American Democratic Presidential Primary Race

[Don Corleone]

Well, I missed the debate last night. I try not to read the soundbyte reviews of things like debates, because here, more than anywhere else, do journalists heavily editorialize and selectively filter or allow content from candidates they or their publication favor. I'm sure it'll be rebroadcast over the weekend. In any case, it did get me thinking about who was carrying the .Org vote.

Okay, the odds of me voting Democrat in the next Presidential election aren't that great (better than they have been in the past 3 however). Even so, I do have a vested interest. And I approached this the way I think you SHOULD, I look for a candidate that I would actually vote for, not the one I'd like to see the Republican contender have to face.

So, I'm actually favoring Bill Richardson. Yeah, he's a former Clintonista, but so is half the Democratic party these days, and nobody is more Clintonista than ole Hillary herself. Besides, despite what many Republicans might happen to think, the Clintonista, well Democratic Leadership Council in general, tends to be moderate to conservative Democrats (note: I said Democrats, not moderate or conservative with regards to the entire body politic). If you want a true Lefty, check out some of the stances espoused by John Edwards or Dennis Kucinich.

What's more, Richardson shows some common sense approaches. He cut the personal income tax while governor of New Mexico sharply. He's entered New Mexico into several corporate/state government partnerships to help his local economy. And when he has to be, he can be a tough foreign policy negotiator (before everyone gets on him about North Korea, let me simply ask why George and Condi have him on their North Korean negotiating team, yes, he still is in there...).

He favors vouches for helping working poor get medical insurance, as opposed to a universal health care system, an approach I commend him on. He might be a little too concerned with what the Europeans think about us for my tastes, but let's face it, our next president is going to have do some fence mending.

Anyway, I posted the 8 Democratic candidates, plus the requisite Gah! I'm curious if Obama and Hillary own the Org the same way they own the media coverage right now. If you do pick one of these two, beyond "charisma" or "first African-American; first woman", please state why. By the way, Richardson, at 3/4 Mexican, would be the first Latino President, so you quota-philes can soothe your consciences with that. You may vote for more than one, but please post and advise which of your choices would be your top choice, and why.

By the way, in the interests of fair disclosure, in a 2 way race between Richardson and my currently preferred Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, I would vote Romney.