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Another poll results site: Leading Presidential Polls 2008. This one is much more user friendly than pollingreport.com, and has lots of interactive polls for readers as well. You can also select specific state polls, and specific candidate polls. Check it out!

Too much time has passed since my last post. I plan to remedy that - especially now that things are heating up - if only just a little. So, two topics…Fred Thompson and Barack Obama.

First let me say that Fred Thompson’s late announcement was so unsurprising that I’d hardly call it an announcement. I’m intrigued by his high ratings within the GOP, and I’d love to see a basically non-fundraising candidate do well, but I just think he’s too far behind the big money candidates in his party. It will be interesting to see if his lackadaisical approach is effective.

I’m on disk three of Barack’s The Audacity of Hope. My first thought is that I’m not bored. I’ve even laughed out loud a couple times - which is something I did not do with any of John McCain’s books or Hillary Clinton’s book. I’m not quite ready to jump on the Barack bandwagon, but I like what he had to say in 2005, when this book was written. I also liked what he had to say on The Daily Show. I think if he paired up with one of the senior statesmen like Chris Dodd or Joe Biden, we’d have a pretty good ticket on the Dem side.

Anyone reading anything good?

Pro Choice or Pro Life? Gay Marriage? New taxes? Welfare reform?

I recently had a very long conversation with my friend regarding abortion. She has long voted for Republicans simply because she’s pro life, and in line with the leaders of her church, she votes for extreme conservatives. She also took advantage of programs available to her when she had her children such as no cost health care for her delivery (provided by the government) as well as WIC and food stamps. Her husband owned a small business and they had a few very lean years. The fact that the people she was voting for were basically against those programs intended for low income families never really dawned on her or mattered to her.

So here’s my real question? Do the real, daily-life issues matter to voters? Or only the big, sensational issues?

For example, the cost of health care really effects my family. We have high deductibles for our PPO, and end up spending a lot out of pocket. We pay into Social Security every month weeks, and yet, there’s about 100% possibility that we’ll never see that money again. Same with Medicare. We have a young son, and we’d like for there to be quality public education for him and some natural resources available for his grandchildren. Likewise, we pay a lot in taxes and we’d like to see that used more wisely - if not, then give it back. We could use it to save for our retirement, since we won’t have Social Security.

What I’m saying is that I’m glad to know where the candidates stand on issues like abortion. It helps me to understand what kinds of Supreme Court Justices they would appoint, the kind of legislation they might pass/veto. However, I wish less time was spent during the debates on these polarizing topics. I want to know what these people are going to do about issues that effect our everyday lives.

One last topic…Bring the troops home or stay the course? Some candidates (Obama, Dodd) say that they’re going to bring the troops home immediately, while some are sticking to the “stay the course” doctrine (McCain)…do you think this will be a deciding factor in the election? Personally, I want the troops home yesterday - three years ago, even. But what I’d rather hear them talk about is how they’re going to repair the US’s reputation and standing in the world. How we exit Iraq will be a part of that, but I’d like to hear more specific plans for diplomacy.

The New York Times online has an excellent page with all of the candidates listed - including the officially announced candidates and the widely speculated ones. Each candidate has an info page, a link to their official site, and many have their most recent multimedia (YouTube video, etc.).

Here’s the link:

2008 Presidential Candidates

First of all, if you haven’t seen the debates, I hope you’ll go to MSNBC and watch them. They’re broken up into short segments, so they’re easy to view. (Although I wish you could rewind.)

I also want to preface this by saying that although I liked Brian Williams and Chris Matthews, I felt that there was obviously more time and questions given to some candidates, and some candidates were clearly ignored. For example, I would have loved to hear more from Fmr. Sen. Mike Gravel on the Democratic Debate.

I would like to say that I’m on the fence, and giving both sides - dem and rep - equal time. But I’m not. I watched the whole Dem. debate, and although I was sick of Iraq and terrorism by the end of it, I was interested in what each one had to say, possibly with the exception of Gov. Bill Richardson. More on that later.

As I started the Republican Debate, I was instanly annoyed with their answers. Then as I moved onto the segment concerning abortion, and they all said, (paraphrasing, of course) “down with Roe v. Wade” - with the exception of a wishy-washy stance from Giuliani, I couldn’t watch anymore. There’s no way I’d vote for any of them.

I will go back and watch because I want to know what they stand for. I will go back and watch because I’m sure they will make good points, have valid ideas, and offer solutions that Democrats will not. But not today.

Here’s my snapshot take on each of the Democratic candidates (links go to their official election sites)…after the jump.

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