Pretty much I've looked at the current race for president the same way from the start. I'm still behind Edwards and that won't change until he leaves the race. He still rates as our best guide, our best hope, our Virgil in this divine comedy and most important the most electable of the Democrats. Where Clinton and Obama create the likelihood of a nasty and very close race that will rip more large holes in the tattered facade of our nation Edwards presents the chance to pull this place together and get people working in the right direction. I don't claim he has all the right answers but I do think he'd put together a team that would find them and create more unity in this country than any other candidate on either side could. Basically I think he's ready to jump in and do this while I think Clinton and Obama just drag more issues with them into our already poisoned swamp...that is if either of them actually won the general election. Where I've begun to waver is on Clinton and on the Republican ticket.

I keep underestimating the Clintons and though I'm well aware that they have plenty of cash and the biggest nastiest machine, I keep thinking that the American people just won't buy into it again. I keep thinking if "change" is the big buzz word in this election (and they all abuse the hell out of that word) then how does Hillary qualify as change? She just continues the cycle of nasty bloodthirsty politics (propaganda and distraction) and the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton merry-go-round. We don't need the Bush family or the Clinton family anymore and they certainly would not grace us with any sort of change. These are the business as usual crew and they are what we want to change from if we are to begin repairing this country. Obama losing to Hillary in New Hampshire was a surprise but not a huge one. I don't think it had anything to do with race but I think it had a lot to do with Team Clinton knowing how to win an election and Team Obama being the rookies. The Clinton's have been doing this for years and they know what they need to do to win and they will do it at any cost. A friend of mine said this to me prior to New Hampshire and predicted Clinton would win there simply because they know what they need to do to win.

I'm not writing off race completely for the Democrats because I do think they look at the candidates and would love to elect a woman or African American just so they could say they did. I find this pretty stupid but I think the concept comes from a noble place...still it's dumb. I do think these Democratic primary voters look at Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and they do weigh the idea of who is more electable. A white female former first lady that at least half the country despises or an African American man with the name Barack Hussein Obama that a good portion of the South and middle of our country thinks is a Muslim that won't salute our flag and wants to take his oath on the Koran not the bible. This is why the Republican strategists laugh at the Democrats, of all the people they could pick as their front runners they choose these two. At this point the Republicans (who know their group of candidates sorta sucks) figure they could run Daffy Duck on their ticket and win.

On the Republican side I think is where things are pretty interesting though because unlike the Democrats who are calling the New Hampshire results unfair, the Republicans are quietly cruising along and allowing their supporters to pick a candidate from one of their guys. So far Huckabee, McCain and Romney have been winners and everything looks above board. McCain is rising fast now, Huckabee seems to be the alternative, and Romney is hanging around but losing again to McCain or Huckabee is going to hurt his campaign. Giuliani is doing just what I figured and has gone into a nosedive of epic proportions. He is now in the single digits in polling and is a Ron Paul-like after thought. Way too much dirt in his closet to survive this process anyway. The reason I'm looking at the Republicans so closely is because if Clinton is the Democrat it is very possible one of these guys will beat her. I had been expecting Romney to rise to the top for the Republicans but it seems one huge factor for Republican voters nationwide is name recognition and McCain is well known to them where Huckabee and Romney are not. I think McCain now could end up the Republican and if he is, he is the one Republican that would actually pull votes from Democrats in decent numbers...meaning he could and probably would beat Hillary and he would destroy Obama.

Greenie posted a couple of fairly dumb articles on climate change and a Canadian voter recently but there was a point that was valid and will be examined when people vote in the general election and it will swing independents and party members from both sides...resume and who has the best one. It is true that McCain has the best resume of all these guys and while what is on paper does not always mean you are the best person for the job if the Democrats run Hillary or Obama he makes them both look pathetic...on paper. There are a lot of Democrats that will not vote for Hillary and I'm willing to bet a lot of them would vote for McCain if he was the other choice...so while I've thought for some time Romney would eventually surface as their front runner, now I'm thinking it may be McCain.

Oh, and if you are watching Obama and Clinton are now getting the knives out on each other and trying to draw some blood...we can only hope they cut each other to ribbons and Edwards gets a chance...I won't hold my breath for that though because the media would much prefer the bloodbath.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/13/AR2008011302514.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter