Fast Running Blog US Presidential Elections Poll

[Sasha Pachev]

Feel free to explain the reasons you voted for your candidate in a follow-up post.

[James Winzenz]

Although I would have preferred Romney to McCain as the Republican candidate, I still voted for McCain becauswe a) he is the best choice to me when it comes to foreign policy, b) hopefully he will be smart enough to surround himself with people who know more about the economy than he does, c) I would prefer the judges he would select to those Obama would select, d) Obama's views on the economy (particularly the socialistic views) scare me - I think we are going to see a worse economic collapse if Obama starts to try to implement some of his plans, e) Obama's voting record in the senate is the *most* liberal of all the democratic senators, f) Obama is pro-abortion rights, g) McCain is in favor of cutting spending in Washington, while Obama's solution is to increase taxes.  There may be other reasons, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. 

[Sasha Pachev]

James - note the wording of the question - if your vote decided the elections single-handedly. In other words,  if you like somebody else better, the argument "he cannot win" is not valid. If you vote for him, he wins by definition.

[Paul Petersen]

I'm voting for Baldwin. While I certainly don't agree with 100% of his platform, I agree with enough of the things that are important to me.

Some bullets from his flier that resound with my values (yes, you should vote with your values, and not out of fear)

*Stop the undeclared wars which are daily costing American lives and billions of tax dollars
*End America's dependence on foreign oil
*Stop reckless spending, including foreign aid, and take care of America's domestic needs
*End debt financing of the federal government (Baldwin was against the $700billion bailout)
*Get rid of the Federal income tax, and restore a tariff-based revenue system
*Protect the right to life of the innocent unborn and the elderly
*Restore a debt-free, interest-free money system

Other key platform points I disagree with or don't care about, but I figure 75% isn't bad.

http://baldwin08.com/files/2008%20NATIONAL%20CAMPAIGN%20FLYER%20INDISE.pdf

To be honest, I think Obama is a good man, with virtuous goals. I just disagee with much of his core philosophies on how to accomplish those goals. I like aspects of McCain as well, but am afraid we'll just get another Bush out of him. And obviously I want someone who is fiscally conservative, and neither of these guys fit that bill.

[Carolyn Herlin]

I believe that Obama is the one who will actually gather people with expertise and diverse opinions and listen to them and then make informed decisions rather than just "going with his gut" as Bush has done time and time again and as I believe McCain is likely to do. I think that McCain's choice of Palin shows poor decision making.

I think that McCain has run a campaign of hatred and divisiveness. I believe that Obama has the skills and temperament to unite this country.

[Superfly]

I honestly don't wont to vote for anyone. I think we need to prepare ourselves for whatever drama Obama is going to bring. Most likely our brain washed nation is going to vote him in and it could get ugly. Don't think I want him because I sure don't... 

[Sasha Pachev]

Clyde:

Go out and vote for whoever represents your values best. It beats staying home. Speaking from the perspective of someone who has experienced an attempt of getting my right to vote taken away with tanks, I would say the right to own a gun nowadays  is not as important as the right to vote. Use it. Believe in the power of one.

Regarding Obama:

http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2008/01/top-10-reasons.html

While the blog is definitely anti-Obama biased, I believe it does a thorough job presenting the facts. He did vote for letting an infant that survived an abortion be left to die.

McCain: cheated on his crippled wife, left her to marry a mistress. Conducted a bitter negative campaign. Disqualified.

Chuck Baldwin - maybe a bit extreme, idealistic, out of touch with reality, and has no chance of winning, but at least he has solid values, and he's got a lot of things right. So this time I'll vote for him.

 

[Benn Griffin]

I'm not ashamed to say I voted for Obama. As for the whole abortion issue. It should be a woman's right to choose. If you overturn Roe v. Wade you essentially say "Hey if you are a woman and you are raped and you happen to conceive a child, you are forced to carry that reminder of that horrific event the full 9 months. Sorry!" Um, I think not! Thankfully it looks like Barack will ROCK the VOTE and we don't have to worry about McCain in office. A lot of Chuck Baldwin's platform appeals to me, minus the abortion issue. There is no clause there that says what would happen in that case. Anyone who would force a woman that had been raped and become pregnant to carry the baby full term is messed up! Plus, with the world becoming overcrowded and with so many young people being so selfish and self-centered, maybe its not a bad thing if they do not get pregnant in the first place.

On the whole abortion/sex issue. I find it funny that people kind of gloss over the fact that ever since its creation Catholics in the U.S> have been some of the biggest users as a population of birth control.. and most see nothing wrong with this. (All the while the Vatican takes a firm stance against any kind of birth control) Hmm...

[Benn Griffin]

Oh and as for Obama's "lack of experience", if it's something I've seen, the longer you are in "the system" the more you are corrupted by it. It's time for change. The time is now. And it's time for someone willing to represent ME! :-D

* Benn Griffin sits back and waits for the conservative pies to fly! haha

[Jon Allen]

Chuck Baldwin.  Same reasons as Paul.

[allie]

Go Chuck Go! There is hope for you...at least on this blog...

[Eric Day]

Won't cast vote on web site (I'm not american). But I can see you sort of have the same problem I had a couple of years ago with our presidential elections: I could no decide which was least worst!

[April G]

I'm very conservative, so I will vote for McCain--although I am not enamored of him.  I agree with Obama on very few issues.  I am not very familiar with Chuck Baldwin.  I am mad at both candidates for supporting this ridiculous bailout.  This election, for me, is about choosing the lesser of the two evils.

[Sasha Pachev]

April:

I was in your exact same situation a couple of days ago. Then I decided to see if there was a better choice than McCain, and studied several other candidates. Prior to that time I had not even heard of Chuck Baldwin just like you. This goes to show how hard it is for a non-major party candidate to get any publicity. But hopefully with the appearance of blogs and people spending more time on the computer and less in front of TV that is going to change, and I must admit I feel excited to contribute my small share to that change.

Interestingly enough, 4 people with a marathon win on their resume have cast their votes for Chuck in this poll. I'd love to see something like this:

Marathon Winners for Chuck!

[Maria Imas]

I voted two weeks ago by absentee ballot (for Obama), and I was not familiar with any of the other candidates in Sasha's poll. It's not that I like Obama so much, but he seems a better choice compared with McCain and especially, Palin. Palin just plain scares me, I think she really hurt McCain's campaign. Obama looks like he has enough brains to at least pick a good team of advisers in areas he has no experience in, and listen to them. He seems like a thoughtful guy, and not a rash and erratic desicion maker like McCain. Regarding negative campaigning they both engage in - it's politics, and sadly, I didn't expect any different. And as for our nation being brain washed, as Clyde noted, I think the nation demonstrated its degree of brain washing 4 years ago, when majority elected Bush for the second term. I'm also interested to see the results of the real election compared to the polls. It may be a lot closer - how many people do not want to go on record being racist, but would vote differently behind the curtain of an election booth?