Due to the fact that the Fiesta Bowl pre-empted Simpsons reruns tonight, I ended up watching a few hours of MSNBC’s “Iowa Caucus” coverage. Typically, I think the Iowa caucuses are a weird throwback to the political machines of 100 years ago. But hey, why bother having a normal election when you can debate people over which corner of the room to stand in?

Since the overly-early beginning of the ‘08 elections, it has been my general opinion that the Democrats have had an embarrassment of riches and the Republicans have had an embarrassment. But hey, I’m a left-wing states-rights sometimes-libertarian type of voter. What do I care about a bunch of right-wing guys trying to prove who loves god more?

Hilary Clinton

Hilary is stuck with two “faces” in this race, one is good and one not so good. She is a woman, which is very cool and very good. It’s about damn time this country started seriously considering a woman for it’s top political office. It is absolutely pathetic that the most free country in the world (in theory) has still been too sexist to let a female into the oval office “boys club”.
Hilary’s downside is that she is essentially just a female version of her husband, John Kerry, Al Gore, etc. She is a old-school hard-core politician who happens to be a leftward democrat. She doesn’t offer anything new or different in that regard. Other than being a woman (which as I said, is a good thing) all she can hope to say is “I will bring the country back to what it was when my husband was president”. Don’t get me wrong, the Clinton years were good for the majority of the country, and a hell of a lot better than the last 7+ years. But I don’t think it’s going to be enough.
Can she win? Probably…against anyone but McCain, or maybe Guliani. There are a lot of “Hillary Haters” still out there. But as long s she isn’t running against someone who pulls votes from moderates and independents, I think she could win. She will have a lot of support from females who, rightly so, have waited too long to see a female president.

John Edwards

Poor John Edwards. He’s not black, he’s not a woman, and he doesn’t offer anything exciting or new. He is a good, solid, smart politician with a message that should resonate with the voters (”Corporations are buying the country, I will save the middle class!”) and a great up-by-his-bootstraps backstory. But compared to Hilary or Barack, he just doesn’t have anything to set himself apart. Then again, there is a reason that the country has elected so many southern white male democrats to the presidency. Their beliefs speak to the north, their accents and non-threatening white-maleness don’t scare the south. In all honesty, I like Edwards a lot. I think he would be a very good president.
Can he win? While he might not be as strong in some individual matchups as Hillary or Barack, I think Edwards could hold his own against any of the republicans. I just don’t think that he can win his own primary.

Barack Obama

Barack has a lot going for him. Like a female president, it’s about damn time that America elected something other than a white person to the highest office in the land. We are a very multi-cultured country, I’d like to see our political offices represent that. So would a lot of other people in the country. But unlike Hillary, Barack’s candidacy has a real feeling of “I can get this country out of it’s slump. I can move us forward together!” I imagine that this is something like what it must have felt like when FDR, JFK and Regan were running for president. The country feels like it needs something different than what we have been getting, because what we’ve been getting is nothing but crap.
The knock on Barack is that he is not “experienced” enough. But I think a lot of the country is going to say “Who the hell cares? The ‘experienced’ people have made a mess of the country and show no signs of working together to fix it. Let’s try something new.” I happen to agree, I don’t see why being a tool of the political establishment for years and years is a crucial-requirement for a presidential candidate. I just want someone smart, enthusiastic, and willing/able to excite and lead the country.
Can he win? I think so. I don’t think there are enough racist crackpots left in the country who would say “Hell no, I’m not voting for a black man!” Perhaps that is just me being overly optimistic. But I really think that Barack has the ability to pull from all corners of the country and can stand up against anyone the republicans nominate.