I don't hate Obama or Hillary, I think they are both great people

[boston bean]

If there was something in either of them that would get me to want to vote for them, that is a different question.

I like what Obama says, but it doesn't sound real. I just don't think he has the depth, yet. And secondly, he will never be our next president for reasons every American should be ashamed. However if he gets the nomination I will support him of course, although I think it will be a losing battle.

I have always loved Hillary but her vote on the Iran Resolution really got me to questioning her and how much change she would bring about. Got me to thinking who she really is, set aside all the baggage she would bring, I would have been proud to have her as the next president as a woman, but I can't support her in the primaries. However, if she gets the nomination I will support her. It will be a tough battle, but I think she could possibly pull it off. Being a woman has is ups and it drawbacks, and being Bill's wife will make it all the more difficult.

Now, I know that both candidates have good qualities, but I have to in the end make a gut judgement on who I think can win a general election and who I think is the best candidate to do that.

I don't have specifics like some of you all have, just my impressions, which is how most voters make their decisions. Sad I know, but I want a winner and I have felt since 2003 that John Edwards is our best chance. He is not perfect either, but he does represent the most how I feel about things. And I believe with all my being that he is the one the republicans fear the most.

This is just FWIW.

[Colobo]

1. Obama will win the presidency in November. Believe it.

[boston bean]

3. I don't believe it. He does not have the substance to even win the primaries. nt

[Colobo]

4. On Thursday, you will change your mind.

[Andy823]

18. Will you change your mind

If he does "not" win on Thursday?

[OHdem10]

14. Not if Bloomberg has anything to do with it.

[Evergreen Emerald]

21. He will never win the general

I don't care how many Iowan's cacus for him, it will not change my mind.

[cali]

2. Well, you should be ashamed, parroting garbage about how Obama

won't be our next president, because he's *gasp* black.

I suspect Obama is every bit as electable as JE- more so because he's not stuck with the draconian spending limits that come with matching funds- and because it'll be harder for the repukes to attack him than it will be for them to attack either Clinton or Edwards.

You state it as fact that this country won't elect a black man. That's opinion. Not fact.

[boston bean]

7. Cali, it is disgusting, but it is true i am sorry to say.

No one has to attack him on being black.

there are enough bigots in this country that don't need to hear it, they will vote against it no matter if its under the radar, never mentioned or blatantly spelled out.

That is the truth as disgusting as it is.

[LordJFT]

26. those people won't be voting democrat anyway

[ruggerson]

16. Obama says we're not ready for gay marriage

and says that there are "good, moral and decent people" who are homophobes.

How is that different from saying the country is not ready yet to elect a black President, because there are still a lot of racists around?

(Not saying I agree with sentence two, but intrigued with how people are so inconsistent on this.)

[BlueManDude]

5. Neither of them can win and watching Hill explain her IWR vote will be 2004 deja vu..

Kerry spent the 2004 election trying to explain away his vote and Hillary will have to do the same. She'll be on the defensive from day one. Anecdotally I've spoken to 2 Dem leaning men who despise Bush and the war - both were talking about McCain over Hillary even though his position on the war is 180 degrees from theirs. It's not her fault, but a lot of guys just won't vote for her.

I'm not looking for a pioneer or a trailblazer. The "first" this or that - I just want to win. We need to stop the bleeding.

[Colobo]

6. Obama will stop the bleeding.

[BlueManDude]

8. I'd prefer that Obama be the nominee over Hillary. At this point...

I'm getting vibes that McCain is going to the nominee and I think that he's not beatable. I'm very concerned about maintaining and/or expanding congressional majorities and state legislatures. IMO Hillary just kills us downballot. She's f-ing electoral poisin and it gives me no pleasure to say it.

[zalinda]

9. Honey, I met a black woman who wouldn't vote for him

We were in the doctor's office waiting room and she volunteered the information from what she was seeing on TV. I don't think he will be able to make it in the general, even if he gets the nomination.

zalinda

[Colobo]

10. There are black people that won't vote for Obama, Hillary, Edwards

or any Dem.

[zalinda]

11. Actually she was leaning towards Clinton or Edwards n/t

[cali]

12. Yet another meaningless

apocryphal story from a DUer about how they know... or they met...

Hardly worth dissing, but extrapolating from such stories, is not only pointless, it's stupid.

[LordJFT]

27. are you trying to flame or do you seriously not understand how meaningless anecdotal evi

like this is?

[Adelante]

20. Then why are you supporting Edwards who co-sponsored the IWR?

He will have to explain it over and over and over and over again, not just Hillary. Do you think Repukes will care if he's sorry or not sorry? They will revel in it! Edwards will be battered with flip-flopping on much of his public record and his IWR vote will not be given a pass, but will be a full on feature. He won't be able to say it's Bush's war without a new ad being released undermining his credibility.

[Sulawesi]

13. I just want the wedge issues and scandal mongering and hate to stop...

...and for people like me, Obama hits it right in the mitt. People call it fluff, but it is much deeper and more important than, say, how many trips were taken overseas, or years spent in public office. I can see the other side on this, for people that are more pragmatic perhaps...the need for policy and hardened political warfare, but I am tired of the process, about to check out, and Obama speaks more deeply to this than anyone I have seen in many years.

[BlueManDude]

15. It's just beginning - wait 'til we have a nominee. nm

[IsItJustMe]

17. I feel that Edwards is the most authentic person running, and that for me is the most important

attribute. You get what you see.

[cali]

22. I think it does come down to that for a lot of people; they go with

the person they see as most authentic and most trustworthy.

[Andy823]

19. Good post

And I agree, we need a "winner" someone that will fight for the people and not let things to on as they are now with corporate America in control. I too feel that Edwards is the only hope we have, and even "if" Obama or Clinton did win in the general, and I have serious doubts they will, nothing much will change. Both of them are backed by the same people that run things now, and that scares me.

[LWolf]

23. I don't hate either one of them, either.

I don't hate GWB, for that matter. I find hate to be self-destructive and unproductive, and don't choose to engage in it.

Not being perfect, there are a few people I struggle with, of course. Interestingly, those are not public figures, but people who I've seen doing harm to me and mine, to others, in my personal life. The closer it cuts personally, the harder it is not to hate.

While I don't hate Clinton or Obama, I don't like them, either. I respect their talents and their strengths, but I distrust their message and their motives, and find their platform to be unacceptable. They simply can't earn my vote in any election in '08.

As for GWB, while I don't hate him, I also respect and value him less than the horse manure I compost for my garden.

[Flabbergasted]

24. kick

[K8-EEE]

25. YES!!! THANK YOU!!! I also do not hate HRC or BHO, but I LOVE JE!

We were on a long car trip today and listening to a JE Q&A from NH.....and we were all like, YEAH!!! YEAH YEAH YEAH! Just love his answers....he speaks for me.

[frogmarch]

28. I don't dislike any of the Dem candidates, but

Edwards is my pick. Furthermore, I truly believe that only Edwards could beat any repug nominee.

[OneBlueSky]

29. a few years ago I had the opportunity to meet and shake hands with Hillary . . .

in a very private setting . . . looking her right in the eye, the overwhelming impression I got was "phoney" . . . granted it's only my personal (though well refined) bullshit detector speaking, but it very seldom fails me . . .

[WillTheGoober]

30. Reasonable ...

Thank you for this.

W.

[Flabbergasted]

31. kick