This week, for the second time this year, I was within 10 miles of all of the Republican presidential candidates all at once. (Republican debate on MSNBC, Dearborn Michigan) Would someone ask them to stop stalking me?
I watched the debate from my hotel room on the road. Not the best debate so far this season, but good enough. The debates and the campaign are doing what they need to do for me, clarify my vote.
While I like the 2nd tier candidates of Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo, and Mike Huckabee I don't vote 2nd tier or 3rd party anymore. It does not help with the serious business of selecting our party's candidate who can compete well in the general election.
There are 4 serious candidates: McCain, Guiliani, Romney, and Thompson. Here's my take on them:
Thompson: I wanted to see him in a debate before I made a judgement about him. I'm not impressed. He's attractive to me only in the sense that he would stand a good chance of continuing to carry a lot of the Southern states. But that's not enough. The final straw: Ann Coulter's reminder in her recent column that Fred was one of the sellout Republicans in the Senate who voted No in Bill Clinton's impeachment trial. Unforgiveable. Fred is off the table for me.
McCain: Strong on the war and taxes, but wrong on just about everything else. His support of the immigration bill this year, and McCain-Feingold's rape of the Constitution on campaign finance reform eliminate him. He's totally untrustworthy on key conservative principles.
Guiliani: I won't cast my vote in a primary for a pro-abortion candidate if I have a choice not to. Just won't. It's a determinative issue on judgement. If you can't stand up on the right side of the major moral issue of our generation, you can't have my vote.
Romney: I like him. I like his business experience - including running the Salt Lake City Olympics. I like his executive experience as a govenor. I like his values. Theologically, I'm not a fan of the LDS church, but I'm not electing him to be my pastor. I can live with him as President.
It's Mitt Romney for me. Let's vote already.
