2008 us pres election

[Swamps]

i'm just curious.  who would clinic vote for if they were u.s. citizens?  not official endorsements or anything, just curious.

also fellow mboarders, what are your thoughts?

[parkerparker]

I am really naive when it comes to US politics. I tried to follow the Iowa Caucuses affair but I didn't understand it.Do any of our US friends care to give a brief description of who is standing, their policies and the election process from here on in?

[ginster]

i'm british and also not too clear on  u.s. politics.i'd expect clinic to be (fairly)left leaning in their politics.i imagine america is similar to the uk,in that everything has moved to the centre or probably more right wing.so the labour party and the democrats seem less liberal and more money fixated.no longer the choice of 'artists'.still,come the revolution...

[radams]

well...since roughly 99.9% of non-country music artists are democrats, you'd have to go with the odds and get them a pin with a donkey on it

although, both parties are about the same at this point. it's all about the war/exit strategies this year anyways. education, health care, crime, the recession. not really relevent.

[mesa]

Waffling between Hillary and Obama.  I usually ask an ex that follows politics much more closely than I care to, and decide from there.
I do know that campaign contribution-wise Hillary has accepted a lot more money from the oil industry in campaign contributions than Obama, which makes me a bit nervous. And I do not care for the sound of her public speaking voice. But either of them would be better than what we've had for the last 2 terms. Then again, a brain dead vegetable may be better than what we've had the last 2 terms.

[MelanieAnneMarie]

Right now each of the two main parties are trying to choose who will represent their party, who will be their party's candidate, in the November presidential election.  I am not sure why Iowa and New Hampshire, two very small states population-wise, have such an importance in this part of the process.
During the caucuses, any voter who has officially aligned themselves with either party, gets to vote for which person in their party they want to be the candidate for president.  
When the caucuses are over, each party will announce who their candidate is.  I believe the choice is supposed to be who the public has voted for, but I don't know that the parties are compelled to go along with the popular vote.
Then the campaigning will really focus on those two.  There are other parties here, but they are very small and don't have much money (which is sadly very important in American politics) and most of the mainstream media don't pay much attention to them, so most citizens don't know who they are.  There is not much of a difference these days between Democrats and Republicans, though Dems tend to be more liberal and Reps tend to be more conservative.
No third or "independent" party is going to win here any time soon.  Most likely no Republican will get voted in as president, because the current president is Republican and his stint has been a disaster, which everyone will associate with the entire party.  So most likely the president will be a Democrat, and despite how racially-divided this country is, I think people will elect a man from a minority ethnic group before they will elect a woman.  Plus Hillary comes with some baggage, and I think a lot of people are uneasy about trusting her.  Personally she is my favorite out of the major players right now.  I haven't checked out the independent parties, but if I find someone there I like better I will vote for them, despite the fact that they're not going to win.  

[Swamps]

i wish ron paul and obama could be running mates.