Thoughts on the primary

The Illinois primary for the 2008 Presidential election is only three weeks away, and for once may actually matter in who gets elected, but I haven't even decided which party's ballot I want to take this year. It's unusual for me to be so indecisive, but frankly there isn't a candidate in the bunch other than perhaps Obama that I'm sure I'd want to have over to my house for dinner. That makes me less interested than usual in even forming an opinion about them.

On the Democratic side, I like Obama, but disagree completely with his views on Iraq. I dislike Hillary, and don't believe a word she says about Iraq even though her words are closer to my position than any of the other Democrats, I also dislike John Edwards, who seems by far the biggest hypocrite of the three. Note: I also disagree with all three of them on many issues. The biggest benefit for me from taking a Democratic ballot would be if it finally got my name off all the Republican mail lists I've tried to opt out of for years.

On the Republican side, I like Thompson's words, but know little else about him and won't bother learning more until he wins a primary somewhere. McCain is a moderate and great for the war on terror, but differs with me on several important issues, including immigration and campaign finance. Giuliani is also a moderate, and I admire his "broken window" theory of cleaning up New York and his views on the war on terror, but know little else about him and again won't learn more unless he wins a primary somewhere. Huckabee and I share the virtue of having lost a lot of weight and managing to keep it off afterwards, and he's a fellow Evangelical, though a whole lot too public about that for either my own taste or his own chances in November. Apart from that he seems as much a "big government" guy as any of the Democrats (or our current president for that matter), and I don't want either the Democratic or the Republican version of big government anywhere near me. I also still have a really bad taste in my mouth from having voted for the Evangelical who turned out to be our worst president ever (Jimmy Carter in 1976.) Romney is another moderate; I remember liking his dad some when he was running. He's apparently a wonk, along the lines of BIll Clinton, but without the moral baggage. I wonder about the street-smarts of anyone who can believe in what seems to me to be a made-up religion.

One interesting thing about the above list is that once the mud-slinging begins in earnest, there will be no shortage of large targets. Rarely has America fielded an array of contenders with such obvious moral failings. As a character-first voter, that makes my job of deciding all the harder.

My prayer is for God to guide the process, and give us the wisdom to select as He would, ending up not with the poor leadership we likely deserve, but the good leadership we so obviously need. If in the process we can also begin to heal some of the wounds of the past generation of political civil war, that would be a bonus.

Update as of 1/19/08:
Looks like Edwards is no longer in the running, except for veep on the Democratic side. Interesting that the media is calling Hillary the winner of today's caucus in Nevada even though Obama got more delegates.

An article reporting McCain's win in South Carolina today reminded me McCain is one of the good guys when it comes to trying to rein in Federal spending. Romney won today in Nevada. Both of them are generally considered to be of good moral character. McCain is also (alone of this bunch) an actual wartime hero.

Update2: We had a really good Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend service today in which our pastor reminded us of all the ways the playing field still isn't level, and several ways whites still make it hard for non-whites to compete fairly. And as he talked I got increasingly upset at things that have been happening to Obama during the current campaign -- things that are, shall we say, Clintonesque... So, I could change my mind before election day, but as of now, I plan to take a Democratic ballot and vote for Obama in the primary.

Update3: Friend Greg reminded me last night that McCain was part of the "Gang of 14" that killed Republican plans to make Democratic obstruction of confirmation votes for judicial nominees an electoral issue in 2006, which may have been even more damaging to Republican prospects in that year's election than Republican Congress-critter's continuing love for earmarks and pork (hidden wasteful government spending) so evident that year and to this day.

Greg also sadly informed me that by taking a Democratic ballot this time, I won't get off Republican mail and phone lists, but may get more Democratic mailings and phone calls.

Having just fended off yet another telemarketing call from a "charity", I figure what this country needs is for the National Do Not Call Registry to include options not to be bothered by either charities or politicians. Likewise for mailings - we need a Catalog Choice option to opt out of mailings from charities and politicians we wouldn't even consider supporting. Saves them pointless mailing costs and helps the environment.

Update4: Wow, early voting is great! Last time we voted the regular way, we waited in line for an hour to get a ballot. With early voting, the wait was under 5 minutes. The Chicago Tribune also assisted with this Web site that shows you in advance all the candidates that will be on your local ballot, along with links to their recommendations for voting. It allows you to print out in advance a full ballot, with your preferred choices already marked. What's in it for them? Well, now they know too, including your address... polling taken to the next level. So be sure not to give them your exact address - just something close enough to pull up the correct ballot.

Another benefit of early voting is that it may cut off calls still hoping to influence our vote, not to mention cutting the potential benefit of an "October surprise" last minute attack on an opponent.

I liked the electronic touchscreen voting, primarily because it included an adding-machine paper-printed record of all my votes for me to easily review as I cast them, and for election judges to review later if any question arises about the electronic totals.

One final thought: on the Republican side, centrists seem to be doing well, for the first time since the '60s.