On to New Hampshire
This is going to be short this morning; I'm running kind of late. I stayed up watching the Iowa caucuses on CSPAN last night and slept in later than I should have.
I have to admit, I'm a little jealous of the process they enjoy in Iowa. Talk about hands-on politics. It makes just walking into a voting booth and casting your ballot kind of dull.
I could have named this entry "a sigh of relief" because that's what I felt when the results started coming in. I'm not jumping on the bandwagon here; I've always leaned towards Kerry from almost the very beginning and in recent weeks, John Edwards has been running a close second in my mind. Dean was never a consideration. I feel vindicated now that the voters of Iowa have reinforced what I've felt in my gut for some time.
There's one person in our office that I check in with on a regular basis to see where she's at in her selection process. When we first met, she was a Republican who voted for Bush in the last election. Current events had changed her to an independent just so she would have a voice in the upcoming elections.
When I checked in last week, she said she was voting for Dean because she felt he had the best chance to beat Bush in the general election. When I talked to her last night, she said she had changed her mind and was now in Kerry's camp. And she's pretty much sure that's where she's going to stay until election day.
I do have a question about the caucuses, however. What do you do if you have to work that evening? It seems that there's no absentee-ballot in Iowa and I wonder how they handle the fact that not everyone can take an evening out to voice their opinion.
If someone knows the answer to that, I'd be interested in knowing...
How much resource did Kerry
How much resource did Kerry divert from SC and NH to IOWA to insure a win there?
Rory Blake
Not many people are allowed
Not many people are allowed into the Iowa caucuses. I suppose those that are can take a night off from work ahead of time.
Mercator
In my small Iowan town,
In my small Iowan town, there were several Democrats who couldn't attend and had no voice in the outcome. There are no absentee ballots and everyone must register by seven. One man who walked in a few minutes late was not allowed to participate. I think there should be an absentee ballot system for caucuses, but being there for the proposals of changes to our state Democratic platform was very interesting and made me feel empowered at my first ever caucus. Good luck to all New Hampshire undecideds! It's a difficult choice this time and the stakes are high.
Adriana B.
Wes Clark is by far the
Wes Clark is by far the strongest candidate with more real experience and training than Kerry, Dean, or Edwards combined.
Clark has executive experience as NATO Allied Supreme Commander and commander of U.S. military bases, where he was responsible for quality of life for families, including improving education and health care. His leadership style is based on vision and consensus building.
Clark has direct foreign policy experience and expertise through his NATO SACEUR position and as negotiator of the Dayton Accords, which ended the Balkan Wars. Clark has proven that he understands how to deal with foreign leaders productively and effectively without unnecessarily alienating allies.
Clark is not only a war hero and recipient of the Silver Star and numerous other medals in his long and distinguished military career, but he alone of the candidates has conducted a successful war that saved a million and a half people without the loss of even one American life.
Only Clark has the educational training in all areas that concern the major issues facing Americans today. Clark was top of his college graduating class at West point and is an expert at military analysis and all military matters. Clark was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford and has three advanced degrees in economy, philosophy, and political science and has actually taught these subjects. Clark also has successful business experience in the real world.
Clark has the best policy initiatives and the best policy advisors, especially those from successful Democratic administrations, such as James Rubin, Assistant Sec. of State under the Clinton Administration.
In spite of Kerry's temporary lead in the polls due to the Iowa caucuses, the voters of NH and other primary states are getting the message that voting for Wes Clark, the only totally qualified candidate, as the Democratic presidential nominee is a win-win certainty for our party and our country.
Stephanie
When I made the above post,
When I made the above post, somehow my first paragraph got cut off. I'm sorry if my post looks more aggrssive than I meant it to be. Let me add the first paragraph here in order to explain myself a little better:
I know there has been a lot of fluidity in the last week or so in Iowa and in NH. However, I have not changed my mind about my choice even though I keep very well informed about all the candidates. For decades I was an independent but have recently registered as a Democrat because of my support of Wes Clark. That said, I still feel a connection with independents, who look at the candidates with an objective eye and then decide. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to explain why I support Wes Clark and feel that he would make the best U.S. President out of all the candidates.
(Please see the above post, and again I apologize for the inconvenience!)
Stephanie