McCain and Obama!

Wow! If the nominations go the way things are leaning now, I am actually looking forward to a Presidential race.

I have liked John McCain for a long time now. I have also developed a huge amount of respect for Barack Obama. For the first time, I feel the two major parties may actually nominate someone interesting.

The Bush/Gore baloney was an embarrassment. Bush/Kerry was just more of the same old, same old. McCain/Obama has the potential to be something different than the usual politics.

I dated someone for a while who was very involved in politics. He was a member of the North Carolina Young Republicans and dating him helped me develop more of an interest in politics. He was MUCH more conservative than me, but that was okay, we had great conversations.

I have been a registered Democrat, a registered Republican, and I have been registered as Independent. In Georgia, we didn't need to register with party affiliation, which was great, I much prefer that. I am not sure yet about the process here in Vermont, I am going to register when I get my driver's license changed. I just hope I don't have to claim party affiliation...the reason being, I can vote either way depending on who is running.

I am very opposed to the party system and party affiliations. I could never identify myself as a Republican without cringing when the image of George Bush or Dick Cheney entered my mind. At the same time, I could never identify myself as a Democrat without cringing when the image of Hilary Clinton or Barbara Boxer entered my mind.

My politics vascilate back and forth between moderate to conservative and moderate to liberal. I definitely don't fit any "definitions." I am against abortion, for the death penalty (sometimes), for gay marriage, and am lenient on my views of immigration. I think the war in Iraq is wrong and the president lied to us. I think we should be more worried about our own economy, housing issues, credit concerns, etc. I am so split down the middle, that the only way I could find a candidate who represented MY views would be if I were to run for public office...which I am not EVER going to do.

I have never, and probably will never, vote straight down any party line. I always know who the candidates are (even for small positions like sheriffs or other local offices) and I research those running. I do my best to learn as much as I can through research and vote my conscience, whether that be Democrat, Republican, or Third Party.

Okay, now that I have offended ALL of my friends (on both sides of the aisle,) I am going to shut up and watch the political landscape over the next few months. I have NO idea who I want to vote for in the upcoming election, but I do know that I am glad that the individuals that I would NEVER vote for have either dropped out of the race or will not get the nomination. Now, lets do something about Hilary and make sure she is out of the running!