I will support our Democratic candidate in the upcoming election.

Like you, my first choice isn't running,.
Of those who are, i am still undecided
but leaning strongly towards John Edwards.

I agree about voting in the general election.

If you want single-payer health care for all - Kucinich.

If you want out of Iraq - Kucinich.

If you want progressive spending priorities - Kucinich.

If you believe impeachment is a necessity in order to restore our democracy - Kucinich.

Voting Kucinich in the primary gives the "mainstream" candidates a clear message that voters want his policies. I recommend checking him out:

http://www.dennis4president.com/go/issues/

As a anti-war for no valid reason Disabled Veteran, I have lived the life of someone who "gave up" on help from the Veteran's Administration and proper care and treatment, not to mention appropriate benefits. I have studied not only what Obama says he will do, but what he has already done concerning veterans issues, and he beats all other Democrats and Republicans, hand down! 

I got on the OBAMA express long before it was official, once I met him, and that sealed my vote.

Plus he is like my family, diverse and he is pretty darn smart.

I trust him, so that about says it all. 

What's the worst that could happen!!!!!!!!!!!

     I would still vote for Obama ,because as I stated in my originial post any Dem even our worst Dem would be better then putting another repug back in the White House ,I have never voted for a repug and most likley never will ,however I still consider myself open minded to viewing those trying for this position of power ,becasue I like to feel Iam not just voting on blind loyalty only ,so I listen to what they have to say and keep a open mind .The Obama being removed from my short list is for a couple of resons ,however his decision and Oprahs decision to travel around together and for her to try and take women and black voters away from Hillary is such a tacky way to use his race to inhance the amount of black and women voters to support him ,if they are goping to play it like that ,then lets remind everyone that Hillary has one up on Obama ,Ex-President Bill Clinton ,who blanced the budget and left office with a surplus after two terms ,he is the best president we have had in recent history ,and I believe his role will be one as a advise giver ,and who better to get advice from ? Except for being a muliti billioniare $ very well liked TV personality what is Oprah really going to add to Obama as President ,nothing ,she is just a deep pocket for Obama to pick and has alot of influence with avery large voting block ! I hate to use the word "race card" however it does make me wonder ,who will it be next Micheal Jordan ? I honestly feel Obama being the Dems choce in 2008 would be making it a easy win for the repugs ,the deep hatered for Hillary some have the same may be true with her . Iam not very happy with the choices we have ,I really wish we had more choices ,Iam taking another closer look at Edwards ,he is looking better all the time ,and seems to be the one who's standing on his own merits !

                                                                        IMHO ,Nick

Q: Should we each cast a write in vote for someone who best represents our position?

Whoever gets the nomination as a Democrat will get all of our support and we will work harder than we ever have to remove this filth that is in the White House.  This is it folks, if we don't get these religious right fanatic reactionaries out of Congress and take back the White House this country will stay on the same path we are on right now.  Doomed!

    Iam the originial poster of this topic at which time I state how I will gladly vote for whichever of the Dems trying for the office of the President will have my suppoort and that still rings true .I have reconsidered some of my thoughts on who I think would be a winner for us .I ruled out pretty much Obama ,sadly but true racism is still rampant in our country and now sadly issuses with indulgence of his youth it appears with haunt him .Hillary ,who is a wonderful chioce based on exprience and just someone who has the smarts to get our country out of the mess its in ,I believe she would actually be a very good first, lady President for our country .However it seems that there are some that carry such a deep hatered for her, her run would be a constant attack on her morals etc. Lets not forget however I believe there are actually more women voters registered then men and that may increase with Hillary being the Dem choice. THe real "sleeper" however is Edwards ,he has yet to get the respect he deserves as being probably the best choice for the Dems ,Iam listening to him more and more and finding I like him more and more .I feel he would most likley be our best pick ,now of course that can change however at this point in time ,I believe Edwards would be a good choice to take back the stolen White House ! IMHO

            Take Care Nick (devoted Dem for life)

We will hold our noses and vote whichever Democrat gets the nomination just to ensure that we won't have 4 more years of republican facism, and then wring our hands when Reid, Pelosi, Schumer, Feinstein, and Clinton all vote against the majority of Democrats' opinions (i.e., Iraq, Impeachment, Mukasey) --- because they are sure they can take corporate money and still get our vote anyway. The whole spector of it makes me nauseous...

So then I wonder... what is the end game for all of these politicos? Just the money grab? Don't they love our country... what our country has represented for most of its existence? And I wonder, "what's the solution?"

We may not have the votes in Congress or the executive branch to make changes in the law at this time... but Democrats DO have the DNC... and perhaps a wholesale recall petition or change of the party regulations on what DNC elected officials can get as monetary resources / support if they fail to disregard their base (e.g. Reid bringing both FISA bills to the floor even thought the democrats wanted the one without telecom immunity... on the excuse that the committee (with republicans) supported the one with telecom immunity) are in order. For example... if the DLC espouses a platform that is not in line with a referendum vote on policy by the DNC rank and file... should they be allowed to advertise themselves as leaders of the Democratic Party? Should there be a regulation that requires a candidate to abstain from changing parties during an election (a la Lieberman) if they fail to win the primary... (like a noncompete clause in an employement contract...)

I don't know... we need to fix this somehow... where is Howard?

The person who wrote that is is ignorant and should be ashamed. The black vote is the ONLY reason Dems EVER win. Are we liberals or completely driven by fear of ignorance and intolerance. Obama's message is all-inclusive and I don't see his race as a problem at all. To even say that crap is tpo feed the ignorance AND ACCEPT THAT WE CAN NEVER GROW.

Change comes from people standing up and saying no to ignorance. Change comes from rising above the myth that we AREN'T equal under the law and under God. When are we going to get brave? When are we going to disprove the myth that democrats are spineless?

If this is where democrats stand....that we "can't create change" then I'm not a democrat....and you people aren't americans.

winning ISN'T everything.....That's karl Rove stuff....win at all cost....even if you have to vote for a complete jackass like Clinton.

If you believe in Kucinich, vote for him. Vote your conscious.

Obama talks about NOT running to win....but to upgrade and advance the discussion. WHEN have you heard a politician say that? Never. He wants to change America. He CAN change America.And the polls in Iowa say...despite the idiotic belief that America is a racist bunch of toothless idiots...he CAN win.

Wake up. get inspired http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGGIHqIoP2k

    Iam going to vote for whom ever is the nominee of the democrats in the next Presidential election ,I would rather we had more choices then the top three ,however I do NOT want a repubilcian to retain the presidency and if that means voting for Hillary or Obama then fine ,however at this point I have decided I would rather have Edwards as our choice .I fear that Hillary or Obama will not win in the general election ,if the choice is one of them ,I hope Iam wrong on that point !  Whoever said that Obama can win and that racism will not casue him to lose I believe is nieve, even many who claim to be color blind are closet racist and when it comes time to vote will either not vote at all or actually pick the repug running . On Hillary ,she has the advantage of the conbination of ther black vote and most of the women votes ,which I believe can push her over the edge for a win ,however in the south many of the women will not vote for her ,they will follow in step with their family by voting on religous issuses .This is in my opinion ,and I could, I hope Iam completely wrong on the issuse of racism ,sadly I dont think so !

                                                                       Take Care Nick

First let me say I really, really like Barak Obama, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden and Al Gore. I like what they stand for and I think any one of them would make a great president.

Let me also say that I have never given a dime to Hillary’s campaign, volunteered for her, campaigned for her, nor met her. I do admit that I am roughly her age and consider myself a doer, as she is, although my accomplishments pale by comparison.

A little comparison between our accomplishments is in order. Hillary has considerably more education than I have, and became a lawyer and senior partner in a prestigious law firm at a relatively young age in a culture that looked down on women. I had a few years of college, started my own graphic design business, and launched a stock-car racing career with my husband’s help. Perhaps her husband helped her get where she is as her critics claim — I know mine definitely did. I challenge critics to show me any person, man or woman, who hasn’t had anyone’s help getting somewhere.

Early in my racing career I came across this quote by Charlotte Whitte: “A woman must do twice as well as a man to be thought half as good. . . . Fortunately, this is not difficult.” I found this to be true throughout 25 years of racing, a man’s sport, and perceive it to be true of Hillary today.

I’m convinced that denigrating women is part of our human psyche. It’s written into our DNA as social animals programmed to give homage to the alpha and shun the underdog. While some animal species may feature alpha females, in human society women are the consummate underdog. This is subliminal, but fortunately, we can override this instinct if we do so consciously.

The women’s movement of the 60s has evolved to the point that pundits of today must be mindful of not coming down publicly too hard or too obviously upon women for fear of seeming chauvinistic. Add to that that Hillary came out early with a decisive lead in this campaign, it’s no surprise that most commentators lavished praise on her early in the primary: she’s so smart, they gushed, so focused, her campaign is so organized! Then she stumbled (hey, she’s human!), and provided them with the hole in the dike they were looking for, a hole for them to gleefully and relentlessly chip away at to try and end her White House bid. Each one seemed determined to be the first to bring her down.

I’m reminded of Bill Clinton’s presidency, when both he and Hillary were pursued relentlessly by Republicans, and to a lesser extent the media, during both his terms as president. I remember how happy I was when Hillary introduced nationalized health care, and how dismayed I was that the Republican Congress laughed her off the stage. I’ve been waiting for it ever since.

I also remember with some satisfaction how the more relentless the critics’ pursuit, the greater Bill’s popularity with the public. During the campaign of 1996 the Republicans had in Bob Dole the perfect foil to Bill Clinton: a decorated, wounded war veteran, mom, baseball and apple pie versus a womanizing draft-dodger who had not inhaled marijuana. The Whitewater investigation was in full swing, as was “travel-gate,” FBI file-gate, Vince Foster-gate, Paula Jones and any number of other investigations and innuendo. Only Linda Tripp and Monica Lewinsky had yet to materialize. I recall polls saying that Dole had a substantial lead on Clinton until shortly before the election, when the race tightened in favor of Clinton. As he inched ahead in the polls it was said the election was going to be a cliff-hanging squeaker.

Surprise, surprise — the draft-dodger beat the decorated war hero almost two-to-one. The people obviously favored the rogue who was considered an interloper by the alpha of our culture, the powers-that-be. I admit to being a conspiracy theorist, and believe that these “powers” knew then that the only way to eliminate this nuisance was to impeach him. With the help of a media in love with any controversial story, all they needed was one salacious detail that they could pin on Clinton, and they would hang him. They struck gold with Monica Lewinsky.

Yet during the entire farcical impeachment trial, Bill and Hillary, both, were at the height of their popularity. It must have been really frustrating after all their efforts that the more Republicans beat up on Clinton, the more people liked him. Instead of remaining bitter at Republicans for relentlessly pursuing the Clintons, I began applauding their failed efforts. Hard as they’d tried, they hadn’t been able to bring him down. He remained self-defined throughout as the president that he was.

Fast forward to 2000, when Hillary ran for the Senate in New York. Carpetbagger, they called her. Polarizing. Opportunist. Interloper. She’ll never make it, the pundits cried — but she did. And when she ran again in 2004, Republicans couldn’t find anyone to run against her in a state that is solidly red outside the city, that’s how popular she was. She had won over her most ardent skeptics throughout even the reddest areas of the state.

It’s not surprising that pundits (not so much Republicans, yet — but that’s coming!) are once again in full Clinton-attack mode in this current campaign. Some, like progressives on the left, tilt against her for no apparent reason, seemingly unaware that they are casting about to find justification for it. Some assail her oh so surreptitiously, thinking they’re getting away with it. And some just go all out and attack her brazenly and openly. When she rightly called this “gotcha politics,” they accused her of playing the “woman card.” They said, what does she expect — she’s ahead? When the race tightened they gleefully began writing her off. When she spoke of her experience she was accused of attacking Obama. When Obama accused her of planning for 25 years to run for president, and she facetiously retorted with his kindergarten presidential dreams, the joke flew right over the analysts’ heads, and they called her too petty by half. When Obama announced in the New York Times that he was going to attack her, then did, they gave him a pass (he was expected to attack her), until she responded. Then they called her out for attacking him.

When her surrogates heap lavish praise on Obama, then qualify it by brazenly and shockingly saying they think Hillary is the better candidate, media analysts demand to know what’s up with the Hillary campaign — why is it attacking Obama so? Apparently, if Hillary’s supporters actually began campaigning for Obama, her critics would still claim she was somehow sullying him.

But of course Hillary’s surrogates will not campaign for Obama, nor should they. Regardless how much they admire him, or the rest of the Democratic field, they believe Hillary is the best candidate, Republican or Democrat, for president. As do I, which is why I will vote for her.

I did not make Hillary my choice only because she impresses me with what she accomplished prior to becoming First Lady, or for how she stood up to her critics over years of relentless harrassment, or that she still symbolizes the promise of nationalized health care to me, or that she’s lived in the White House for eight years shoulder-to-shoulder with a president who knew how to get things done, and did, all the while beleagured woefully by his enemies. It’s not just because she has done those things and made it all look easy, or that all the while she’s called polarizing, cold, and controlling, or that she’s judged by a much higher standard than her opponents, called out for things no other candidate would be criticized for. It’s more that she’s not the alpha choice of the powers-that-be, whoever they are. She just doesn’t sit right with them, as her husband did not before her. She’s an interloper to them. Yet, like her husband before her, she just might be the one who is most favored by the people of her country to be their next president.

I know she is my choice.

      As the one who started this post Iam surprised by the amount of replies ! Also Iam happy with them ,it seems as Dems we are very united on the issues ,and as we should be we are chosing whom we think should be our choice to beat the repugs in the 08 Presidencial election . As I stated in my originial post I would vote happiliy for any of them ,against the republician choice ,our people out class any one of their choices and we are going to win ,now its just a matter of which one will make the job easier ! I decided to endorse Edwards ,with probably Hillary as a second choice . Again I wish Al Gore was running ,I feel he ws cheated out of the office and should be our President ,not just becasue he deserves it for being cheated ,becasue he is so well qaulified ,a noble prize winner and did not ever support the Iraqie "war"  ! Well wishng all my fellow Democrats a Merry Holiday Season and a Very Happy New Year !

                                       Bless you All

                                                     Sincerely Nick

Let's use ALL the candidates, or at least as many as we can.

Hillary has the best chance this time, and she might not try again if not nominated (she's 60, and Bill may need more heart surgery in a few years). Let her clean up the worst of the economy and the voting process.

Then next time it will be easier for Edwards or someone to get elected and look good. Then maybe some of the others.

Then when he's better known and can no longer be called inexperienced, Obama can be nominated and actually win the White House. If he were nominated this year, the GOP would destroy him and we'd have another GOP term (with them slanting the voting process where we might never get another Dem in).

       Alot of what he said made sense and also is inline with what I stated as far as supporting theem all ,I just have fear tthat Hillary as good of a politician she is ,will have a very hard time getting the media to focus on the issuse and instead they will focus on the personal attacks against her and her husband ,our last great leader President Clinton ! As I always say ,hope Iam wrong ,afaid Iam not ! a/s we get closer to the election if Edwards is our man ,I believe the more people get to know him the more they will like him !

I just listened to Edwards give a speech ,probably noy much diferant then his message he is trying to get out to win this election .I have to tell you I was very impressed .His exprience that goes beyond just having a degree ,he praticed being a lawyer ,Iam not sure for how long ? However he was so right when said toy have to fight them ,a gang of corperate lawyers are not there to talk about giving you anything ,they are there to get what the want for the corperation ,and its in there own best interet to rip off the other guy ,and they are good at it .Come on lets get real the are the profit takers the money makers ,nothing wrong with ,making a honest $ ,however when your income happens to be millions of $ and your workers cant even get decent health care ,or a decent living wage something is wron very wrong with this picture ,I believe Hillary would be fighting just as hard as Edwards ,the problem is a room full of men that have no wish to be nice to her becasuse she is a lady in fact its the opposite they will try every dirty trick they can come up with to bully and mistreat her !

      As one of ther posters who claimed Obama could not win ,becasue I believe sadly racism is still prevelent in our contry ,just more hiiden behind the closet door .Iam surprised that Hillary came in third .However even thou Obama won in this state ,Edwards made a strong second place showing ,and actually I believe he was the big winner in this vote beating out the former first lady, next he wil come out ahead of Obama ,proving that he is aserious contender for the next President ,his refusing to take money from lobbiest I believe makes him look like he is only indebted to his beliefes and to the common person in our country .I believe it is time for us to elect a Pres that owes no corperation any favor and can change our country for the average Joe/Jane struggling to make it in this country a harder and harder thing to do ,it seems bush already has eleminated alot of the middle class ,leaving us wiht alot of haves and have nots ,its not to late for a hero of the working poor and the middle class to be saved and helped to become one of the haves .In a country that can waste billions of $ on a un-needed senseless war certainly we should not have any homeless and working poor . Lets start to use our tax $ to help out own people.  president bush thinks the economy is doing well becasue in December X-mas tree sales are up 800% ,what a stupid stupid man !