked about from the beginning of Bill Clinton's reign. Her proposed plan did come up, and failed. There was more holes and gaps in the plan than an ancient sifter.

Now once again, Hillary claims to have an idea to make sure every American has affordable medical insurance. She failed once already, why should we believe she is going to follow thru now?

Yes, Barack Obama also claims to have an affordable medical plan that every American will have affordable medical insurance. Hey, I'm willing to give him a chance now, rather than give Hillary Clinton a second chance.

Your ideas and/or thoughts?

And if Hillary can't seem to have an above-board marital arrangement, (at least while in office) just how am I to believe she can run this country in an above-board manner?

Oh please,,,, What her and her husband do or don't do in their bedroom is none our business. If her arrangement is okay with her and her husband then that's that.

How many people have actually tuned into debates or went and seen the candidates speak? Is the information coming from soundbites? Last election I just knew who I didn't want in the White House, and I voted that way. I didn't look at voting records. I was truly an ignorant voter.The television news is entertainment and they will edit the crap out of an interview or speech. In Iowa we have had the "priviledge" of campaigning for the last 4 months. I have seen Obama 3 times Hilary 2 times and John Edwards 3 times. I do not know yet who I will be cacausing for in a month, but I do know that I will be doing some homework between now and then so I can make a truly informed decision. I can tell you for certain that whether Bill and Hillary are sleeping in the same bed will have no effect on my decision.

That is so neat ... I talked with a customer service rep from Iowa on the telephone yesterday. During our chit chat while he was waiting for his computer to do its thing, we talked a bit about the campaigns going on. He said he had been to 3 democratic candidate town halls and 2 get togethers for republicans. I have no idea what his political persuasian is but I was impressed with the consideration he gave the process. Since my state doesn't get to vote until March I feel like Iowa and New Hampshire really do "pick" the nominees and I'm grateful you all take the process so seriously.

I agree. I live in NY, also. Hillary has done nothing for us at all.

__________________
A smile is contagious - be a carrier.

I'm not being sarcastic here, but what did you expect her to do? Was there one thing in particular that she could/should have done that didn't happen? I didn't like her vote to give Bush the power to go into Iraq, but that's not a state issue.

What do we expect of our congresspeople?

I'm loudly applauding. You'd think that with 47 million people without health care(and a growing crisis when you look at the increase in heal;th care costs), a war that appears to have no end solution that doesn't result in the death of more innocent people, a housing bubble, an education system that is not helping our ability to remain competitive in a global economy, our security concerns(the terrorists entered our country legally for cripes sakes and we still fail when security tests airport security) and thew myriad of other problems we are facing the last thing we need to be worrying about is the sleeping arrangements of the individual candidates with their spouses.


I also have to wonder if the poster is discounting McCain and Guiliani as well or if the standard applies only because Hillary's last name is Clinton.

I like McCain and Huckabee. PLEAZZZZZ not a Clinton!!!!!!!

With all due respect why?


McCain wants to continue the failed policies of this administration and Huckabee has had 5 ethics complaints.


Hillary isn't my fave candidate but I would take her over what we have right now in a heartbeat.

Me, I would take any of the Democratic candidates over the Republicans. I lean more towards Obama and Edwards.

Rolling Stone had an article on Iowa voters and how completely informed they are about the issues. It was very complimentary.

I'm extremely impressed with Romney. He's not a "traditional" politician. He's has no scandals that anyone can bring up about him, he's a family man (really the only family person among the lot running)... I'm very impressed with him.

Perhaps I do not understand the meaning of the word "traditional".

This is a man whose father was a politian. He grew up in politics as the son of a governor. His mother ran for the senate at one point, so politics was certainly a large part of his life.

He has changed his mind, very conviently, on so many issues that he is not much respected by either side of the aisle. How can you trust someone who will change his views so drastically just to win.

As for scandals, there was his national finance committee co-chairman who was charged with money laundering, mail fraud, perjury, and obstruction of justice. His name is Alan B. Fabian. Bet a lot of you have not heard about this, but certainly will have heard about campaign problems with Clinton and Obama with a man named Hsu which happened about the same time.

Then there is aide Jay Garrity who is currently “on leave”. He apparently made fake police badges and passed them around to other staffers so they could intimidate reporters and use them to bypass tolls and to trick security guards. He is under investigation in two states. This, I believe is a felony. And it would have been hard for Romney to not know about this, since it appears to have been going on for some time and according to reports, Garrity seldom left Romney's side.

Then for all of you who think military service should be mandatory to run, Romney never served and neither did any of his five sons. There also are a couple of arrests in his past, admittedly for small things, but then who amongst us hasn’t had silly little arrests in their past. Oops, not me, but I’m sure that I am the exception here, right?

Then we get to the latest “fun” fact, his hiring of illegals. Given that they worked there for something like eleven years, and that he greeted them in Spanish and his wife had conversations with them, he surely would have thought at some point to ask whether they had legal status in this country.

First, I meant, he has not been involved in politics himself for very long, maybe 5 years... Who really cares about his parents! As for his aids... That's them, not him, he didn't do the money laundering or any of the other things. I don't care that he didn't serve in the military, Clinton didn't either and did Obama? I haven't heard anything about his Military record as well... As for your "fun" fact, it still doesn't change my opinion of him, he hired a company who hired the illegals, I'm sure everytime you are at a grocery store, you check to make sure the hispanics are all legal, right?

Of course he has been involved. His whole childhood revolved around politics. He grew up with politics. Just because he just recently decided to run for elective office doesn't mean that he is new to it.

Other people seem to be in troulbe because of their aides. Why does he get a pass? If your aide is getting you passed through a toll booth by flashing a police badge, then you should say something. If your aide is getting you beyond security by flashing a police badge, then you should start to realize that something is not right. I'm not saying he did any of these things, but until we know for sure, I will be suspicious. If you have a finance chair who is being accused of fraud etc. then some of the dirt is going to fall on your head, more than likely, just by association. Here again, other candidates are not getting a pass on having associates who are less than lawful.

The reference to military service came from another thread where some suggested that all candidate should be required to have served. That comment was more for them, if they are reading this. But it does seem odd that such a patriotic family would not have a single child, out of five, who could spend a few years serving this country that they profess to love so much.

As for my fun fact, I never see anyone at the grocery store who might quailfy as an undocumented worker. And if I did, it would not be my problem nor would it concern me. But that is apples and oranges. These people worked on his property for 11 years, (I think it was), and he had frequent contact with them. They worked long days doing their work and certainly at some point you have to question their legality, particularly if you are thinking of running for president. That would be the smart thing to do and he didn't do it. I guess he thought that he could either push it under the rug or deny knowledge of it. The denying knowledge part is getting old. The current POTUS has sung that song too often and I think the public is getting tired of hearing it.

Romney and Ron Paul are my current picks. Coming from AZ, many of us are in no way supporting McCain.

Most impressive as far as actions goes to Dodd, who actually managed to get FISA telcom immunity stripped from the Judicial bill so that when FISA is debated there will be an alternate out there. He also has done a bit of work on attempting to restore habeus. As for as most impressive platforms I'd go with Edwards. His health care plan is by far the most comprehensive. It ensures that every person in this country has access to health care(no more denial of coverage or outrageous fees for people who have medical problems so that HMOs can pocket profits), forces private industry to compete with government, and has a mechanism for enforcement. I also like his suggestion that we increase wages so that minimum wage means what it used to mean(enough to pay for the basics with a little leftover to save towards the American dream)and I like his stance that trade deals need to be fair and have a mechanism for enforcement. I like the idea that he will match families savings up to $500 to compel people to save(so that we can get rid of negative savings). I agree with him that energy policy should not be deferred to the energy companies so that they can maximize profits or that health policy should be deferred to HMOs and health care companies so they can maximize profits, or that any industry ought to be able to write policy if they are willing to pay the right price. Government exists for the people, not the other way around. I like that he wants to invest in creating "green jobs" and look carefully at environmental policy. Even his foreign policy isn't awful although I prefer Obama's tone a little more in regards to this particular policy. Overall though, Edwards has a pretty thorough plan for exactly the direction he'd like to see America go.